Everybody with Angela Williamson is made possible by Fire Heart Pictures and viewers like you.

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Hollywood is part of our culture.

Did you know that the first makeup for African-American skin was developed right here in the Max Factor building?

Well, tonight, we are at the Hollywood Museum.

So come on in with us and learn something new about Hollywood.

From Los Angeles.

This is KLCS PBS.

Welcome to Everybody with Angela Williamson, an Innovation in Arts, Education and Public Affairs program.

Everybody with Angela Williamson is made possible by viewers like you.

Thank you.

And now your host, Dr. Angela Williamson.

Guess who's with me.

Remember Manny Pacheco from The Forgotten Hollywood Series in season one?

Well, there's no way that we could be at the Hollywood Museum without Manny giving us those stories from all of our favorite movies.

So, Manny, tell our audience, where are we?

We begin in The Silence of the Lambs Dungeons While Silence of the Lambs, of course, 1991 was the best picture of the.

U.S. while Jodie Foster.

And there he is, Hannibal Lecter.

I hope I can sleep tonight.

This film was the first film since 1934 to win the best picture director, writer and all of the actors.

It happened one night with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert and directed by Frank Capra.

And so this is the one film that actually won all of the awards.

And it was also the first horror film to actually win the best picture award because horror was considered B-movies.

They were considered not important enough for the awards.

They were just good popcorn films, films where you can just go bring the family and get a scare.

But this one had solid acting.

Just a great story with with a real villain in Buffalo, Bill.

And of course, the the main attraction was, of course, Anthony Hopkins is as Hannibal Lecter.

That was really, really just a remarkable film.

It broke barriers.

Well, and it was so well done because it was almost youth.

The suspense was there, but we quite didn't understand what the suspense was.

So we really had to follow that story right.

And you got to remember also that there was a lot of blood and guts in a lot of different films that were very cheaply made or they were part of a franchise.

But in this film, you don't really see the blood and guts.

You see all of the suspense and the fear that's implied and implication, I think is far scarier than actually seeing, you know, the cheap gore and the cheap thrills.

Well, and when you think about it, it's not just with these remarkable actors, but it's with the writing is with the directing is with the photography.

Behind it is how they set up the scene here that even now, so many years later, as we're walking through there, we can still feel the chills, right?

And you can feel them with a little chaotic.

Wow.

Oh, okay.

So continuing to scare us.

What's this?

This is the original.

This is what made universal the horror capital of movie studios.

Frankenstein.

And the man most responsible, most people think it's Boris Karloff because he created the character, but really the man most responsible for creating the chills and the monsters.

It was makeup artist Jack Pierce.

Jack Pierce created the iconic Frankenstein Look, The Mummy, The Wolf Man, the Bride of Frankenstein.

I mean, he did them all.

And he did it with spending hours and hours and hours in there in the chair, curating each face.

That would take almost 8 hours a day.

We got a great poster up here that shows exactly what I'm talking about.

These are all Jack Pierce creations.

He created the bolts in the neck and the course, the the scary, lightheaded look and the mummy.

Of course.

Maybe his best creation of all because.

Wow.

And nobody who went to went to the movies a year later could believe that that was the same person.

But the iconic Wolf man, which by the way, all of this hair, you see, the jack would be really proud and say that is jack hair.

And one of his earlier creations, Conrad White, played a character called The Man Who Laughs.

And this iconic, grinning, white faced man was actually an inspiration for animator and cartoonist Bob Kane, who actually then created The Joker based on this man who laughs.

And Conrad White is the as the character.

Oh, wow, Look at that.

And I only need to bring you to the Hollywood museum to get you running.

Right.

My favorite comedy.

My favorite movie.

It's a mad, mad, mad, mad world.

Every comedian.

In the.

1960s was in this movie and it was actually shepherded by one of the great actors of all time, Spencer Tracy.

