Celebrating Black History month, with Maybelline's first Black model, Je'Taun M. Taylor

Je'Taun M. Taylor ; Maiden name Je T'Aime Mason (origin of French word Je T'Aime, meaning "I Love You".)  She was born and raised in Chicago, IL at Cook County Hospital on August 8, 1923. Je'Taun was a very gorgeous, respectable, talented lady with a beautiful soul that shined through her heart of Gold. Her ample wittiness, and extremely broad sense of humor is what made her one of a kind. Je'Taun was all about succeeding and conquering your dreams.

Her vivacious spirit, and distinguished determination is what led to her success, but her strong faith, willingness to give, and readiness to learn is what grounded her foundation and legacy. In the late 1930's Je'Taun attended cosmetology school as well as receiving a certificate in Real Estate, while also venturing off into her own endeavors intending to capitalize off of her business ventures.

Some of those ventures included modeling. She also enjoyed altering and modeling clothes. During that time period it was very hard, especially as a woman, to be recognized, considered, or even taken serious due to not only the societies cliche' about how they portrayed women at the time, but as well as characteristic's as simple as the color of her skin. She had to fight for what she wanted. She often stated that she had to be unique in an indifferent world, she had to make a difference, do something that made a statement, and make her mark in this world. She always talked about the promise land...I'm guessing it refers to all the sacred and anointed blessings God has promised each and every one of us.

 We all have our own unique gifts and talents that He only gave to us. While doing so she also made all her loved ones a believer of Christ, with a hopeful future. She grew up in a Christian home. Her grandmother, Ruth Brown, was a Christian Science Minister. Je'Taun carried her grandmothers strong christian faith on through many generations. She gave everyone she came into contact with hope, chance, encouragement, wisdom, and unconditional love just as God does.

While yet building her modeling career, She had her first child Janice Jackson in 1941. Soon after starting her career, she gained a promising future in modeling with the well known makeup company Maybelline. She was ecstatic to form such a promising future doing exactly what she had wanted to do. She took great joy in modeling for Maybelline. Her career continued to advance with Maybelline, as well as the few business ventures she did with Christian Dior. After becoming a bit more successful She then met and married Henry C. Taylor the Vice President of REO movers and van lines, Inc in Chicago, IL. Henry C. Taylor was the brother of Robert Rochon Taylor, 

 Taylor, Robert Rochon (1899–1957) | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed  The first African American Chairmen of Chicago Public Housing who is the great-grandfather of 

Valerie Jarrett (Senior Advisor of President Obama)       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerie_Jarrett, and son of 

Robert Robinson Taylor Robert Robinson Taylor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia   the First African American Architect to Graduate MIT.

 After they married she then had her last two children Cherie J. Taylor in 1953 and Joseph Taylor in 1960 her oldest being 12 at the time. All while raising her three children, helping to keep up a household she still managed to pursue her modeling career. She continued modeling until shortly after the death of her 6 month old son in 1961 due to pneumonia. Proceeding her mourning she discontinued her modeling career and decided to dedicate her career path to Realty, so she could spend more time with her family and children. Her husbands business had became very successful during that time, so after working for Travis Realty Group in Chicago, IL for a little under a decade, her first grandchild La'Shaun M. Taylor was born in 1971, where Je'Taun then decided to retire her busy career life at the age of 48 and became a successful stay at home mom. Her and Henry traveled a lot and continued to raise their grandchildren, and her great grandchildren, while continuing to teach and apply the same methods she learned during her successful career path.

 After a few years of success with the REO business Henry then sold his proportion in the business, retired and bought a lounge named The Hide Away in Vandalia, Michigan where he and Je'Taun bought a retirement home in Three Rivers, Michigan. In 1984 Je'Taun suffered another loss of her oldest daughter Janice Jackson due to a tragic house fire. Despite her continuous trials and tribulations, Je'Taun still managed to find beauty in the ashes.

 She lived by the famous Bible scripture "Weeping may endure for the night, but Joy cometh in the morning" -Psalm 30:5... 

