Women Now Wearing "Beauty" Masks To Hide Old Age

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 77, 16 December 1949, Page 6

Women Now Wearing " Beauty " Masks To Hide Old Age

A visitor from New-York in London recently diverted the attention of all sightseers in Trafalgar Square when she appeared wearing her rubber “glamour kirl” mask. Women and men - followed her, staring, momentarily speechless. Admittedly on the wrong side of 60, she is one of “thousands of women” in America who, she says, year such masks in the streets, buses and cafes. They are made of flesh tinted rbbber, modeltled on the features of favourite “pin ups,” men and women. ,

A well-known boxer, for instance, may be imitated by a masked “double”—complete with cauliflower ear, split lip, or other facial similarities.

For the price of about a dollar, the American woman of advancing years has transformed herself into a Hollywood beauty, with fabulous hair, eyelashes and voluptuous mouth. It is quite easy to see breathe, smoke and eat while wearing one of these masks.

x This in r itself is nothing new. Masks like this have been party prop in America for years. But their appearance on \ the streets might lead to important sociological consequences should the craze spread to, England. Women of all years, hitherto relyiny only on make-up, can now rival flaming youth; and the ability of “wanted” men and women to transform themselves into a variety of “characters” will obviously complicate the difficulties of the police, Who would have to stop passers-by and ask them to take their “faces” off.