Louis Hippe(1909-1967)

Louis was born at the turn of the century, the machine age instilled into him, a yearning for technology, as he grew older, he realized that there were many "avenues" to follow, he chose the art of make-up, it had a very challenging line of endeavor, he decided to begin with the bare essentials and, later began to "experiment", with the existing elements that were available, he decided that there may be a "new" path to follow, he gained "notability" by experimenting, to expedite the chemistry of make-up, with the existing conditions of the heat from the studio lamps, also the "preservation" of the "make-up" on the actors, which would be a challenging feature in his applications, The life line of make-up is only as good as the applicator. With this thought in mind, he built a laboratory on his property at home, his so called "lab" was with reference to a chemistry lab., he designed face make-up pastes, that would stand up to the tremendous values from the exposures of the elements, mainly the heat from the lamps were challenging, the lip stick applications on the actresses were constantly being "monitored", he decided to observe the melting process, this is known as "accelerated" weather-ometery, the state of the art of controlling degradation, not only lip applications, but also facial over lays to keep from "cracking' and creating a bad "take" for the Director, he gained a lot of information within the state of the art, by talking to other make-up artists, he would spend many hours in his "Ham-Shack", having a FCC-Ham license, he was able to hold conversations with other professionals, that were also "Hams", in doing so, he realized that there was a tremendous amount of "corrections", to be made in relation to the trade, he had ovens, and environmental cells that he built himself, these so called cells were constructed to allow the "product" to be subject to the "harsh" environment, heating, cooling, wetting, he could see the barriers that were to be observed, he spent the best part of his life, looking into "unknown", he never gave up, his hobbies were many, painting was one, he taught "school" at his studio, the art of using "oils" were his mainstay, his "students" were many famous actors / actresses, and they were very "proud" to be in his classes, his other hobby was "ceramics", he taught "sculpturing" which became a very interesting hobby for the actors and actresses, they never forgot him, he had that "touch" that gave them the "incentive" to stay with the program, he was an excellent artist, and also, photography was a very big "challenge" for him, he left us with a "legacy" to follow, and we will never forget him, and looking back, I, as a "physicist", see the many avenues of thought that he "pondered upon, and perfected........ Your "works" are alive and appreciated, please "rest in peace" Louis, a job well done.