Proceeding Janice's tragic death 3 short years after Je'Taun and the Taylor family received another heart wrenching loss. Henry C. Taylor passed away on February 16th 1987 two days before his 75th birthday due to a heart attack. Leaving only Je'Taun, her daughter Cherie, her grandchild La'Shaun and great-granddaughter Joyce J. Taylor here with us. The Taylor family decided to stick together.

 They stayed in Michigan for another decade where her great grandchild La'Shaun married and had 5 children. In 2003 Je'Taun and the Taylor Family proceeded to move back to Her home state in Chicago IL. where they moved into a southern suburb and continued to make ends meet. While raising her grandchildren,

 Je'Taun passed down her many talented gifts such as sewing, modeling, making clothes, designing, and her many cosmetology tatics. She always said don't show the world what you been through by how you look, show them with actions...always look your best, forgive never forget, and love conquers all sin.

She left behind unforgettable lessons and a golden legacy to live by. In 2008 at the age of 85, Je'Taun suffered from a stroke that left her paralyzed on the whole right side of her body.

 Thus, causing her grandchildren to step up and extend the same love that was once given. Although some of her independence was altered, her grandchildren still often caught her applying her makeup and perming her hair. 
 After 5 years of enduring the effects that the stroke caused, on September 12, 2013 Je'Taun proceeded in passing onto a better place.

 She leaves behind her daughter Cherie Taylor, her grand daughters La'Shaun Taylor, Michia Casebier and Kimberly Hicks, as well as her great-grandchildren Joyce Taylor, Antonio Taylor, Charde' Haynes-Taylor, Chane' Haynes-Taylor, Thomeshia Muse, Jadai Echols, and Juanita Echols who all reside in Chicago IL as of 2016.  

 Lessons she passed on--- Stand up and make a name for yourself! Capitalize off your talents. She lived by love, and always kept the faith and respect of Jesus Christ no matter how burdened the suffering. One thing she often said that we all should live by is: You can have it all, then lose it all, and then you'll have nothing...but as long as you keep God you'll always have everything.

A tribute video to their Grandmother, Je'Tuan Taylor

http://youtu.be/kAu53dQ9Y-0

1934 was the year that Maybelline replaced the phrase ‘eyelash beautifier’ with ‘mascara’ in its advertising.

In the Department of Agriculture’s “chamber of horrors” last month Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt discovered two photographs, pressed them to her breast crying, “I cannot bear to look at them”. The photographs were of a woman who had got some “Lash-Lure,” an eyebrow & eyelash dye, in her eyes.

(TIME, Dec 4, 1933)

The publicity surrounding Eleanor’s visit to the FDA’s ‘Chamber of Horrors’ led to the Paramount newsreel of October 1933 and the drop in mascara sales. This lead to mascara producers, such as the Kurlash Company and Maybelline, protesting strongly to Paramount, the FDA and others about the damage done to the credibility of their products. Maybelline was particularly concerned as they used the phrase “eyelash beautifier” liberally in their advertising. In a letter to TIME magazine, Tom Lyle Williams, the founder of Maybelline, made the case clearly.

Letter to Time magazine, 1934:  Tom Lyle Williams, the founder of Maybelline,



... As the manufacturers of the largest-selling, best-known mascara in the world, Maybelline, an absolutely harmless, non-smarting eyelash darkener that contains no dye or aniline derivative, we have suffered untold damage to our old established business by the ambiguous publicity given out concerning the Tugwell bill. In a recent issue of the Paramount Newsreel, Professor Tugwell told a truly appalling tale of injuries caused by a poisonous preparation, but neglected to give its name as “Lash-Lure” or to state that it was a dye, merely calling it an eyelash "beautifier,” and concluding his speech with the dreadful remark, “This is the kind of stuff you women use on your eyelashes!”

You can imagine how utterly damaging this was to us, inasmuch as the phrase “eyelash beautifier” is practically synonymous with our trade name Maybelline, due to our product being the most extensively advertised mascara on the market for the past 16 years.