But you got Milton Berle and Sid Caesar and 50 others, including the Three Stooges.

This is really for me, Nirvana.

I love this movie.

Wow.

Well, you know, now everyone will need to see it.

Yes.

And this is actually kind of a mock up you're stuck on on this trellis.

But they actually used all of this kind of animation and the opening by the iconic Saul Bass, who would do all the titles and he would do just about every movie.

But this is one of his best openings.

Saul Bass is one of those forgotten Hollywood behind the scenes creators who is iconic.

But of course, my childhood in growing up, you had to have the Batman bubblegum card.

You had to have the Batman.

But this is this.

Oh, this is timeless.

They have one of the villains, Victor Buono.

I don't know.

Yeah.

That he he was a he was a great character.

There were also many actors that were trying to be the villains, and they wanted of all people because of it's a mad, mad, mad, mad world.

And his great career.

Spencer Tracy.

This is for me growing up, I could not wait for Tuesday and Thursday.

Same bat time and same bat channel.

It was just fabulous.

Wow.

And then Rocky.

Of course, Rocky.

This is just rocky Iraqis.

I mean, Rob, I know what's a magic year.

1976.

This was the year of all the President's Men network.

And, of course, Rocky, wonderful, wonderful films that came out in 76.

Here's where I wanted to take you, because one of the.

My favorite.

One of my actors featured in The Son of Forgotten Hollywood forgotten history is Carl Alfalfa.

SWITZER And he was part of this great conglomerate that we know is our gang or The Little Rascals.

I remember them as the Little Rascals, always watching that growing up.

What's really special is that Hal Roach, who was the competitor to Mack Sennett and was really big on the idea of social comedy, he created this con script of kids who, number one, they would appear with equal billing.

And also he really wanted to give a cross-section of society.

So he always included diverse equity in the children.

So he was really way ahead of his time.

We had all of these wonderful kids who are so memorable and of course even the dog was very memorable.

But the little circle around is I kids today can really respond to these children.

And that's why we honor them in this exhibit here right in our backyard.

Exactly.

And now we're going to go to the silent portion of what the Hollywood Museum represents.

Where it all began.

All right.

But here's what I want to talk about, Laurel and Hardy.

Currently, I am partnering with the Laurel and Hardy Appreciation Society.

We're trying to get the movies of Robert Young son into the Library of Congress 2023 selection for their film registry.

Wow.

So that's a campaign that we're doing this year.

Well, and it's been a while since we talked to you.

So before we and our conversation and thank you so much for this tour.

Tell our audience how they can get in touch with you.

And you have done something since the last time we talked.

So talk about that.

Yes, I've added a podcast to my book series.

It's Manny Pacheco's Forgotten Hollywood.

It's on Spotify.

You can listen and binge watch from episode or listen binge listen.

From episode one to to the current episode that we're running now.

Wonderful.

And make sure your website's there for our audience, too.

So thank you so much.

And do not go away.

I'm coming back to speak to the founder and president of the Hollywood Museum.

This is posted on I didn't want to explain it to her.

Donelle Dadigan is our guest.

Danielle?

Oh, it's my pleasure.

Angela, How much fun we're going to have today?

I'm looking forward to not just getting to know who you are, but to let our audience explore this gem that's right in our backyard.

Well, I so appreciate you saying that.

You know, years ago when I decided that we really need to celebrate the culture of Hollywood and what it means to the rest of the world.

And so there's a little joke here.

My mom was a schoolteacher.

I taught school for a while.

My dad even taught school.

And so I realized with my kids that the only way they would enjoy learning was if they were entertained.

And so when it came time to do something along the lines of some significant form of education or institution, we studied what Los Angeles was most famous for, and that is the entertainment industry.

Hollywood, you know, my goodness, Hollywood.

And so my mother and I, you know, we just delved right into the thought of how about doing a museum or Hollywood museum where people could come from all over the world, learn the humble beginnings of Hollywood and bring it all the way current through today.

