Tag Archives: yvonne de carlo

Oct 28

Yvonne de Carlo – Take three

This is a 1957 Lydia Lane article. Enjoy!

Yvonne De Carlo working on her newest picture in a form-revealing runic banishes all doubts that this Glamour girl has her figure back after the baby. Yvonne explained, “I have not had to struggle to get back to normal. – “I don’t go In for these hurry-op diets that make you so starved you eat the weight right back on again,” she continued. “I believe in doing a little every day; you fool so much bettor for It. “If you crave something like fried potatoes, have one. The taste is in your mouth the same is if you had eaten a plateful.” “When I first met you,” I reminded Yvonne, “you had an underweight problem, remember?” : “I’m the nervous type. It seemed that no matter what I ate I burned it up. I used to have to mix Pablum baby food with my breakfast cereal and have egg-milkshakes for extra calories between meals.” “Now that you are a happy wife and mother you have to watch your calories,” I commented. I “That’s exactly it,” Yvonne agreed. “There is no problem if you watch what you eat, and don’t overdo it.” LOVES TO TRAVEL

There is no actress In Hollywood who been to more foreign countries than Yvonne De Carlo. “I love to travel,” she exclaimed, “but when we were in Louisana on location for this picture I was so homesick for the baby. I don’t know if I want to go away again. But traveling has taught me so many things, It is very helpful to get out of your own country. “When I first started in pictures I had so many things on my mind. I was working so hard to become a good actress that I neglected my appearance. My aunt used to give importance to these things. She used to scold me when my lipstick wore off or I wasn’t as neat as I should be but I didn’t heed her words. “And when I went to England the people were disappointed I wasn’t more glamorous. I remember they wrote, ‘She was rather pretty in her low heel and comfortable suit.’ ” Yvonne laughed. “You know how they described me the next time I went there? ‘be-jeweled, bo-furred, be-daxxling and be-oautifull’ “It takes discipline, technique and effort to look your best but the difference it makes is tremendous.”

We chatted about’ clothes. “I can wear all my old dresses again without letting any-thing out,” Yvonne confided. “I had to wait the longest for my belts. I remember I used to look at them when I was pregnant and wonder if they would ever fit me again. “I love to follow fashion or be ahead of it,” Yvonne admitted, ”but I avoid what is not attractive on m, such as little white collars or extremely tailored suits. “When I shop I always have an eye to fit. I have watched studio people fit my clothes and I have seen how tricks of alteration make an inexpensive dress look expensive. I have been designing some of my own clothes.” Yvonne confessed, “for this is one way to assure individuality.” “I have a difficult time with my hair,” Yvonne explained. “It is very fine and very straight. It is a problem when I have a permanent so most of the time we use a curling iron to get the soft effect that I want. I don’t like hair styles that are too set but I do like them neat. The talk turned to the high tension everyone seems to be living under. “There is nothing that takes the kinks out of me like a hot bath. I love to put pint oil in my water before going to bed and stay there until I am limp. I think this is one reason that I have never had to take sleeping pills,” Yvonne concluded.

Dec 19

Yvonne de Carlo – Take two

This is a 1955 Lydia Lane article where actress Yvonne de Carlo talks about a bunch of beauty stuff. Enjoy!

Yvonne De Carlo, Hollywood’s gypsy, has made each of her last five pictures in a different foreign country.- It took Cecil B. DeMille’s offer of a role in ‘”The Ten Commandments” to lure her back to Hollywood. When we lunched together recently, Yvonne admitted that she found travel irresistible. “That is, if you stay away from the tourist traps,” she amended. the “Only by eating the native foods, getting out and visiting with the people and trying to understand their point of view can you really get to know a country. “Everywhere I went I was asked questions about American fashion. No matter what they say about France being the fashion center,” Yvonne said, “we Americans could teach them a few things about fit I don’t know bow to sew but I’ve watched the studio people fit my clothes for me long enough to have learned something about it. When I shop for my personal wardrobe I buy with an eye to fit, and when something I try on isn’t quite right I know immediately what needs to be done. This is enormously helpful because with a few tricks you can make an inexpensive dress look very expensive.”

I wanted to know what she meant by “tricks.” “Take the most feminine part of our figure,” she explained. “The line of the bust. You can flatten or flatter it by the use of darts.” She pinched a bit of Kilt above her waistline to illustrate her point. “The waist is another important point that requires special attention. The way in which your- skirt and top are joined together can determine whether the dress is flattering or unbecoming. “Most foreign women insist on drawing their belts very tight because they think this makes the waist look smaller. The result is usually the reverse–it creates a bulge an around. It isn’t how small the waist is but how smooth the line above and below that counts,” she said with authority. “I think it would be a good investment if women had a least one dress custom fitted, if only to see the difference and learn how it’s done,” she said. Yvonne told me that many of the women she met in Europe expressed interest in our make-up habits, too. “There is a general interest in American cosmetics and you can find them almost everywhere you travel,” she went on. “but few of the women abroad know how to use our rouge correctly. They miss the important points — such as picking the shade that is right for their coloring, for example.” Yvonne uses a dry rouge with a russet tinge. “I apply it with a wet sponge,” she confided. “The sponge allows you to blend in the color delicately so there is no visible line. “Another of my make-up tricks is powdering my lashes first so that my eye shadow won’t collect those tiny lines around the eyes. This base of powder also acts as an undercoating to make the lashes appear Slicker when the mascara is applied.”