In reply to our protest wired Professor Tugwell and President Roosevelt, Tugwell wrote that he and the department regretted any damage caused us, and that a press dispatch had been immediately issued revealing the name and nature of the offending product, also stating in reference to our product Maybelline that “... we have never heard of any reports of injury caused by it.” Considering that Maybelline has been used consistently every day by millions of women in all parts of the world for over 16 years, this last statement was indeed complete exoneration of our product. However, it did not reach the millions who heard the newsreel speech, therefore, you will realize with what relief and satisfaction we read your discriminating account of the Tugwell propaganda (TIME, Dec. 4), knowing that the real facts in the case would reach your many intelligent readers.

Again thanking you for the inestimable service you have rendered us and all other reputable manufacturers by your careful and authoritative presentation of the news, we are

THOMAS L. WILLIAMS

Maybelline Co. Chicago, Ill.

(Time, Jan 1, 1934)

Williams also took more drastic action: 1934 was the year that Maybelline replaced the phrase ‘eyelash beautifier’ with ‘mascara’ in its advertising.

Cosmetic and Skin, James Bennett

Maybelline's Success Story up until now was a lost thread in the American Fabric.

Maybelline - The Wonder Company of the 20th Century.

Tom Lyle Williams at 19 years of age in 1915.

By 1929 Tom Lyle Williams was spending $200,000 a year in advertising, with Maybelline ads appearing in forty popular magazines as well as Sunday newspaper supplements and specialized journals such as Theatre and Photoplay. Between 1915 and 1929, he’d spent over a million dollars to advertise Maybelline. His little eye beautifier now had wide distribution in the United States and Canada.  Everywhere you went, close-up photos of eyes darkened with Maybelline projected a provocative--but no longer sinful--eroticism.

Tom Lyle Williams in 1929,
from an article in a trade magazine.

In fact Tom Lyle had just launched his 1929 “Springtime is Maybelline Time!” campaign, featuring an idealized lovely young miss looking up adoringly at her man through starry eyes. The offers to vendors pitched display cartons, each holding a half-dozen eye makeup containers, and urged druggists to try product placement by the soda fountain, “forcing extra sales.” Tom Lyle felt that the ad would assure continued prosperity for the company, meaning he could afford to leave Maybelline in the hands of his brother Noel while he and Emery headed out to California for a few days.

On October 29, 1929, a news flash announced that the Dow industrial average had fallen almost twenty-three percent, and the stock market had lost a total of sixteen billion dollars in value in a month. Sixteen billion dollars.

Tom Lyle knew the stock market crash would be devastating for the country in general, and would certainly ruin many companies. Although Maybelline, as a family-owned business, was not directly affected by the Wall Street disaster, there was no question that the aftermath would be devastating. Who would choose to buy eye cosmetics over food for the family?


The prosperity and opulence of the Roaring Twenties were gone, disappearing along with the vamps who had loaded up with Maybelline’s seventy-five-cent product. In order to keep his company alive in the years to come, Tom Lyle knew he would have to find ways to keep his product in the public eye, yet at a price women could afford. The flashy, flapper look was quickly devolving to a more demure look fit for austere times.


Despite the national situation, he felt good about the future. In fact, when Noel showed him a story in The Wall Street Journal about a brand-new skyscraper being constructed over the old Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York--the Empire State Building, the tallest structure in the world--Tom Lyle took it as a sign that the bad economy would be only a temporary dip in the road.


He was rarely so wrong. When Emery suggested an ad tie-in to the Empire State Building--Things Are Looking Up, featuring young women with gorgeous eyes gazing up at a new skyscraper--Tom Lyle backed it enthusiastically...until it became clear that for most of the country, things were looking very much down. They abandoned the new ad campaign as the market continued to decline, wages plummeted, and credit dried up. When industrial production also collapsed, many businesses went with it.


But not Maybelline. Although innovative and widespread advertising was responsible for a lot of the company's success over the years, it was not the whole story. So was constant innovation in the lab, and that spring, thanks to the introduction of an improved waterproof eye makeup, total sales rose to $750,000--at a time when most businesses were struggling simply to keep their wallowing businesses afloat.

