I am fascinated by amber that contains a trapped primordial insect inside. One moment it is minding its own business on a tree, the next it is captured in a rolling drop of sticky sap. A millenia later, we can hold this same moment in time as fossilized amber in our hands; even string it onto a necklace or wear it on a ring.

For me, my family’s old photos are just like drops of amber forever capturing their subjects in the midst of living life – vital, involved and then snap! They are caught in one dimension thereafter.

These two photos embody my philosophy – here my grandmother Mitzi and now legendary Jack Dawn, the head of MGM’s make-up studio who created the make-up for hundreds of films including The Wizard of Oz, spend a morning together probably to promote the upcoming MGM movie The Good Earth (1937).

For several years Jack Dawn researched a synthetic plastic called Vinylite, for which he received a patent. He used it to transform the mainly white cast of The Good Earth into Chinese peasants, and later to create the fantastical characters in The Wizard of Oz, including the wicked witch, the flying monkeys, the Tin Man and Lion. These two fantastic photos show the transformation process, and Dawn’s brilliance, as he turns Mitzi, a young Jewish girl into a rather glamorous Chinese farmer.

I imagine this session in the chair in the MGM make-up department as great fun, punctuated by stillness while the Vinylite resin sets, then the application of coats of make-up, pinning the elaborate wig in place, and Mitzi buttoning up the Chinese wardrobe, etc. There would have been laughter, discussion, the photographer snapping away. And now, 70+ years later, I am writing about it in my blog – a moment captured millions of moments away.

Sadly, there was no Oscar for make-up during Jack Dawn’s time and he died in 1961 five years after retiring. He was buried with an unmarked grave in Glendale’s Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.

The Good Earth original novel:
The Good Earth (Oprah’s Book Club)

The Wizard of Oz:
The Wizard of Oz (Two-Disc 70th Anniversary Edition)

Copyright Alicia Mayer 2012.