Maybelline was more than just a tin of mascara.

The final chapter of Chet and Mabel's love story.  Softly as I Leave You.

The Maybelline Story is a series of Love Stories in a family that not only gave the world it's first commercially sold mascara, but also added a bit of romance to the American tapestry.

Chet Hewes in his 80's was proud of this picture and sent it the entire family.  He wrote, "I just caught this beautiful black bass here in our little Tower Lake, show it to the rest of the gang,"  signed, Poppy.

After the Maybelline Company sold in Dec of 1967, Chet and Mabel moved into the newly constructed Lake Point Tower, located on a promontory of the Lake Michigan lakefront in downtown Chicago.

They spent their final years there, captivated by the spectacular views of the shoreline . . They loved the security of having a 24 hour doorman, and enjoyed all of the amenities - including a playground, pool, duck pond, and waterfalls - shops and restaurants and even a 2.5 acre park. But the thing that Chet liked the most, was an ATM machine that spit out $100 bills on demand.  He said he and Mabel never had to leave the building because it was a world within a world.

Mabel and Chet at Tom Lyle's in 1972.

Final Mabel and Chet story, from their granddaughter, Linda Hughes:

Grammy never wanted anything but to have a family and Poppy felt the same. They were stereotypical of their times - he earned the money, took care of the yard, cars and that sort of thing. She took care of the kids and house. Even Joyce, who can be a rabid feminist, said Gammy was the happiest, most content person and would not have wanted another kind of life.


Grammy and Poppy, loved one another literally to the end. The night she died they were living in Chicago,  Gammy had had chest pain earlier in the evening so she went to lie down.  When Poppy checked on her she was gone. My parents rushed down and arrived before the ambulance.  Poppy asked my mother to come with him into the bedroom where she lay in bed and said  "I want you to see how beautiful she still looks."  

I'm reminded of the song, Softly As I Leave You,  Frank Sinatra sang it and the line "For my heart would break if you should wake and see me go."

Frank Sinatra - Softly As I Leave You 


To this day Mabel and Chet's love story lives on in the hearts of those who were lucky enough to have known them.  I'm happy to say they touched my live in the most profound way and were instrumental, in my desire, to tell the Williams family's story. 

Maybelline's little mascara company was De Luxe!!!!!

De Luxe Mascara, owned by Tom Lyle's brother in law Chet Hewes, became a powerful force within the Cosmetic Industry.

Vogue Magazine, 1947.  Women were becoming very independent.  Mascara was a staple in every woman's make-up bag. 

Maybelline's message to the girl in 1947 -Have more assurance, be bold, daring and determined, with Maybelline. 

Mabel and Chet's children grew up, knowing                 

they had a future in the family busines.  Their father was a smart busines man who built, De Luxe Mascara into the well respected company, that not only made Maybelline mascara, but made mascara for the entire cosmetic industry

When Shirley married Jim Hughes, her new husband went to work for De Luxe, until Chet retired and turned the business over to his son Tommy Hewes. Shirley and Jim had three girls, Janet, Donna and Linda Hughes.  Donna carried on the family business with her daughter Courtney.  They own a successful, Graphic Design company, called Hughes Design, in Chicago.

Tommy Hewes, Chet and Mabel's only son, was the sole heir of De Luxe until his untimely death in 1962, at only 33 years of age.  His wife Mary Lee Hewes, took over the business until the Maybelline Company sold in 1967.  Tommy and Mary had 6 children, Suzie, Tom Jr. Teri, Trudi, Michael and David. Trudy Hughes Dietzen, is the mother of Brian Dietzen, well known for playing,

Jimmy Palmer, on NCIS since 2004.

Chet and Mabel's great grandson, Brian Dietzen, plays Jimmy Palmer on NCIS.

The Sexy men of NCIS in a TV Guide Photo Shoot. Michael Weatherly, Brian Dietzen, Mark Harmon, Sean Murray, Rocky Carroll, David McCallum, Credit: CBS - TV Guide - NCIS

Beautiful little Joyce, the baby of the family wasn't that interested in making mascara, but went on to become a private secretary to a high ranking official, in Washington DC.  She eventually married him, but never had any children.

Three fun things that happened in 1947

- Christian Dior introduces The "New Look" in women's fashion, in Paris.

- Jackie Robinson, the first African American in modern Major League Baseball, signs a contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

- The Princess Elizabeth, the daughter of King George VI, marries The Duke of Edinburgh at Westminster Abbey in London, United Kingdom.

Mabel and Chet's daughter Shirley on the far right, with her daughters Janet Strandberg, Donna Zielinski and Linda Hughes. back row, Janet's daughter Shannon Leary and Donna's daughter, Courtney Zielinski.

Chet and Mabel's family with Shirley third on the left, followed by her sister, Joyce and Tommy's widow,
Mary Lee.

 Read more about Chet Hewes and his tremendous contribution to the Maybelline Company in, The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.

HEDY LAMARR, a plan for mixing beauty with brains, in 1938.

Mabel's husband, Chet Hewes, protects the Maybelline company from being split up in an antitrust suit.

Vogue cover, July 1938.  Beauty and brains, now in the fast lane.