"How Stuff is Made" @Refinery 29 Great Lash Mascara by Maybelline a cult favorite for over 50 years

                                 "GREAT LASH" Mascara

Maybelline debuted its "Great Lash Mascara" in 1971. It is still recognized by it's

 Pink and Green Chartreuse packaging inspired by Lilly Pulitzer's vibrant hues and

 prints. It's been a staple on drugstores shelves and in cosmetic bags ever since.

 It has been reported that a "Great Lash Maybelline Mascara," is sold every

1.2 seconds. 

Called the protein Mascara "Great Lash" builds rich, full body onto lashes.

 Marketing people asked Maybelline Company researchers in 1970,  to come up

 with a Mascara to thicken and lengthen lashes better than anything on the market

 and would be easy to apply.  "Great Lash" was that product. 

            

Surveys taken by Maybelline's marketing team at the time indicated consumers

 didn't consider Maybelline products fashionable, still using the original "Eye" logo.  Updating product colors changed customer perceptions. Especially the teen market

The Lilly Pulitzer Brand was popular with high society. Because Pulitzer was close

 friends with Jackie Kennedy, her designs crowned her "The Queen of Prep." And,

 "Flower Power."

From the inspiration and dedication of Tom Lyle Williams to the the Merchandiser

of Maybelline's new owners,  Schering Plough in 1971, Maybelline's "Great Lash"

has remained an all time favorite Mascara for the last 46 years. 

Have you tried Maybelline's Brow Drama Pomade Crayons. my review.

Brow Drama is my new favorite Maybelline product. It's an Eyebrow Crayon.  Ultra creamy, super easy to use, slides on without having to be precise and as always you can't beat the price.

 I have very light, sparse brows and this works like magic.  Its ads just enough color and shape to my light features. there isn't a large variety of colors, but I love the blond.  It's subtle yet adds a touch of drama. Once I apply it I use a little mascara wand to make it look more natural.

If you just want to darken your brows with just a hint of color like me or you want to add more crayon to fill in sparse areas, you'll love this product too. You can buy it online from Amazon or at any drugstore for between $7.00 and $10.00

https://passionologyninja.blogspot.com/

Check out my new blog, PASSIONOLOGY NINJA

Beauty and the Dirt review of The Maybelline Story

The Maybelline Story starts out with fire and ends with fire and the fierce love Evelyn had for the two brothers burned in her until her untimely death in 1978. 

                 Author of The Maybelline Story, 
                                Sharrie Williams

This sounds more like a movie than a real life story, but I guess all the best stories are based on truth. I knew about Mabel and her coal dust and petroleum jelly mix that was the inspiration for mascara. That is where the name Maybelline came from but for all the family drama that ensued well that is now in a book that looks like a must read to me.

Book Synopsis:

One of the first Maybelline posters

In 1915 sister Mabel Williams burned her lashes and brows, Tom Lyle Williams watched in fascination as she 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. 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 nearly a century of silence, this true story celebrates the life of an American entrepreneur, a man forced to remain behind a mask—using his sister-in-law Evelyn Boecher—to be his front.

Stories of the-great-man-and-how-he-did-it serve as a traditional mainstay of biographies, but with the strong women’s book-buying market, a resurgence of interest in memoirs that focus on relationships more than a single man and his accomplishments are more likely to be discussed in women’s book groups. The Maybelline Story combines the best of both approaches: a man whose vision rocketed him to success along with the woman held in his orbit.

 Evelyn, her son Bill, Sharrie and Tom Lyle)

In the way that Rhett Butler ignored the criticism of his peers to carve his own destiny, Tom Lyle Williams shares similar grit and daring. But Rhett without Scarlet wouldn’t be much of a story. Evelyn Williams provides the energy of an antagonist. Like Scarlet, we sometimes hate her and want to shake her, but sometimes, we must admit that we hold a grudging respect; we get a kick out of her and even occasionally, love her for her guts and tenacity, and certainly because she carved out a life for herself and insisted on having a voice, even if she was a fly in the ointment for others.