 Yvonne does not believe that beauty is worth too much self- denial. “Life loses its zest when there is too much discipline,” she said. “I feel sorry for women who force themselves to diet rigorously. They are unhappy doing it, and the un happiness is reflected in their faces. Dieting is fine if you can enjoy it and can find a diet that contains foods you like. In Iran they serve a dish of steamed rice with raw egg yolks and spices mixed in. I liked it so much if s become one of my favorite dinners. I don’t know the calorie count but I’m sure it’s below that of the average dinner. “I think the secret of successful dieting is finding a diet that contains foods you like. You might say ‘but all the things I like are fattening.” That is hardly ever true. If you look at a list of low-calorie foods, I’m sure you’ll find that many of them are things you are fond of. If you could make up a diet consisting of these things, I’m sure dieting would be no hard ship at all” Yvonne suggested. “I think with a little thought we can enjoy everything we have to do. The Spanish have a proverb for this which, translated, means that life will be much more pleasant if we learn to dance to the music which fate plays,” she concluded.

Jan 21

Yvonne De Carlo

This is a 1951 Lydia Lane article, where actress Yvonne De Carlo talks about a whole lot of stuff. Enjoy!!

yvonne2

When I lunched with Yvonne de Carlo at Lucey’s, which is across the street from the Paramount lot here in Hollywood, she was so radiantly happy that I thought this glow must be a new romance. “I’ve just had a dream realized,” Yvonne explained. “Many years of studying opera have not been in  vain. I am going to sing in Die Fledermaus” at the Hollywood Bowl.

My friends used to say to recommended ‘You re not getting anywhere. Why don’t you give up?’ Now I’m so happy I didn’t let other people influence me.” Yvonne looked at me with her gray-green eyes. “That’s a difficult lesson to learn when to take advice and when not to,’ she said. “If you take too much, you lose your identity, and if you take too little, you become stubborn.”

“When I first started in pictures, it was a struggle and I had many things on my mind so much that I neglected my appearance. Even after ‘Salome’ progress. (this picture made Miss de Carlo a star), I was not as neat as I should have been. My lipstick sometimes wore off and my nose was usually shiny. My aunt used to scold me about this but I didn’t think it was important.” “What made you see the light?”

“Travelling,” Yvonne said “When I went to Europe I discovered that people were disappointed … I didn’t dress like a glamour girl. When I arrived in England, they wrote, ‘She was rather pretty in low heels and a comfortable suit.’ “The next time I went to England, I made sure everything was the way they wanted it and you know, what they wrote? ‘Be-jewel-ed, be-furred, be-dazzling and be-eautiful’.” Yvonne laughed, “It takes such a little effort to look your best and it makes such a big difference.”

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“What do you feel is your biggest beauty problem?” “I think everyone who works in pictures, who has make-up on her face week after week from the time they get up until they go to bed, is faced with a problem of retaining a good skin. So much depends on getting your pores thoroughly clean!” “Do you have any special routine?” “After I have removed my make-up with oil, I always go over my face with a rough wash cloth and then I like the friction of drying with a bath towel.”

I asked Yvonne if it is true that when she’s working on a picture she insists on doing her own make-up. “I feel I know my face better than anyone else. I know the method I use is against all rules and regulations, but it turns out well.” “What rules have you broken?” “I don’t say this will be right on anyone else but I always put an outline all around my eye bringing it in toward the nose. As a rule just the top lid is outlined and the far corner of the eye opened up. “Also, I do my eyebrows and mouth, but the base of the make-up and whatever blending or shading is necessary I leave to the make-up experts. “And speaking of blending,” Yvonne said, “I think anyone who uses a tinted make-up should be very careful to blend it into their ears and down their throat. I’m surprised at the number of women who let their make-up stop at their jaw line.”

The waiter brought Yvonne quite a hearty lunch half a chicken and two hot vegetables. “I have a struggle to keep my weight up,” she explained. “When you’re the nervous type, no matter how much you eat you burn it up. But my doctor has worked out a plan which has worked very well” I asked Yvonne to tell me about it.

“There are several things which have been helpful to me. One is to eat a big breakfast. Then in the middle of the afternoon, when I’m working, I have a milk shake with an egg. “But, Yvonne exclaimed, “I won’t have to struggle to keep from being underweight once I learn how to become relaxed.” “Are you working on it?” “Yes I am. I have a routine which helps, me to let down when I’m all keyed. It takes practicing but most things in life worth having are not easy.”