We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Bobbie Weiner. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Bobbie below.
Hi Bobbie, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
My Dad was my biggest influence. When I was turning 16 I made the announcement to him that I was going to need a car. He simply said, “Bobbie, you will need to get a job!” I was crushed to hear that he would not buy me a car. So I cried and was besides myself. How dare he expect me to work. To make a long story short, the next day I got a job and worked after school every day and on Saturdays. I worked at a 2nd hand Thrift Shop. I worked also for 2 summers and then the store closed. I opened my own Thrift Shop when I was in my last year of college and had it for 16 years and sold it.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I make Halloween/Theatrical Special Effects Makeup and Camouflage Face Paint for all the branches of the US Military Dept. of Defense. I make all of my makeup and face paint in the USA. I have been in business for 28 years. I started my Makeup companies after I finished working with James Cameron’s mega hit film, “TITANIC”. I did the dead frozen floating bodies. One of Leonardo Dicaprio’s stunt doubles was going to a Charger Game in San Diego and asked me for face paint he and his buddies could wear at the game. I gave him Blue and Gold makeup and the next day he told me about people asking him where did he get the face paint. He told me that he and his buddies were on TV and the fans loved his makeup. When I was finished my work on the film, I asked someone in San Diego if I could paint his face. I used the same colors I gave to the stunt double from the film. I drove up to Los Angeles with a sample of a face paint kit I created and walked into UCLA with a photo of my model. I used the same colors as I gave the stunt double. I had no idea what the Bruins colors were and luckily for me the buyer was there that day and he took me into his office and said to me that I had to do a College Show coming up in 3 weeks in Las Vegas. He called and got me a booth and he ordered 2 gross of my face paint, 244 kits. I made a prototype of the kits and took my model to Las Vegas with me. He wore makeup for 3 days straight in the booth and I sold 46 Colleges. I got lucky, the Bruins colors were the same as the Chargers! I was now in business. I was asked to be on a morning show in San Diego and I was making the newscasters up dead and frozen and mentioned that my makeup never came off the actors in the film, Titanic. Someone from a Marine base was watching the show that morning at 6 am.. and called the TV show and got through. He left his number and asked for me to call him when I was off the air. I called him immediately and he invited me to the Marine Base the next day. I met with him and a few other people who worked at the base and they told me that they needed a new Camo face Paint for the Marines. I asked to see what they were using. I opened it up and it had an awful smell and it was pure grease. I told them I could and would make them a new Face Paint and I would get back to them in a week. By that afternoon I got called by 2 more bases who heard about me and that I was making a new Camo Face Paint for a huge base in San Diego. I met with another Base the next day and the buyer at that base told me I had to do a Military Convention coming up and I had to get a booth. He made a call and got me a booth and 5 weeks later I took my model Seth,and we were off to Dallas, Texas to do another show together. BTW, after that meeting I called my Dad and told him I think I have something big going on here in San Diego and he said super!! What ever you need, I am here for you!! Whatever they ask for, you tell them that you can do it. Just ask them what do you need? Listen and take notes.
Then I was asked to do a Halloween Convention. I love Halloween and I was excited to be their guest speaker at their Luncheon in Chicago. Luckily one of my sales reps for my Sports Fan Face Paint business lived close by there and came over to the Halloween Show and he was my model. Of course I made him dead and frozen and there were 400 Haunted House owners having lunch while I was talking and doing my makeup on the stage. They had all kinds of questions and how do you do this and that kind of questions. I mentioned that my nick name in the Film Industry was Bloody Mary. The crew on my first film out of makeup school gave me that name. The film was Pumpkinhead 2,” I had no idea that my first film had such a huge following. I then was no longer Bobbie, my new name was Mary, “Bloody Mary” and that is how Bloody Mary FX Cosmetics was born.
Since then I went on to create many products for the Halloween Industry.
About 2 years later I was asked to be a guest speaker at San Diego Comic Con. I had never been to a comic book show. Little did I know this was a huge one. I showed up on a Saturday morning and was escorted to a gigantic room that held 10,000 people and there was standing room only. I jumped up n the stage and did my thing.
Asked if anyone wanted t be my model and I had 3 people on the stage with me within 3 minutes. what a great
time. I walked the show and found the biggest comic book distributor. Introduced myself and said I want to write a comic book. One of the guys in the booth told me he and some of the guys had been to my speaking engagement in the morning and was happy to meet me. He gave me his card and said to call him when I had a comic book done. I went back to my 200 sq foot office in San Diego and wrote up an outline of a story about The Tales of Bloody Mary and turned my face into a monster. I made a postcard of the outline with me on the top of the postcard as a monster. The following year I was in my new publishers booth at Comic Con San Diego signing autographs on my Jumbo Post Card. There was a man across from me and saw what was going on at my publishers booth and he came over to ask me “Who Are You” ? I asked him back, “Who Are You?” He said that he was Stan Lee and wanted my autograph. I told him I had never heard of him. He asked for a picture with me. We chatted for a bit and I had to go back to signing autographs. It was a wild time and I ended up writing my first comic book that year and made appearances in different comic book stores.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
FX Makeup was not as big as it is today! Horror was not as big.
Haunted Houses were not as huge as they are today!
I just fell into this business and every idea I had I ran with it. I did not ask anyone for their opinions. I went with my gut and my own intuition.
I never had a partner, I make all of the decisions myself.
Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?
They did not buy me that car I asked for when I was 15 1/2 years old. They made me realize if I want something I would have to work for it.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.dearbloodymary.com
- Instagram: @bloodymarymakeup
- Facebook: @bloodymarymakeup
- Youtube: @bloodymakeup
- Other: “I Can Do This, The Bloody Mary Story” (My Autobiography) www.sportsfanfacepaint.com www.camofacepaint.com www.bobbieweiner.com
