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

 

 He was onto something that had eluded him, something far more exciting than any horse race or radio show. Tom Lyle marveled with Emery over two recent photos of Merle Oberon who’d been in a terrible accident the year before that left her face badly scarred. One picture had been taken of her without her make-up, and the pits and indentations in her skin showed up. Yet here was another picture that made her skin look flawless in spite of the damage. Make-up and clever lighting obviously helped keep her image stunningly beautiful without detracting from her exotic eyes, but something else was going on here. This was the faultless look Tom Lyle had dreamed of, and the image appeared in the kind of vibrant jewel tones that could only be the unique tri-color process from Technicolor. The photo in his right hand was ground-breaking. Technicolor had never been accomplished outside of moving pictures. Someone had worked with a lab to create a still shot from a reel of movie film. Excitement sent Tom Lyle’s pulse racing.

Maybelline's King of Advertising, Tom Lyle Williams and his Film Queens

                   King of Advertising, Tom Lyle Williams

The man who would become a cosmetics giant, Tom Lyle Williams, was aprivate figure who hid from the public because when he launched the Maybelline Co., mascara was deemed the “province of whores and homosexuals.” To protect his family from scandal, and to stay out of view from the scrutiny of the press, Tom Lyle ran his empire from a distance, cloistered behind the gates of his Hollywood Hills Rudolph Valentino Villa.  He contracted movie stars to represent him in all forms of media.  From the earliest days of silent film he sought Photoplay stars, Viola Dana, Phyllis Haver, and Clara Bow.

Throughout the 1930’s “Golden Age of Hollywood,” he splashed magazines with glamour, using Jean Harlow, Joan Crawford and Merle Oberon to represent the ideal Maybelline image.  During the World War ll era, he turned to pin up girls like Bettie Grable, Elyse Knox, Hedy Lamaar, Rita Hayworth, and Lana Turner, to inspire the boys fighting for our Country and keep Maybelline ingredients flowing.  By the 1950’s, the girl next door, represented by Debby Reynolds and Grace Kelly, appealed to the emerging young mothers and housewives. When Maybelline appeared on Television in the early 1950’s, Tom Lyle decided to appeal to a more universal image and rather than promote film stars created the cool, exotic, sophisticated woman who would appeal to foreign as well as domestic markets.

Joan Crawford – had her teeth pulled and replaced to have a more beautiful smile and became Maybelline’s spokesperson for years.

Merle Oberon – was in an accident that disfigured the skin on her face, yet in films she looked flawless because of pancake make up.

Betty Grable - took over for the leading song and dance actress Alice Faye and became a big star in musicals as well As one of Maybelline’s top models.

Debby Reynolds - was to be Maybelline’s leading model in the 1950’s until Tom Lyle decided to change his ad campaign from the all American Girl to a more international exotic sophisticate in his TV commercials and print magazines.

Maybelline was the sole sponsor for the Grace Kelly, Prince Rainier lll, wedding in Monaco appeal to a more universal image and rather than promote film stars created the cool, exotic, sophisticated woman who would appeal to foreign as well as domestic markets.  

Maybelline "firsts": Movie Star Displays, Carded merchandise, improved self-serviced racks and three-step eye make-up...mascaras, pencils and shadows,

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

 Tom Lyle Williams was onto something that had eluded him, something far more exciting than any horse race or radio show. Tom Lyle marveled with Emery over two recent photos of Merle Oberon who’d been in a terrible accident the year before that left her face badly scarred. One picture had been taken of her without her make-up, and the pits and indentations in her skin showed up. Yet here was another picture that made her skin look flawless in spite of the damage. Make-up and clever lighting obviously helped keep her image stunningly beautiful without detracting from her exotic eyes, but something else was going on here. This was the faultless look Tom Lyle had dreamed of, and the image appeared in the kind of vibrant jewel tones that could only be the unique tri-color process from Technicolor. The photo in his right hand was ground-breaking. Technicolor had never been accomplished outside of moving pictures. Someone had worked with a lab to create a still shot from a reel of movie film. Excitement sent Tom Lyle’s pulse racing.

Thank you to my cousins, Ann Carneros, Linda Hughes and Donna Hughes for sending me the picture of Merle Oberon's Maybelline Display.  The vintage, late 1930's Display, was found in a second-hand shop and bought as a gift for Donna and Linda's mother, Shirley Hughes, (Shirley is Maybelline's namesake, Mabel Williams, daughter and my cousin Ann, is Noel J. and Frances Williams granddaughter.)  Siblings, Tom Lyle, Noel J. and Mabel Williams, were the original founder's of the Maybelline Co. in 1915.

Visit my new website Sharrie Williams Author at /http://www.sharriewilliamsauthor.com/

Maybelline splashed magazines with glitz and glamour, using Jean Harlow, Joan Crawford and Betty Grable in the 1940's.

