Macy's
Thanksgiving Day
Parade
It all started with the message on an online bulletin board for clowns which read " We need make-up artists for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Here's the challenge - 725 clown faces in three hours! If you will be in NYC on Thanksgiving Day and would like to be a part of "The most-watched parade in the world" " Ok, I thought to myself. That sounds like fun! I was used to doing makeup fast from all the parties and streetfairs that I had done. I usually averaged about 20 faces per hour using traditional brushwork. This would be a bit more of a rush, but I felt up to the task!
I phoned up the organizers, interviewed and went for their orientation classes. Macy's was very specific about what they wanted. 

T here were about 5 different faces that were approved. There was an Auguste (that's the type of clown that I am...actually, I'm a light European August, if you want to get technical.), a tramp (for guys with beards and costumed as prisoners), a Whiteface (they are the clowns with almost all white face and just a small amount of color on their nose and mouth), an Auguste variation called the "Uptown Doggie Walkers" which was the most elaborate of the faces. There were some non-clown designs too! In the parade, folks are dressed as everything from Pizza to Bowling Pins! Most of the costumed folks just got rosy cheeks and a red nose. The Bowling Pins were white-faced with a red stripe across their eyes!

T he morning of the parade was very exciting! Makeup opened at 5 am! It was still dark when I got off of the subway and I could hear the marching bands! They get judged early in the morning before the parade. People were already camped out curbside to get a good view of the parade. Barricades were up everywhere and I had to flash my "Make Up Crew" pass to get near Macy's.
Makeup was in the Diner at Macy's. There were about 40 other artists. We were given our makeup kits, breakfast and last minute instructions. We each had our own little station, they removed some of the stools around the counter so that we would have more room to work.  We had a few minutes to set up our workspace and relax. 

P eople went to Wardrobe first, then Makeup and finally to Wigs before they boarded the buses that would take them uptown to the start of the parade route.
The flight controllers at JFK don't have anything on the Macy's Thanksgiving day Parade Organizers! Everything went very smoothly. After costuming, folks waited in a holding area for the next available makeup artist. As an artist was finishing a face by putting the powder on to set it, they would raise their hand so that the traffic control people would know where to send the next person on line.
It was very fast and the pressure was on to get everyone made up before the last bus pulled out. Everyone was very nice and I got to meet some great people. There were even some other clowns!

M ehron Makeup was used. You can visit their website to see the different types of clowns that I described earlier and to learn about the steps involved in applying their make up. 
One funny thing that happened was a shortage of brushes and powder socks. The makeup artists wound up tossing them back and forth over the counter to each other as they were needed! Nobody got hit with the flying socks! 

These are example Macy's gave to the makeup artists to follow

Uptown Doggie Walker	Prisoner Clown	Ornament Clown

Thanks for visiting!

Moogie

718-857-9409 moogieland@gmail.com 908-725-1213