The Debut Of "THE MAX FACTOR" Documentary at The Max Factor Building

(Left) Julia Kuperberg, Bonnie Pointer, Lee Purcell, Vin Di Bono, Donelle Dadigan, Anita Pointer, Leonard Maltin and Clara Kuperberg

The Debut Of "THE MAX FACTOR" Documentary, produced by Wichita Films at The Max Factor Building

Photos by Karen Ostlund

August 11, Donelle Dadigan and Lee Purcell hosted a special screening, of the documentary - THE MAX FACTOR, on the astounding life of the Hollywood King of Make-up Max Factor at The Hollywood Museum.
 The film was followed by a Q & A with film critic Leonard Maltin  and filmmakers sisters Clara Kuperberg and Julia Kuperberg, who are multiple award-winning documentary filmmakers, selected twice at the Cannes Film Festival.
The after reception was sponsored by Emerald Hare Wines.

 The film includes classic film clips featuring the stars Factor working with round off this look behind the scenes, and appearances by Jaclyn Smith and Lee Purcell, who tell us what Max Factor meant to them, as well as Donelle Dadigan (President and Founder of The Hollywood Museum located in the Historic Max Factor Building).

Max Factor's cosmetics 1935

Max Factor invented lip gloss, foundation and wand-applicator mascara and was Hollywood's most sought-after makeup artist, painting the faces of everyone from Judy Garland to Joan Crawford to Bette Davis. He was the first one who came up with the idea of celebrity endorsements for beauty lines.
Max Factor revolutionized the beauty industry, but what is not known, were his struggles as a Polish Jew, who found his way to the Russian court, making wigs for the Tsar.
The threat of anti-semitism forced him to move his family to America by using his make-up skills to escape. Because of rampant antisemitism in the early 1900s, he and his family fled to America where relatives were living, using his make-up skills to escape. 
Max Factor moved to Hollywood at the right moment, because theatre make-up did not work very well with projectors and close-ups, and the introduction of Technicolor created other problems, Factor brilliantly resolved.
The grand opening of on November 26, 1935 of the new “Max Factor Make-Up Studio” was as glamorous as a Hollywood film premiere with 3500 guests.

In 1913 Cecil B. DeMille's The Squaw Man lent wigs and mustaches made from real hair, which was a novelty. He resolved the problem of melting lipstick by testing new products in a kissing machine and changed the looks of many stars by means of a beauty calibrator. In 1935 he had created a make-up empire which allowed him to ask the famous architect S. Charles Lee to build an art-deco office for him which is now the Hollywood Museum in Los Angeles.
The filmmakers Clara and Julia Kuperberg interviewed film historian Marc Wanemaker who talks about the achievements of Max Factor, while Donelle Dadigan shows us around the Museum, and the actresses.

The Max Factor documentary screening, Aug.11 at The Hollywood Museum

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