Gigi Perreau

This is a 1952 Lydia Lane article, where 11 year old child actress Gigi Perreau talks about children’s beauty care routines.

Though Gigi Perreau is only 11, she has been an actress since she was 2, making her screen debut in “Madam Curie.” But it was in “Enchantment,” when she played Teresa Wright as a little girl, that Hollywood knew another child star had arrived. I went to Universal-International to talk to Gigi to find out about “small fry” beauty secrets she might tell me. As soon as the business of ordering lunch was out of the way Gigi proudly showed me a lipstick. It had a picture of a little girl on the cover and the shade was a sherbet pink. “The color doesn’t come off, see,” Gigi said, rubbing it on the back of my hand, “but it LOOKS like a lipstick and keeps you from getting chapped.”

“Lipstick, When?” I asked. “How soon do you think a girl should wear lip stick. I mean the real thing?” Gigi had very definite ideas about this. “I don’t think you should wear lipstick until you’re a teen-ager, thirteen is a little young; lightly, in a pale color then, but 14 is OK.” Instantly Gigi thought of an exception. “There’s a girl in my class who is only 11, but she is 5 feet 6 inches and everyone thinks she is so much older, she looks silly without it. I know some girls’ put on lipstick when they get out of school, hut wipe it often before they go home. If your family doesn’t want you to wear lipstick, you shouldn’t.” Once again Gigi qualified her statement. “But if your family wants you to wait to wear lipstick until you’re 16 that’s a little too old.”

“Have you any grooming secrets to tell me?” Gigi gave this question serious consideration before she replied, “You should wash your hands whenever they get dirty.” “Gigi gives herself a manicure,” Mrs. Perreau volunteered. At this point lunch arrived. Gigi looked at her plate wistfully, then turned to the waiter, I don’t think-I’d better have the potatoes. Will you please take them away?” “Do you have to watch your weight?” I asked. – “When you’re growing, you can’t.” Gigi explained, “but I watch my inches. They make my “clothes for me on a dummy and I can tell by that what has baribened- When I first came to Universal my waist was 25 inches, but now,” Gigi proudly exclaimed, “it is only 23.'” “I never said anything to Gigi about reducing,” Mrs. Perreau remarked.

“l can see if I look fat when I watch myself on the screen.”! Gigi told me. “So when a nice-‘ looking pie comes to the table I don’t mind. I just go to the icebox and get myself some Jello. It’s rather pretty, you know.” “I think if any little girl were called ‘Fatso’ and she felt she wanted to reduce, but she also wanted to eat the fattening thing the rest of her family did, that it would help her if she would have some home movies taken. It lets you see bow you look to other people. A mirror isn’t quite the same. You can’t see all around at once.”

“Do you have a favorite beauty routine?” I asked without a trace of a smile. Gigi’s face brightened, “Learning to take care of my hair myself.” “She’ll have to Gigi’s going to camp this summer,” Mrs. Perreau explained. “I shampoo my hair myself. I have two favorite shampoos one time I use the cream kind that comes in a jar and the next time a bottle of shampoo that has egg in it. I have a spray for rinsing my hair. Mother says rinsing is very important.” I asked if her hair were naturally curly. “No,” Gigi said quickly, “but it’s been wavy ever since I had it cut. When I wore my hair in braids, it was dead straight.” “Do you put it up yourself?”

“I’m learning. DO you want me to tell you how? I stick my finger like this (pointing to her scalp) and I wrap my hair around it toward the front. When I get to the back, I roll it counter-clockwise on the right side and clockwise on the left You have to slip your finger out in and hold the curl down while you put in a bobby pin.” Gigi looked at her mother, “I open my pins with my teeth and I know you are not supposed to.” “That’s very interesting Thank you so much, I said. “I have a favorite lotion I use for suntanning and I use it when my face is chapped too,” Gigi informed me. Mrs. Perreau laughed, “You see she reads your column.” “In a few years you’ll be in your teens.” I told Gigi, “and I hope you’ll still be a star and that you’ll tell me about your beauty secrets again.”

PS: I find this article a bit sad (c’mon, a healthy 11 year old child having to look after her weight!) , but that’s the life of a child actress for you.