History of Prosthetics

It was not until the 1930’s that makeup was applied by actual makeup artists, with performers applying their own makeup and developing their own ways of designing prosthetics, using materials such as ‘spirit gum, fish skin, cotton, gelatine, greasepaints, Collodion, cheesecloth, clay, Fullers Earth, various putties, pastes and wax’, Gutta Percha, crepe hair and FX artist’s friend – latex’ Jeffries-Jones (2012). 

One such actor, Cavendish Morton, wrote a book in 1909 explaining some of the techniques he used and how to apply makeup, including a number of illustrations on specific characters he had created.  An extract from his book is below, explaining how he created the character of Shakespeare’s Falstaff. Morton (1909 p. 50-51)

MORTON, C., 1909. The Art of Theatrical Makeup. London: Adam and Charles Black

Another actor well known for his makeup and prosthetics ability was Lon Chaney (1883-1930) who mainly appeared in silent horror films, such as playing Quasimodo in the Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923).  The heavy makeup that he wore over his eye for this part made him become short-sighted and he subsequently always had to wear glasses to correct this. His ability at transforming himself into characters earned him the nickname of ‘the man with the thousand faces’. Chaney’s knowledge of theatrical makeup and prosthetics was so well respected that he wrote about it in an edition of The Encyclopedia Britannica.

MAAS, N., 2012. Lon Chaney. In: Nate's Nonsense. 5 February 2012 [30 September 2015].
Available from: http://www.natemaas.com/2012/02/lon-chaney.html

Lon Chaney pictured with his leather case of makeup.
MAAS, N., 2012. Lon Chaney. In: Nate's Nonsense. 5 February 2012 [30 September 2015].
Available from: http://www.natemaas.com/2012/02/lon-chaney.html

The ability of makeup artists to create prosthetics increased greatly in the 1930s with the introduction of foam latex. Latex was much easier to use than the previously used wax, as it could be applied thinly and did not crack. The first film to use latex extensively was The Wizard of Oz (1939), with about 30 makeup artists working on the makeup designs. Jack Dawn was the main designer of the makeup looks for the main characters, including the Tin Man, the Lion, the Scarecrow, the Wicked Witch and the Munchkins. Because there were so many characters with creative and time consuming makeup designs, the studio trained staff from the mail rooms in specific areas of the makeup so that they could help create the characters. 

There were many health and safety problems that went wrong when filming this film, including:

-Buddy Esben, the original tin man actor, was on set he found he couldn't breathe properly and so was rushed to hospital; this was due to the aluminium dust in the makeup used. This meant that a replacement actor had to be used and aluminium paste was used instead so that the new actor, Jack Haley, didn't experience the same problem. 

-Margaret Hamiton, who played the wicked witch, got second and third degree burns in the scene where she vanishes through a cloud of smoke and fire because her makeup was made out of copper. The copper heated up and started to burn her skin so she had to remove the makeup as quickly as possible, otherwise the makeup would have continued to eat away at her skin. 

ODORIZZI, C., 2013. Make-Up. In: The Wizard of Oz. 21 March 2013 [30 September 2015].
Available from: http://wizoz3560.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/makeup-artist-courtney.html

Other early developments in prosthetics included the first time a full pull on over head mask was used, which was in the film The Mad Magician (1954). The makeup artists involved were Gustav Norin and George and Gordon Bau. Some sources also credit George Bau with inventing the recipe for Old Age Stipple (OAS), which was used to age performers, and included latex, talc, gelatine and water. However some sources credit Dick Smith later in 1970. 

Makeup artist working on the Mad Magian's mask.
GETTV. Icon of the Week Vincent Price [30 September 2015].
Available from: http://www.get.tv/icon-of-the-week/vincent-price

Another expert in the development of prosthetics was American John Chamber (1923-2001). His initial profession was as a dentist in the Army during the World War II, where he developed techniques to help soldiers badly wounded in battle by reconstructing their teeth and other parts of their faces. After the war he took his skills to work at NBC, to work in makeup and prosthetics. He worked on many films, including The Planet of the Apes (1968), and developed Mr Spock’s ears in the TV series Star Trek. Many of the techniques he developed in the 1950s and 1960s are still used, such as his custom design skull caps.

Mr Spock, Star Trek.
PATRICK, R., 2010. He Wants Us To Thrive. In: Selah Christian Church Blog. 27 October 2010 [30 September 2015]. Available from: http://selahchurch.blogspot.co.uk/2010_10_01_archive.html

The first time an Oscar was awarded for Best Makeup was in 1981 and was won by Rick Baker (born 1950) for his work on An American Werewolf in London (1981). He has since been nominated 11 times and has won seven Awards in total, a record. His winning films include the Nutty Professor (1996), How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) and Wolfman (2010).

