Universal Satisfaction is Just a Mask

    After a trip to Universal Studios in Orlando recently, I recalled an interest in Orson Welles' makeup man by some folks back East. Some academic is curious about the fate of the bust created by the pioneering makeup man, Maurice Seiderman. Welles' innovative makeup artist for the historic 1941 "Citizen Kane," the 1942 "The Magnificent Ambersons," retired in Sequim. Maurice was a wild character. He was on his eighth wife when we met. He had a bobcat living in his basement in a wire enclosure that allowed the beautiful animal access to the outside and the home's interior. Maurice would feed it chicken necks from a refrigerator. I was led to him by Editor John Kendall at the Peninsula Daily News mentioned that this man "with some connection to 'Citizen Kane'" has some photography exhibit in Sequim.

   At the Universal, we attended a stage show that traced the history of horror makeup artists. They mentioned Dick Smith's many Oscars and his work on "American Werewolf in London" and showed film clips. The banter about makeup and interaction with audience members was funny and clever. They feigned a disturbance from the audience and chose my son as the "guilty" party.
   "Remember kid. This isn't Disney. We DON'T have to be nice to you!" My son loved it, as did the rest of the audience. They showered multiple compliments on Smith and showed some of his groundbreaking work. Smith is the man who confirmed for me Seiderman's gifts; he called Maurice a "genius." 

   Maurice had a large laboratory on his property just a short distance off of Highway 101 and not too far from the Olympic Game Farm. The owners and their menagerie of animals had something to do with Seiderman's choice to move from California. I could only interview him for 30 minutes to an hour at a time, before he would tire. He took me into his laboratory to focus on his specialty: contact lenses. He made custom lenses to accentuate aging in Welles and transform humans into creatures in the 1942 horror film "Cat People."
   Score one for the wisdom of that adage: Life imitates art and art imitates life. Seiderman's life was an example of the finest in both: creating fine art and a life ...made historic from a mask.