And, you know, as I say, easier said than done.

It took us a long time.

But I have to say, the Hollywood Museum is a love letter back to the community.

And I am so thrilled that, you know, it took a long time to be able to find the right building, which I know we're going to talk about.

Yes.

And but I had such fun doing it.

And I have to tell you, my partner along the way was my mother and Hollywood's honorary mayor, Johnny Grant.

And many of your viewers know this gentleman.

He was the man who used to give the stars out on the Walk of Fame for so many decades.

Well, you know, this is so interesting because I when I was researching the Hollywood museum and everything that it represents, not only just to Hollywood itself, state of California, but to the world, I mean, people come here from all over just to learn more about Hollywood and then to learn about the humble beginnings, which I talked about in the open.

But just the glamor of it and how it impacts our culture.

And so the one thing you said, we're going to talk about it.

I want to talk about it now.

How did you get the max factor building when you have the little.

Women always ask this question.

And it's not that I hesitate to answer, but it's actually a very involved answer to this very simple question, because, you know, my background is I'm a real estate developer and speculator, and I know the importance of being in control of wherever you are setting up business.

And so I didn't want to lease a building.

I wanted to own a building.

There was nothing is going to fit as the Max Factor building where Hollywood's make up.

King Max Factor, you know, made all these women and men, these glamorous symbols from Hollywood's golden era before and beyond.

In fact, the last movie star or television star to be made up was actually Jaclyn Smith from Charlie's Angels in the 1970s.

She came here a couple of years ago and we reminisced together about that.

But and it was in this very room, actually, the Brunets only room.

That would make sense, because I think growing up watching her, we all wanted to be just like her.

And then when she started actually designing clothes, we all ran out to make sure we had something that she designed.

I know I'm sitting right here.

You are.

Sitting right.

Behind it, as.

You know.

And that's a big max factor.

Had this ability where, you know, he turned people that looked well, like you, me without makeup on.

And he turned them into silver screen gods and goddesses.

He did this so it looked effortlessly, but there was tremendous, tremendous study, almost scientific.

And that's kind of what we were chatting about earlier.

He was a scientist.

Yes, he was.

I find it really interesting that he didn't start out doing makeup in Hollywood.

I mean, he has a unique background as well, too.

He does.

You know, he's originally from Poland and he was in the Royal Russian Army.

Too short, short sighted.

I understand.

Maybe flat footed.

And so they asked him, what can you do?

You know, we can't put you on the front line.

And he said, well, you know, he said, I learned I learned how to cut men's hair.

I was in a barber shop.

I really worked very hard at that.

And so they thought, hmm, this is interesting.

So they gave him the job of sadly, when the soldiers died, he cleaned up the dead and made them presentable for when their families came to identify them.

And he really started that way.

And then all of a sudden, he had this wonderful opportunity with the Royal Russian Ballet and he became the makeup artist and hair designer for the Royal Russian Ballet.

And there was a command performance where the czar of Russia, his wife and the czar's mother came and they fell in love, not only with the ballet, but how glamorous the ballerinas and ballerinas were and some of the women.

One woman even had a birdcage in her hair.

It was so fabulous and fabulous makeup and so the Tsarina asked, you know, who the makeup artist is.

And so the director of the ballet said, Oh, it's Max Factor, of which.

And they hired him, and he became the royal makeup artist and hair designer for the Russian royalty for many years until the revolution.

And then he came to the United States.

So basically he goes to the United States with his knowledge of makeup and he ends up in Hollywood.

Well, no, he stopped in Chicago along the way for the World's Fair.

And then he decided, where can I go?

That has nicer weather.

And they said, you need to go west, young man.

So he came to Los Angeles and he became a makeup provider and a makeup artist For so many of the vaudeville shows here in Los Angeles, downtown Los Angeles.

And when Hollywood was going to start.

They shot the first film here, the set.

