![]() ![]() Within three years, the store had outgrown its space, so it was time to move. “I didn’t try to reinvent the wheel,” he says. Stein succeeded by keeping it simple and understanding what his customers needed. “I knew what the professional makeup artist needed all I had to do was fill in those gaps, and that’s exactly what we did.” With only one other beauty supply store in the area at the time, business was brisk and they paid their investment back within seven months. “I was pretty cognizant of the kind of materials that were needed for makeup artists and hairdressers, because I had a hairdressing background as well,” says Stein. They weren’t looking for outside business in those days, and operated with no publicity or marketing - just word of mouth. He and his wife, Barbara, who served as company president, remodeled a local car repair shop about half a mile from the current Cinema Secrets location and opened shop in 1985. Stein had the idea of opening a business in Burbank that would supply industry professionals and the nearby studios with the products they needed on a daily basis. Stein retired from full-time production work at age 50 in 1984 (although a very generous offer to work on The Golden Girls television series pulled him back in for a while there he created the makeup that made actress Estelle Getty look old enough to play Bea Arthur’s mother, despite being the younger of the two). This family-run company with an increasingly global reach serves as the ultimate cosmetics resource for professionals and beauty enthusiasts alike, and like Stein himself, it is truly one of a kind. Of course, here in Toluca Lake, he is also known as the founder of local treasure Cinema Secrets. Throughout his career, Stein was also known as one of the profession’s most inventive members, raising its standards and improving the tools of the trade. He was one of the most successful, innovative makeup artists in the biz for decades (with 200 films and television shows and over 4,000 commercials to his credit) and has been inducted into more than one industry hall of fame, among other honors. Still, when it comes to makeup and effects artists, Maurice Stein lives up to the label. ![]() The term “legend” comes up a lot when people talk about Hollywood history, especially in this neighborhood that’s been home to so many movie-industry heavyweights. Photo by Daniel Deitch Founder Maurice Stein. ![]()
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