Betty Grable Maybelline ad

The man who would become a cosmetics giant, Tom Lyle Williams, was a private man.....When TL launched the Maybelline Co. in 1915, mascara was deemed the “province of whores and homosexuals.”

He protected his Company and his family, by staying out of view from the public and an every intrusive press.  In the 1930's, Tom Lyle ran his empire from a distance, cloistered behind the gates of his Hollywood Villa Valentino and contracted Movie Stars to represent him in the  media.

From the earliest days of silent film, he sought Photoplay stars, like Viola Dana, Phyllis Haver, and Clara Bow.  Throughout the 1930’s “Golden Age of Hollywood,” TL splashed magazines with glitz and glamour, using Jean Harlow, Joan Crawford and Merle Oberon.  World War ll brought in the Pin-up girls, including, Bettie Grable, Elyse Knox, Hedy Lamaar, Rita Hayworth, and Lana Turner.

The 1950’s, ushered in the Girl Next Door... represented by Debby Reynolds and Grace Kelly.  When Maybelline appeared on Television in the early 1950’s, Tom Lyle decided to appeal to a more universal image and rather than promote film stars created the cool, exotic, sophisticated image..... Appealing to foreign as well as domestic markets.

     Joan Crawford – had her teeth pulled and replaced to have a more beautiful

     smile and became Maybelline’s spokesperson for years.

Merle Oberon – was in an accident that disfigured the skin on her face, yet in films she looked flawless because of pancake make up.

Betty Grable - took over for the leading song and dance actress Alice Faye and became a big star in musicals as well As one of Maybelline’s top models.

Debby Reynolds - was to be Maybelline’s leading model in the 1950’s until Tom Lyle decided to change his ad campaign from the all American Girl to a more international exotic sophisticate in his TV commercials and print magazines.

Maybelline was the sole sponsor for the Grace Kelly, Prince Rainier lll, wedding in Monaco appeal to a more universal image and rather than promote film stars created the cool, exotic, sophisticated woman who would appeal to foreign as well as domestic markets.  


Be sure to visit my new blog SAFFRONS RULE at http://saffronsrule.com/2013/08/19/today-i-was-in-a-good-mood-and-felt-real-popular/

MERLE OBERON - PAUL HESSE - MAYBELLINE AND THE STUDIO/STAR SYSTEM.

Renowned pioneer advertising Photographer Paul Hesse and exotic Merle Oberon.

Not only a genius when it came to glamour photography, Paul Hesse helped launch many starlets careers in Hollywood by introducing them to the right Studio bosses.  He also photographed the Biggest Stars on the Silver Screen as promotional advertising vehicles for products like Maybelline cosmetics. The combination of Studio, Star, film and product - helped make up 

the Hollywood Star system.  

MY MAKE-UP WOULD NOT BE COMPLETE WITHOUT MAYBELLINE MASCARA, EYEBROW PENCIL AND EYE SHADOW, Signed, Merle Oberon, 1944.

When the full page color Maybelline ad of Merle Oberon appeared on the back cover of 1944 movie magazines,  she was starring in the Gothic horror film Dark Waters.  Paul Hess shot the exotic photo of her as an advertising tool to promote her career, the Studio's name and Maybelline cosmetics.  That's one way the Studio Star/System worked up until the 1950s.

The front cover of a movie magazine would promote the film, the inside story would exploit the Studio and the back cover would display a Maybelline ad, autographed by Merle Oberon, suitable for framing.

It's easy to recognize the quality of color film used by Paul Hesse in the late 1930's and 40's.

The brilliance of Merle Oberon's eyes stand out just as much as the flowers or ruffles on her dress.

Merle Oberon's exotic features allowed her to play various ethnic rolls throughout her career and Paul Hesse captured the magic of dark eyes, red lips and raven hair in this picture of an Indian Princess.

The lighting in this photo captured the sparkle in Oberon's eyes, her smile and the energy she exuded.

During its original airing between 1955 and 1959 and in syndication as Love That Bob, The Bob Cummings Show depicted the exploits and pranks of bachelor Bob Collins, a celebrity photographer of Hollywood stars, and his network of mostly unmarried friends. 

It's been said that Bob Cummings character was taken directly from the famous Paul Hesse, Hollywood's flamboyant Star maker.

Check back tomorrow for the last day of Paul Hesse, his Stars and the Hollywood Studio/Star System.

PAULETTE GODDARD AND "HOLLYWOOD'S PHOTOGRAPHIC ZIEGFELD" PAUL HESSE,

Paul  Hesse’s fascinating career mirrors the rise and fall of the Hollywood studio system and you can trace the history of photography through his work. His photos present Hollywood as a mythical and slightly surreal place where blemish free beauties with perfect teeth smile endlessly for our pleasure. The Hollywood fantasy that Paul Hesse helped create is still being used to sell movie tickets today but it has lost some of its luster.....
                 Old Movies Nostalgia.