MORGAN, J., 2010. Jim Carrey's makeup prosthetics from The Grinch... In: Hollywood Movie Costumes and Props. 22 October 2010 [30 September 2015]. Available from:  http://hollywoodmoviecostumesandprops.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/jim-carreys-make-up-prosthetics-from.html

Rick Baker's makeup won the 2001 Academy Award for Best Make-Up for How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Jim Carey was the actor who played the grinch and it took over 45 makeup artists and hours to transform him into the green character. It is rumoured that Jim Carey found the facial prosthetics so uncomfortable and restricting to wear that he had to get counselling to teach him torture-resistance techniques. Below is an image of the original makeup prosthetic pieces for Jim Carey to wear. The pieces were on display at the Universal Studios Horror Make-Up Show in Orlando in September 2010. 

Original Facial Prosthetics.
MORGAN, J., 2010. Jim Carrey's makeup prosthetics from The Grinch... In: Hollywood Movie Costumes and Props. 22 October 2010 [30 September 2015]. Available from:  http://hollywoodmoviecostumesandprops.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/jim-carreys-make-up-prosthetics-from.html

Chris Walas got his Oscar for his makeup on Jeff Goldblum in The Fly(1986). Jeff Goldblum plays a hybrid monster who is half human, half fly. Chris' first big project was working on Gremlins, where he says he learned so many new techniques and how to work with new products. One of the most valuable lessons Chris learned from working on Gremlins "was the fact that there is always more than one way to do an effect. There's always another option. We developed a lot of our own technology forGremlins that we adapted to The Fly, particularly along the animatronics line, so we had an existing library of hardware available. That became critical on The Fly as we had to rethink some effects due to the tight schedule".  Chris Walas said he was initially nervous to work on Jeff Goldblum because he had a big nose and big ears which could cause some trouble when they wanted to conceal them; however he worked his way around it. His design developments are shown below. 

Transformation drawings by Chris Walas.
KONOW, D., 2015. Chris Walas' Makeup Effects for 'The Fly'. In: Jamie & Adam Tested. 26 June 2015 [30 September 2015]. Available from:
http://www.tested.com/art/movies/532460-chris-walas-makeup-effects-fly/

Chris Walas and his team were very experimental when coming up with different effects and products to use. He says "I don't remember any effects we didn't attempt. There was a lot cut from the film, naturally, as that's the nature of practical creature effects. There's an entire stage of the make-up that didn't make it into the movie". One effect that Chris Walas said he wasn't completely happy with was the melting hand where the arm wrestler's wrist breaks. Walas says "a plate was glued to the actor's hand that had a projection (the snapping bone) extending a couple of inches down the arm so that when the actor snapped his hand back, the bone came popping out". The director of the film, David Cronenberg, sped it up and was happy with it and so it was kept in the film. 

Walas working on Jeff Goldblum on The Fly set.
KONOW, D., 2015. Chris Walas' Makeup Effects for 'The Fly'. In: Jamie & Adam Tested. 26 June 2015 [30 September 2015]. Available from: http://www.tested.com/art/movies/532460-chris-walas-makeup-effects-fly/

Jeff Goldblum as The Fly.
KONOW, D., 2015. Chris Walas' Makeup Effects for 'The Fly'. In: Jamie & Adam Tested. 26 June 2015 [30 September 2015]. Available from: http://www.tested.com/art/movies/532460-chris-walas-makeup-effects-fly/

The original film The Fly(1958) was directed by Kurt Neumann and actor David 'Al' Hedison played the fly. Ben Nye was the makeup artist for the film and he only had two months to create the design. Ben Nye and his assistant, Dick Smith, came up with the idea of using a tight skin to put over the model's face so that they could attach latex sponge pieces onto it to create the fly's facial features. The wardrobe department sewed in a zipper down the back of the mask so that they could get it on and off quickly. Nye also had the wardrobe department create metal frames covered with a fine wire mesh in a convex curve for the fly's big eyes. Nye and his team then stuck 14mm pearl-like beads onto the mesh and then painted the eyes with iridescent colours. However after testing out these eyes with the lighting they realised that the eyes looked too fake, so Nye decided to make the eyes out of two thin layers of plastic shells. The only animation the mask had was the fly's tongue, which was controlled by a stick inside the mask going inside Hedison's mouth. The tiny hairs all over the tongue and on the fly's head were made by holding little plastic rods over heat and then pulling them apart to create tiny hairs. The Fly in the 1958 and the 1986 film look completely different, because of the different ways the makeup designer interpreted the fly and because of the developments in the prosthetics available. 

