1934 - the year that Maybelline replaced the phrase ‘eyelash beautifier’ with ‘mascara’ in its advertising.

Maybelline's letter to Time Magazine, Jan 1, 1934

1933 ended with a lot to be happy about at the Maybelline Company.  Tom Lyle's brother-in-law, Mabel's husband, , Chet Hewes, finally joined the family business that year and started the DeLuxe Mascara company.  Most likely because of a scandal going on in the cosmetic industry, over a product called Lash Lure.  Read the entire article by James Bennett.   Cosmetics and Skin.

In a letter to Time magazine, Tom Lyle Williams, the founder of Maybelline, made the case clearly.



... As the manufacturers of the largest-selling, best-known mascara in the world, Maybelline, an absolutely harmless, non-smarting eyelash darkener that contains no dye or aniline derivative, we have suffered untold damage to our old established business by the ambiguous publicity given out concerning the Tugwell bill. In a recent issue of the Paramount Newsreel, Professor Tugwell told a truly appalling tale of injuries caused by a poisonous preparation, but neglected to give its name as “Lash-Lure” or to state that it was a dye, merely calling it an eyelash "beautifier,” and concluding his speech with the dreadful remark, “This is the kind of stuff you women use on your eyelashes!”


You can imagine how utterly damaging this was to us, inasmuch as the phrase “eyelash beautifier” is practically synonymous with our trade name Maybelline, due to our product being the most extensively advertised mascara on the market for the past 16 years. 


In reply to our protest wired Professor Tugwell and President Roosevelt, Tugwell wrote that he and the department regretted any damage caused us, and that a press dispatch had been immediately issued revealing the name and nature of the offending product, also stating in reference to our product Maybelline that “... we have never heard of any reports of injury caused by it.” Considering that Maybelline has been used consistently every day by millions of women in all parts of the world for over 16 years, this last statement was indeed complete exoneration of our product. However, it did not reach the millions who heard the newsreel speech, therefore, you will realize with what relief and satisfaction we read your discriminating account of the Tugwell propaganda (TIME, Dec. 4), knowing that the real facts in the case would reach your many intelligent readers.

Again thanking you for the inestimable service you have rendered us and all other reputable manufacturers by your careful and authoritative presentation of the news, we are


THOMAS L. WILLIAMS


Maybelline Co. Chicago, Ill.


(Time, Jan 1, 1934)


Williams also took more drastic action: 1934 was the year that Maybelline replaced the phrase ‘eyelash beautifier’ with ‘mascara’ in its advertising.


Read more about the Tom Lyle, Maybelline, Chet Hewes and Deluxe Mascara in, The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.

1920s Maybelline kids dress for the camera

 I've been a fan of silent films for over 30 years and never miss them on, Turner Classic Movies, Sunday nights.  One thing for sure is, kids and dogs are scene stealer's, when there isn't a lot of talking going on, and  Baby Peggy was one of the best.

Of course Jackie Coogan was killer cute with Charlie Chaplin in the 1921 film, The Kid.

Here is a tribute to some of the adorable children, form my Father, Bill Williams Generation.  First, my father, 1925. Children's fashion was so classy in the 1920's.

Bill Williams with his cousin, Arvis in 1928. Don't you love the double breasted coats and  military hats.

Two little car-guys, Bill Stroh and Bill Williams, 1927. Luckily Bill Stroh's dad owned the Edgewater Laundry in Chicago.  Everything was starched and pressed .

Bill Williams with his first set of wheel's 1927, on Christmas day. Hats were big with kids in the 1920's.

Bill Williams, with cousin,  Arvis and her brother Bill Stroh, 1927.  Kids were so proper back them. 

My dad, "THE KID," Bill Williams dressed meticulously everyday by his doting mother Evelyn Williams.

Bill Williams in short pants and knee socks, a double breasted coat and cap - right out of a silent film, from 1928.

Bill and Arvis Stroh.   Roller Skating in Chicago, dressed for a fashion layout, in 1929.

Bill and Arvis Stroh, looking like part of the cast from Our Gang, in 1929.

