THE FOUNDERS OF MAKE-UP ARTISTRY IN CINEMA SINCE ITS DÉBUTS IN HOLLYWOOD

This one deepens the first chapter : The Make-up Artistry in Cinema.

In the beginning of mute cinema, actors would do their own make-up. Some were better at this that others, such as Lon Chaney (Sr), Yannos Piccoulas and George Westmore. Chaney was of Irish origin, and did the fantastic actor career we all know of doing his own make-up most of the time (« he was nicknamed « The man of a 1000 faces » by the audiences ; Piccoulas was born in Greece, but he changed his name when he arrived in the USA (we’ll talk more later of him) and George Westmore arrived from England. Hair stylist, barber, he soon got into make-up and wig making for cinema and soon became famous at that.

In 1914, another young english actor, Cecil Holland, arrived in Hollywood where he soon became famous doing his own skilful make-ups, and he was soon requested to do other artists make-ups and play mute roles in the same time. He was so successful that he was soon called to department head the Make-up at MGM in 1920. He discovered the use of an egg membrane to simulate blindness. Lon Chaney used that painful trick in one of his most famous make-up. Nowadays, we’d use contact lenses…

In 1917, George Henry Westmore became the first Department Head of a Studio in Hollywood. He founded a make-up artists dynasty. His children and grand-children reigned over Hollywood Studios until Majors disappeared as such in the 80s, and their descendants are still to day among the good and well famed make-up artists. Nowadays, studios still exist but not in the same way and there are no more Make-up Department as they were before.

Percy « Perc » Westmore became Dept Head at Warner bros. Pictures ; Gordon Bau succeeded to him (see underneath) ;
Wally Westmore at Paramount Pictures (which long had a branch in Paris until the German invaded the french capital in 1940) ;
Monte Westmore headed the Selznick Pictures ; this company no longer exists.
Montague « Monty » Westmore started working under his grand father Perc at Warner bros. and later became one of Paul Newman’s favorite make-up artists (among others)…
Bud Westmore succeeded Jack Pierce at Universal in 1947 ;
Ern Westmore, Perc twin brother, run RKO Pictures make-up Dept.
Monty Westmore, Monte Westmore’s son.

There was a combination of talents and ambition in this family.

Michael Westmore Sr. was Monte’s eldest son. His other sons are Monty Jr, and Marvin George Westmore, now retired, but their children Michael Westmore Jr., Kandace Westmore, Kevin Westmore, and many others are still active in the industry.

It must be added that not only did the Westmore do film make-up but they also opened a Westmore Salon and launched a day range line (both nowadays vanished) with excellent fluid foundations and a powder that was the best film beauty powder for years.

However, equally talented other make-ups artists run make-up departments in other studios, and other lines appeared.

Yannos Piccoulas, became Jack Pierce, was asked by Carl Lemmle Jr, son of the founder and then director Carl Lemmle Sr to dept head Universal Studios in 1928. We owe him the best line of fantastic make-ups of the cinema History. Jack Pierce created, among many others, Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein Monster (1931) and this make-up success is still known to day 90 years later, The Mummy, The Werewolf, on many other actors and characters. Unfortunately, he used to work mainly by hand and his make-ups (as excellent as they were) took several hours that studios no longer wanter to pay for. Unfortunately, he is not credited in most of those films which owe him their glorious fame. Oddly enough, he never signed any contract when he was friendlily hired and he was brutally fired in 1947 and replaced by bud Westmore. Jack Piece is still to day an inspiration for real fiction make-up artists. After his brutal eviction of the studio of which he made the Glory, he kept working on some TV series and small films, and after so many successes in his career he died in misery and almost forgotten by the industry.

Another great talent dynasty sprang at M.G.M. : Jack Dawn, and his suns Wes Dawn and Bob Dawn who became a free-lancer, and Jeff Dawn, Bob’s son, and Jeff’s son Patrick. That makes another considerable line. We owe Jack Dawn the first big colours film « Gone with the wind ». There was a tremendous crew on this show, almost all the best artists of the time, among which Ben Nye (Sr) is among the most famous. He founded also a line of make-up artists and the Ben Nye brand of make-up with excellent quality products and specific colours for about just everything. His two sons, Ben Nye Jr and Dana Nye also had a career in film make-up and Dana took over the company management.

