
Cheers for Seventy-three Years
It was 1949 when Florence Ricobbono Johnson was hired by NBC as a staff makeup-artist. She trained to be an actor and had recently completed a graduate degree in theater at The Pasadena Playhouse (University of Southern California) where she got the nickname Riccie.
On her first day she was greeted by Dick Smith* who was the head of the makeup department. Riccie said, “One of the first things he did was take me into the control room and discussed the effects of overhead lighting and how it cast shadows on the faces of the performer. He was kind and welcoming.”
No one knew Dick Smith would become legendary and Riccie didn’t know that she was beginning a career that would span seven decades.
After year at NBC, she took a lengthy vacation in Europe with a friend which ended her employment. Before leaving she had joined Make-up Artists & Hairstylists Local 798 I.A.T.S.E. When she returned to New York she went to a union meeting and was introduced to members working at CBS.
“The TV business was booming” she said. “I began to work on entertainment shows, game shows and soap operas throughout CBS, and I embraced the business and my craft.” Riccie was one of the makeup artists working on The Ed Sullivan Show. “There was a commotion about this group from London,” she recalled. That group was The Beatles in their first USA appearance in 1964. Riccie made up all four. Years later, on another television show Riccie met McCartney, who remembered she put eyeliner and pancake makeup on him.
It was also at CBS she met her husband Jay Johnson, a cameraman. They married, set up home in Manhattan and had seven children.
Besides working on those burgeoning shows, she was given momentous assignments on location. Riccie said, “I was sent to The Waldorf Astoria Hotel to makeup President Lydon Johnson. When I got there Lady Bird answered the door. She showed me the bathroom because of the good light. I thought I can’t make up The President of the United States in a bathroom. I set up in the living room of the suite. He was a big man, and I was relieved we weren’t cramped in a small space.” Throughout her career Riccie also made-up Presidents Nixon, Ford, and Clinton.
While most makeup artists and hairstylists (apart from those working in theater) occasionally work on live performances like Saturday Night Live or awards shows, Riccie worked almost exclusively on live television productions. There was little opportunity for last looks. She told me, “You had to get it right the first time and part of getting it right was being prepared.” That preparation began with her makeup kit. She did not use a rolling suitcase or makeup cart. “I didn’t overpack; and carried the equivalent of a briefcase. I’d would mix and blend colors and always had what I needed.” If she was not familiar with someone, she would be doing on assignment she’d do research, which for most of her career was more difficult than a Google search.
On occasion performers supplied some of their own makeup, which was the case when Riccie went to do Nichols and May, the comedy duo of Mike Nichols and Elaine May, most popular between 1959-1962.
“When I arrived, there was some makeup laid out including a pair of false eyelashes. I did Elaine’s makeup first and I assumed the lashes were for her and applied them. She seemed pleased to have them. But when Mike sat down, he asked’ Weren’t there lashes here?” Elaine had gone into another room; I removed them from her and put them on him. She didn’t seem fazed, and I don’t think he knew I had made the mistake.” Of course, Mike Nichols went on to become an esteemed film and theater director.
On several occasions Riccie filled in for a colleague and went to the home of Talluah Bankhead. Riccie said, “I had never seen her without makeup, and I was surprised how dramatic the transformation was once I applied her make-up!”
Riccie stopped working in 2020 when the world paused. These days she is catching up with all seven children, seventeen grandchildren and eight great grandchildren, and attending this year’s Labor Day Parade where she was honored with a sign commemorating her decades of service.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Smith_(make-up_artist)
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbs-makeup-artist-riccie-johnsons-brush-with-fame/