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The Westmore Family is a well known name, yet perhaps now overlooked in the current beauty industry narrative, yet this family was so integral in the shaping of our contemporary beauty standards that this family created what we know as the “makeup chair” in Hollywood. The Westmores are an esteemed family who led makeup departments of film studios, wrote numerous books and worked to have the makeup chair as a standard norm in Hollywood studios. The family would go on to advocate for there to be an Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling. The family’s name made an impact in Hollywood beginning with George Westmore, who created the first makeup department in 1917, where he freelanced through major film studios of the time. This experience also acquired a deep knowledge of how Hollywood studios operate, which would impact generations to come, with the achievement of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for the family.

George would go on to have six sons in leading makeup department roles in Hollywood studios, out of his 19 children during his marriage to Ada Savage. I am fascinated by the idea that each of so many of his sons were passionate enough to pursue a burgeoning industry, which undoubtedly crafted our idea of glamour and classic beauty, which holds firm in its concepts today. The family also found success in the emerging field of classic horror films, such as Frankenstein (1931). When Bud Westmore led Universal Studios, he took over for the role of makeup for Frankenstein – a truly artistic endeavor to create such an impactful and iconic film monster. According to Wikipedia, by 1926, four of George’s sons, Monte, Perc, Ern (Perc’s twin), and Bud all became chief makeup artists of four different Hollywood studios. They each became the champions of beauty in Hollywood, and they formulated the ideas of how women should look on screen. Their passion and impact was truly for the betterment of Hollywood studios. Monte, the first makeup artist to use airbrush makeup, tragically passed away due to a heart attack because of the demands of working on the film production of Gone with the Wind (1939). Monte was the only makeup artist working on such an extensive and expansive film production. His work on that film was the first use of airbrushing of makeup. Remaining family members went on to build the House of Westmore Salon, which served both Hollywood stars and the public alike.

The Westmore family brought innovation to Hollywood. They enabled Hollywood studios to have an in-house makeup artist, but they also crafted a narrative for the public to also hold themselves to a personal standard of grooming, which is to say that when you feel your best, you look your best. This is something that stands true today and will remain a timeless concept!

I own one of their books on the topic of 1940s beauty and most of the ideas presented are focused on ensuring skincare that suits your skin type and the overall enhancement of natural beauty with specific tools that are geared to bringing out the best of the features that person has. I think that’s more inspiring than some of the beauty standards we are seeing today, which emphasize so much “change” in the features of someone, so much so that people have normalized the idea of plastic surgery. This is not healthy for the most part to believe that changing oneself is a good thing, and it’s important to remember that we are all unique for a reason! Social media has unfortunately created unrealistic beauty standards through photoshop and filters and have impacted an entire generation to not be comfortable with their own features now. Beauty should be about elevating your best features and not changing them. It’s important to remember that beauty does come from within and that the attitude and mindset one carries is also reflected in your style makeup!

The Westmore family was not only critical in its development of major film studio makeup departments, they also learned to collaborate. Ern Westmore, for example, went on to work closely with Max Factor, another well-known Hollywood name. Ern, for his part, worked on Bette Davis giving her a fuller more natural brow and focused on creating the classic lip line we know her to have.

In contemporary Hollywood, the family has continued to work on major productions, including films like Blade Runner in the 1980s, and perhaps most notably, for the Star Trek series. Ultimately, the passion and commitment to quality and understanding of character development and presentation in Hollywood is how the Westmore family has persisted for so many generations. Today, the brand lives on through Westmore Beauty with his great-great granddaughter’s commitment to timeless beauty sharing its commitment to 100+ years of innovation.

The scion of the Westmore Family, George Westmore

Sources:

Wikipedia

Westmores of Hollywood

Betty Grable made an impact on America. In the 1940s, Betty Grable was the highest paid woman in America. She had the highest salary of a woman in the country in the years 1946-1947. Throughout her career, she made over $3 million. Betty, undeniably, held a grip over American culture… over the course of her 42 films during the 1930s and 1940s, they grossed a net of $100 million. For those times (and today), those numbers are astounding. During WWII, she surpassed Rita Hayworth as the top pin-up girl, which Life magazine referred to as “100 Photographs That Changed The World.”

