Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-10-15
THE ART OF 'sMAKING Up" -
In Earlier Days Actors Worked Won
ders With Meager Equipment
From the Theater Magazine.

From the Theater Magazine
Character and eccentric actors covered
themselves with glory in 1.-The old days"
of dramatic history when "make-ups'' were
of the most primitive kind. Grease paints,
crepe hair and the hundred and one ac-
cessories of the actors toilet were then
unknown. Such transformations as they
did accomplish were achieved through the
ingenious use of WhitewaSh rubbed from
the walls of their dressing room, red from
the bricks of the chimney and black from
the carbonization of an old cork. With
these simple aids something was accom-
plshed, but a glance at the prints and
cravings of theatrical happenings when
Garrick was king show that much was left
to the imagination, and some remarkable
anachronisms may be marked in the way
of wigs and costumes. To have achieved
a sensation Macbeth logged out in a
full-bottomed wig and the uniform of q
Scotch soldier of the seventeenth century
speaks wonders for the effectiveness of the
acting. Contrast such a picture with Irv
ing's wonderful makeup as the Thane of
Cawdor, and the marvellous advance that
has been made in this phase of the actors
art will be seen at glance. 1t was
German who made face transformation an
art. Carl Baudin was his name. A mem
Der of the Leipziger Stadt Theater he, like
many others, felt the need of something
that would hide that demarking line be-
tween the forehead and the wig band. His
grease paint was first used for this purpose
alone, but it's possibilities We're recognized
and he and his associates quickly widened
its sphere of usefulness. Today grease
paint can be secured in any shade from
corpse-like pallor to the rudy hue of
wind-beaten sailor The color of any ma
tionality is on immediate tap, and few
dabs from these sticks of pigment and you
have an Indian, a Monaghan or an Ethio-
plan ready at hand. A palette may contain
all the colors in the rainbow, but it needs
the brush of an artist to blend them into
a picture. So it is with these sticks of
ore lint n MT hoy to no f1il
advantage study and experience are needed
How to cast shadows, how to bring wrin-
kles into relief, how to lengthen or broaden
the face and all the other phases of theat-
rical "make-up' are subject to rules as
imperative as those employed in the compo-
sitiOn of an oil painting a water color.
1t will thus be seen that the player who
knows something of drawing and painting
has a distinct advantage at the game.
There are many instances where a clever
makeup" has deceived even experienced
actors familiar with all the tricks of the
business. Joseph Jefferson, seeing Wilton
Lackaye for the first time in THE Children
of the Ghetto could not be brought to be-
a man barely in his fOrties and J. Z. bod
son tells this story: When l was playing
the Jew in After Dark / made up the nose
to suit the part. One night at the close of
the performance l was sent for by a Jewish
gentleman who wished to meet me- l di-
vested myself of my makeup and went
to him, saying: Well, sir, I am Mr. Dod-
son. What can l do for your He replied
L want Mr.. Dodson. the actor I am he
No, no. rejoined the visitor, placing his
finger on his nose. He is one of u.s. -