[Talking pictures are] like putting lip rouge on the Venus de Milo.

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Wikiquote does not flag this quote as disputed or misattributed.

Source: Associated Press, "Mary Pickford Sees Talkies as Lipstick on Milo", Los Angeles Times, 18 March 1934, p. 1. Cf. "Los Angeles Times", 20 March 1934, p. A4: "Talking pictures are like lip rouge on the Venus de Milo."
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More by Mary Pickford

If you have made mistakes, even serious mistakes, there is always another chance for you. And supposing you have tried and failed again and again, you may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing that we call “failure” is not the falling down, but the staying down.

Why Not Try God? (1934)

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Notes from Wikiquote

Widely attributed in this form (e.g., A. Scott Berg, Goldwyn: A Biography (1989), Ch. 11) and described as having been said in the 1920s, but the 18 March 1934 AP story quotes it as said that day.

Variants

Adding sound to movies would be like putting lipstick on the Venus de Milo.

[Talking pictures are] like putting lip rouge on the Venus de Milo.

Notes from Wikiquote

Variants

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[Talking pictures are] like putting lip rouge on the Venus de Milo.

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Notes from Wikiquote

Variants

More quotes by Mary Pickford

Attribution