Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Maybelline Founder Tom Lyle Williams, at his Villa Valentino during the 1940s. Originally owned by Rudolph Valentino

Tom Lyle Williams with his nephew Bill Williams at the Villa Valentino


Bad-mitten Court at the Villa Valentino

Lush gardens surrounding the Pool at the Villa Valentino

Excerpt from a letter written by Emery Shaver to his sister Betty from the Villa Valentino, Hollywood, California, dated January 26, 1944

(War time rationing at the Villa)

We have been having a most usual cold spell, but it is not too severe, however, the heat, especially at night, feels very good.  Our garden had been coming along so well, many lovely roses and camellias now, and some azaleas.  Some of our citrus trees are bearing heavily, so we have plenty of oranges, grape-fruit and tangerines.  

Food is scarce and very high.  We just cannot manage to have all our meals at home, so we have to eat out often, however, tonight we are having Lyle's favorite, vegetable soup, a big pot of it, and we will make a meal from that, as there are plenty of vegetable and meat in it - well, maybe I exaggerate a bit - not so much meat.  With gooseberry pie for dessert, it should be a good meal.


 Read more about the Villa Valentino


Nov 02, 2012
Their story is clearly spelled out in my book, The Maybelline Story, but in case you've already read the book and wished for more pictures of Maybelline West, The Villa Valentino and the three men who lived there, here are ...

Jul 18, 2011
Tom Lyle's family meant the world to him and visited often at the Villa Valentino in the Hollywood Hills, (until it was taken for the Hollywood freeway,) than at his new modern glass and steel estate in Bel Air, California.

Jan 14, 2011
Tom Lyle and Emory led a quiet life in the luxury of the Villa Valentino, and didn't flaunt their relationship. In the 1920's and 30's people didn't care much if somebody was gay as long as they kept a false identity in public.

Feb 25, 2011
Valentino's sudden death at 31 from a ruptured ulcer caused worldwide hysteria, several suicides, and riots at his funeral. These same crowds of women haunted the Villa Valentino in Whitley Heights for many years.

Feb 21, 2011
Scroll down and enjoy some of Maybelline's amazing Art Deco advertisements from the 1930's, and further down you will find posts describing Rudolph Valentino's Villa in Whitley Heights after the "Great Lover's" death in ...

Sep 09, 2011
Aspiration at the Villa Valentino, Tom Lyle's home in the Hollywood Hills. I believe Tom Lyle, was a major contributor, paying for the statue to be set in De Longpre Park, in 1930. He bought the Villa, placed a copy of Aspiration ...

Feb 22, 2011
The Villa Valentino was located in the Whitley Heights section of Hollywood at 6776 Wedgwood Place, but was eventually razed to make room for the Hollywood Freeway in 1949. When Tom Lyle bought the Villa he loved it's ...

Nov 21, 2012
After Valentino's untimely death, Tom Lyle and Emery rented than bought the home in Whitley Heights...named it The Villa Valentino and concentrated on Maybelline's Advertising... while brother, Vice President Noel James ...

Feb 23, 2011
Once the Villa Valentino was finished Tom Lyle put a heavy rustic wooden gate and fortress like walls around it, as well as the 100 trees to protect his privacy. Privacy was of utmost importance to him as he worked from the ...

Sep 15, 2011
Maybelline Story brings Romance back to life. Rudolph Valentino was every woman's Romantic Idol, in the 1920's and even more so after his untimely death in 1926. Tom Lyle Williams, bought the Villa Valentino, around ...

Jan 18, 2011
From the Villa Valentino studio in Hollywood came Technicolor airbrushed photos of stars' faces so flattering and popular that movie studio executives flocked to Tom Lyle to promote the movies their stars were appearing in.

Mar 09, 2011
Their story is clearly spelled out in my book, The Maybelline Story, but in case you've already read the book and wished for more pictures of Maybelline West, The Villa Valentino and the three men who lived there, here are ...

Jun 03, 2011
Noel joined the Navy, left Chicago and headed to Southern California where he was stationed in San Diego, close enough to visit his uncle Tom Lyle at the Villa Valentino and Bill of Course. Noel A. at the Villa Valentino with ...

Sep 29, 2011
Villa Valentino, 6776 Wedgewood Place, Whitley Heights, built in 1922, this was the site of the home Valentino shared with Natacha Rambova in upscale Whitley Heights just north of Hollywood. In 1951 the state of California...

