Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1938)

(?K)0tf®P[LAY§ PROP. With "romance" as its theme song, a lavender-and-old-lace pallor is Hollywood's beauty decree for fall Arleen Whelan can smile smugly over a lily-white complexion problem, but she passes on some good advice FADE-OUT — During the summer it's smart to be sunkist in Hollywood, whether you're an orange or a movie star. But comes the fall and such a scurrying about to undo in one night what it has taken three months of languishing about beaches to create! Autumn this year, more than ever, spells death to tans — and that goes for you and me, as well as for the Hollywood Pretties. With all this in mind, I went trotting out to the studios last week in quest of advice. The predictions of fashion experts hummed in my mind. "Romance, romance," they had said. "Soft, Eighteenth-Century gowns with thin waists and hoop skirts, and lovely white shoulders rising above the decolletage. Ringlets and flowers in the hair. And pale skin." Twentieth Century-Fox seemed as good a place as any to start; it has such beautiful women under contract. I found Arleen Whelan, so newly out of a beauty shop herself, nibbling at her lunch in the cafe. "Is that tan or grease paint?" I asked her. "This is right out of a jar," she admitted. "Underneath it all I'm the nearest thing to a lily you ever saw. You have to be a chameleon in this business." "Tell me how," I said. "Several million Photoplay readers and I are wondering how to turn lily-white overnight and go dainty and fragile all of a sudden. After all, we have to look romantic and it's entirely too difficult with a peeling nose." Arleen smiled smugly. "Well, you see, during the summer I just put on a heavy tan powder base and some lipstick and I look as outdoorish as anyone else. That's because I freckle and burn so badly, though." "A fine thing," I grumbled. "Well, sometimes you must have been out in the sun and gotten burned. What did you do then?" "It has happened," she said sagely, "but, when it does, I lay my hot hands on a pot of bleach cream that has camphor in it. That takes out all the redness and turns you shades lighter. Then, too, I smear myself with lots of rich creams and oils so I won't dry out. That treatment softens and lubricates my skin. I use a rich foundation cream, too, to cover up the freckles. Olive oil and lemon juice are swell to mix together. You just rub the mixture into your skin and go to bed, and the next morning you're lighter already. Keep it up for about a week and you, too, can look pale and interesting. "And," she said as she finished her salad, "don't forget to keep lightening your powder as your skin lightens, because the important thing is to have your powder always exactly match your skin." TADE-IN — Armed with this encouraging advice, I moved on to the "Suez" set, to see what went on there. It was a desert scene, and everyone looked as though he were broiling to death. Everyone, that is, but Loretta Young, who was calm and beautiful and fragile under a beach umbrella on the side of the set. I tottered over Beautiful and fragile, Loretta Young has a head start on the romantic angle and she tells why beside her and gazed admiringly at her romantic gown and pale skin. I knew she hadn't been in any of the desert scenes and hadn't tanned at all, so she had a head start on the rest of us for fall, but just the same. . . . "How do you do it?" I asked despairingly. "You look too divine. So nice and delicate. It's not only your fair skin — isn't your make-up different, too?" "Well," said Loretta, lighting a cigarette, "I went over to see Mel Burns. You know him? He's the make-up expert around here, and I tell j you he's wonderful. So I got a lot of tips fromi him, and, believe me, I do just what he says." "You tell me," I said, "and so will I. And not only me, but all the other girls who want to know what to do to look fragile and romantic. As a matter of fact, you'll be doing a great public service." "Okay. Here goes. See how delicate I look? Well, Mel says that to complement the new romantic type of gowns, like the one I have on, | your rouge and lipstick must be softer and more subdued in shade. None of that bright, harsh lip rouge — it has to be faint and rosy in color." She took a puff of her cigarette and gave me some more tips, and here they are. It's a great help if you know the lighting facilities of the place where you're going, because that has a great deal to do with your make-up, almost as much as the type of gown you're wearing. Your make-up for evening should be as delicate as the lighting effects, which today are usually very soft and subdued. You'll get that nice cameo look, too, by being sparing with your make-up and by using lighter shades. Try applying your rouge with a powder puff, so it will blend easier and go on more smoothly. I GAZED with my eagle eye at Loretta and discovered that her eye shadow was smoothed very carefully and softly into the lids, with the heaviest amount directly above her lashes — and that wasn't any too heavy, either. "Blue-grey is a nice soft shade that gives you just enough shadow without being too glaring or obvious," said Loretta. "And my eyebrows are natural, too," she said firmly. "Mel says that penciled lines are definitely out. They look (Continued on page 89) PHOTOPLAY