Fashion, style and glamour - An American Institution.. and a new platform for Beauty and Brains.

1938 Vogue Magazine article, featuring Hedy Lamarr, the most beautiful woman in the world. 

Maybelline model and Hollywood star Hedy Lamarr helped develop the technology that would someday, make cellphones, Wi-Fi and GPS possible.

Chet and Mabel Hewes wth Ches and Eva Haines, California, 1938.

Chet and Mabel flew to California with Ches and Eva to visit Tom Lyle at the Villa Valentino in 1938.  It was a pleasure trip, with some very important business to discuss.  "What to do about an IRS suit, looming over the Maybelline Co."  The issue, was the amount of money being paid to family members who were also executives at the company.

Tom Lyle, Mabel and Chet, with Ches and Eva at the Villa Valentino, 1938.

In 1938, following a number of years of success with the US economy, a recession hit, causing unemployment to rise back up to 19%.  While the average wage was $1,730, Maybelline executives, were pulling in over $16,000 a year.  So, before Tom Lyle, Chet Hewes and Noel Williams headed to Washington DC to face an IRS audit. 

Tom Lyle, Eva Haines, Chet and Mabel  Hewes and Ches Haines in Palm Springs California.

Tom Lyle, and the executives at the Maybelline company were audited that year and after several appeals, the IRS won, and Maybelline was forced to pay back taxes.  This information was finally documented in a lost file of Noel J. Williams.  Check August posts for blogs regarding Noel's lost file.

 Besides Maybelline,  here are some other big names making news in 1938.

Howard Hughes sets a new record by completing a 91 hour airplane flight around the world.



Du Pont announces a name for its new synthetic yarn: "nylon".



Orson Welles' radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds is broadcast, causing panic in various parts of the United States.
 

Horse Racing: Seabiscuit defeats War Admiral by four lengths in their famous match race at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland.



Adolf Hitler is Time magazine's "Man of the Year", as the most influential person of the year.


Read the whole story in:

 The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.

Want more Hedy Lamarr http://www.maybellinebook.com/search/label/Hedy%20Lamarr

Maybelline welcomes Mabel's husband, Chet Hewes, into the family business.

Tom Lyle's brother-in-law, Chet Hewes, joins the Maybelline Company and becomes part of the Executive staff by 1934.

Vogue, in 1934, continues to be the leader in style, glamour and  fashion.  Notice how Mabel has a similar hat on, in the picture below. 

Maybelline remaines the undisputed leader, in Eye fashion, the world over in 1934, with a new modern, line of products. 

The executives at Maybelline, in 1934:  Papa TJ, Tom Lyle, Tom Jr, Chet Hewes, Ches Haines, Noel Williams. (Rags Ragland isn't in this picture, just the Williams family.

Seven years after their Wedding, Mable and Chet establish their family, with three beautiful children, Shirley, Tommy and Baby, Joyce Mae. 

Shirley says, "Tom Lyle asked my father, to come to work at Maybelline for years because he was a hard worker and had advertising experience, but he was loyal to Montgomery Wards.  In about 1932 or 1933 a new management team fired all the top-level staff, including my father, so he finally agreed to join the family business."

Because of a nighmare lawsuit with FDA over the Lash Lure cosmetic co in 1933, Tom Lyle, had Chet Hewes, open The DeLuxe Mascara company.  Read all about it in Cosmetics and Skin. By James Bennett.


Other exciting events that took place in 1934.

Frank Capra's It Happened One Night, starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, is released.  It becomes the first film to win all 5 of the major Academy Awards – Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture. Gable and Colbert receive their only Oscars for this film

The 1934 Chicago World's Fair.  Tom Lyle found a custom, 1934 Packard Victoria and bought it on the spot.

Tom Lyle with his new 1934, Packard Victoria.

- Prohibition was repealled the year before, (1933,) after 13 years of chaos, created by it's wrath.

                       1934 Events:

- John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson and their gang rob the First National Bank in Mason City, Iowa.
- Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker kill 2 young highway patrolmen near Grapevine, Texas.
- John Dillinger and two others shoot their way out of an FBI ambush in northern Wisconsin.
- Dust Bowl: A strong 2-day dust storm removes massive amounts of Great Plains topsoil in one of the worst dust storms of the Dust Bowl
 - New Deal: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Securities Exchange Act into law, establishing the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
- The Hays Office censorship code for motion pictures goes into full effect in the United States
 - Outside Chicago's Biograph Theatre, "Public Enemy No. 1" John Dillinger is mortally wounded by FBI agents.
- Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of Germany, becoming head of state as well as Chancellor.
- Charles Arthur "Pretty Boy" Floyd is shot and killed by FBI agents near East Liverpool, Ohio.
- A running gun battle between FBI agents and bank robber Baby Face Nelson results in the death of one FBI agent and the mortal wounding of special agent Samuel P. Cowley, who was still able to mortally wound Nelson.

Read more about what was going in America and the Maybelline Company in the 1930's, in The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.  Signed copies available at www.maybellinestory.com

Maybelline Family welcomes a baby girl in 1927.

Mabel and Chet's bundle of Joy!!!

