My mother's friends included Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Deanna Durbins and even Fox girl, Shirley Temple when little Shirley made pictures at M.G.M. with Bill Bojangles Robinson.

My father's mother, Evelyn Williams, Tom Lyle Williams, my father Bill Williams with his girlfriend, (my mother,) Pauline Mac Donald at Tom Lyle's Villa Valentino in the Hollywood Hills 1941.  Sparkie the dog is in the float.

My mother Pauline Mac Donald, was a "Studio Brat"  and was used to rigorous training at MGM, where she was training to be a professional dancer. Her father Andy Mac Donald, was a special effects pioneer who ran seven departments, including the construction department and supervised hundreds of men who built sets for the studio's musical extravaganzas.   Pauline's friends included Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Deanna Durbins and even Fox girl, Shirley Temple when little Shirley made pictures at M.G.M. with Bill Bojangles Robinson.

As a young girl, my mother was invited to all the cast parties and was loved by everyone who knew her.  As a teenager, she spent every free minute at the studio practicing dance routines with her teachers, Bill Bojangles Robinson and Eleanor Powell, who were both impressed by the young girl's ability to move her feet so fast, master complicated steps and work tirelessly.   Eleanor Powell believed she had a career at  M.G.M., and encouraged some of the biggest producers and directors to keep an eye on her.

Pauline's father  worried about his only daughter becoming a Louis B. Mayer puppet. He knew how the heartache of rejection many starlets faced could take them to the the point of throwing themselves off the Hollywood Sign committing suicide, doing drugs or drinking themselves into ruin.  Her mother, Elna, wanted my mother to have the career she'd always dreamed of, but was concerned Pauline wasn't prepared to deal with the Mayer's Hollywood Studio/Star system, at only 15.  My grandmother hoped Pauline would meet a nice boy, get married and have a family someday, so to balance out her daughter's ambitions, she enrolled her in Cotillion hoping my mother might meet well bred young men, while preparing to be a Debutante. 

My mother met my father, Bill Williams, (Tom Lyle Williams, founder of the Maybelline Company's nephew) at Cotillion and my grandmother got her wish, though not without paying a very high price.

Read more about Bill and Pauline in The Maybelline Story. You can order a signed copy from me at http://www.maybellinebook.com/p/buy-my-book.html

Maybelline had no competition with Max Facator

  Maybelline devoted exclusively to EYES!

 Tom Lyle Williams was devoted to 

 "Beautiful  Eyes,"

                          Max Factor was best known as
                       "The Makeup artist for the Stars." 

Max Factor started out selling hand made wigs and theatrical make-up to the growing film industry and soon coined the word "make-up" based on the verb phrase "to make up" (one's face) in 1920.  Up until then the term ‘"cosmetics’’ had been used as the term for ‘"make-up" and was considered to be used only by people in the theatre or of dubious reputation and not something to be used in polite society.

When Maybelline was born in 1916 and until the late 1930's, women used the word Maybelline for mascara, saying,  "I need to order Maybelline," not, "I need to buy mascara," and like Max Factors Face Make-up, Maybelline was considered "the Provence of whores" and not used by respectable ladies.  

Maybe that's why Tom Lyle used the term  "Eye Beauty Aids" and marketed Maybelline as pure and healthy for lashes and brows.  Eventually Maybelline was referred to as Mascara and had no negative connotation.


By the 1940's the Factor Brand expanded into a variety of cosmetics while Maybelline remained strictly Eye Beauty.

In this 1937 Maybelline Ad Tom Lyle used brilliant color, a Maybelline First!  As Technicolor film replaced Maybelline's black and white ads.  Notice the products are now attached to cards that were placed on display racks - another Maybelline First, and the 75 cent box of Maybelline was  scaled down to a small 10 cent size so all women could afford a box of Maybelline during the Great Depression.

From 1915 to 1967 when Tom Lyle sold The Maybelline Company to Plough Inc, Maybelline controlled over 75% of the eye beauty market and never experienced competition from any other cosmetic company.

Read more about Maybelline's supreme control of the eye beauty market and Tom Lyle Williams genius as the King of Advertising in "The Maybelline Story."

MGM Studio Brat meets, The Maybelline Kid.

Evelyn, Tom Lyle, Bill Williams with his girlfriend Pauline Mac Donald at Tom Lyle's Villa Valentino - 1941.  Sparkie the dog is in the float.

Pauline was a "Studio Brat."  She loved to eat and sleep dance and was used to a rigorous training regime at MGM.  Her father Andy Mac Donald, was a special effects pioneer who ran seven departments, including the construction department and supervised hundreds of men who built sets for the studio's musical extravaganzas.   Pauline's friends included Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Deanna Durbin, and even Fox girl, Shirley Temple when little Shirley made pictures at M.G.M. with Bill Bojangles Robinson.

Pauline was invited to all the cast parties and was loved by everyone who knew her.  As a teenager, she spent every free minute at the studio practicing dance routines with her  teachers, Bill Bojangles Robinson and Eleanor Powell, who were both impressed by the young girl's ability to move her feet so fast, master complicated steps and work tirelessly.   Eleanor Powell believed she had a career at  M.G.M., and encouraged some of the biggest producers and directors to keep an eye on her.

Pauline's father  worried about his only daughter becoming a Louis B. Mayer puppet. He knew how the heartache of rejection many starlets faced could take them to the the point of throwing themselves off the Hollywood Sign committing suicide, doing drugs or drinking themselves into ruin.  Her mother wanted her daughter to have the career she'd once dreamed of, but was  concerned Pauline wasn’t prepared for the real world at 15. To balance her daughter's ambitions she enrolled her in Cotillion where she might prepare to be a Debutante as well. 

It was here that Pauline Mac Donald met Bill Williams, his mother Evelyn and his uncle Tom Lyle Williams, founder of the Maybelline Co. 

 Read more about Pauline  in The Maybelline Story.