Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-02-20
CHANGING FEATURES
Light on One Portion of Stage Art
That the General Public
KNOWS VERY LITTLE ABOUT.
Kate Castleton One of the Cleverest Make
Ups on the Boards.
HOW FACES ARE EASILY ALTERED

A face, if you please, though it bring a
droll expression into the world with it, can
become the exponent of tragedy through the
powerful aid of a bit of chalk.
Ones countenance, like ones parlor, can
have its furniture, otherwise its features,
rearranged. There are the eyebrows! Per-
haps you inherit it materially or pater-
nally, or, perhaps, nature fell out with the
family likeness when it gave you an arch
ing eyebrow. Such feature produces a
bland, 'I'm-i -iust-come- earth" sort of ex-
preston, indicative of belief in every
thing from a nickel in the slot down to a
man. A .iudicious use of chalk and paint
would make one willing to swear that the
owner of so keen glance would spend his
season in the Promised Land, betting
| ten to one that its streets were made
only of gilt. Your nose may be timid and
retiring-desiring to seclude itself among
the cushions of your cheeks Lol We, it
| suddenly stands out a neZ such as Napoleon
| would have had marry into his family i'm
mediately, and have given a kingdom to
| all caused by a few lines at its base, and
may be for the improvement of its contour,
a bit of wax on the bridge. A retrousse nose
may have its fascination spoiled by long
sort of Presbyterian upper lip. This
little red remedies, Cupid's bow being the
result. Then what wonders may be worked
on the mouth itself! Have you not seen
one that looked as if it had been born old,
dumb, uninteresting, unravished of Its fruit,
that had grown withered while waiting in
vain to be plucked? Such mouth be-
comes, under the kindly guidance of a skill
ful hand and the grease pot, haven of
bliss for some hungry man.
Kate CastIeton a Makeup Artist.
Miss Kate Castleton, who is nothing if
not emphatic, prefaced talk on makeup"
thus: 81 see no more harm in a woman
using paint and powder than in her wearing
false hair, false teeth and bustle" Miss
Castleton thinks the crime really lies in a
make-up's inartisticness. She does not af-
feet to present subtle characterization, but
simply treats her face in manner that will
emphasize every interesting and attractive
point So mastery has she become that she
is called the best made-up woman on the
stage to-day, and her dressing room is the
resort of other actresses, who initiate her
methods first and find out the reasons for |
them afterward
She compares her face to that of French |
wax doll. The crucial points in beginning |
makeup" with her are the eyes and hair |
The complexion takes its tone from them, |
not point being overlooked, for the color |
is carried up carefully into the roots of the
hair on the brow and the neck. The
mechanism in those wonderful eyes of hers
Is most intricate. That shelving portion
between the evelid and eyebrow, and also
the part over the cheekbone are filed in
with short black lines, radiating from the
eyeball-the dolls face illustrates this.
The eyelids are dashed with black and the
lashes thickened with black grease paint.
A near view of all this usually is disa-
greeable, but not so in the case of Miss
Castleton. This, by the by, she says is because
Of her knowledge of perspective, Brought
up in a draughtsman's establishment.
she can so gauge effects that practically she
looks the same to the bald man sitting in
the front row and the late conner hanging
on the back railing of the circle. A little
dab of red at each nostril is something she
alone of all actresses practices. Nature
her with delicious dimple, to
which sign post is added in the form of a
bit of black court plaster to point out its
location.
The Hands Not Neglected.
Besides all this, Miss Castleton treats her
hands in what she calls a rational manner.
Their nails are colored red which tone is
carried down past the first joint. Where
,be hand dimples ut the base of the fingers
las to be gone through every day before
Miss Castleton comes on the stage, to do as
we have all seen her do-swing on her toes
bit, look at the audience until each man
md each woman thinks he or she is the par
ocular recipient of her battery of coquetry,
and then say so quietly, 'tFor goodness
'ake, don't say 1 told you.
Among the numerous anecdotes that cluster
-ound the stage and its people, one is told
,f an exceedingly novel case of what might
De termed facial. theft. In a company in
which Mr.. Felix Morris held prominent
position there was minor member who
was constantly infringing on Mr. Morris
makeup" This little man absorbed him,
levoured him, watched him increasingly.
Every tavorite disguise of the premier was
reproduced with prentice hand on the face
If the minor member. 1t so happened that
he minor member by nature was gifted
with an exceedingly long nose, Mr.. Morris,
With short one-which, by judicious shad-
ng, he was enabled to lengthen at will,
ind produce nose of fair proportion. The
elbow who aped him noticed the
fleet, and without analyzing the motive,
ollowed the method and' applied it to his
'wn superabundant length of nose. The
fleet was ludicrous. Every other feature
vas dwarfed and almost exterminated
such proboscis you never saw! His ap-
,earance behind the scenes, before going on
he stage, was greeted with a shout of
aughter
Good heavens. man, what's the matter
With your nose?" ,
'Mr Morris does the same thing to his
ose, said the minor member.
eyes, was answered, ''but look at the
ifference in the length of your noses
ours looks like a broom handle With
hover of chatting and snubbing going on,
he minor member, with much rubbing and =
lssing and fuming, reduced his nose to its
wn unusual length again.
Some Actors Gifted by Nature.
Mr.. Joseph Jefferson does not devote
luch time in preparing for the perform
nee, and will frequently entertain his
isitor in his dressing room until within Is
r 20 minutes of the rise of the curtain.
ohm T. Raymond, in his inimitable per-
ormance of Col Sellers, would frequently
ush in at the last minute, and with few
ouches of the "hare's FOOT and little face
owder, buttoning up his frock coat as he
topped on the stage, would there be well
omed with as much enthusiasm as if he had
pent hours in preparation. Denman
in the same way used little or no
nake-up, his marked individuality being
II that is necessary to the character he so
bly, presents. Coquelin. the great French
1ponent of comedy, varies his methods.
ometimes his makeup is marvel of art
nd again it may be simplicity itself
MI Felix Morris, as the old French |
jomte in the Rose" uses no less than nine
ifferent shades of grease paint. As the old
hevalier in the ''Game Of Cards" he also