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

Maybelline model and actress Lois Collier, represented the "American ideal," for early 1950's teenage girls

Lois Collier was spotted by a scout for Universal Pictures and given a seven-year contract. Although Lois possessed a beautiful singing voice, Universal seldom gave her a chance to show it off, and she was stuck in a succession of B pictures and serials. When her contract expired, she freelanced and did a few comedies for Monogram and some serials for Republic. In 1951 she got a role on the "Boston Blackie" (1951) TV series, and stayed on the show until it was canceled in 1954, after which she retired from the business.

Jungle Queen 1945 Serial.

Read more about Lois Collier in.....The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.  

MAYBELLINE MODEL LOIS COLLIER and the Hollywood Star System.

Lois Collier, one of Universal Studio's beautiful and talented actresses was showcased in Maybelline ads during World War 11.  She was discovered after winning a a contest sponsored by CBS Radio for a part in a radio play in Hollywood. 

Collier, like many starlets during the War Era appeared on the cover ofYank, the Army Weekly as well as Maybelline print ads in various popular magazines. She was part of the Hollywood Star System that used companies like Maybelline to help promote movie stars careers.   

From 1940 through 1949 Collier's career would be active and somewhat successful, with her playing mostly heroine roles in B-movies, including Westerns, Horror and Science Fiction thrillers. 

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Collier held the second female lead in what is considered the best of theMaria Montez adventure films, “Cobra Woman.” She also joined Loretta Young, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Anne Gwynne and Evelyn Ankers in the wartime drama “Ladie’s Courageous.” The Walter Wanger production told the story of the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadrons of the Second World War.

Collier appealed to young movie-goer's who balanced the horror of war with escapism.  Collier was young, beautiful and captivated her audience with those beautiful Maybelline Eyes!  She brought loads of young women into dime stores with disposable money ready to spend on Maybelline so they too could have "The Collier Look."   

Maybelline's era of teen marketing was born in 1955 when Elvis Presley caused the first musical riot on record

Excerpt from The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It. 

       Although Tom Lyle knew that much of the company's success was due to his own daring eye for advertising combined with Emery and Arnold’s exceptional talents, he also knew that without Rags, Maybelline would simply not have been able to stay constantly at the top of the fast-growing cosmetics market.

      For his efforts, Rags was paid solely on a commission of one and one-quarter percent of gross sales, which had risen from $359,000 at the time of his employment in 1933 to its 1955 level of over $7,000,000 a year. Knowing that this tremendous rise in sales was directly due to Rags relentless work and devotion to the company, Tom Lyle decided to not only raise Rags' commission to one and one-half percent, but give him three percent of Maybelline’s stock.  To seal the deal, Rags would also be made Executive Vice President in charge of Sales, positioning him as an equal with Tom Lyle and Tom Lyle, Jr. --in other words, as family.

       With Rags securely placed as a jewel in Maybelline’s crown, Tom Lyle could direct his next move on the cosmetics chessboard.  Although he continued to target both the sophisticated, intelligent woman in her 30s and the more mature woman in his world-wide advertisements, as 1955 continued a new brand of female was emerging. This girl differed from both the World War II pin-up girl and Rosie the Riveter.

       Thanks to movies like East of Eden staring James Dean, and Blackboard Jungle, featuring the song “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley and the Comets, “The Rebel" had become the latest cultural icon. Maybelline sales soared as heavy make-up appeared in every teenage girl's purse. The era of teen marketing was born in Jacksonville, Florida, that year, when young girls jumped out of their seats to dance at an Elvis Presley concert--the first first musical riot on record.

Be sure to visit my teenage Blog called SAFFRONS RULE at http://saffronsrule.com/

                                 Rock Around the Clock

"What made Maybelline a Giant in it's Field" Interview with Maybelline Executive Harris A Neil Jr. Explaining growth and production strategies

 My name is Harris A. Neil Jr.  I worked at Maybelline  in Chicago from January, 1959 to August, 1968, a period of great growth and excitement in the history of the company. Among the wonderful people I had the privilege of working with were your cousin, Tom Lyle Williams Junior,  and Harold “Rags” Ragland. I was very much their junior, 28 years old when I started in 1959. The math tells you that I’m now 82. 

 As Production Manager, in a highly marketing-oriented company, I would like to explain the packaging program, as it came down during those years of growth and new product rollouts. The changes and improvements you mentioned in your book, finally resulted in a whole new look and methodology, and kept our production floor plenty busy.