William Tuttle succeeded Bud Westmore as MGM Dept Head and won the first Makeup Award for « 7 faces of Dr Lao » in 1965. He launched a High Pigmentation Color Cream Cosmetic line that could be used both on the skin and on foam latex appliances without the usual heavy powdering required with RMGP. I believe the line survived his death in USA, but vanished everywhere else.

Ellis Burman, a master at sculpting and expert of appliances processes and materials with Jack Pierce and Jack Dawn (among others), and his son Tom Burman who apprenticed at 20th Century Fox under Ben Nye Sr and John Chambers on Planet of the Apes.

Let’s not forget Tom’s sons, Rob Burman and Barney Burman, two special make-up experts. Tom founded Burman Industries, currently run by his former wife Sandra. Rob founded Rubber Wear, a company that makes and distributes world over foam latex appliances.

Let’s also think of all the many artists hired by the studios and who never were credited as it was the tradition of the time to credit only the HoDs, in Make-up and Hair styling, even if the HoDs couldn’t do everything by themselves. This bad tradition later gave producers the bad idea that un make-up artist could do everything by himself on a motion picture and he didn’t need an assistant. Fortunately, it tends to go back to a more sensible point of view nowadays, specially for sfx make-up.

Max Factor, born Maksymilian Faktorowicz, was a polish beautician, hair-stylist and wig-maker when he arrived in the USA in 1908. He then developed a wig shop for cinema and soon became famous. He created a line of cosmetics, specific for cinema, in a soft greasy cream form in toothpaste like tubes, to improve the hard stick then existing. His products became quickly successful. In 1935 he invented the Pan-Cake (pressed powder in a roudnd box) way more convenient than the liquid (powder in suspension) then available, and in 1948 he invented the Pan-Stick make-up, a semi hard creamy consistency that is still to day the preferred consistency for most film make-up artists as it can be applied either very thin or more covering if necessary. Max Factor’s son, born Franck Factor, also worked in the film industry as a makeup artist, but changed to the first names Max to manage the company. The company no longer runs the specific colours and other theatrical products that made it famous in the cinema industry all over the world, and only remains a small day range line.

The Gordon (1907-1975) and George Bau (1905-1974) brothers, originally worked in a rubber factory and soon entered the makeup industry. They were called by Perc Westmore for « The hunchback of Notre-Dame » : George was in charge of improving the foam latex systems then available and Gordon would apply the make up on Charles Laughton before succeeding to Perc Westmore at Warner Bros until 1972. George perfected the foam latex system, reducing the 12 to 15 necessary products to only 4 components + 1 mould release but kept his formula secret. He would send it to whoever put a special order (including a certain Dick Smith in New York). The make-up world owes Gordon and George Bau an enormous lot. Beyond the Roll-on Mascara system, still widely utilised nowadays, George invented the Old Age Stipple formula (mix of liquid latex and gelatin), a very interesting product to wrinkle the skin that later was used by many other brands. After George’s death, in 1974, Charlie Schram (1911-2008) inherited the famous secret formula, improved it and distributed it, still in 4 parts + release under his label « Windsor Hills Laboratories », then just before passing away passed the secret on to Rick Baker who passed it on to Tom Burman who distributed it under his label.

Another foam latex formula was used by John Chambers (1922-2001) to create the first masks of Planet of the apes : R&D Foam latex system, but the company no longer exists as far as I can know. John Chambers was awarded an honorific Oscar for that enormous success. Another of his fantastic creation was transforming a man into a King Cobra in Ssssnake with friend Dan Striepeke.