1958 The Fly Film
WINNERT, D., 2013. The Fly*** (1958, David Hedison, Patricia Owens, Vincent Price, Herbert
Marshall) - Classic Movie Review 193. In: Derek Winnert. 26 August 2013 [30 September 2015].
Available from: http://derekwinnert.com/the-fly-1958-classic-film-review-193/

In 1993 the Best Makeup Academy Award was awarded to Mrs Doubtfire, jointly won by Greg Cannom, Ve Neill and Yolande Toussieng. In the film Robin Williams was transformed into a female housekeeper so that he could spend time with his children after an acrimonious divorce, apparently by just applying a single latex mask to change himself into a woman; however, in reality, it took 4 hours 30 minutes every day for the full makeup to be applied. The mask was designed by Greg Cannom and Dick Smith, made up of several pieces so that Robin Williams was able to make facial expressions when in full makeup, and was fitted every day by Ve Neill, who has also worked on makeup for the Pirates of the Caribbean and The Hunger Games.  Dick Smith was known as ‘The Godfather of Makeup’, having worked in television makeup for 14 years and going on to work in films, including The Godfather (1972) and Godfather II (1974) and had helped develop many early prosthetic techniques, including  the use of foam latex and plastics.

Before and after the transformation.
DAVIS, C., 2011. Top 5 Films Where the Characters Get in Over Their Heads.
In: Locomotions of Expressions. 28 September 2011 [30 September 2015]. Available from:
http://1caseycolette.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/oh-what-tangled-web-we-weave.html#.Vlnyp2ThAy5

Below is a video showing how Robin Williams was transformed into Mrs Doubtfire.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sB8vaUNMLkM

Techniques and products are improving and evolving all the time, and combining digital animation and prosthetics is only strengthening the visual effects created.  

Resources:

JEFFRIES-JONES, S., 2012. A Little Prosthetic History...part 1. In: Sian Jeffries-Jones. 29 August 2012 [30 September 2015]. Available from: http://www.sianjeffriesjones.com/2012/08/29/a-little-prosthetic-history-part-1/

MORTON, C., 1909. The Art of Theatrical Makeup. London: Adam and Charles Black

IMDB. Lon Chaney Biography [30 September 2015]. Available from: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0151606/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

MAAS, N., 2012. Lon Chaney. In: Nate's Nonsense. 5 February 2012 [30 September 2015]. Available from: http://www.natemaas.com/2012/02/lon-chaney.html

PEEDIN, E., 2014. Prosthetic Makeup. In: Prosthetic Makeup. 26 March 2014 [30 September 2015]. Available from: https://prezi.com/0ztb_mjnlhzz/prosthetic-makeup/

ODORIZZI, C., 2013. Make-Up. In: The Wizard of Oz. 21 March 2013 [30 September 2015]. Available from: http://wizoz3560.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/makeup-artist-courtney.html

GETTV. Icon of the Week Vincent Price [30 September 2015]. 
Available from: http://www.get.tv/icon-of-the-week/vincent-price

JEFFRIES-JONES, S., 2012. Modern Prosthetics 30s to 70s... part 4 of a little prosthetic history. In: Sian Jeffries-Jones. 9 October 2012 [30 September 2015]. Available from: http://www.sianjeffriesjones.com/2012/10/09/modern-prosthetics-30s-to-70s-part-4-of-a-little-prosthetic-history/

IMDB. John Chambers Biography [30 September 2015]. Available from: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0150357/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

IMDB. Rick Baker Biography [30 September 2015]. Available from: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000711/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

MORGAN, J., 2010. Jim Carrey's makeup prosthetics from The Grinch... In: Hollywood Movie Costumes and Props. 22 October 2010 [30 September 2015]. Available from:  http://hollywoodmoviecostumesandprops.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/jim-carreys-make-up-prosthetics-from.html

KONOW, D., 2015. Chris Walas' Makeup Effects for 'The Fly'. In: Jamie & Adam Tested. 26 June 2015 [30 September 2015]. Available from: http://www.tested.com/art/movies/532460-chris-walas-makeup-effects-fly/

MILLAR, D., 1990. Cinema Secrets Special Effects. London: The Apple Press

BIODROWSKI, S., 2007. The Fly (1958) - A Retrospective. In: Cinefantastique Online. 7 August 2007 [30 September 2015]. Available from: http://cinefantastiqueonline.com/2007/08/retrospective-the-fly/

JOHNSON, M., 2014. Robin Williams Remembering♥ Mrs Doubtfire Make up Video funny Interview [30 September 2015]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sB8vaUNMLkM

IMDB. Dick Smith Biography [30 September 2015]. Available from: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004615/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

OSCARS, 2014. "Mrs. Doubtfire" winning a Makeup Oscar [30 November 2015]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKoiDkpV-3Q

PROBUS, J., 2014. The Actual Makeup From "Mrs. Doubtfire" Was Even More Intense Than You Realized. In: BuzzFeed. 14 August 2014 [30 November 2015]. Available from: http://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicaprobus/the-actual-makeup-from-mrs-doubtfire-was-even-more-intense-t#.nt56Lm96