Picture Play Magazine (Mar-Jul 1929)

72 A Wizard Max Factor is consulted by all the of them through expert make-up. In enhance one's B? Al A touch here and there, and Max Factor works wonders in Vera Reynolds' make-up. SOME one has said that any mildly pretty girl can, by chin to catch expert grooming, be made to look beautiful. And beginning at certainly the American woman's annual bill for cos paint up her metics would indicate that, if we do not all look beautiful, it is not because we don't try! But the question is, how skillful are most of us ? And you know the answer yourself. All of which brings us to Max Factor, who is called "the make-up wizard of Hollywood." For years he has specialized in what might be called prescriptions for faces. For years he has diagnosed faces, as a doctor diagnoses symptoms. He decides what are stars' best features, and should therefore be emphasized, which features are bad, and should be made as inconspicuous as possible. And where could Mr. Factor make better use of his talents than in the movies? Where else in the world is make-up quite so important? Screen acting is the one profession in the world where one's face is really one's fortune. If the camera does not lie, it certainly exaggerates, and it is highly important to any player that his features look as nearly perfect as possible. When Betty Bronson was selected to play Peter Pan, she was sent to Mr. Factor for advice on her make-up. When Clara Bow began to work for Paramount, after several years of semiobscurity on the screen, she did not suddenly arise to her present box-office value without cause. She learned, at last, how to make up, and her screen appearance became that of an almost different girl. Formerly she appeared before the camera with great globs of ma mascara around her eyes, and with masses of lipstick crudely applied. Max Factor changed all that. He showed her how to apply mascara delicately, how to make her mouth look natural before the camera, and what shade of grease paint gave her face its best coloring. And Clara became, suddenly, for camera purposes, a beauty, which she had never been before, and which she is not in real life. Julia Faye has a rather pointed chin, which comes out badly in photographs. Max Factor arranged a make-up which rounds out this pointed feature. She uses very light-brown grease paint on her all the high lights before the camera. And her chin, she uses darker and darker grease cheeks, until her forehead, which is quite broad, becomes very dark. This is called setback. And of course the various tones are blended together, as she applies them, so that one shade gradually merges into another. Such are the make-up problems which are brought to Mr. Factor to solve. With his son-in-law, who is also a chemist, he works them out. When Douglas Fairbanks was making "The Thief of Bagdad," there were numerous rehearsals for the scenes in which the robber band climbed into large jugs a la AH Baba and his forty thieves. Of course, there was really no oil in those jugs, but it was warm under the heavy arc-lights, and climbing in and out was strenuous work. The men wore I very little clothing, but were covered fJP all over with grease paint. *^ And there was the problem. Each time they emerged from the jugs, the grease paint was all smeared, and there had to be time out to apply fresh make-up. And that's expensive, on a set using hundreds of extras. So Max Factor was called in. He concocted a make-up which did not smear. Another problem came up in filming "Noah's Ark." There were water scenes, involving dozens of extras. How to make them up so the grease paint would not wash off? Max Factor supplied a waterproof coating to apply on top of „ . the regular grease Here he tries out • . the cold cream best nr " • i suited to Martha Movie make-up Sleeper. has changed con