"People generally misunderstand the use of make-up in theatrical presentations," says Burum. "Everybody thinks of make-up as vanity, but it's not, it's a device to make a person physically resemble how the character is supposed to look. There's a tradition in theater that actors put on their own make-up, it's part of them getting into character -- they sit in front of the mirror and put on their make-up, it takes them an hour, and they transform themselves: they become the character."

Make-up, masks and costumes go back to the very beginning of theater, he points out. "The Greeks used masks. Thespis, when he stepped out from the chorus for the first time, had white paint on his face, and later used a linen mask in the dithyrambs. It's something that actors have always done."

Make-up is pigment ground up in an oily base. In earlier days, make-up artists -- or even actors themselves--would actually grind their own special make-ups and bases. "The easiest make-up to create is grease paint," says Burum. "Grease paint is basically Vaseline with some sort of color ground into it." The term "ham," meaning a low-class actor, comes from the make-up that some performers used in the 1600s. At the time, certain actors couldn't afford the more expensive oils for their make-up, so they dissolved their colors in ham fat. "It had a smell after a while, so those people were known as hams, or cheap actors," says Burum.

From the 1920s through about the 1970s, Burum recalls, the studios had extensive programs to determine the best make-ups for different applications. "In the old ASC manuals, they have pan stick and other 'pan' make-ups, which means for panchromatic film. The first black and white film was only sensitive to blue. So anything that wasn't blue didn't get any exposure at all, so people would actually use black lip make-up so they would look like they had lips."

"Studio make-up departments developed a certain range of colors that they used with certain film stocks. There was a whole set of make-up for black and white; a whole set for three-strip Technicolor; a set for reversal film; and a set for color negative film. And many, many tests were shot."

In the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, he says, the make-up artist would typically put a base on the performer's face, add highlights and shadows, and then dust everything with powder. "And then you'd seal the powder with a little cotton ball that's kind of damp so your skin could breathe through it," says Burum. "Sometimes the make-up was so thick -- especially in the three-strip Technicolor days -- that they would use a small natural sponge to put back in a fake pore structure."

As street cosmetics evolved, hypo-allergenic make-up became available, and film actors soon wanted to use that instead of the old-fashioned heavy bases. But even with better films, street make-up was not quite adequate. "Unfortunately, street make-up is usually too thin and it turns the wrong color," says Burum. To compensate for that, he says, make-up artists grind their own colors into a performer's base of choice. "There are some professional make-ups, but people don't wear as heavy a make-up as they used to," he says.

Motion picture make-up can also be very subtle, Burum points out. "You can make somebody's nose crooked, you can make somebody's nose straight. By shaping people's eyebrows, you can make their eyes look closer together or further apart. "Eye make-up is a big thing. Eyelashes are a big thing." Bangs are good, he adds, because they direct the audience's attention into the performer's eyes. "In movie acting, the most important thing is to be able to see the person's eyes, so that you can read their emotions."

Make-up can only go so far, of course. "If you really have a bad scar, you can't cover it, no matter how much make-up you put on," Burum says. "What you have to do is camouflage, what they call stippling. You go in with a color, and a little dry brush and you just put in little dots. It's kind of like pointillist painting. It confuses the eye."

According to Burum, make-up tests used to be a standard practice with actors, for every role they would play. And while make-up tests obviously help the crew, Burum says performers can learn just as much. "I was so happy and gratified that Carla got a big kick out of doing this -- got to look at it and see how she could change herself. It's a tool that actors can use to help them play their characters."