Radio Mirror (Nov 1936-Apr 1937)

RADIO MIRROR The whole basis of the weird make-up required by the iconoscope camera is that red televises white. Sometimes it doesn't even televise white — it just televises a clear nothing! Lips must be brown to look natural, eyebrows must be black and very well-defined, and plenty of dark eyeshadow has to be spread around the eyes to show them up properly. Several shades of greasepaint have been tried out, from pure white to almost charcoal, but the most natural color for the face and arms seems to be a rusty yellowish cinnamon something like the shade of an Indian's skin. Red fingernails will chop the fingers off at the first knuckle, so for close-ups of hands a black polish is used. Platinum blondes are out of luck because their hair will fade into a colorless haze. A very amusing example of this occurred during rehearsal one time when a platinum blonde stood against a white refrigerator on a kitchen set; the scene reproduced on the screen made her look as though she had shaved her head to entire baldness! Even darkish blonde hair like Betty Goodwin's^ photographs many shades lighter. Television so far is kindest to brunettes and titians. Eyelashes, to show up at all, must be artificial and very, very thick. Hildegarde has to go eyelash-less because of her unconquerable habit of squinting when she sings. Thick artificial lashes close together leave her nothing but two thin dark slits for eyes that look extremely funny. THERE can't be any red clothes on a ■ television set, nor any pastels because they turn a colorless gray on the screen too. The men find it best to wear strictly black and white or maybe a dark navy blue. For women's clothes any black or white or vivid rich color, except red and certain greens, will reproduce nicely. Big plaids and large-patterned prints show up particularly well. Hildegarde's most flattering television gown is a dark crepe with enormous bright splashes of varicolored flowers on it. An all-black or all-any-color dress doesn't televise as effectively as one that has some color contrast; but the contrast must be pre-arranged with care as to where it's put. Grace Albert thought it would be a good idea one evening to wear a black velvet gown with a pink taffeta sash, but when she was seen on the screen in it it caused a panic. For all the world she might have had a wide slice sawed right out of the middle of her! She was moving about, apparently, in two separate parts. In the same way a man's white shirt collar, unless it is punctuated by a dark necktie, can sometimes painlessly but completely decapitate him. Shiny and metallic dress materials aren't so _ good for the iconoscope camera. Sequins are definitely out because they reflect a thousand glittering star-points of light. Lame and satin, however, reproduce quite sucessfully. Diamond or rhinestone jewelry can't be worn since it forms a brilliant reflection, but pearls — even the cheapest imitation ones — appear unusually satiny and polished and beautiful. When you get a television set of your own you'll be seeing and hearing a negro quartet called the Four Ink Spots. These boys, who have made a hit already with the listeners, have no making-up to do at all. They can step before the cameras in their white tuxedos and black neckties and reproduce flawlessly. They were selected for television because of all the negro quarets at the ex perts' disposal they packed the most action into their singing. And television requires plenty of action or else it seems too wooden to be really a moving picture The Ink Spots hail from Cincinnati where they formed a foursome while working together at a hotel. They sang for a year over WLW, came to New York to crash the big-time, and shortly after their arrival were spotted by maestro Jack Hylton who took them on a long tour of England and the continent. When they returned _ to this country they were given sustaining contracts at NBC and nabbed by television. They wangle two guitars, a cello and a tipple (a peculiar instrument something like a mandolin) and sing everything from hot to sweet to comedy. Before the Ink Spots rehearse the engineers draw a chalk-lined rectangle on the carpet inside which they may move around without going beyond the camera's range. They're given about twelve square feet of floor space in which to clown and act and carry on their "business" while they perform. And they're so successful at getting a lot of movement into twelve square feet they've appeared already on more than seventy television programs. The men behind the cameras predict they'll make a terrific sensation when arm-chair talkies arrive in the homes of the public. The czars of 3-H, looking about them to select the one actor and actress best suited for television stardom, combed the list of thespians at Radio City and finally settled on Grace and Eddie Albert. Undoubtedly you've heard Grace and Eddie as the "Honeymooners" on their regular morning broadcasts; for three years they've been acting in skits of their own writing with solos and duets thrown in. They're not married nor are they even kin as their names might imply. They're just COLOR — ■**■* -. t* ,a %IL v wlieve what an \ ^mediate * «*. a«ce" sAay' 'r "until you dxs that matches .. ■ sViadow rouge, "PsUtsdyentinc color andxnascaxam^^ harmony. " for it is all ■ ~~ each i ,. that neveT «**' X\C°^oro}youreyesl c^SeS;,tMk for Marvelous Try it! ^"pofldei, Dresden type Face SW^ Rouge, Lrpsu^yete and Mascara if you * h\ne; Patrick ^ ConunentalW ^ ^ depriced.-at J .full size packages, eacn ^ P(Canada65cen*)._Matched Marvelous 1 man MfeUCs tonignt. •who matters . SAYS •'■-1 ure« m THE X1EGFEL0 FOLLIES i$y : ; COPYRIGHT 1937, BY RICHARD HUDNUT ROUGE LIPSTICK FACE POWDER MASCARA EYE SHADOW 90 mMmous^/^/mniKUP /4 RICHARD HUDNUT Paris. ..tondon... New York... Toronto... Buenos Aires. ..Berlin