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Beauty secrets of famous ladies

Frenchy56

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Edward

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What they don't mention about dear Marlene is that according to industry legend, she was so concerned about looking 'old' towards the end of her public performance career, she used to physically pin her face back.... AFAIK, that's true. I could well be wrong, though - I'd like to be!



(As for the Fail, eh.... It's basically not so much a newspaper, as The Sun for the middle classes.)
 

Amy Jeanne

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What they don't mention about dear Marlene is that according to industry legend, she was so concerned about looking 'old' towards the end of her public performance career, she used to physically pin her face back.... AFAIK, that's true. I could well be wrong, though - I'd like to be!



(As for the Fail, eh.... It's basically not so much a newspaper, as The Sun for the middle classes.)

Towards the end of her career she noticed a man in the front row looking at her through binoculars and she told him to put them down because it would "ruin the illusion."
 

cherry lips

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^She's not the only one who did that, I've heard off others who taped their skin, used rubber bands, etc. They didn't have botox back then. I've also heard that Dietrich removed her lower ribs. It's hard to know what's true though.
 

sheeplady

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Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, USA
What they don't mention about dear Marlene is that according to industry legend, she was so concerned about looking 'old' towards the end of her public performance career, she used to physically pin her face back.... AFAIK, that's true. I could well be wrong, though - I'd like to be!



(As for the Fail, eh.... It's basically not so much a newspaper, as The Sun for the middle classes.)

So I apparently have a large lower lip (this is relevant to the story, bear with me). Even when I was a young girl I was told (mainly by women in their 50s-70s) that many women had to pin their lip down to get my "look." And that these lower lip pinning ladies would die for my natural large lower lip, so they wouldn't have to pin.

That brought back a memory of my grandmother and mother discussing that when I was about 12- I haven't thought about that in years. Thanks for bringing that memory back!
 

sheeplady

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Ok, so I personally can think of two things that it could have been:
1. An actual pin. If it was an actual pin, it would have to be small. I really can't imagine this, but then plenty of people do some really weird things.
2. Or some type of cosmetic procedure similar to "pinning" ones ears back, which uses sutures. So the lip was sutured down to expose more of the surface.

I imagine that movie stars who wanted this actually had the second done, kind of a primative plastic surgery before they had lip implants. I can picture this conversation with my grandmother, and I KNOW she listed several movie stars that had it done, but I can't pull their names up for the life of me. (My grandmother read the tabloids, and I was pretty oblivious to actresses so it is quite possible I didn't know who they were then. I mean, it was a pretty odd conversation to be having in the first place.)

But on the other hand, I can totally see someone trying it at home with an actual pin and lots of alcohol. If you try this, I absolve all myself of personal responsibility by saying this is a bad, bad idea. :p
 

Red Diabla

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Lost Strangeles
What they don't mention about dear Marlene is that according to industry legend, she was so concerned about looking 'old' towards the end of her public performance career, she used to physically pin her face back.... AFAIK, that's true. I could well be wrong, though - I'd like to be!

According to the biography Dietrich's daughter wrote, Dietrich would make very small braids with the fine hair next to her face and pull them up and back to pin them into place, providing a "lift" to the face. She also talked about makeup tricks Dietrich would use to make her eyes appear larger, her nose slimmer, etc.

I think what we also sometimes forget is that there was plastic surgery back then, but it was kept VERY hush-hush. There have been threads on this forum talking about it, too!

RD
 

Miss sofia

One Too Many
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1,675
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East sussex, England
What they don't mention about dear Marlene is that according to industry legend, she was so concerned about looking 'old' towards the end of her public performance career, she used to physically pin her face back.... AFAIK, that's true. I could well be wrong, though - I'd like to be!

I had read about her using the braids. Actually Joan Collins mentioned that in one of her books too. You just braid some hair above your ears and pull it tight up on top of your head and comb your hair over it.

I also read that Dietrich had a very, very fine, thin, gold chain made, that she used to wear under her chin pulled taut and then hooked behind her ears, so it lifted her jawline! Top marks for inventiveness if nothing else.

Glenn Close apparently never touches her own face with her hands - bad for the skin - can't remember where i read that, but i'm disturbed to say the least! Wrong on too many levels to even contemplate!
 

CaramelSmoothie

Practically Family
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892
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With my Hats
Glenn Close apparently never touches her own face with her hands - bad for the skin - can't remember where i read that, but i'm disturbed to say the least! Wrong on too many levels to even contemplate!

And she still does not look that good because she has so much sun damage, imo:

http://www.askmen.com/celebs/women/actress_250/288_glenn_close.html

Sun damage ages you exponentially which is why avoiding the sun at peak hours and wearing sunscreen is essential. As well as lifestyle habits like smoking, lack of exercise and bad diet.

I have to say that Sophia Loren is the most beautiful of all the women listed in that article, again, in my opinion. Ironically, I use olive oil too. I drizzle it over everything just about and try to get 2-3 tablespoons each day which is very easy to do. I also add olive oil to my liquid soap and I bathe with that as well as slather it on my skin every now and then.
 

Miss sofia

One Too Many
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East sussex, England
I agree with you, apparently Sophia also attributes maintaing her famous figure by eating lots of pasta. So carbs must be good for you! Actually having lived in Italy for many years i can see the logic behind that. The italians only eat pasta and rice as a starter, and no more than a ladleful, if that. Being that carbs are an important requirement of a healthy diet in moderation, it does make sense. Bread is eaten at the table, no butter or margarine, usually to mop up sauce or juice from the main dish of meat or fish and vegetables. They don't tend to eat as many potatoes either or stodgy puddings.

I did read somewhere though that her husband was a great jewellery giver, apparently he was in the same ballpark as Liz and Richard, so perhaps that has contributed to her retaining a bit of zest and sparkle!
 

RodeoRose

A-List Customer
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Vermont
This is sort of a petty complaint, but what I can't get over is how unflattering the photos they chose are! lol
That has to be the worst picture of Joan Crawford I've ever seen, and the Kate and Bette pictures are pretty awful too.
 

Heather

Practically Family
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656
Location
Southern Maine, USA
Along the same lines as Audrey, I read recently that Marilyn used to take ice water baths to make her skin taunt. Too extreme for me! Brrr!!!
 

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