Mary Pickford, 1917, Poor Little Rich Girl appeared same year as Maybelline mascara's debut

Maybelline made it's leap into the public eye in 1917 when silent film star Mary Pickford ruled the industry.  American women praised Pickford for being a virtuous childlike Bride with no identity of her own.

Click below to see what Tom Lyle was up against trying to convince women to buy Maybelline, make up their eyes and flaunt beauty on the street.

Read more about the silent film industry and Maybelline as it broke into the female psyche pre WW1, in The Maybelline Story. Available in large print and for your Kindle  click.

Sharrie Williams, speaking today, in Laguna Beach California..

This Wednesday, March 7, the Woman’s Club of Laguna Beach is hosting its monthly Chic event. Join the Woman’s Club in welcoming Sharrie Williams, author of “The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.”

“The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It,” by Sharrie Williams, is the story of Tom Lyle Williams’ vision and founding of make-up giant Maybelline Cosmetics. Transfixed by the glamor of silent films and mail-order catalogs Tom bootstraps himself up from poverty to become something more than he’d ever thought possible. After witnessing his sister Mabel, concoct a mixture of burnt cork and Vaseline, to apply to her lashes and brows, he makes a tremendous discovery – The eyes are the key. Tom realized that the way the actresses made their eyes so compelling on screen could be easily replicated with a few ingredients in their proper ratios. The roaring “20’s” and the flapper era would provide a devoted following for the eyelash and eyebrow beautifiers that Maybelline produced by the truckload. So wanton was the demand for Maybelline products that, even through the economic nightmares of the ‘30’s, the company weathered the storm, its fortunes hitched solidly to the star of patented Maybelline glamor.


SharrieWilliams, a resident of Laguna Beach for over 30 years, will bring the story to life with a presentation using vintage Maybelline ads and family photos.

Silent Film Beauties become Maybelline models in 1920..

                            Mary Eaton

                                     Mae Murrey

Ethel Clayton.

                                   Ethel Clayton.

Ethel Clayton.

Mildred Davis.

Viola Dana.

Viola Dana.

Viola Dana.

Viola Dana.

                                         Gloria Swanson.

                                             Gloria Swanson.

A Pretty Girl is like a Melody - The Great Ziegfeld (1936) - Written by Irving Berlin for Ziegfeld Follies of 1919.

So Vintage Maybelline - Silent Film and Concert Series week, comes to a close today.   My cousin, Linda Hughes and I had fun working together, bringing these wonderful memories back to life.  Now you know why The Artist, won the Oscar for Best Picture, It was a fabulous era in film history.  

If you love Old Hollywood history, pick up a copy of
The Maybelline Story, as it mirrors everything from the 1920s and beyond.

Maybelline's Vintage Packaging,- 1915 - 1960

Some of the most memorable vintage Maybelline products, from the 20th Century.  Now a piece of art.

Tom Lyle Williams was one of the most innovative entrepreneurs and advertising wizards in the 20th Century.  People accused him of being a dreamer.  He proved the neysayer's wrong.  He never gave up on his dreams and he surrounding himself with like-minded, inspiring people, who helped him  shoot for the moon.
         
                           He made it!!!

Maybelline is still the number one Eye Cosmetic in the world, after nearly 100 years, and it all started with TL.

Tom Lyle Williams at 19 years of age.

Maybelline Beauties in the early 1910s.

Mabel Normand, in the early 1910's, was a forerunner for the great Hollywood Stars, who represented Maybelline, throughout the 20th Century.

By the time she first showed up at the Biograph studio in 1910, Normand was already a "Gibson Girl" (a model for illustrator Charles Dana Gibson) and she was not yet 18.

Most of the great beauties of the early 1910s were stage actresses who came to Hollywood looking for a career in Silent Films.  By 1915, when Lash-Brow-Ine

 was introduced to the public, Stars like Mabel Normand, had already set the standard for beauty.                                

Tom Lyle Williams saw an opening in the market that had been ignored - Eyes - the one feature on the face that had been overlooked.  He wrote a little book, called The Woman Beautiful, introducing Lash-Brow-Ine, how to use it, and what it can do to naturally enhance a woman's beauty.

Ethel Clayton, a beautiful stage and screen actresses, represented Lash-Brow-Ine.  Her pretty blond looks were reminiscent of the famous Gibson Girl drawings by Charles Dana Gibson.

One of the first Lash-Brow Ine ads, saying Actresses and Society Women endorse the new product.

Ethel Clayton endorsing Lash-Brow-Ine.

Find out more about Lash-Brow-Ine and Maybelline, as well as all the beautiful Hollywood Stars who endorsed them in The Maybelline Story.  Purchase a signed copy from http://www.maybellinestory.com/                                        

Maybelline during Prohibition and Hollywood's Heyday -1920's.

Women became aware of Lash-Brow-Ine, as Hollywood  broke the Victorian code of sexual silence. 

Risque photographs in the early 1900's revealed skin, as well as theatrical make-up - still not accepted on the street yet!

Hollywood introduced a new standard of beauty through the lens of a camera, and the public slowly replaced virtue - as a measure of beauty - for vanity.

Tom Lyle, through Hollywood Star endorsements, promoted Lash-Brow-Ine, as films were being pumped out and sent to theaters all over the country.

In 1920, Gloria Swanson, one of Hollywood's biggest Stars, endorsed Lash-Brow-Ine - raising the bar for courageous women to makeup their eyes - the same year women got the vote and Prohibition became the Law of the land.

Read more about Hollywood Silent Film Stars, Lash-Brow-Ine and Maybelline in The Maybelline Story.

Watch PBS PROHIBITION (click here)

Check out the trailer for Season 3, Boardwalk Empire, and get the feeling of Prohibition and the 1920's. 

 

The Maybelline Story, also captures Prohibition in gangland Chicago and Hollywood.  Be sure to purchase a copy at www.maybelliebook.com

Viola Dana, Super Star and Maybelline model from the 1920s,

Beautiful Viola Dana, another Maybelline model from the silent film era.

Viola Dana made over 100 films before retiring in 1929.  Read more about her and her years as a top box office star and a popular film magazine celebrity in The Maybelline Story.  Viola Dana endorsed both Lash-Brow-Ine and Maybelline, during the 1920s.

Maybelline and the Child Bride, 1917

Maybelline made it's leap into the public eye in 1917 when silent film star Mary Pickford ruled the industry.  American women praised Pickford for being a virtuous childlike Bride with no identity of her own.  Click below to see what Tom Lyle was up against trying to convince women to buy Maybelline, make up their eyes and flaunt beauty on the street.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VPhcwg8k5Q&feature=fvst Mary Pickford, 1917, Poor Little Rich Girl.


Read more about the silent film industry and Maybelline as it broke into the female psyche pre WW1, in The Maybelline Story. Available in Kindle and ebook on the Nook.