There were approximately 30 different people who worked on the make-up design for the Wizard of Oz, but the main Makeup Artist was Jack Dawn. He was in the industry for 37 years. One of his first creations was a stiff, uncomfortable mask he wore in the role of ape in 1925. In order to make masks that were more elastic and lifelike, he began to experiment with a variety of materials. After nine years of research while working at MGM, he developed a synthetic plastic he called vinylite resin for which he received a patent. Its first application was used to create the Chinese faces for the mostly white cast of The Good Earth in 1937.
Two years later, Dawn was assigned the task of giving life to three non-human characters - a scarecrow, a tin man, and a lion - in MGM's now-classic musical film The Wizard of Oz. He also created the green makeup for Wicked Witch of the West and multiple looks for Frank Morgan, who portrayed five different characters in the film, as well as for the Munchkins. His work resulted in some of the most recognizable makeup designs ever created for a Hollywood production.
Because of the extravagant make-up in the movie, the studio recruited several employees from the studio's mailroom and courier service to help apply make-up to the cast. A lot of the make-up involved prosthetics, so the employees were trained on one area of prosthetics and they formed an assembly line.
Although the make-up in the film received a lot of recognition, there was also a lot of accidents on set, some of which involved the make-up. For example, the Tin Man was originally played by Buddy Esben. However, due to aluminum dust in the make-up, Esben was unable to breathe and was rushed to the hospital. Jack Haley was then cast as the Tin Man and took over for Buddy Esben. The make-up was changed from aluminum dust to aluminum paste.
Another accident involved Margaret Hamilton who played the Wicked Witch of the West. In the scene where she leaves munchkin land through a cloud of smoke and fire, there was an accident which caused her to get burned. The make-up that she wore for the film was made out of copper. Her face and hands were left with second and third degree burns. Thankfully a friend on the set helped Margaret get the make-up off quickly, otherwise the heated up copper would have continued to eat away at her face. See video below.
CBS - Behind the Scenes of the Wizard of Oz... by videohollic
