paint down
verb1
To apply blackface to (an actor).
- White actors in blackface were so common that even Shirley Temple was painted down in The Littlest Rebel (1935).2015, Mollie Gregory, Stuntwomen: The Untold Hollywood Story, page 28:
- Producer reaffirms that this Section 14 prohibits the practice commonly referred to as 'painting down'. […] The protests were in opposition to the literal adoption of blackface within Tropic that ultimately disallowed the gainful employment of male African-American actors.2015, Kristen J. Warner, The Cultural Politics of Colorblind TV Casting, page 54:
2
To coat with a substance through painting.
- Paint it down in resin.