The era of teen marketing was born in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1955

 

 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 relentleess 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 staringJames 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.

Here's how Chuck Berry's "Maybellene" got it's name

In a fairly new book: The Third Coast When Chicago Built the American Dream, Thomas Dyja, describes how Chuck Berry's hit song "Maybellene" came about...However, as described in my book, "The Maybelline Story," Chuck Berry or his attorney, contacted Tom Lyle Williams, founder and owner of the Maybelline Company and asked for permission to use the spelling. Tom Lyle said no, so the spelling was changed to protect Berry from further disputes. Here is how the idea for "Maybelline" came about in 1955.

Chuck Berry’s "Maybellene" was taken from the country song "Ida Red", as recorded by Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys in 1938.  In 1955 Berry brought his version of Ida Red, to Chess Records which he had renamed "Ida May."  Leonard Chess  was enthusiastic about the commercial possibilities in a “hillbilly song sung by a black man, but he thought the title Ida May,  was “too rural”

Spotting a mascara box on the floor of the studio, Chess said, “Well, hell, let’s name the damn thing Maybellene” altering the spelling to avoid a suit by the cosmetic company. “The kids wanted the big beat, cars and young love,”  “It was the trend and taking old recordings and modifying them, by changing the instrumentals and the lyrics was a common practice in the 1950s.

The lyrics struck a chord with teenagers fascinated by cars, speed and sexuality. "Maybellene” became one of the first records to score big on rhythm and blues, country and western, and pop charts. Featuring some inimitable Chuck Berry riffs, some blues-style picking on a country guitar and Johnson’s piano, which added rhythm to the steady back beat, "Maybellene" was a pivotal song in the emergence of rock 'n' roll. This exciting fusion of a rhythm and blues beat with a rural country style was the catalyst for the type of rock 'n' roll that emerged in the mid-1950s.

Read more about it and so much more in The Maybelline Story, buy a signed copy from me. Now listen to the book, on audible books from Amazon.