Ritchie Johnson, the revered makeup artist with whom she spent more than half a century 60 minutes He put eyeliner on the Beatles for their first television appearance in the United States The Ed Sullivan ShowHe died. It was 101.
Her family announced that Johnson died on January 3. CBS Sunday Morning She was praised soon after, but otherwise her death was not reported. For more than 20 years starting in the 1990s, she worked on the show, preparing host Charles Osgood and others.
Johnson was a student of the late Dick Smith, known as the “Godfather of Makeup,” and also worked with Milton Berle in the field of makeup. Texaco Star Theater – and was probably responsible for the famous powder gag – with Sid Caesar running Your offer of offers And on CBS Morning News.
Johnson started 60 minutes With the newsmagazine’s first episode on September 24, 1968, to ensure that hosts Mike Wallace and Harry Reasoner were camera-ready, they were listed in the show’s credits as recently as December 2018.
Over the decades, she has touched the likes of Dan Rather, Morley Savre, Roger Mudd, Ed Bradley, Bob Simon, Lesley Stahl, Anderson Cooper, Lara Logan, Steve Croft, and Scott Pelley. But Andy Rooney usually applied his own makeup. If Johnson did anything, he would ask her not to get too close to the eyebrows.
It’s hard to find a famous person who hasn’t sat in Johnson’s makeup chair at one time or another. She applied her makeup brush to titans of television news (Walter Cronkite, Edward R. Murrow), icons of the entertainment world (Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Arthur Godfrey, Tallulah Bankhead) and presidents (Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon – not in time for his sweaty debate performance against JFK, and, alas – Gerald Ford and Bill Clinton).
Clinton initially resisted helping her. She told the radio: “He was afraid of appearing too pretentious.” New York Post In 2014. “He came in rather nervous. I said to him: ‘Mr. President, I assure you I have a very light touch.’” Clinton signed a photo of herself and wrote: “Thank you for making my old face look good.”
Perhaps her most memorable assignment came on February 9, 1964, when the Beatles arrived in New York to perform on CBS. The Ed Sullivan Show.
“I heard all this noise outside,” she told Mo Rocca in 2016. “I looked out the window and saw all these young people. I spoke to the doorman. He said, ‘Oh, a group from England.’ And I said, ‘Wow. This sounds dangerous!’ So I called home and said to my husband, ‘I can get the kids to practice.’ The kids don’t want to come. So of course, now they’re very sorry about it!”
Johnson recalled that Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr were a bit nervous and wondering what she was doing to their faces.
Years later, she ran into McCartney in a lobby at CBS, and to her surprise he remembered her and their time together on Sullivan’s show. “You used pancake makeup and eyeliner, and when we asked you about eyeliner, you said, ‘It’ll be OK,'” Johnson said in 2014.
Florence Riccobono was born on February 27, 1924 in Clifton, New Jersey. At Georgian Court University, a Roman Catholic college in Lakewood, New Jersey, she earned her Ritchie title as well as her Bachelor of Arts degree, then went on to pursue a master’s degree in theater arts at the Pasadena Playhouse.
Her real makeup education began in 1950 when she was hired at NBC. At that time, she wanted to become an actress. She was offered a position in the makeup department and turned it down before taking a friend’s advice and reconsidering.
Smith was the head of the makeup department at NBC, who would go on to work on such films as Little big man, The godfather, Amadeus and The exorcist And receive an honorary Oscar.
“He was very enthusiastic and a generous teacher,” Johnson told this writer during a 2015 interview. Makeup artist magazine. “He had us set each other up to practice when we weren’t busy. One day, he asked me to go with him to the control room during practice. He was whispering to me and showing me what lighting does – how it causes shadows and where you need to highlight.”
One of her first assignments came Texaco Star Theater. (Pearl did his own makeup on the comedy show, but she was in charge of the guests.) In one of his most famous comedy segments, he shouted “Makeup!” On stage, someone was slapping him in the face with a giant puff of powder, covering him in white dust.
Although the gag was as old as vaudeville itself, Johnson noted that Pearl began incorporating it into his show after she was stationed offstage with a puff of powder and instructions to groom guests if necessary.
“I don’t want to take credit for it. I have no idea,” she said. “He’s never used it before. I know that. It wasn’t like it was anything new, but I wondered if he hadn’t thought about it because I was standing there with a powder puff.”
Johnson also did makeup for another NBC comedy variety show, Your offer of offersStarring Caesar and Imogene Coca.
The opportunity to tour Europe lured Johnson away from NBC, but she landed at CBS when she returned to work on game shows. I’ve got a secret, To tell the truth and What is my line?
In 1952, she transitioned to television series Guidance light She met her future husband, James Johnson, a CBS cameraman. She first laid eyes on him after she was struck in the head by a spike that broke her glasses. “I was standing there with my hands in front of my face, and I heard this voice saying, ‘CBS is going to pay for this,'” she said. “And there was Jay, with two pieces of glasses.”
They married in 1953 and had seven children within 10 years, raising them on New York’s Upper East Side.
When CBS launched a weekday morning news show, Johnson was asked to do makeup, which was a perfect fit for the demands of motherhood. And I stayed with CBS Morning News For twelve years until it was offered 60 minutes gig.
Her husband died in 1999. In addition to her seven children, she has 14 grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren. Donations in her memory may be made to Catholic Charities.
In her interview with makeup artist magazine, Johnson seemed amazed by her exquisite brushwork.
She said: “When I was working – like when I did the Beatles – I had no idea it was going to be so big. I just knew there were a lot of kids screaming in the streets, and there was talk about how important the group was in the world of music. But who knew how big it would get? And that’s the same with everything I’ve done.”
“Of course, if you make a boss, he’s a boss. But a lot of the things you do… Your offer of offers, Did we know this would be such a date? Did we know? 60 minutes Would it have lasted all these years? It’s great because [I’ve made so many] Professional friends. “I feel very proud to be able to say I worked with them…and have them recognize me.”
