Showing posts with label 1930's.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1930's.. Show all posts

Maybelline Model Rochelle Hudson, 1930's actress who's star faded to soon

  Rochelle Hudson - March 6, 1916 – January 17, 1972.

 Wild Boys of the Road (1933), 



playing Cosette in Les Misérables (1935),


 playing Mary Blair, the older sister of Shirley Temple's character in Curly Top


and for playing Natalie Wood's mother in Rebel Without a Cause (1955).


 Rochelle was the girl-next-door during her heyday, but faded as the times changed and films became more sophisticated. 
Many Maybelline models, are not remembered today, because their stardom faded so soon. 

Maybelline cousins,1934, during the Great Depression



Left to right - Bobby, Dick, Tommy, Marilyn, Shirley, June, Allen, Billy, Neppy, Helen, Tom Jr and baby Joyce in Chicago in 1934.






Though times were uncertain during the Great Depression, the Maybelline family worked and played together.  They were known as a tight knit tribe., They loved playing cards at each other's homes on Friday night and Sunday picnics after Church. 

My father, Billy Williams, loved Spring time at his Auntie E, and uncle Ches' home in Chicago.  He'd romp around with his cousin's June, Marilyn and  Bobby,  when he wasn't at Dundee Military School.  

Auntie E. made everything fun.   Her gaiety and charm was infectious and her laugh could light up a room.   Uncle Ches ran the distribution part of the Maybelline Company and was always ready with a quick joke or a good song.   He'd pile the kids in the car and thought nothing of cruising them  up and down Michigan Ave,  just for the fun of it.

Billy and his cousin June were best buddies.   They loved playing house by throwing a sheet over the kitchen table and crawling underneath it. Auntie E made sure they had homemade snacks and their favorite toys. 

Occasionally the whole gang joined up at Auntie Mabel and uncle Chet's home for Sunday dinner.   Bill and his cousin Shirley, liked to dress up and play Doctor and nurse,  while little Tommy volunteered to be the brave young patient getting shots.  Baby Joyce was just an infant in her mother's arms in 1934,  but she too joined in as she grew up. 

Auntie Mabel's wonderful home cooking was well known in the family and her hugs and kisses gave Bill a real sense of  stability.   Mabel was the Mother figure of the Williams family; sweet, modest and never overbearing or grandiose like Billy's mother,  Evelyn, a true city girl.  Auntie Mabel was naturally beautiful though not a glamour puss, like auntie E and Evelyn. However she was Maybelline's namesake and Tom Lyle's inspiration for his eye beautifier, soon to be coined Mascara in 1935. 

Mabel wore pencil thin eyebrows, had flawless skin and a smile that would melt your heart.  She represented motherhood, apple pie and America. Auntie Mabel's husband  uncle Chet was in charge of producing Maybelline mascara and was the epitome of the good husband and father.  Billy longed for a strong, grounded role model, his parents were never able to give him.  uncle Chet with his dry sense of humor and  sharp wit was an important figure throughout Bill's life.

As much as he loved visiting auntie Mabel and auntie E, his favorite place was uncle Noel and auntie Frances home.  They had four children and cousin Allen was like a brother.  They played Cowboy and Indians, wearing real cowboy hats, holsters and matching Western duds right out of a Tom Mix movie.

Allen's little brother Dick, followed them around and annoyed them while they played with their men.   (WW1 metal soldiers.)  Dicky would eventually  tired and crawled into his big sisters, Helen or Neppy's lap, while they sipped  lemonade on hot Summer days.  

Uncle Noel, was Vice President of the Maybelline Company. He was his brother, Tom Lyle Williams, trouble shooter, while TL, was in California, at the Villa Valentino, making Maybelline's beautiful print ads.
    
Occasionally Tom Jr. joined his cousin's for special occasions.  He was a student at Duke University. Captain of the Football team.

Billy and his cousins were protected from the harsh reality of the Depression,  thanks their uncle Lyle,  and the family working together at the Maybelline Company.

Read more about Billy Williams and his cousins in The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.

Maybelline's profits grow during the Great Depression because of Advertising a quality product


Top picture, Billy, Preston and Evelyn, with Tom Lyle. Bottom picture, Tom Lyle and his son Tom Jr. Right, Tom Lyle, founder of The Maybelline Company, with his 1934 Packard.


Tom Lyle, brilliantly used top actresses, to advertise Maybelline in film magazines, during the golden age of the 1930's.


One of Maybelline's most popular stars, Betty Grable, highlights the joys of beautifully made-up eyes.  Grable was part of the Hollywood Star System Tom Lyle helped create. 

Read more about Tom Lyle Williams, sensational advertising techniques, that helped make some of the biggest Hollywood stars, and Maybelline, a household word, in......  The Maybelline Story.


