Local 706 - The Artisan

40 • THE ARTISAN FALL 2021 Hollywood Wigmakers: Our Unsung Heroes Hi Victoria! It's so good to see you on Zoom after all these years. I wanted to have a conversation with you about your wigmaking career and relive some of your experiences making wigs and hairpieces for the glitterati of Hollywood. When and how did you get your start in wigmaking? Around 1966, when I was about 13 years old, five of my friends and I became involved in the junior high school drama club where I learned stage management, lighting and make-up. In 1968, we formed The Redondo Beach Youth Theater and I ended sticking with make-up. I wanted to be a special make-up effects artist. My friend, Mikki Dickson, owned a make-up store. In 1977, through her Kryolan representative, we met Ziggy (Siegfried Geike) who was, at the time, also a West Coast dis- tributor for the product line. We went up to Van Nuys, CA, to meet him at his store and he needed ventilators to work on wigs. We brokered a deal that I would help him with his wigmaking business and he would help me with my special make-up effects artistry. Most people may not remember that Ziggy was a special B Y D A N I E L C U R E T J O U R N E Y M A N H A I R S T Y L I S T make-up effects artist in Local 706. He had been highly trained in his native Germany and diversified into making custom wigs and hairpieces here in the States, which is what he is mostly remem- bered for. After 2½ years of working in the shop, he got me a job as a make-up apprentice on a TV series, Greatest Heroes of the Bible, filming out at Lake Powell. We had made all the wigs and facial hairpieces. Everyone in those days would come to Ziggy for supplies and assistance in make-up training. No one wanted to make wigs. I realized that I had a better shot in the industry staying with him as a wigmaker. At that point, he had finally stopped yelling at me and was happy that I wanted to stay with him. I returned to theatrical productions after a year to strike out on my own. God had a plan and put me in the right place! What is your overall wigmaking philosophy? Don't make a wig! Create hair! And relish the question, "What wig?" If no one notices the wig on the screen, then that is the greatest compliment. Coming from a theatrical background, I was blessed to be trained in film-quality techniques from the beginning. I had to reverse that detailed training when I returned to the theater in order to produce the mass quantities of wigs needed on a show. I learned to not just make a wig but to create a head of hair within the limitations of the lace cap. The actors really appreciated my detailed work applied to their durable theatrical wigs and making them look like they had real heads of hair on stage. What specific wigmaking skills are you known for? I became known for a variety of Afro textures with "nappy" edges. Thanks to my friendship with Julia Walker and Lea Woods. We called ourselves the "lock ladies" and together, we had a special combination of complementary skill sets. Julia was Whoopi Goldberg's hair stylist and she knew how to create the locks and PART 2: VICTORIA WOOD Make-up artist Matthew Mungle (right) and wigmaker Victoria Wood aged Oprah Winfrey into 95-year-old Gloria Gaines in Lee Daniels' The Butler.

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