Max Factor is widely known for, amongst other things, his
contributions to the motion picture industry and many of the
solutions he invented ended up in the make-up bags of the
general public. After the Second World War the motion picture
industry became increasingly threatened by television but Max
Factor & Co. were involved in this new industry as well.
Commercial television came to America during the forties and
fifties but, as in Europe, there were test transmissions in the
thirties. It was soon found that there were problems associated
with the use of make-up in the new medium. Make-up that looked
good in real life or that worked in film, looked terrible on
black-and-white television shot by Image Iconoscope camera tubes
– used for broadcasting in the United States until 1946. The
firm of Max Factor provided a solution. Max Jr. then turned his
attention to make-up for television. Earlier, in 1933, he had
worked with his father on experimental tests, and again on his
own in 1946, to introduce the first ma