Marilyn and her glam team

The infamous Marilyn Monroe makeup-look. The sleepy bedroom eyes, the plump red lips and the luminous and glowy skin. Everyone loves it and everyone has their own story of who created it and how it happened. The most popular opinion is that Max Factor "created" the famous makeup-look. The thing is, Marilyn never even met Max Factor. Yes, Marilyn could´ve used their makeup line once or twice. But there is no evidence whatsoever that Max Factor "created" Marilyn. First of all, Marilyn´s look wasn´t "created" by just one person. It took years to develop the right look for her and it took many methods to achieve that. Sure, Allan Snyder had a pig part in creating her look, but it was still Marilyn´s work. So why don´t we start giving credit to the woman who deserves it?

//Marilyn in 1949//

The beginning of the makeup look

In the absolute beginning of her career, Marilyn probably did most of her makeup by herself for shoots. As her career grew, she got more help from makeup artists.

//Marilyn with Clay Cambell at Columbia Studios//

In 1946, a 20-year old Marilyn stepped in front of the camera for her very first screen test. 20th Century Fox had assigned their best makeup artist Allan Snyder to prepare her face. However, their first collaboration did not go very well. Marilyn had only worked as a model before, and makeup at the time was different on movie. So, as Marilyn knew things, she asked Mr. Snyder to apply thick cakey makeup to her face. Apparently, the makeup was not at all flattering on camera and cinematographer Leon Shamroy shouted

“Whitey, what the hell have you got on that face? We can’t photograph her that way! Take this girl downstairs, wash the damn stuff off, do her face the way you know it ought to be and bring her back up!”

Marilyn was mortified by the response on the makeup. 

“I remember thinking that here was a very determined and ambitious girl, despite her obvious nervousness.” Allan Snyder later remembered. On the second try, the makeup had to be a lot better since Marilyn thereafter relied on him. He learned her everything he knew. Thanks to him, she learned the varying techniques for different makeup needs, such as black-and-white photos versus colour. 


As Marilyn´s fame and career continued to grow, she started to request Whitey to work with her on films. Together, they carefully developed the  Marilyn Monroe look. He followed her to various movie sets around the globe, including England, Canada, New York, San Diego and others. Whitey got to see the person behind the glamorous image. Marilyn had a lot of anxiety through her life and sometimes had trouble showing up to the set. Whitey was a good friend to her and helped her through some of these moments. They quickly became very close and they shared a lot of trust for each other.

As a light-hearted joke between the two, Marilyn used to joke with Whitey that if something happened and she would die first of the two, he was to prepare her makeup for her funeral. Marilyn even gifted him a money clip with the engraving “Whitey, dear…while I’m still warm—Marilyn”.

Whitey did indeed keep his promise to Marilyn. When Marilyn passed away in 1962, ex-husband Joe DiMaggio arranged her funeral. DiMaggio called Whitey and asked “Whitey, you promised—will you do it, please—for her?”


“I’ll be there, Joe,” Whitey told him.


When it was time for the funeral, Whitey took his makeup bag and drove to the mortuary in Westwood.  With the help of a bottle of gin, Whitey prepared Marilyn´s makeup for the last time before she was laid to rest.

//Hugging Whitey//

Hair 

As most of you probably already know, Marilyn wasn´t originally platinum blonde. As a little girl, she had very light blonde hair, but as so many others, her hair became darker as she grew older.

A woman named Emmeline Snivley, head of Blue Book Modeling Agency recommened she bleached it. So, Marilyn went to Frank and Joseph Hair Salon to bleach it. Technician Sylvia Barnhart did the work.

//Marilyn with Sylvia and Frank//

Marilyn had several hairdresser´s through her career, but the two most known ones are probably Gladys Rasmussen and Agnes Flanagan, because she worked with them the most. She also worked with Sydney Guilaroff and hairdresser of the stars Kenneth Battelle.

Marilyn and Gladys met in the beginning of the 1950´s, probably in 1952 at Fox. She helped style her hair for films such as How To Marry A Millionare (1953), River Of No Return (1954),There´s No Business Like Show Business (1954) and many more.

//Here is Marilyn helping Gladys with her hair for a change, 1954//

Marilyn met Agnes in 1950, at the set of "Fireball". Agnes worked with Marilyn for over ten years. They worked together at films like Some Like It Hot (1959), Lets Make Love (1960) and Something´s Got To Give (1962).

//With Agnes in 1962//

“Her hair is so curly naturally that to build a coiffure for her I have to first give her a straight permanent... The way we got her shade of platinum is with my own secret blend of sparkling silver bleach plus twenty volume peroxide and a secret formula of silver platinum to take the yellow out” As said by Gladys.


It´s said that for each and every movie Marilyn ever starred in, Marilyn dyed her hair a slightly different shade of blonde. She said she felt she wanted to give something different to her fans each time.

An example of that is in "Bus Stop" (1956) where Marilyn wore a more honey-blonde shade to fit her character.

Marilyn as Cherie in Bus Stop.

xoxo