Dan Striepeke (1930-2019), already a make-up veteran after 10 years in the industry and 2 years of Mission Impossible had worked with John Chambers and Ben Nye creating the masks for Planet of the Apes in 1967. He succeeded then naturally Ben Nye as Dept Head at 20th Century Fox en 1967, then run the sequels and subsequent series as well as many other films of this important company.

Dick Smith (1922-2014) had not his débuts in Hollywood but in New York in 1940 where he was hired in 1945 as the first Dept Head of a TV channel NBC. At this time, television (still in B&W) began and broadcast not only news but also a lot of fictions live from their studios. Dick Smith could then develop his skill to make appliances. We also owe him, in collaboration with the Max Factor Company, the line of specific colours for the growing colour TV, PAL coded, CTV-1W till CTV-12W, that was to become kind of a rule in colour make up for more than 30 years. Those colours were taken later with more or less accuracy by many other brands in the world and are still widely used. Dick Smith, never created (at least, for as much as I can know) his own foam latex formula, but he tried and used, not to say improved, all those that existed. He acknowledged he got a big warm support from George Bau about foam latex technology, but he never knew his exact « secret formula ». Dick Smith left NBC in 1959 being called upon by the cinema. He was an insatiable pioneer of the use of appliances, realistic or supernatural ones ; he improved the techniques of sculpting and moulding, inventing the split sculpt to make several separate supple overlapping pieces instead of a single more rigid full mask for complex agings (Little Big Man, Amadeus, among others), developing foam latex possibilities, and of gelatine of which he improved for Marathon Man the original recipe that had been discarded since before WWII. Dick Smith won an Oscar for Amadeus and a special one for the whole of his career. Alike all the « old school » artists, he could do all kinds of make-up from the most regular beauty make-up to the most elaborate prosthetic ones. Dick Smith created a world famous makeup course by mail to which subscribed most of the nowadays best artists in the field, one of them being Rick Baker whose Oscars are innumerous. Since Dick Smith’s death, his course continues and a team of his former students (many of them got at least an Oscar or were nominated) reviews the students exercises. In spite of the high fee, the investment was worth it as the students could then ask him any questions and he would then reply generously. Maybe shall I speak another time of those former students careers of which the total amount of Oscar is impressive, but they belong to another generation…

One must not forget Charlie Gemora (1903-1961) an actor known in Hollywood since before WWII to perform apes and gorillas roles, of which a made a speciality. He was a sculptor, actor, stuntman and make-up artist and he made himself his foam latex masks for his costumes since the mid 30s. He long worked in different make-up crews for different studios and is thus one of those numerous « unsung heroes » of make-up artistry, uncredited most of the times, but that does not take away anything to his talent and ingenuity.

It would seem to me very unfair not to mention here Maurice Seiderman (1907-1989) who had a career as discrete as his talent was huge. Born in Russia in 1907 he arrived in USA after the 1917 October Revolution. He began working at RKO as a « hair sweeper » but he had there his little corner-workshop where he would do appliances on his own. There, he was remarked in 1940 by Orson Welles, then 25, who asked him if he could completely transform his face progressively from 25 till 75 for the film Citizen Kane. Seiderman’s make-ups became a major masterpiece of make-up History. From then on, Maurice became Orson Welles favorite make-up artist, alas uncredited most of the time. Yet his make-ups inspired by their quality and techniques another young make-up artist who did a great career, Dick Smith, who « affectionately dedicated his Do it Yourself Makeup Handbook » to Maurice Seiderman. That certainly is not a weak tribute, is it ? However, oddly enough, one can’t find much about him. Why ? That’s a mystery.

Tom McLaughlin, in London, also created a foam latex formula under his name in the late 60s or early 70s (sorry, I’m not sure of the date) that vanished for a while and reappeared as « Monsters Makers » a few years later. Since then, Tom moved to the USA and launched a company that deals with silicone appliances related products. I think his foam may have been used for the Muppets and other Jim Henson's other films…

In London, too, Stuart Freeborn (1914-2013), designer of numerous extraordinary make-ups (2001, A Space Odyssey, Dr Strangelove, Star Wars, Kind Hearts and Coronets…) and original father of the world famous Yoda, originated an excellent foam latex formula that was distributed by his nephew John Woodbridge for some years. I think it is now the base of the foam latex kits sold by Alcone in New York.

