Titles read: 'GILDING the LILY (Revised Version!)'. Various locations of events, including Pathe Studio, London. Several shots of women applying make-up - lipstick, eyebrow pencil, powder. A woman wearing a baseball guard applies powder to her face with a hanky. Shots of the pyramids and Sphinx in Egypt. Drawing of a box of lotions and cosmetics dating from 1,400 BC that was found in the graves of Egyptian Kings. Drawing of Egyptian figures and hieroglyphics on rocks. Live shots of a woman dressed as Cleopatra applying make-up to her eyes, then looking seductive as she reclines beside a flaming torch. We then see women acting as ladies of the court of Nero in Rome, 54 AD, applying white powder to their faces and bodies. C/U of a handbell being rung. A man dressed in 1770s town crier costume opens a scroll and starts reading out a notice that says women wearing scents, paints, artificial teeth, false hair, iron stays, high heels (etc) will incur the penalty of the law against witchcraft.
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