Many of the beauty salon clients who were not fortunate enough to acquire an appointment with George Masters often begged like schoolchildren and even tried to bribe the salon manager for an appointment with him. Whenever George Masters went to a salon to do makeovers, his services were always booked solid before he had even arrived! He was an extremely talented artist with a gift for enriching people with his magical skills and pleasing personality. He was more than just a good makeup artist, he was funny, witty, and entertaining. I did not understand at the time how just how draining that part of his work was exhausting. He made it look natural and easy, but each time he was meeting a new client, it was a new performance. It was like Bob Hope entertaining the troops and doing a new never-ending stand-up comedy act many times a day. I now realize how exhausted he must have been at the end of each day’s work. It is grueling trying to entertain others as you perform your craft at the same time and make it all appear natural.

In our salon, I watched every one of his beauty transformations in awe and admiration. He used his knowledge of fashion taste, makeup products, facial structure, and the technique of high-light and shadow to do corrective work to make subtle changes to the client’s faces. He graced their eyes, cheeks and lips in gentle harmonious hues of color. As talented as he was, he presented himself to me during our conversations to be a person with a very humble down-to-earth personality. He saw that I was impressed by his beauty transformations and he encouraged me to become a makeup artist too. His type of sincere humbleness and friendliness made me feel that I could (with the proper makeup artist training,) become a makeup artist also, because I felt that I possessed a similar humble personality. I never dreamed to be as talented as he was. At that time, I only wished to be just a good makeup artist. But in my own style and way, I eventually became my own type of makeup artist like George Masters became his own type of makeup artist. Each of us will be the type of makeup artist that our character represents.

Many years passed since I first met George Masters, I always knew that we were both different in many ways, but in many ways, we possessed many of the same qualities, traits and gifts as other sensitive humans and artists who love our profession dearly possess.

After George Masters had left our salon to continue his salon makeover/publicity tours in salons located in other cities across the country. I missed the excitement of his presence in the salon and the visual gift of seeing his make-overs. He had inspired me and awaken something me that made me feel that I really could become more than what I was … or ever dreamed that I could be! He was simply inspiring and a role model for me. And I then realized that my life would never be the same after meeting and talking with George Masters, seeing his work, and being exposed to an artistic and professional world that I never dreamed that I could be a part of. I suddenly realized that my meeting George Masters was a strange way of fate guiding me … whether it was true or not … I did not know, but that is how I felt in my simple mind.

As a result of my brief two-week encounter with George in our salon, he managed to inspire and instill in me a sense of energy and confidence that made me believe that I could be more than I thought that I could be.

Unfortunately, I felt bored and as restless as a caged animal in the beauty salon, since George was no longer there and bringing his excitement and energy each day to the salon. I decided to learn as much as I could from other makeup artists in New York City. Also, I was determined to become a full-time freelance makeup artist and do a variety of assignments like George Masters did. I started to look at fashion magazines and noticed the names of the various makeup artists that appeared in the magazines, who were credited for having done the makeup for the different model’s photographs. One name kept reappearing this person’s name was a makeup man called Stan Place. I did not realize it at the time, but he was considered to be the most famous fashion magazine makeup artist in New York City. One day I decided to call the New York telephone information and ask for his phone number.

I called his number and asked if he gave private lessons, he said that he sometimes did. I shyly asked how much and he replied $100.00 an hour! At that time period many years ago, that sum was my entire week’s salary if one included the travel expenses to visit him. As expensive as it was for me, I asked him to come once a month for his private lessons. I soaked in as much information and training as I could on each of my visits.

He was impressed by my desire to learn and my simple ambition to be a good makeup artist. As time went by, he gave me many extra hours of free training in exchange for working as his makeup apprentice on the numerous assignments that he did. After a year of being an apprentice trainee for him, he politely kicked me out of his private apprentice/training classes by saying that I had learned all that he could teach me in the fashion industry and that it was time for me to “try my wings and fly solo.” In other words, it was time for me to go out into the makeup world and try and do some makeup on a real assignment of my own instead of doing makeup in a private classroom-type setting or as an apprentice to him on his jobs. It is a very frightening moment for every first-time learning makeup artist to be told “classes are over, it is time for you to go your own way.” But it is a moment that every-one who wants to be a makeup artist must face and do in order to get over the nervousness that one encounters. It was my graduation time!

After doing some “Test Makeup Work” (working for free as a makeup artist in exchange for a few free photographs,) for a variety of photographers and acquiring a small portfolio of photos (of the makeup that I applied on some models,) I was finally offered my first paying assignment. My first professional assignment for money was an exciting day for me and everything went well. At the end of the assignment, I went home elated and was more than ever determined to become a full-time makeup artist. I had earned two weeks of my salon salary in one day doing work that I loved doing! Slowly I started to do more and more freelance assignments (working for anyone who desired my services on a for-hire basis,) and as a result, I started to work fewer days in the beauty salon where I was employed full-time. I went from five days to three days per week and then one day per week and eventually, I resigned from my salon position and became a full-time freelance makeup artist. As I started to do more makeup assignments, I was becoming quite good at applying natural and beauty makeup. I was frequently requested to do a variety of still photography assignments, industrials, television commercials, and television shows as a union permit worker. A union permit worker is an individual that is permitted to work on union television productions for a day or week whenever the regular union members are booked solid and extra makeup artists are needed to fill in as a makeup artist when one is absent. Eventually, such union permit workers to become union members.

Approximately five years after first meeting George Masters, our paths through the journey of life crossed again. I was working on a union assignment as the personal makeup artist for the Hollywood actor and legend, Gregory Peck, and George Masters was the personal makeup artist for the legendary actress/singer Ann Margaret. We were doing the makeup for these two gifted performers for a special television show that was to be televised at Christmas time. It was being taped at the world-famous Radio City Music Hall in New York City. When George saw me, he was his usual kindly gracious self and we laughed at how awkward, shy, and humble I was when I first met George and I admitted to still being awkward in a world of glitz!

Approximately two years later our paths crossed again for the last time. I was working as an extra makeup artist on a movie called “Tootsie” and George Masters was the personal makeup artist for the actor Dustin Hoffman who was the star of this film (George said that he was being paid $3,000.00 per day for his services to transform Dustin Hoffman into a woman for his dual role in this film.)