Hollywood Flashback: Make-up Artist Dottie Ponedel Gave Stars “the Works”

Dorothy “Dottie” Ponedel left Chicago for Hollywood in 1920 with appearing desires and located some success with small elements in silent Westerns. But it surely was her expertise with a make-up brush that made Ponedel a star — and a detailed confidante to iconic actresses together with Marlene Dietrich, Mae West and Judy Garland.

Ponedel’s reward was for contouring and highlighting — she is credited with creating the display screen siren picture — and by the early Nineteen Thirties, her abilities earned her a place at Paramount. For 1931’s Dishonored, director Josef von Sternberg instructed Ponedel to offer Dietrich “ ‘the works — give everyone one thing to speak about,’ ” writes Ponedel in her memoir, About Face.

“I did issues across the eye, modified her hairline, and made a full, lush mouth. I added a refined white line down the middle of the nostril which introduced the nostril up. … I shaded the face after I wished to get that hole look. Then I might take the pillows of my fingers, dip them in my rouge, and go over the pores and skin of the face simply the place I wished the pink coloration to return out.”

The impact was revolutionary: “Each make-up artist in our trade wished to know what I had finished.”

Main stars insisted on Ponedel of their contracts, and he or she “made fairly a distinct segment within the affections of all who are available contact along with her,” reported THR in 1934.

However the all-male Make-Up Artists Native 76 objected to Ponedel’s inclusion as a result of she was a girl. It was West and Dietrich who efficiently advocated for her, with West saying, “No stranger goes to pat this puss.”

Ponedel met Garland on 1944’s Meet Me in St. Louis; the 2 grew to become finest associates and collaborated on 10 extra MGM photos.

Ponedel died in 1979 after a battle with a number of sclerosis.

This story first appeared within the Oct. 25 problem of The Hollywood Reporter journal. Click on right here to subscribe.