It was so interesting how they did this.

And the squaw man, it was the first feature length film with Cecil Beaton and male as the director, and he was introduced.

He provided the hair and the makeup for the film, and it was the story of cowboys and Indians.

And he even got his sons a job to be extras.

And for that he provided the hair pieces for the Indians.

And every day at the end of filming, the sons would collect the hairpieces and they would dutifully brush the hairpieces, and they all worked on it together.

It was quite something.

And that's how he got his start in film in Hollywood.

And that was in 1913.

I mean, I love that how he made it a family business and always put your family to work.

So that's really good, too.

This is a way to keep your legacy alive.

Well, we are going to dig deep into this Hollywood museum and you stay right there and come back.

I am blind, but I.

Need not see.

I know this room is there for me.

We are coming to you from the Hollywood Museum in the historic Max Factor building on Highland Avenue.

We are in the Met's only room.

I'm here with Donelle.

Dan again, the president and founder.

Thank you so much for that first segment.

That was wonderful.

I have enjoyed it.

I can hardly wait for this segment.

Well, this segment I really would like to talk in detail about just the exhibits that we have here in the stories behind them.

And so my first question is, is that we are we talked a little bit about all of the rooms here, but what story do you think resonates with you with all these rooms that we have right here?

So tell me one story.

Well, you know, I have to tell you, when it came time to decide, where were we going to put this idea of a Hollywood museum?

We were kind of talking about hunting high and low.

Well, the max factor building was not for sale.

And I had so much fun, difficult, hard fun.

But talking the owner, Procter and Gamble of Max Factor Cosmetics into selling this building and I just thought this would be the perfect location because Max Factor, as we all know, was Hollywood's makeup king.

He was the man who created all these glamorous individuals that we would sit in a darkened theater looking up on this huge screen and we'd see these glamorous individuals.

And it was Max factor that made them these people that we thought, oh, if we could only look like them.

But, you know, they were born like everyone else.

Similar looking, but it was Max Factor who made them glamorous.

And he did it right here in these makeup rooms.

And so as a result, I thought, oh, these walls can talk, if only they really could talk.

But I thought, oh, this would be a fabulous place to start to tell the story of what Hollywood was all about and how the talent in Hollywood was created and how we as people who enjoyed going to films would be able to relate.

And in fact, let's be honest, we love to copy certain movie stars in their looks, not only in their clothing, but the way they wore their hair, the makeup that they wore, the color of lipstick on their eyeshadow, everything like that.

And I thought, this is a great added feature to tell the story of Hollywood.

So I set to work.

It took me two and a half years, two and a half years, but I talked Procter Gamble into selling the building for the Hollywood Museum.

And so you get this building and you know that you want to definitely feature these phenomenal rooms.

But then how do you decide on the other exhibits?

Because these exhibits here, we look at these films and they really there's not one film that I think of in this museum that I can't relate that to a part of my life.

I mean, I think of Back to the Future.

I mean, that reminds me of high school.

It reminds me of my life.

And so everyone who walks in the door, they can feel everything based on the exhibits.

How do you do that?

Well, you know that that's a great comment that you've made, Angela.

And I have to say, we really enjoy to hear exactly what you're saying, because for us, there's nothing better than having two and three generations of a family come together looking at a film, looking at an exhibit.

And my favorite one is about Batman and the superheroes.

And we have had a father and a son who's now a father himself, and his son come in three generations together, the grandfather now and the father talking about how it was for them in the sixties and seventies, watching Adam West and Burt Ward on television from the Batman show from the sixties and how much fun they had.

And now the grandson is in the arms of his dad wearing a Batman cape carrying a Robin doll.

And they're all talking about Batman and Robin, because these shows, these films, they are such staples of the American pop culture that they're shown over and over decade after decade and the different generations have seen them.

So now they come here and they see the original costumes, they see the original props, different memorabilia from the shows and films.