Born Elizabeth Ruth Grable on December 18, 1916 in St. Louis, Missouri, she was the youngest of three children of a Midwestern family. She was pressured to become a performer by her mother and achieved many accolades and won beauty contests frequently. Despite this, she suffered from a fear of crowds and sleepwalking. Her career in Hollywood began in 1929, shortly after the stock market crash, when she traveled with her mother to California. She studied at the “Hollywood Professional School,” and attended dance classes as well. In 1930, she signed under Samuel Goldwyn and became one of the original “Goldwyn Girls.” She led one of the musical numbers titled, “Cowboys,” yet received no on screen credit for the performance. She went on to sign with RKO Radio Pictures in 1932. It is infamously remarked by Marilyn Monroe how she used to stare longingly at an RKO tower from her orphanage window as a child, which helped her solidify her dream of becoming a performer – Betty and Marilyn would later perform together alongside Lauren Bacall. The stars do align!

Following her time with RKO, Betty would sign with Paramount Pictures, even further advancing her career in Hollywood. However, her performances at the time were being overshadowed by those of Judy Garland, especially from The Wizard of Oz, which captured America’s heart in the 1930s. However, she persisted in Hollywood and by 1939, she was performing alongside her husband, Jackie Coogan, in a film called Million Dollar Legs. For a time of such embedded objectification of women in Hollywood, it feels rather ironic that a woman’s career successes could be rooted in that. However, I believe much of female performances by leading ladies in Golden Age Hollywood have been overlooked tremendously for the actual work that they did, with too much emphasis on the idea of their image. This is especially commented on in Richard Barrios new book about Marilyn Monroe’s performances, On Marilyn Monroe, which details the incredible body of work she helped create (and how she was a discerning script reader for films and characters), and this was often overlooked or heavily critiqued by film critics who had no tact in understanding some of the nuanced genius of these performances.

Grable would continue to move film studios, landing in 1940 at 20th Century Fox, and by then, she stated that she felt “sick and tired” of performing and that she was considering retirement. She was given close attention by the head of Fox at the time, Darryl Zanuck (who infamously did not like Marilyn Monroe and held her career back as much as he could). In 1940, this was far before Marilyn’s beginnings at Fox, Grable was cast as lead in Down Argentine Way, replacing Alice Faye, who had been the most popular musical film star at the time. For many who study Golden Age Hollywood like I do, it becomes exceedingly clear that men were deciding the career outcomes of women and they were playing puppet master to who would advance in their career. This does not, however, negate the quality of these performances.

Often, even in times of career burnout (as Grable had discussed wanting to retire), she again stepped up and did a fantastic performance. Over and over again, women have shown persistence in times of tremendous challenge and strength in the face of male dominant, chauvinistic systems created to cast them out just as quickly as they arrived. I would argue that women of Golden Age Hollywood were true icons for this reason. They carried the weight of contractual burdens of the system, performed nearly to no end, and maintained an image of near perfect good looks… no wonder their personal lives were often left troubled.

If there is anything to be truly appreciative of in these remarkable storied lives of Hollywood’s bygone icons, is that there are ways to renew your own appreciation in the importance of living a balanced life, and of the understanding of our limitations for our own health and wellness, not to see as a hinderance, but as a way to guide your decisions in healthy living. Many of these female performers were pushed to limits which became unhealthy. Betty Grable, among many other women in Hollywood, were being stretched to maximum capacity, were excessively critiqued, and yet, created and generated so many profits for Hollywood (and were considered incredibly attractive). The best way we can appreciate their impact today is by remembering their work and respecting them for it.

In 1943, Betty Grable was voted the “Number One Box Office Draw,” by moviegoers – outranking male icons such as Bob Hope, Clark Gable, and Humphrey Bogart. This favorite box office vote was again regained in 1950. By the early 1950s, Betty could not find scripts she wanted to perform for and her career began to decline. Marilyn Monroe replaced her in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

Holistically, women in Hollywood were put in competition too often and were isolated in that way, too. Betty was a pioneer through some of Hollywood’s most incredible times. According to director Martin Scorsese, “Looking back at the pictures of the ’30s and ’40s, the period now known as the Golden Age of Hollywood, you can feel, more and more, just how controlled many of the performances were, especially in relation to movies made after the arrival of Brando and James Dean in the ’50s. There’s a tension between directors and actors that I find extremely interesting now.” Scorsese summarizes all there is to be said about the time that Betty performed in. I think we should celebrate her for this.

Betty Grable passed way of lung cancer in 1973 at age 56 in Santa Monica, CA.

Source: Wikipedia

Tag: film

The Westmores of Hollywood & Classic Beauty

Pin-Up History: Betty Grable