The Maybelline Co and Chicago's Edgewater Beach Hotel's 100 year hsitory

The first section of the Edgewater Beach Hotel, was built in 1916.. An adjacent tower building was added in 1924. The Edgewater Beach Apartments were completed as part of the hotel resort complex in 1928.

The Edgewater Beach Hotel was a lavish, popular resort offering every amenity and, in its heyday, attracting the biggest stars – Babe Ruth, Nat King Cole, Marilyn Monroe, Bette Davis –And, Maybelline founder, Tom Lyle Williams. 

1917, in his new Paige Detroit, Tom Lyle Williams with his sister Mabel and their father T.J. Williams parked in front of the original Maybelline Building

1917 4848 N. Sheridan the Williams family taking a family picture.(Preston in Navy uniform, Maybelline's namesake, Mabel, Maybelline founder, Tom Lyle, Tom Lyle Jr, and his mother Bennie, Frances and her sister.

 

An email from Marsha Holland

Dear Sharrie,

Thank you for getting me the book so quickly.  I have been reading it with pleasure ever since it arrived.  You have done a good job of bringing a company history to life.  I have also enjoyed using the book to follow your family’s movements around Chicago neighborhoods and seeing how their lives are intertwined with the development of Edgewater. 

Your very comprehensive website is what first drew me into the Maybelline story.  The Edgewater Historical Society is in the process of putting together a museum exhibit as part of the celebration of the 100^th anniversary of the opening of the Edgewater Beach Hotel. 

Maybelline Building with Executives and employees, 1932

Dear Sharri,

I believe that Tom Lyle must have moved into the Edgewater Beach Apartments when they were completed and available for rental in 1928-1929 (he was living there at the time of the 1930 census).  Before that the extended Williams family lived at 4848 N. Sheridan in a three-story building now replaced by a modern apartment block.  The 4848 address was about one third mile south of the Edgewater Beach Hotel, which opened in 1916.   The Edgewater Apartments, still standing unlike the hotel, are at the southeast corner of Bryn Mawr and Sheridan and were at the very north end of the large Edgewater Beach site, which stretched from Berwyn on the south to Bryn Mawr on the north.  It would have been a short trip up Ridge Avenue to the Maybelline building at Ridge and Clark. 

Hi Sharrie
The photos of the car look like they are taken near where they lived on 4053 South Prairie Avenue – not that I recognize any landmarks, but the neighborhood looks right for that location.  And the woman clothes and Preston’s naval uniform make it seem like the data of that photo is 1917-1918.  By 1920 they had moved to 4502 Grand Boulevard (now M L King Drive), which was about five blocks south and east, where the buildings were larger and the street had a wide grassy center median.

Maybelline Cousins, 1934

BIG BANDS JUMP STARTED IN CHICAGO BALLROOMS.

"The Maybelline Hour, is brought to you live, from the lovely Ballroom, at the Edgewater Beach Hotel.... in  beautiful Uptown!.....  With the danceable tunes of Freddie Martin and his orchestra."

 The White City Ballroom on the South Side of Chicago, was the place to be in June 1922.  (Chicago Tribune.

The popularity of the hotel dance bands of the 1920s was also an important factor in the evolution of Big Band's being heard on the radio. 

Band leader, Freddie Martin

The main source of revenue for budding band leaders, like Freddie Martin, came from playing for ballroom dance crowds and doing radio remote broadcasts in the 1920s and early 1930s.

Freddy Martin and his Orchestra, was featured on, The Maybelline hour in 1935-1937.  The one hour radio show, called Penthouse Serenade, often included, Maybelline founder, Tom Lyle Williams and his family, riding up on the elevator, and entering the Ballroom on the top floor. 

This video of Freddy Martin and his orchestra, gives a bit of the flavor from a 1940s radio show.

Recording of Tom Lyle Williams doing his radio show, Penthouse Serenade, with the Williams family.

Read more about Freddy Martin and The Maybelline Hour's, Penthouse Serenade in my book, The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.