And it evokes such memories for them.

And that's what entertainment is all about.

It is.

It's about that conversation.

And it's also, too it's about how it brings families together.

And one commonality and it could be Batman.

It could be back to the future.

It could be going down into the basement, which was pretty scary kind of junk, too.

I mean, but I mean that you have people sending you this from movies.

I mean, it's so important that the story continues to be told.

And so my question to you is, you have some exhibits coming up.

How do you decide what's the next exhibit?

What should be what should be here?

Well, that's a great question.

And actually, you know, that's the fun part.

It's almost like going on a treasure hunt, you know, And it's just amazing because when we first opened, people didn't know about us.

And there was 911, there was all sorts of different things happening.

And little by little, we got to the point where now every studio, all the production companies, stars of their child's room, their offspring, their fan clubs, different collectors, they all want to participate.

And for us, there's nothing better than the ability to be able to relive and tell the story once again.

For all the different visitors that come from every corner of the world that come in and recognize it.

I mean, I will never forget years ago, my mother and I were traveling and we were in Singapore and we had gone to Malaysia, which was a hop, skip and a jump.

And somebody said, Where are you from?

And we said, Los Angeles.

Oh, okay.

And then I said, Hollywood and we had just purchased the Max Factor building.

And as soon as we said Hollywood, everyone jumped with excitement.

Hollywood, Hollywood.

And one of the guests at this party, who is she was beautifully dressed, beautifully dressed.

She said to me, excuse me, do you know Tom Cruise?

Oh.

And well, this is in the nineties, you know, And it was like with, you know, he would just become the hottest thing in town.

And I smiled and I said, No, but I'd love to meet him.

And she said, Oh, she said, Me too.

And I realized we have done the right thing by having a museum that will tell the story, the history of Hollywood, and include all these great actors, not only the ones that are currently important, but the beginnings all the way through the different decades and the different genres to young artists and then actors and actresses in the making.

And I think that's so important because I sit here and I've grown up here just like you, but I'm in awe because I'm sitting in front of Elizabeth Taylor's beautiful gown here and knowing that she was in this room.

She was she was in this room.

And, you know, she came when she brought this gown to us and I think to myself, Wow.

And she told the story.

And after she told a certain story, we brought out the photos because I had them.

And she told the story of how she was getting ready to do National Velvet, the movie and we were like, Wow.

And she said, You know, my mother would not let them cut my hair because there was a scene where she was going to play the jockey, a little boy jockey.

She was going to race the horse pie.

And so she said Max Factor had to fit me with a short hair wig.

And she said, my mother wanted to make sure that it would look realistic.

But at the same time, we're not cutting my real hair.

And it was in this very room that she was made up for the first time where they took copious notes of how they should do her makeup once she was at the studio between all the scenes and then how the new hairpiece was going to be fit to her head.

And all of this.

And we're sitting right where all of this happened.

I can't believe our time is almost gone, but I cannot end our conversation without asking you if there was one take away that every guest that comes into the Hollywood museum walks away with.

What is that?

Oh, my goodness.

What a great question.

You know, I this museum was done with passion and love.

And it is our love letter back to the Hollywood community.

And my hope is that every visitor, when they finish their tour here, will recognize the importance that people like you and me, people, visitors from all over the world, all these movie stars are just like them.

They were chosen and they were groomed, and they became these important individuals that we know.

But each person has their own story to tell.

And that's our goal, is to not only tell the story from in front of the camera, but the story behind the scenes and behind the camera.

And you're doing that well.

Thank you so much for opening up your museum to our show.

But for what you have done with your mother.

And I even love that story as well, to keep the legacy of Hollywood alive, but just to keep the legacy of all these stories alive.

Well, thank you.

Thank you very much.

We want to give a sincere thanks to the Hollywood Museum for welcoming our show.

Thank you for joining us on Everybody with Angela Williamson.

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Good night and stay well.