Well dressed,children,  Arvis and Bill Stroh are in this picture and the way they light up in front of the camera, in 1929.

Doesn't get much cuter than this.  Bill and Arvis Stroh, in 1927.

My dad's cousin's and Mabel and Chet Hewes daughter, Shirley and her little brother Tommy, in about 1932 - 33. Look at the gold bracelet and ring on little Shirley's hand. These children look like child Stars or Royalty by today's standards.  Parents took such pride in their children's fashion in the early half of the 20th Century.

"It all began with the "eyes." 100 years ago

Maybelline Mascara Super Model Joan Crawford taken in 1946.  Photograped by Paul Hesse, Hollywood.


"It all began with the "eyes." In the book, The Maybelline Story, by Sharrie Williams, with Bettie Youngs, she tells the fascinating account of the early beginnings of her family in rural Kentucky, from 1911, to their glory days in Hollywood with Joan Crawford appearing in Maybelline print ads in the late 1940's, to the 1970's as fortune affected the family.

By 1953, the cosmetics company was known throughout the world for their print ads of gorgeous flirty models catching everyone's attention with their Maybelline mascara eyes. Williams' great uncle is Tom Lyle Williams, a marketing genius who built a billion dollar cosmetics empire over many years from just $500. he borrowed from his older brother, Noel.

The Beginning of Maybelline Mascara

Tom Lyle loved movies. As a fifteen-year-old who ran the projector room at the local nickelodeon, he was mesmerized by starlet Mary Pickford's eyes, as she flirted with them in her movie, Sultan's Garden. What made her so alluring? A very motivated, self-starter, Tom Lyle began finding out ways to make money by figuring out what people wanted.

He left the family farm in Morganfield, Kentucky, when he was still just a teenager, to join his brother, Noel, 23, who was working as a bookkeeper for Illinois Central Railroad in Chicago. The year was 1912. Chicago's population was 1.7 million. The brothers lived in Noel's boarding house near a slum of overcrowded tenement buildings.

It was in this environment that the brothers, driven by Tom Lyle's passionate courage, began a mail-order business. Tom Lyle sacrificed. He invested every penny he could scrape together. By 1914, at the age of 18, he was making serious money with his novelty-catalog business. In 1915, he had asked his sister, Mabel, to join them. He put her to work counting orders. The business was making $36,500. a year, which is the equivalent of over a half a million dollars today.

Mabel's Accident Births a Maybelline Mascara Fortune

Tom Lyle's sister insisted on cooking for her brothers. While Mabel was making cake frosting one morning by melting sugar in a pan, the liquid got too hot. Flames shot up and singed Mabel's eyebrows and eyelashes. She looked like a bare-faced mannequin. But, Mabel was not deterred, either. She had been secretly reading movie star magazines. She had read that these starlets, like Gloria Swanson, used a concoction called, "harem secret," to make their eyes beautiful.

Mabel mixed ash from cork she burned, with coal dust, and blended this mixture by using petroleum jelly. She dabbed this goo onto her eyebrows and the tips of her eyelashes. The transformation was amazing. Mabel's eyes were stunning. Then, an idea struck Tom Lyle like a bolt of lightening. Of course, it wasn't the clothes or smiles that made Hollywood goddesses glamorous. It was their "eyes." Mascara was born. The name Maybelline came from Mabel and the Vaseline mixture.

Miss Maybelline and Mascara's Destiny

By the time the 1920's came roaring into Chicago, women had claimed the right to vote, hold hands with men in public, smoke cigarettes, and a whole lot more. They took full advantage of their new-found freedom. Tom Lyle's entire family was in Chicago at this time, helping in the business of making Maybelline mascara. Tom Lyle's younger brother, Preston, incredibly handsome, a WWI hero, was watching a Memorial Day Parade when he and Evelyn Boecher spotted each other. Evelyn also spotted Tom Lyle.

