Maybelline's first, "Big-Screen" sex symbol, Jean Harlow.

Pioneer of the Hollywood Studio System and Star System,  Jean Harlow, a product of that System, comes alive Thomas Ince, book about her life.

Harlow in Hollywood: The Blonde Bombshell in the Glamour Capital, 1928-1937, by Darrell Rooney and Mark A. Vieira (Angel City Press).  Harlow in Hollywood is the story of how a town and an industry created her, a story that's never been told before.  Buy in on Amazon

Jean Harlow, known as the “Blonde Bombshell,” was the earliest and most popular of the sex symbols–the 1930s incarnation of Marilyn Monroe.

Thomas Ince: Hollywood's Independent Pioneer, by Brian Taves (University Press of Kentucky).

  Want to know how, when and were, the Hollywood Studio System, and Star System began?  It all started with Thomas Ince.  Buy it on Amazon.


The Maybelline Story is available on kindle, at Amazon,  and on the Nook at Barnes and Noble.   Buy it today.

More new books out about Old Hollywood and it's Stars.

John Huston: Courage and Art, by Jeffrey Meyers (Crown Archetype)


Myrna Loy: The Only Good Girl in Hollywood, by Emily W. Leider (University of California Press)


Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark, by Brian Kellow (Viking)


Raoul Walsh: The True Adventures of Hollywood's Legendary Director, by Marilyn Ann Moss (University Press of Kentucky)


The Rise and Fall of Lou-Tellegen, by David W. Menefee (Menefee Publishing)


Spencer Tracy: A Biography, by James Curtis (Knopf)


Syd Chaplin: A Biography, by Lisa K. Stein (McFarland)

Wally: The True Wallace Reid Story, by David W. Menefee (BearManor Media)


Also just out, and so new there hasn't been time to review it is Francis X. Bushman: In His Own Words

 Tom Lyle Williams can also make claim to being a part of The Hollywood Star System, helping create Stars out of Starletts, by promoting them in his Maybelline ads.

Tom Lyle Williams,

Read his story in THE MAYBELLINE STORY AND THE SPIRITED FAMILY DYNASTY BEHIND IT.

Maybelline profits go off the charts with actress Myrna Loy in 1934.

             Myrna Loy became "The Perfect Wife." 

In 1934 when Myrna Loy was cast opposite William Powell in
The Thin Man, based on Dashiell Hammett's novel -  (Click where highlighted.)  They became the quintessential 1930's couple. 

Myrna Loy, known as the Queen of Hollywood, the perfect wife, a living doll and the Queen of the movies was one of Hollywood's busiest and highest paid actresses, and in 1937 and 1938 she was listed in the annual "Quigley Poll of the Top Ten Money Making Stars", which was compiled from the votes of movie exhibitors throughout the U.S. for the stars that had generated the most revenue in their theaters over the previous year. What more could Tom Lyle ask for to draw another target market The Wife, into the dime stores across the country to buy Maybelline.

Tom Lyle's genius with Maybelline was his ability to appeal to every type of woman and of course "The Wife" with her wholesome all American good looks was the perfect target market.  Myrna Loy illustrated here in black and white in 1934 looking rather modest yet made up like a movie star sold more Maybelline that year than ever before.  Her image ran throughout the 1930's until the Pinup Girls during the War years became Maybelline's image around the world. 

Maybe that's why when Tom Lyle, Emery, TJ and Billy went to the 1934 Chicago Worlds Fair that year Tom Lyle had to have the Dietrich custom bodied Packard. As you can see in the picture below Tom Lyle had superb taste in cars as his car is only one of five ever built in 1934.

Thanks in part to Myrna Loy's influence that year Tom Lyle had the confidence and flair as well as the money to flaunt Maybelline's success during the depths of the Depression. Tom Lyle was in good company however, since Al Jolson and Gene Sarazen, the famous golfer, also owned rare Vee Windshield Dietrich Packards.

Click here to see video of Myrna Loy and William Powell in The Thin Man and see why they became the power couple of the Depression.

When you think of the great automobiles from the 1930’s, very few can rival the class and elegance of the 1934 Packard Dietrich. More than any other car from this time, the Dietrich brings back memories of movie stars and financial money barons who traveled in affluent style and class.

Many Packard experts consider the 1934 Packard 12 to be the best overall year of Packard production. It has been said up until that time that Queen quality ruled over King price.

I wonder if that's where Emery got the idea for his famous Maybelline slogan,

                     Quality yet Sensibly Priced.

 Read more about Tom Lyle and his partner Emery Shaver and why they decided to leave Chicago in 1935 and live in Hollywood at the Villa Valentino.  Could it be the flash, the qlitz and glamour didn't fit in the gangster run city any longer?