The Maybelline story provides other kinds of 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 seedy underside of a family intoxicated by the quest for power, wealth, and physical perfection. It is a fascinating and inspiring tale of ambition, luck, greed, secrecy—and surprisingly, above all, love and forgiveness, a tale both epic and intimate, alive with the clash, the hustle, the music, and dance of American enterprise.

Sharrie Williams: The Maybelline Story is one I am buying now.

Click here for more beauty

Christian Dior and Maybelline High Fashion in the 1950's

the New Look of Maybelline, 1952.

Christian Dior was Responsible for dramatically changing the style of the 1950s.  Dior created the” new look” which used lots of fabric and exaggerated the hourglass shape of the female figure. The new look was in direct contrast to the frugal and plain styles during the war, but women and the fashion industry embraced the move back to glamour. 

New Look became revolutionary and strongly popular, influencing fashion and other designers for many years to come. Prominent Hollywood figures and the European upper-class became instant clients. Paris, which had fallen from its position as the capital of the fashion world after WWII, regained its esteemed position due in part to the attention it gained form Dior's New Look.

Maybelline represented high fashion since the 1930s, but when Dior became the mark of excellence, Tom Lyle introduced one of television's most beloved and fashionable stars of the 1950s. 

Maybelline Eyes, late 1950's 

Including Loretta Young who starred in The Loretta Show in the 1950's.  He was a major influence on what the middle class housewife considered high fashion.

My Mother, Pauline Williams, in her
 Dior and Maybelline 1955

How well do you know Maybelline? Here are some fun facts:

All eyes on Maybelline: Makeup maker marks 100 year

June 22, 2015 12:00 AM

By Sara Bauknecht / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

There’s more than meets the eye when it comes to eye makeup.

Take the history of Maybelline. The global makeup brand is in the midst of its centennial celebration, complete with multiple star-studded parties this spring. But before all the blushes and BB creams, it was about a family company creating cosmetics for the eyes.

Sharrie Williams, an original descendant of the family that started the brand, detailed Maybelline’s rise to popularity and prosperity in her 2010 book “The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It” (Bettie Young Books, $18.95; www.maybellinebook.com). She’s working on a second book to mark the brand’s centennial.

How well do you know Maybelline? Here are some fun facts:

■ How it started: In 1915, Mabel Williams singed her eyebrows and lashes. Unsure how long they would take to grow back, she burned a piece of cork, mixed the ashes with petroleum jelly and applied them. The jelly soothed the burn and the ash gave her brows and lashes definition. Her brother, Tom Lyle Williams, noticed how darkening them made her eyes pop, and it gave him an idea for a new kind of makeup.

■ Creating a category: At the turn of the 20th century, eye makeup was mainly worn by silent film stars to highlight their eyes on camera. For most women, options were limited to lipsticks, rouges, creams and powders. With a $500 loan, from his brother Noel J. Williams, Tom Lyle Williams launched a product called Lash-Brow-Ine for “beautifying lashes.” In those early days, it was a cake of black material in a little red box that women applied with a tiny brush. It sold for 25 cents.

■ What’s in a name?: Before Maybelline, there was no name for mascara. The company coined the term in the 1930s as a derivative of the French word mascaro, a product used to darken men’s facial hair. 

■ A makeup mainstay is born: In 1971, Maybelline debuted its Great Lash mascara — recognizable for its iconic pink-and-green packaging inspired by fashion designer Lilly Pulitzer’s vibrant hues and prints. It’s been a staple on drugstore shelves and in cosmetics bags ever since. In 2000, a tube was sold every 1.2 seconds, according to brand reports.

■ Advertising king: Quality and affordability aren’t the only reason Maybelline has made its mark. “My great-uncle wanted to be remembered as the king of advertising,” Ms. Williams says.

■ Branching out: By the 1970s, Maybelline was more than just eye makeup. There were lip glosses, blushes and much more. L’Oreal acquired the brand in 1996 and moved it to New York, where it continues to churn out new products and is a regular sponsor at New York Fashion Week.

Sara Bauknecht: sbauknecht@post-gazette.com or on Twitter and Instagram @SaraB_PG.