LOS ANGELES — Located in the historic Max Factor building on Hollywood Boulevard is a Tinseltown time capsule, the Hollywood Museum. This historic building houses one of the largest collections of movie memorabilia.
Donelle Dadigan is president of the Hollywood Museum, which has collected thousands of movie costumes and props dating back to silent films. The reason they are housed in the old Max Factor building is because you can’t have a movie star without makeup.
“Max Factor was Hollywood’s makeup king. He was the man who gave all the movie stars their look,” said Dadigan. “If these walls could talk, oh the stories they would tell.”
Some of those stories include creating individual rooms with specific colors to come up with Marilyn Monroe’s platinum blond hair color, Judy Garland's glow and Joan Crawford’s eyes. To create those looks, Max Factor did a lot of experimenting.
One experimental device he used was a massive metal contraption that was placed over the actor’s entire head.
“It is called the 'beauty calibrator' and Max Factor used this contraption to measure all the characters and features on a person’s face,” said Dadigan.
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To this day, Max Factor’s makeup is used on movie stars. His team often worked with wardrobe artists to get that perfect look and you’ll find some of those original costumes displayed throughout the museum.
“The actors actually wore them and I don’t know if you can find them anywhere else. We are proud to have them,” said Dadigan.
The Hollywood Museum regularly saves set pieces after filming. In the basement is the actual prison set from the movie The Silence of the Lambs and on the upper floor you will find costumes from Star Wars and the original Planet of the Apes films.
“The exhibits here at the museum at any time showcase more than 100 years of Hollywood,” said Dadigan.
Movie stars may no longer get made up in the old Max Factor building, but its legacy is preserved for all to see.
More from the backroads of Hollywood: How to get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