Christopher Tucker was a young lyrical singer and used to do many latex appliances for the character roles that suited his bass voice. Little by little, he was asked to supply appliances for his fellows singers and eventually he was asked to do that seriously for television and cinema. This famous english designer of such make-ups as Elephant Man, Quest for Fire and Phantom of the Opera stage tours, made his own formula, but, as far as I know, he never put it on the market. He is a very lovable man, a very precious friend.

Kryolan and Brändel, two german companies specialised in stage make-up, merged in the early 60s to form Kryolan-Brändel, then slightly later Kryolan. They developed a foam latex system « A 150 » and some colouring agents originally in Berlin. This is now mostly produced in San Francisco. Let’s say that what is improperly called « cold foam » is NOT real foam latex (that would demand around boiling water temperature curing for two or more hours) but polyurethane foam. The process is not at all the same. Nor the results.

More foam latex formulas appeared and vanished, I don’t know all their details…

Let’s remark that the foam latex latex base was a raw 68% solid creamed latex while the latex used to do simple shells appliances (hollow pieces, is a pre-vulcanised (or RTV = Room Temperature Vulcanising) rubber. The creamed latex became too expensive and was replaced in the early 2000s by another quality of latex. It does not make a big difference, except that instead of 150 g for a basic unit of liquid latex, it is recommended to use 170g of latex base to balance the other components.

In the 30s and 40s some gelatine had been used to make small appliances but was given up because it would melt under the heath of the studios lights. In the 70s, Dick Smith used a more concentrated gelatin and this new product came back on the market for reliable appliances.

Also before WWII, bald caps were made from a kind of nitrocellulose, dissolved in a blend of sulphuric ether and alcohol. This product, basic for collodion, also used in make up to make scars and other things, was also used to make ammunitions as being explosive. Bald caps made with this product were very thin, but they would shrink showing the uncoloured skin under the cap and sometimes the hair roots. This product was abandoned and replaced by pre-vulcanised latex. It’s only around 1950 that latex was replaced by vinyl dissolved in acetone (to make a long story short) and then in the early 2010s that plasticised polyurethane dissolved in Isopropyl alcohol appeared. Those bald cap materials also encapsulate the new softened silicone appliances.

When silicone began to be used for appliances, it was difficult to fix and to colour extrinsically until another Smith, Gordon Smith, a Canadian make-up artist and researcher, generalised some specific softener (he named it « Deadener »). He also generalised the idea of encapsulating the deadened silicone between two thin layers of cap material which enabled to dissolve the edges so that they could no longer be seen, and make the pieces up more easily with any kind of make-up, from regular cream in stick or flat container to the RMGP or AAPalettes (Alcohol Activated Palettes). This technique is now standard procedure and taught all over the world in most make-up schools for a reasonable fee.

I owe a big T H A N K Y O U to my friend Scott Essman (from Los Angeles, journalist, independent cinema teacher, screenplay writer and director of a very beautiful tribute to Jack Pierce for which Rob Burman designed and coordinated the reconstitution of the Pierce’s main make-ups). Scott was an inspiration and allowed me to use his large knowledge of cinema make-up to put together all the infos I already had in mind.

Many names, dates and facts are missing, I’ll add them when I have time, but I believe I already brought to your attention some of the main founders who brought important things to the cinema make-up artistry. That will already give you an idea of what is film make-up, thanks to whom and how it arrived to this point it is now. All the above mentioned artists have worked extensively so that make up evolved since Méliès. It belongs to you to continue working as much to keep the evolution going further on and do in your turn the kind of beautiful things your predecessors did. Know them, respect them, make a good profit of their teaching, and pass it on in your turn.

The film make-up artistry history does not end there, so, maybe some more articles will come… Who knows ?…

Until then, you may like to read (again) the previous chapters