something that, up
to that time, had never been done. Blasco had to create the effect
of parasites moving around inside actor Alan Migicovsky. To do this,
he took a cast of the actor’s chest and stomach, and made from it
a thin rubber appliance. He then meticulously laid hair upon it to
match the pattern of Migicovsky’s own hair. The next step was to tape
the air-bladders (rubber condoms connected to plastic tubing) to the
actor, running the tubing down each leg of his pajamas and out to
hand pumps (not the high-tech compressed air pumps they have now,
but empty enema syringes and hair-tint squeeze bottles). The appliance
was tightly laced on over the bladders so that it conformed with Migicovsky’s
own musculature. When the air was pumped into the condoms by the technicians
(Blasco and Dittmar with their squeeze bottles), they would expand
perfectly, causing lumps to seemingly crawl across the actor’s stomach-as
if something were trying to burrow out. About the time They Came From
Within was released in the U.S., Blasco’s school was beginning to
take shape, and he had made enough money at it (and his other projects)
to move the whole thing into its own building on Sunset Boulevard
in Hollywood. A year or so after that, a man Blasco knew, by the name
of Nick Vanoff, bought the Sunset-Gower Studios, a large group of
buildings used as soundstages and offices not far from Blasco’s school.
Blasco asked Vanoff if he could open up his school in the studios
so that it would be more convenient for the people who would be needing
make-upartists. Vanoff agreed, and the Joe Blasco Make-up Center School
was born. The school has always been successful, and Blasco has always
had other jobs as well. In 1976, he did the effects for David Cronenberg’s
Rabid, which was one of his last major special make-upeffects pictures.
Blasco designed the retractable syringe-like organ that pops out of
Marilyn Chambers’ armpit. Because he was in Los Angeles, and the actress
was already in Canada, Blasco took the casts of the armpit and chest
from one of his female students; and made the appliances in his lab
in L.A. He sent them to Canada.
 The
film was quite successful and made a lot of money; but it did relatively
nothing for Blasco’s career, and he became discouraged about his movie
making future. He was spending all kinds of time on low-budget pictures
like Johnny Firecloud and Ruby and was getting less money, and even
less recognition for what many in the make-up field consider outstanding
work. Blasco then decided to stop pursuing movie work and concentrate
in stead on his work in television. He had been the make-upeffects
specialist at ABC television for 10 years, doing prosthetics and a
variety of other types of effects for soap operas and specials.
Joe
was head make-upartist for such programs as Barney Miller, and has
be come the personal make-upartist to dozens of actors and TV personalities,
including Carol Burnett, Orson Welles, and Rona Barrett. Recently,
Blasco was responsible for the |
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werewolf make-upon the short-lived TV series
The Darkroom, and he did a couple of Frankenstein monster Make-ups
for Tropicana orange juice and Kellogg’s. Blasco also did Orson Welles’
prosthetic age make-upin the recent Pia Zadora film Butterfly. Today,
Blasco splits his time between being “make-upartist to the stars”
and running the world’s only complete film and television make-upschools.
However, producers are slowly but surely beginning to realize (once
again) just what Blasco is capable of, and are approaching him with
new projects all the time. His students, some of which have gone on
to excellent careers of their own in make-upand make-up effects, would
like to thank Blasco’s Aunt Nancy for having bought him that copy
of Famous Monsters. when they leave here,
are not just specialists in only prosthetics, or just beauty make
up. They are proficient in all phases of make-up.” All of the courses,
whether taken separately or together, are intense, and require a tremendous
amount of time from the student. “There’s another alternative to going
to a school to learn make-up,” says Blasco. “You can badger a professional
make-upartist half to death to get him to let you watch him-and he
may let you-just to pacify you. You’ll probably learn a good lot that
way, but you’ll also probably only learn that one artist’s style.
At the Make-up Centers, the students are exposed to anywhere from
20 to 25 different make-up artists. They get to see everything that’s
available in state-of-the-art techniques. There are no secrets. The
students are able to pick and choose their influences, so to speak.
And,” Blasco adds, “they don’t have to spend precious time tracking
down and coaxing a make-up artist to teach them.” The list of make-up
artists on the staff at the Make-up Center School includes Harry Thomas
(who worked with Jack Pierce on the famous horror pictures of the
40’s and 50’s), Matthew Mungle and Ron Figuly (prosthetics specialists),
and Larry Abbott, who is Steve Allen’s personal make-up artist, and
who was the head make-up artist on the PBS series Meeting of the Minds.
Visiting artists include Academy Award winner John Chambers, and Charles
Schram. who worked on The Wizard of Oz.
A
typical 11 week course, that is, the Complete Professional Make-up
Course, consists of classes in seven different areas; the first being
beauty make-up, which covers straight, glamour, and high fashion make-upfor
film, TV, stage, and still photography. Next is old age make-up, covering
the different methods of achieving the aged look (other than with
prosthetics—that comes later), using paint and powder, construction
and stipple. The third class is on bald cap techniques, covering the
manufacture, application, and proper removal of the bald cap. Says
Blasco, “There are definite wrong and right ways to remove make-up.
It’s just as much an art as applying it.” The fourth class is hair
work. The student is instructed in how to make beards and other facial
hair; wigs, and how to improvise with different materials. |
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