created. He also created shades specifically for them: Platinum (for Jean Harlow), Special Medium (for Joan Crawford), Dark (for Claudette Colbert) and Light Egyptian (for Lena Horne). For Rudolph Valentino he created makeup which complemented his complexion, and masked the darkness of his skin on screen. In 1920 Max Factor gave in to his son Frank's suggestion and officially began referring to his products as "make-up" based on the verb phrase "to make up" (one's face). Until then the term "cosmetics" had been used; the term "make-up" was considered vulgar, to be used only by people in the theater or of dubious reputation and not something to be used in polite society. In 1922 while on holiday in Europe with his wife, Factor visited the headquarters of Leichner in Germany. He was by then the biggest retailer of their theatrical stick greasepaint, yet he was snubbed and kept waiting at reception. Upset at this treatment he left and immediately cabled his sons to begin selling his own brand of greasepaint. Until then Factor had been making his own greasepaint for use on his clients, but had made no attempt to market it while he was representing other brands. Now he concentrated on his own products, which he offered in a collapsible tube, instead of in the stick form used by other producers. His tube greasepaint was not only more hygienic but also could be applied more thinly and evenly. Soon Max Factor's version was the leading brand. By the 1920s his sons Davis and Frank were heavily involved in the business, with Davis the general manager and Frank assisting his father in the development of new products. In 1925 the company received its biggest order to date when it had to complete a rush order to supply 600 gallons of light olive makeup to the set of the movie Ben-Hur to ensure that the skin color of the extras used in filming undertaken in America would match that of the darker skinned Italian extras in the scenes filmed in Italy. In 1926 for the film Mare Nostrum Max and Frank Factor developed the first waterproof theatrical make-up. By the 1920s Max Factor was becoming known outside of the film community, which led to the company in the early 1930s developing an in-house public relations department. National distribution While Max Factor was perfectly happy for the company to remain a specialized