 I would also like to explain the outside vendor program, which people nowadays call “supply chain management” or simply “logistics.” That involved both packaging and product components, which became more of a tightrope act as volume and product increases pushed us forward. It was even more exciting because we only had a finite amount of floor space for warehousing and production.

     I want to comment on the Maybelline management style and interactions as I saw them from my “worm’s-eye” view. I still remember it well, and learned as I moved on in life that it was unique, but it was I think bewildering to the Plough group who did things very differently.

     And yes, I want to give my thoughts on the Plough merger, as it was announced and as I lived through it for the ten months I remained with Maybelline afterward. It became a different company immediately without Tom Jr., Rags and Dorothy Molander. That topic alone is one that maybe will make this story worthwhile all by itself. Also, and only in this subject area, we’ll have to discuss some negative events, but they happened and we’ll face them head on.

     Then there’s T. L.’s gift to his long-time employees. I couldn't find the letter outlining the details of the gift, but I clearly remember the basics, and can give you a pretty fair idea of the scope and impact of this wonderful gesture on his part. 

1. A SHAKY START

It all began in one day in January, 1959, when I received a phone call from an employment agency on the north side of Chicago, where I lived in a bachelor pad with three other friends. I had registered with that agency earlier, part of a job search that I’d been on for weeks, going back to late 1958.

The nameless voice on the phone asked if I was available to talk to a local company about an opening they had in “inventory control.”

I said yes, and he set me up for an interview at the Maybelline Company, a mile up the street from our apartment. I got there at the scheduled time, to meet a Mr. John Cole. The street address was 5900 North Ridge Avenue, and as I entered the building I saw a large sign proclaiming

MAYBELLINE

World’s Largest-Selling Eye Beauty Aids

It wasn’t too late to chicken out, but I swallowed hard and opened the swinging door and walked in. After all, I was so broke I couldn’t even afford gas for my ’53 Ford, among other things.

John Cole couldn’t have been more gracious. He was older than me by ten years or so, a trim and friendly man. He gave me a brief rundown on the company and the job in question, and politely asked me about my background and experience. After that exchange I guess he thought we could go to the next step, and made a call to a Mr. Tom Williams.

That cleared us to walk down the hall to another, larger office. I met Mr. Williams and we continued the interview, the upshot of which was a job offer. John offered a starting salary of $5,500 per year, with annual raises to be discussed on each anniversary. The company would also reimburse my employment agency fee, about $300, after 90 days on the job. I accepted, and we agreed that I would start on January 19. (Tom Lyle Williams Sr. Birthday.)

As I learned very quickly, John would be my boss and trainer. He functioned across all operating areas of the company, with heavy involvement in purchasing and supplier relations. Also, I learned that Mr. Williams was the son of the company founder, T. L. Williams. At that time and for years afterward, I heard the elder Mr. Williams referred to only as “T. L.”

John needed me to help him with the heavy detail in keeping the inventory balanced. In turn, this function required heavy contact with the wide range of packaging and product suppliers, located literally across the country at that time. This would relieve John to concentrate on his many other responsibilities, both external and internal.

That was the thinking and high hopes as we began. No luck. Things began to unravel almost immediately because I had no direct experience in that kind of work and couldn’t avoid making an almost immediate mess of things. Of all things, Tom Williams saw the disaster shaping up, and stepped in personally. The main tool in daily inventory actions was a hand-posted weekly inventory report listing all Maybelline items, starting with the finished-goods quantity, followed by the quantities of all component parts that related to that item. Well, those numbers were supposed to shout for action if they were out of position, particularly if they were dangerously low. Shout? Those numbers just sat there on the report, and they all looked the same to me.

Okay, Tom and John could have fired me right then, but I guess they figured I was the bird in hand, and they’d be farther ahead if they could salvage me rather than starting over again. So Tom would get that weekly inventory report ahead of me, and leave me with an “action list,” hand written, with detailed instructions to call such-and-so and order this much material. While this burdened Tom with what I should be doing, it was something he had done in his earlier years with the company, and he was good at it.

Slowly, slowly, two things began to happen. The inventory began to resemble the profile that Tom wanted to see, and I began to understand what needed to be done without Tom’s time and attention. In my case I was like a newborn bear cub, coming into the world unable to see for the first part of his life, then slowly gaining vision and focus.