Paulette Goddard best known for her film performances 

and her marriage to Charlie Chaplin and Burgess 

Meredith.  You can see the meticulous attention to detail

and use of lighting in this photograph.  Hesse  

selected his models clothing, created the scene and  

assisted in the makeup. When a Maybelline ad was 

being shot, Tom Lyle Williams, Emery Shaver and 

Arnold Anderson were also present, making sure 

Maybelline's Brand was perfectly presented.

A child fashion model - Paulette Goddard moved to Broadway as a Ziegfeld Girl, performing the elaborate Ziegfeld Follies productions. Goddard went on to become a major star of the Paramount Studios and was  one of Tom Lyle's favorite Maybelline model's throughout the 1940s.

"Glamour photography started to lose its appeal when the powerful Hollywood studio system that had been in place for decades began to crumble. Major studios were no longer interested in grooming young stars or signing long-term contracts with them." From the blog, Old Movies Nostalgia.

Burgess Meredith with his wife Paulette Goddard and Merle Oberon with Lucien Ballard.

Charlie Chaplin and his wife Paulette Goddard.

    ANOTHER WORD FOR GLAMOUR WAS MAYBELLINE.

I argue that glamour is an enticing and seductive image that is woven around people places and things to make them seem more magnificent than they really are. It rests on a series of values including beauty, wealth, sex appeal, mobility, theatricality, dynamism and leisure. The most effective bearers of glamour in the last two hundred years have not been aristocrats or the established rich, but those, like Otero, who were outsiders who rose from nothing by sheer determination and force of personality. They captured the dreams of the masses with an aura that combined exclusivity with accessibility. In the twentieth century the major motion picture studios would learn how to manufacture this aura as a corporate product linked to consumption.

Learn more about Glamour: A History at the Oxford University Press website. Visit Stephen Gundle's faculty webpage.

Paulette Goddard

"A WOMAN'S GREATEST POSSESSION IS A 

MAN'S IMAGINATION." 

Quote by, TOM LYLE WILLIAMS.....MAYBELLINE.

Read more about Tom Lyle Williams and the  Stars who appeared in Maybelline's glamorous color ads in.....

The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty 

Behind It.

Louis B Mayer, TL Williams and Emery Shaver at MGM.

Tom Lyle Williams and his partner, Emery Shaver, conducted business on a regular basis at MGM.  Negotiating Maybelline contracts, with some of Louis B. Mayer's,  most beautiful Stars.

                                          MGM Studio's famous gates.

          Louis B Mayer on the left with Paulette Goddard.

Paulette Goddard in an early 1940's Maybelline ad.

The FACE of Maybelline, in the 1940s, Joan Crawford.

MGM Star Joan Crawford, also Tom Lyle's personal friend.

One of the most beautiful women in the world,
Hedy Lamarr

                    MGM Star, Hedy Lamarr and Maybelline model.

                                                 Exotic Merle Oberon.

Merle Oberon made pictures at MGM for Samuel Goldwyn Productions, and was a Maybelline model.

My father Bill Williams and his mother Evelyn with uncle, Tom Lyle and Emery Shaver, (seated.)  Standing next to TL's 1934 Packard Victoria with the extra long hood.

To be Continued:

Read all about Maybelline and Old Hollywood in
                        The Maybelline Story.


Tom Lyle and Emery were bi-coastal, between Chicago and Hollywood in the 1930's and though Tom Lyle was a Hollywood mogul, contracting the biggest Stars in the world, he remained the Godfather for his family throughout his entire life. 

Maybelline's stunning Cover-Girls from the 1940's

Maybelline was synonymous with fashion, style and indisputable Hollywood glamor.  Here are a few of Tom Lyle's favorite movie queens of the silver screen during the 1940's. 

Dorothy Lamour starred in the "Road to..." movie series with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope in the 1940s and 1950s. The movies were enormously popular during the 1940s, and they regularly placed among the top moneymaking films each year

The Unique Beauty of Gene Tierney - Excerpted from Michael Atkinson's essay, Dec 1994 Movieline magazine.  "Among faces, Gene Tierney's is a tournament rose, an Opaline study in serene, sexualized perfection, a mad musky Egyptian daydream of cat thoughts."

Lana Turner was discovered and signed to a film contract by MGM at the age of sixteen.

Joan Crawford is the movies personified.  The embodiment of the American Dream and the official face of Maybelline in the 1940's.

 Known for her sultry good looks Merle Oberon played Cathy Linton in Wuthering Heights with Laurence Olivier in 1939.  The 1940's proved to be a very busy decade where she appeared in no less than 15 movies.

Click on videos below for Scrapbook of beautiful 1940 stars -  many gorgeous faces used in Maybelline Ads - Tom Lyle sure knew how to pick-em.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AShAPReYOfg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XbskY9DQaA

Nothing has changed in 95 years - Girls still want to stand out and have fun!!!!

Maybelline in the middle of Times Square, with eyes that stop traffic!

Read it all in The Maybellie Story and the Spirited family Dynasty Behind It.