The Hollywood Museum is, of course, located in Hollywood. The collection, which tells the history of American cinema, is quite interesting, but the museum building itself is no less curious. Once this house was owned by the legendary makeup artist Max Factor.

The father of modern cosmetics’ real name was Faktorovich. He came from the Russian Empire, the son of a worker from Lodz (Poland). As a boy he sold sweets, worked as a pharmacist, studied at a wigmaker, and was an assistant makeup artist. After serving in the Imperial Army, he opened a store in Ryazan for blushes, creams, and wigs. The young merchant was lucky: a theater company passed through Ryazan, and the master of cosmetics became known at court. Faktorovich moved to St. Petersburg, made up the performers at the opera theater, at the same time he was a consultant on cosmetics at the court of Nicholas II. However, in 1904, concerned about the threat of Jewish pogroms, he emigrated to the United States.

Over the ocean, the customs officer shortened the emigrant’s last name, Maximilian Faktorovich turned into Max Faktor. In 1908 he opened a store in Los Angeles, a year later he founded a company that was destined to become an empire. Factor realized that the nascent movie industry would require new cosmetics. In 1912 he created special makeup for movie stars. The next step was truly ingenious: Factor announced that with this makeup every girl could look like a movie star. Max Factor cosmetics began to buy millions of women. In the everyday life of society ladies and ordinary workers entered makeup, which before the Factor was the attribute of women of dubious behavior.

The Factor bought an Art Deco building near Hollywood Boulevard (by Simeon Charles Lee) on the eve of the Great Depression. Here, in his studio, the silver screen goddesses were born. It was Factor who created the familiar look of many movie stars to the world. He made Marilyn Monroe a platinum blonde, Lucille Ball a fiery redhead, and dusted Marlene Dietrich’s wig with real gold. The interior of the building matched the tastes of the founder: white and pink marble, antique chandeliers, antique furniture.

The museum collection numbers over ten thousand exhibits. In the basement of the building there is a prison cell and the corridor that Jodie Foster from “Silence of the Lambs” passed through, the mask of Dr. Hannibal Lecter, figures of vampires and Elvira the Lord of Darkness. On the first floor you can see Max Factor’s makeup rooms for blondes, redheads, brown hair, and brunettes, with special makeup for each occasion. The second and third floors are devoted to the costumes of movie stars in which they appeared in famous movies. There is a million-dollar Marilyn Monroe dress, the largest collection of authentic Marilyn Monroe outfits, Elvis Presley’s gown and Sylvester Stallone’s boxing gloves as Rocky. There are hundreds of costumes: Leonardo DiCaprio, Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise, George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie starred in them. Nearby are photos, personal belongings of the stars, and posters reminiscent of the glory and brilliance of screen icons.