USEFUL FOR STARS

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXVI, Issue 12290, 2 March 1938, Page 4

USEFUL FOR STARS

THE “BEAUTY” OF MEDICINE. There’s an emergency hospital in every Hollywood studio, and a firstaid field station with every company on location. But if an actor wants some simple medicine such as iodine, mineral oil or collodion, he gets them, not from the doctor or nurse, but from the make-up artist, who uses such preparations in ways their makers neved dreamed of. Attention was focussed on this fact when John Boles, playing opposite Luli Deste in “She Married an Artist,” accidentally cut his hand on a perfume bottle the actress threw at him in a comedy scene. Boles called for iodine, and Fred Phillips, make-up artist, turned and quickly produced the needed drug. “I have almost any medicine you want, right here.” He indicated his kit, Johnny Wallace, head of the make-up department at Columbia, supplies every assistant with a similar outfit, and Phillips explained the uses of some of its contents. Menthol Makes Tears. Menthol is used to help make an actress cry, when tears prove difficult otherwise. lodine tints whitening, which a player must use on a tooth slightly discoloured. Hydrogen peroxide is sometimes called for by the titian-haired. Applied judiciously, it brings out high lights, although the chemical finds its greatest use in the hairdressing department of the studio. Collodion, once a standard surgical dressing, produces realistic scars when painted on plastics used to build up a person’s features. “It helped transform Margo into an old woman in ‘Lost Horizon’,” said Phillips, who uses several other drugs and chemicals daily. Zinc oxide is the base of most grease paint. Witch hazel blends and repairs make-up. Acetone removes spirit gum, used to affix wigs and beards. Mineral oil gives the appearance of perspiration. Potassium permanganate enters into bleaching solutions. Blood can be duplicated by a mixture of alcohol, water and carmine.