SOME TRIVIA NOTES ON MOVIE MAKE-UP
By Nenuca M. Jose



Makeup artists are backstage artists. They don’t show their faces. Their way to fame is what they do to other people’s faces. The public or the audience does not know them. But they are an interesting lot.

The Manahan sisters are described as the living legends in movie makeup in this country. You can trace the history of Philippine cinema through their eyes. They are Andrea, Victorina and Juanita. They are unanimous in declaring that being a makeup artist is all about creating different characters.

Let’s go way back to the Atang de la Rama era—actually the beginning of Philippine cinema. In 1919, it was said that Miss Atang moistened red-colored papel de Japon (those used to make kites) with water or saliva before applying it to her cheeks and lips as rouge.

During the beginning of Philippine cinema, eyebrows were blackened with burnt cork. Facial powder consisted of pulbos-tsina (Chinese powder) which was ground and mixed with water. This makeup might have withstood the searing stage lights but projected on the screen, the white talc made the actresses and actors garish and as pale as ghosts.

The Manahan sisters were interviewed in December 2000 by Amor Olaguer and Eileen Meneses. What they recounted, according to the two interviewers, was a nostalgic trip to the glorious years of Philippine cinema, particularly the directors and stars they had the pleasure of working with.

It was Andrea—also called Mama Ateng-- among the Manahan sisters who had the longest stint in the movies, over half a century. Earlier in her career, she applied makeup on the De la Rosa brothers, Rogelio and Jaime, as well as superstars like Jose ‘Pempe’ Padilla Jr., Leopoldo Salcedo, Mario Montenegro, Nestor de Villa, and even comedians Pugo and Togo. Mama Ateng said that men’s makeup in those days was very distinct from women’s makeup. She clarified that actors then should come across the big screen as he-men. She added that fair-skinned actors were usually tanned to make them look more manly.

Those were also the days when movies were still in black and white but Mama Ateng had the pleasure of putting the makeup on Carmen Rosales, Mila del Sol, Rosa Rosal, Delia Razon, Lilia Dizon, Tessie Quintana and later on, Marita Zobel, Perla Bautista, and the late Charito Solis and Nida Blanca.

Mama Ateng stressed that the makeup artists during those times were always told to define the characters played by the actresses and actors, thus they must read and understand the script. She said they always seek guidance from the director of the movie they were working on. She emphasized that research was also an important element then. They studied the look of the period involved in the film because everything, from hairstyle to blush on, usually depended on this.

When films became Technicolor, old stars stayed on, others disappeared and new stars came onstage but the Manahan sisters went their merry way applying makeup on the stars.

Victorina or Nanay Tinay was a freelancer. She was a makeup artist even before the role of the production designer was made pronounced in local filmmaking. She therefore, in the absence of the production designer, dabbled in production design as early as that time. Cast members were told to come to the set or studio with lesser makeup on. Nanay Tinay and the other makeup artists put on the makeup demanded by the scene.

Nanay Tinay said that makeup artists felt obligated to remain on the set or location to watch the shooting, specially if they were making action films. She should always be on the alert to apply the shiner on black eyes, the blood on slammed noses, the wound on cut eyebrows, etcetera. They should always make sure that bruises they put on must always be exactly where they were earlier applied.

Juanita or Mommy Nitz entered showbiz through the stage, specifically the extravaganza show of Lou Salvador at the Manila Grand Opera House. Like her sister Victorina, Mommy Nitz was also a freelancer. She remembered the challenge of applying makeup on the mestiza-type Charito Solis for her role in Igorota. In between scaling the Banawe rice terraces, she had the harder chore of tanning Chato all over to make her look like an Igorot maiden.

Today, Mommy Nitz said, it is common practice for stars to bring along their own personal makeup artists whose expertise and training often prove inadequate. She made the observation that some low budget producers are not very particular nor meticulous about makeup. A makeup artists makes P50,000 per movie which shoots for 35 days. But there are producers who allocate P10,000 for their makeup artists.

The Manahan sisters are one in saying that making compromise is out of the question. They emphasized that the art of makeup springs from experience and
a lot of imagination for one to be able to create the character as written down in the script.