Here's what was going on in Vogue Magazine, 1927.

                                                            
                    and this is what a Maybelline ad looked like.

Mabel and Chet with their first Baby, Shirley Anne Hewes,

But, the best part of 1927 was the birth of Mabel and Chet's, first baby girl, Shirley Anne.  She entered the world when big changes were taking place in America, including, Charles Lindbergh, solo non-stop flight to Paris -The Film industry going from Silent Films, to Talkies - and her uncle, Tom Lyle Williams, driving to California, for the first time and considering, making Hollywood his home. 

But, the most exciting change would happen, when her daddy finally accepted Tom Lyle's offer, to work for the Maybelline Co.  Until then, However, Baby Shirley, would just have to settle for being the apple of her daddy's eye and her mother's little darling.

May 20–May 21 – Charles Lindbergh makes the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight, from New York City to Paris in his single-seat, single-engine monoplane, the Spirit of St. Louis

The Premier of the Silent Film, Wings, was held at the Criterion Theater, in New York City, on August 12, 1927.

October 6 – The Jazz Singer with Al Jolson, opened in the United States and become a huge success, although it would be a while before silent films were completely gone.

Read more about Chet and Mabel, and Chet's contribution to The Maybelline Company in,
The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.

Mabel and Chet, a match made in Heaven.

Yes, for Mabel Willimas and Chester Hewes, 1926 was a time to CELEBRATE!!!

Vogue, Christmas 1926

Mabel and Chet in front of Tom Lyle's, new 1926 Kissel.

Chester, "Chet" and Mabel on their Wedding Day, August 17, 1926, three day's before her 34th Birthday.  Chet, continued to work in advertising at Montgomery Ward, for the next 7 years, though Tom Lyle, continually asked him to quit and come work for Maybelline.  Mabel remained an old fashioned girl, even at the height of Prohibition and the Women's Movement, insisting her husband do the voting while she build a family.

A week later on August 23, the sudden death of Hollywood  sex symbol Rudolph Valentino at the age of  31 years old caused mass grief and hysteria around the world.  Tom Lyle eventually moved to Hollywood, bought The Valentino Villa, and contracted Stars to appear in Maybelline advertisements for the next 40 years.


The family saga, unfolds in The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.

Get your signed copies, in time for Christmas, at  www.maybellinestory.com.





A new image of the the American woman in 1924..... brought to you by Maybelline.

    1924 Vogue cover, with a beautifully made-up face.

Illustration of "IT GIRL"  Clara Bow.

MGM, formed in 1924, becoming the dominant studio during Hollywood's Golden Age and influencing images of girls around the world. 

Maybelline's Illustration of Vamp, Louise Brooks.

Tom Lyle Williams, contributed to the Hollywood Star System by featuring Stars in Maybelline ads, in movie and fashion magazines, newspapers and radio shows.

Mabel with her brother-in-law, Chester Arthur Haines, at his wedding to her sister Eva, in 1924.  

Mabel may have put  the "M" in Maybelline, but, she had no interest in being just another "It Girl," or "Vamp."  She was a traditional, 32 year old, Southern Lady, waiting for her man to come along.  

Unbeknownst to her, Chester Randolph Hewes, was living in Chicago and working at Montgomery Wards, in the automotive, advertising department.

At the time Chester, was involved with an English girl he'd met in England, while in the Navy, during
WW l.  He had said goodbye to her and her family after his stint was over and headed back to the US, got a job and was busy working.  When all of a sudden, Connie, her mother and several grown brothers showed up on his doorstep.

He told her he did not want to marry her, but being a gentleman, arranged for an apartment for the family and  jobs for her brothers.  After awhile she realized Chester, just wasn't that into her, so, packed up her family and sadly, headed back to England.

Mabel met Chester, through his sister Bonnie when he came to pick up Bonnie at a bridal shower given at the home of Chester's then girlfriend.  Mabel was also a guest and after Chester met her, he told a friend, Mabel was the girl he was going to marry.

Story by Chet and Mabel's daughter, Shirley Hughes, who passed away recently at 95 years if age.

Maybelline and the "New Woman" in 1920

Girls, I don't think we're in Kansas any more!

Vogue, Nov, 1920 reveals the new, modern woman.

Two major shifts, in culture and conscienceness, took place in 1920;  Prohibition and American women winning the right to vote.


Women's contempt for Prohibition was a factor in the rise of the flapper.  With newly bobbed hair and heavily made up eyes, the modern woman embraced Maybelline, endorsed by Hollywood Stars,  like Ethel Clayton in 1920.

Social mores in place for a century were obliterated among young women in 1920.  Liquor consumption sky rocketed, skirts shortened, music heated up and America's Sweetheart morphed into The Vamp.

Women, like my great aunt Bunny, discarded old, rigid ideas about roles and embraced consumerism and personal choice.  They were often described in terms of representing a "culture war" of old versus new.

"New Style" feminists, admitted that a full life,

called for marriage and children - 

but had an irresistible compulsion to be 

individuals in their own right."

Read more about Maybelline and it's effect on the modern woman during the 1920's in The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.  Signed copy available.