Come see me at my Hilarious 1964 High School Blog called Saffrons Rule at saffronsrule.com

1930s Makeup – The Jean Harlow Look..... by Glamour Daze @glamourdaze



Those very long lashes are black, her mascara of choice being cake Maybelline, which she applies with a fine set of brushes given to her by Max Factor himself.

You can bet that Jean Harlow is using a Maybelline
 Eyebrow Pencil to draw on her pincel thin eyebrows. 

15 cents, in the 1930's... today would be more like 2 dollars. Maybelline still maintains the same quality and is still sensibly priced.



Jean Harlow featured in a Maybelline Ad during the 1930's.



Maybelline was the first Make-up to introduce carded merchandise displayed on a rack, usually at the front of the Dime Store, to encourage impulse buying in the 1930's.


Please visit Glamour Daze Fabulous Vintage Blog if you love Vintage Fashion and Make-Up and check the beautiful article she did on my book, The Maybelline Story.....
http://glamourdaze.com/2013/08/1930s-makeup-the-jean-harlow-look.html

Visit my new Blog, SAFFRONS RULE, taken directly from my 1964 High School Diary at 
http://saffronsrule.com/2013/08/29/making-out-at-the-drive-in-and-my-hair-didnt-even-get-messed-up/

Tom Lyle Williams Villa Valentino and his Estate at 900 Airole Way, Bel Air, California

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.


 My Grandmother,  Evelyn, Great uncle,Tom Lyle and my parents, Bill and Pauline Williams at the Villa Valentino, 1942.







Aspiration overlooking the pool in the 1930's.                                                    

Tom Lyle's sister Eva with her husband Ches Haines, and their kids, June, Marilyn and Bob, 1947.



Tom Lyle in the director's chair at the Villa, with his sisters Mabel Williams Hewes and Eva Williams Haines and their husbands Chet Hewes and Ches Haines, 1938.




Noel James and Frances Williams, at Tom Lyle's new home in Bel Air, 1950.


Tom Lyle's brother Noel James Williams and Sparky at Tom Lyle's new estate, 1950.



Here I am at 4 years old holding on for dear life in 1951..



My parents Bill and Pauline with Noel Allen on the lounge chair, at the Bel Air estate, 1954.


Tom Lyle's niece, Annette Williams Corbett, standing with him at the gate of 900 Airole Way in 1961.  At that time the estate was valued at $250,000.  In 2005 it was sold for $19,500,000.  After his death in 1976, the 8,256 sq foot estate was sold to  Polish-French film director, producer, writer and actor Roman Polanski.



Tom Lyle with Sparky getting the mail at the door of the Bel Air estate, 1960.


Jean, Chuck and Nancy Williams with Annette Williams Corbett, her daughter Ann Louise, Tom Lyle and Annette's husband George Corbett, 1961.



My cousin's Ann Louise, Princie, her dog, with Nancy and Chuck Williams at the Bel Air estate, 1961.



Cousin Chuck, Nancy and Ann Louise in Bel Air, with the statue Aspiration moved from the Villa to Bel Air in 1949.



Ann Louise, Chuck and Nancy in Tom Lyle's Ultra Chinese Modern den.


As I head into the 1960's I wanted to recap the years before the Maybelline Company sold in 1967.  Stay tuned for fascinating vintage 60 ads and more family pictures to come this week. 

Never Give Up On Your Dreams

My Great Uncle Tom Lyle Williams never stopped believing in himself and the Maybelline Company. He taught me to never give up on my dream no matter what obstacles I faced and I faced plenty, as I worked to get The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dyansty Behind It published.


The Great Depression actually presented Tom Lyle with many opportunities to expand the company. Hard times forced him to reconsider his business plan of marketing through mail order, hiring marketing genius Rags Ragland even though he was not part of the Williams family. With Rags innovative thinking, Maybelline soon appeared in drug stores, grocery stores and discount houses. These outlets targeted a new audience of younger women ready to purchase eye cosmetics at an affordable price from conveniently placed displays, rather than ordering and waiting for them to arrive by mail.

Movies during the 1930's drove the Maybelline Co. towards even more success, as people sought escape from their problems while developing a fascination for their favorite stars. Joan Crawford represented the ordinary girl trying to make it in a man's world. Jean Harlow with her platinum hair and pencil thin eyebrows represented glamour -a little rough around the edges. These actresses were the prototype of the modern woman who wanted to be beautiful and glamorous. This phenomenon brought more women into the stores to purchase Maybelline and Tom Lyle's dream continued into the 1940's.

As I was growing up, Tom Lyle's stories instilled in me the will to keep going even though many dooors were slammed in my face. Now after 20 years, I can proudly say that The Maybelline Story a reality, no longer just a dream.