The Maybelline Story: And the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It
Sharrie Williams
Tom Lyle Williams watched in fascination as his sister, Mabel, performed what she called 'a secret of the harem'—mixing petroleum jelly with coal dust and ash from a burnt cork and applying it to her lashes and brows. Mabel's simple beauty trick ignited Tom Lyle's imagination and he started what would become a billion-dollar business, one that remains a viable American icon after nearly a century. He named it Maybelline in her honor.
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Arnold Anderson,
Debbie Reynolds
and Tom Lyle, 1950 |
Throughout the twentieth century, the Maybelline company inflated, collapsed, endured, and thrived in tandem with the nation's upheavals—as did the family that nurtured it. Tom Lyle Williams—to avoid unwanted scrutiny of his private life—cloistered himself behind the gates of his Rudolph Valentino Villa and ran his empire from the shadows. Now, after a century of silence, this true story celebrates the life of an American entrepreneur, a man forced to remain behind a mask.
The Maybelline story provides classic literary satisfaction. We are especially fascinated to slip vicariously into the lives of the rich and privileged yet cheer for the underdog who overcomes obstacles to astound doubters with his success. We are enthralled with the historical sweep of events whose repercussions live on to the present, all elements of The Maybelline Story—which reads like a juicy novel, but is in fact a family memoir, distilled from nine hundred pages of family accounts from the 1920's to present.
An engrossing and captivating saga that spans four generations and reveals the humanity, the glamour, and the business sense of a family who changed the face of America and the world. An epic Memoir, intimate and alive with the clash, the hustle, the music, and dance of American enterprise.
Purchase an autographed copy signed by the author Sharrie Williams
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