Maybelline supported the Troops during World War ll, by selling War Bonds and offering encouragement to the boys overseas

This ad was published in cooperation with the Drug,Cosmetic and Allied Industries in Modern Screen's 15TH Anniversary Edition, 1945

Maybelline - Worlds favorite eye make-up

Check out the list of Warner Brothers stars.

Maybelline's advertising strategy featured Romance while focusing on selling War Bonds during WWll

When petroleum was rationed during the War, Maybelline was ordered to stop making their products.  Tom Lyle told the Pentagon, "If women can't get their Maybelline, it will affect the moral of the men overseas."   Petroleum vats remained full and Maybelline's products expanded around the world.

read more about Maybelline's marketing and advertising strategy over the last 100 years in The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Behind it.

Maybelline's Soldier Boy, Bill Williams, 1945.

Like his father, William Preston Williams, a WW1 Vet - my father William Preston Williams Jr. served his country fighting in the Philippines during WW11. 

Bill was working as an apprentice artist at MGM painting back drops - hoping to work his way into a career at the studio - when he was drafted into the Army in 1944.

A Sad Sack - Bill wasn't exactly happy leaving West Los Angeles, the beach and MGM - for Fort Riley Kansas in Jan of 1945.

After all that meant saying goodbye to his sweetheart Pauline Mac Donald.

and his Car-Guy buddies, (Bill is second on the right.)

His uncle Tom Lyle Williams.

His mother Evelyn Williams and his 36 Ford.

His life at The Villa Valentino with his uncle Tom Lyle, his mother and Pauline.

So he married his childhood sweetheart Pauline Mac Donald and shipped off to the Philippians in March of 1945 not knowing if he'd ever return to California and those he loved so much.

While Bill was overseas his uncle Tom Lyle Williams created War Time Maybelline Advertisements like this one to sell U.S. War Bonds.

Bill in the Philippians working on a reconnaissance plane.  The war ended in August of 1945, but not without leaving it's mark on him.  He came home with a scar on the back of his head from shrapnel which could have easily killed him.  The amazing thing is, after living a long life, he died at 82 from a head injury.  I guess my father like so many Vets who came back to America to create the Baby Boom were actually on borrowed time until they finished their work on earth.  Maybe that's way they were called "The Greatest Generation."

If you want to read more about Bill and his adventures overseas during WW11, his life in the Maybelline family and the Hay-Day after the sale of the company, please pick up a copy of The Maybelline Story from Amazon, Barnes and Noble or buy a signed copy from me from this www.maybellinebook.com.  Stay tuned for Noel Allen Williams story tomorrow.  We're in the Navy now!