I got to know several of the "girls", and I was amazed to find out the variety of backgrounds they claimed. One had been an airline pilot, another worked in a factory. Several claimed to have wives and girl friends on the way to our city to be with them, but I never saw any of these in evidence during the interviews.

Watching them rehearse in their working clothes and then seeing the change into costume was fascinating. Professionals have one distinct advantage over the amateur in female impersonation: up there on the stage they are protected by lighting and distance from close scrutiny. Their makeup is naturally heavier and their wigs can be of an inferior quality.

Their wigs were well-done and certainly expensive, but up close they didn't look as completely realistic as they would have to if they were going out on the street in them.

Most of them dressed would fool me, and I pride myself on a TV-discerning eye. They saved the wigs for last, though, and there- in lies an even more intriguing tale.

They start preparing themselves the day before the dress re- hearsal. Most of them have to shave all over, and this is evidently a time-consuming problem. So they shave the day before, saving the make-up and costuming for the day of the opening, in this case the opening for friends and press was dress rehearsal. I watched them troup in to get ready, two and a half hours before the curtain was scheduled to go up. They sat down in front of mirrors in their male underwear and started to make up.

Then they

The first thing they do is put on a heavy base. start shadowing much as you or 1. But they take great pains to bring the contours of the face in line with their femme ideal. They work to make the lower face appear rounder and wider than it is. This they feel is a feminine characteristic. They cover the eye- brows with make-up base, pencil in newer, higher ones. Their lip- stick is heavier than it would be for streetwear. Their nails are polished but poorly manicured, I thought. I've seen amateur TV's with greater care taken on their nails. Perhaps the pros have to have stubbier nails to work the zippers and hooks they are involved with on costume changes. One of the Jewel Box stars has something like eleven changes, each of them into a new wig as well as a new costume.

To return to the magic of the hairpiece: I watched the faces

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