If Tom hadn't spent the time he did in this early phase of my Maybelline experience, this would be the end of the story. Both he and John had salvaged my job, and now I was out there in solo mode, thanks to them. In sum, that was a close one!

Stay tuned tomorrow.  I will be posting more of Harris A. Neil Jr.'s story everyday for the next four weeks.  If you are interested in business, marketing and production, you won't want to miss the inside workings of a Mega-Company from the man who was there and saw it all unfold everyday.

Dick Clark's AMERICAN BANDSTAND in the 1950 AND 60's.

In the 1920's, 30's and 40's, Big name Band Leaders, played their music from Ballrooms, broadcasting live, over the radio..... but by the 1950's and 60's, Teenagers were dancing to their favorite music on American Bandstand.....

American Bandstand was a major success, running daily Monday through Friday until 1963, then weekly on Saturdays until 1987.

In 1964, the show moved from Philadelphia to Hollywood, California. Dick Clark interviews,

 Bobby Darin. click for video of Mack the Knife.

Dick Clark became the full-time host on July 9, 1956.

Clark would often interview the teenagers about their opinions of the songs being played, most memorably through the "Rate-a-Record" segment.

Dick Clark interviews Bobby Rydell.  Featured artists typically performed their current hits by lip-synching to the released version of the song.  Click here to hear Bobby Ryell sing, Forget Him.

The program was broadcast live.

The shows popularity helped Dick Clark become an American media mogul and inspired similar long-running music programs, such as Soul Train and Top of the Pops. Clark eventually assumed ownership of the program through his Dick Clark Productions company.

The Beach Boys, played live on American Bandstand.

a review of the 1960's..... with American Bandstand.

American Bandstand 30 year special.

While Black artists were permitted to perform, only white dancers were allowed. They feared the backlash that might happen if Black boys danced close to white girls. Black teenagers were banned. There was a protest in the early 60's, Eventually Black teens were allowed.

In 1959, Maybelline featured an African American model in their ad's. The Maybelline Company sold to Plough Inc. in December of 1967.


Read more about the 1950 and 60's and how Maybelline influenced American culture, in my book, The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.

Maybelline's Debbie Reynolds and her daughter Carrie Fisher will be loved forever

Debbie Reynold's with Maybelline founder, Tom Lyle Williams, (on the right,) Arnold Anderson (on the left,) and Sparky the dog.  Photo taken at TL's home in Bel Air California, 1950.

Married in 1955, Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher, known as the perfect couple.  Both equally famous, they were the couple..... to wanna be.

 Hollywood's Prince and Princess, expecting their first child....This was the stuff fairy tales were made of. 

 A 1956,  Maybelline ad, appeared in movie magazines, the same time Debbie and Eddie were expecting their first child, Carrie Fisher.

Goodbye Debbie and Carrie you will be greatly missed RIP.
Read more about Debbie Reynolds the day she visited Tom Lyle and Arnold in Bel Air for a photo shoot, in..... The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.

THE LORETTA YOUNG SHOW TRANSFORMED WOMEN'S ROLES.

The Loretta Young Show, put women front stage and center, and created a vehicle for Maybelline to reach a larger target market in the 1950's.

The Loretta Young Show ran from 1953 to 1961. Her trademark was to come through a door dramatically at the beginning in various high fashion evening gowns.

Maybelline capitalized on Loretta Young's fashionable image.... with a series of ads that illustrated her persona..... and affirmed postwar ideas, that true happiness, was possible, within the domestic/heterosexual

sphere of the middle-class home.

The Lorette Young, TV series, worked through the image of the glamorous Hollywood star, and would forever remain a phenomenon of 1950s television, the period in which the Hollywood studio system that had created larger-than-life stars came to a close.

Her program ran in prime time on NBC for eight years, the longest-running prime-time network program hosted by a woman up to that time.

In 1988, she was awarded the Women in Film Crystal Award. for outstanding women who, through their endurance and the excellence of their work, have helped to expand the role of women within the

entertainment industry.

Young was married to actor Grant Withers from 1930 to 1931. After that she was involved in affairs with Spencer Tracy and Clark Gable and in 1935 had Gable's child, a daughter.

View video of "The Loretta Young Show" US TV series (1953--61.)


Read all about Maybelline's influence on Women's culture in the 1950s, in my book, The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.