Feb 24, 2011
Tom Lyle's sister's Mabel and Eva with their husbands, Chet and Ches, on the veranda of Rudolph Valentino's Villa in the Hollywood Hills, August, 1937 -. Here's the earliest photograph I have of a Lady in Black (click,) ...

Dec 19, 2011
Chet and Mabel flew to California with Ches and Eva to visit Tom Lyle at the Villa Valentino in 1938. It was a pleasure trip, with some very important business to discuss. "What to do about an IRS suit, looming over the ...

Jan 25, 2011
Tom Lyle's nephew Bill Williams spent his childhood at his uncle's Villa Valentino and developed a passion for beautiful convertibles. Out of all the classic cars Bill collected and sold during his life, his favorite was his 1977 first ...

Oct 21, 2011
Tom Lyle opened an antique store in Beverly Hills, for Emery, where he could meet celebrities, outside the Villa Valentino. Tom Lyle, preferred a secluded life inside the Villa. Haines and Shields had a hand in decorating The ...

Oct 23, 2011
The nostalgic features reminded him of his childhood in the 1930's, growing up surrounded by his uncle's beautiful custom-designed, Packard's. Tom Lyle's 1939 Packard 120 Convertible Victoria, at the Villa Valentino, where ...
May 23, 2011
Evelyn Williams, my grandmother, with her brother in law Tom Lyle Williams, her son, (my dad,) Bill Williams and my mother Pauline Mac Donald Williams at the Villa Valentino in Hollywood Hills, 1942.

Jan 28, 2011
Maybelline Heiress says "let them eat cake," while filming at her fathers estate. The Villa Valentino, Hollywood Hills, 1945. Rudolph Valentino's Statue, Aspiration symbolized aspiring to the stars and never giving up on your ...

Oct 12, 2012
At The Villa Valentino, Eva, June Tom Lyle and Marilyn... in the pool ...... Villa Valentino (6); car guys (8); card mounted products history (1); CARE (1); Carl Perkins (1); Carl Wilson (1); CARLYLE BLACKWELL JR. (4); Carmen ...

Dec 23, 2010
Tom Lyle Williams with Sallee Allen, Emery Shaver, his niece Annette Louise Williams (Corbet) (his brother Noel and Frances Williams second child) and Arnold Anderson in front of the Villa Valentino in the Hollywood Hills, ...

Dec 16, 2010
Tom Lyle bought Evelyn a little Californi

Mar 11, 2011
He enjoyed his time with his nephew, swimming in The Villa Valentino's Olympic-size pool, playing badminton, dropping dimes in the slot machine in the game room - decorated like the Hawaiian Islands -or listening to Bing ...

Jan 14, 2013
My father's mother, Evelyn Williams, Tom Lyle Williams, my father Bill Williams with his girlfriend, (my mother,) Pauline Mac Donald at Tom Lyle's Villa Valentino in the Hollywood Hills 1941. Sparkie the dog is in the float.

Nov 14, 2011
Tom Lyle and Emery ran the advertising division of the Maybelline Company, at the Villa Valentino in the Hollywood Hills. When the Villa was torn down to make room for the Hollywood freeway, in 1949, they moved to a...

http://vimeo.com/29981530 Click here, to see Sharrie's interview, discussing her father Bill Williams, and his uncle Tom Lyle Williams, at the Villa Valentino. Bill Williams 1977, Series 1, Clenet, will be shown at The Santa ...in West Los Angeles on Kelton Ave., so they would be near him at the Villa Valentino and he could help r

Jul 01, 2011
Tom Lyle bought a 1940 Packard while at The Villa Valentino in Hollywood in 1940. Tom Lyle with is first little niece, Noel and Frances' first grandchild, Annette Huber, born in 1940. . Uncle Ches Haines, 1940, (Tom Lyle's ...

May 24, 2011
Tom Lyle Williams with Mabel, Chet, Ches and Eva at The Villa Valentino - Hollywood, 1938. Catalina California 1938 - left to right, My father Bill, great uncleTom Lyle, my Grandmother Evelyn and my auntie Eva, auntie Mabel...

Sep 14, 2011
Besides having the statue ASPIRATION, at the Villa Valentino and in Bel Air, representing Rudolph Valentino, and his great success in Hollywood, Tom Lyle, believed in the principals outlined in this brochure, sponsored by...

Oct 24, 2011
Bob also remembers when The Villa Valentino was taken in eminent domain, for the Hollywood freeway and Tom Lyle bought the lot at the top of Bel Air, to build his steel and glass estate. The story goes. Emery told Tom Lyle ...

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