"She fell in love with both brothers on the same day," says Sharrie Williams, of her grandmother, Evelyn Boucher. Evelyn was one of three daughters of John Boucher, a wealthy plumber, who spoiled his girls rotten. Always dressed in fine clothes, refined by music lessons, Evelyn, Bunny and Verona defined elegance. It was Evelyn, however, who became Tom Lyle's muse, and helped catapult Maybelline into the mascara cosmetics market. Sharrie relates in her book, The Maybelline Story: "Destiny arrived right on time, in the form of Evelyn Boucher."

Miss Maybelline Stops Traffic

Evelyn married Preston, but she continued to be the eyes and ears for Tom Lyle when it came to women and what they wanted. She contributed many ideas for the Maybelline mascara ads that put the company on the map around the world.

"Nana had very good insight, " says Sharrie. "She was an observer, a people-watcher. She loved to go to public places. She'd watch what women were wearing, what they talked about, laughed about. She would take it all in, then she would be able to condense this information and tell Tom Lyle. They would have dinner together and she would let him know - this is what women are looking for. This is what they want."

One day, Tom Lyle asked Evelyn to pick up some flyers from the printers, that he was going to mail to dime stores around the country. This was the time when Al Capone and other gangsters practically owned Chicago. Drive-by shootings and loud-mouthed gangsters were part of the city's fabric. Clutching an arm-load of flyers, Evelyn was almost to the Maybelline building when a car backfired. Everybody ducked, thinking it was gunshot. Evelyn jumped and threw her arms into the air, releasing the flyers, which were picked up by the wind.

An astute newspaper reporter snapped her photo. The next day, the newspaper printed Evelyn's photo with this title: "Miss Maybelline Stops Traffic." Orders for Maybelline mascara came pouring in. As Sharrie recalls, in her book, The Maybelline Story: "My uncle said to Nana: ' Evelyn, with that one photo you've accomplished more for marketing Maybelline than any flyer ever could."

Copyright Anne Mount. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.

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Honoring the men in the Maybelline family who served in the Armed Forces

This Memorial Day marked the 7th anniversary of my father's death. I honor him and the Heroes in the Maybelline Family.  

This is what Chicago looked like when my grandfather William Preston Williams joined the Navy in 1917.  He was just 18 years old with visions of being a War Hero.  Like so many boy's from the Lost Generation he imagined the war would quickly end and he'd return unscathed by the ravages of battle - only to be greatly disillusioned with a broken spirit.

This is what was going on in the Maybelline Family at the same time.  Tom Lyle introduced Maybelline to the public as Silent Film became popular and Silent Film Stars were seen on screen with heavily made up eyes.

Theda Bara "THE VAMP" - 1917.  This is what was going on in Hollywood when WW1 broke out.  Women began to be conscious of the their eyes and buy Maybelline.  An interesting fact -  Maybelline was sent in an unmarked package insuring the buyer her privacy since Maybelline was so frowned upon at the time.

1917 Maybelline became available through mail order. 

Scene from the Silent Film WINGS.  This is what Preston was heading into.  He was a rear gunner on one of those Flying Sticks in the sky.

My grandfather, Preston Williams, with his parents Susan and TJ.  His mother was grief stricken after already losing her first son, Pearl to TB and the thought of losing another son to War was too much for her.  TJ on the other hand was proud his son was fighting for his Country like so many Patriots that went before him in the Williams Family.  He also thought the Navy might straighten his wild card son up a bit. 
                                                                               

Preston would return from WWl, with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome.  Here he is with his little sister Eva on the left, Frances Allen, Tom Lyle Williams Noel James Williams and Bennie Gibbs.

Mabel Williams on the left with her brother Preston, Helen, one of the first Maybelline models, Frances Allen Williams, Bennie Gibbs and Tom Lyle Williams in front of his new "PAGE "Convertible in Chicago. 

Tom Lyle enlisted as well but was denyed service because he was the sole supporter of his entire family according to his draft card in 1917.  Noel was married to Frances and also supported the family managing the Maybelline Company. He might have been too old for service at the time. 

Maybelline Ad during WW11, promoting War Bonds.

My father, Bill Williams, in the Philippines 

                        Maybelline Ad during WWll.

My Father's first cousin, Noel A. Williams,  joined the Navy right out of High School.

            Noel A. in his Navy uniform during WWll.

My father's first cousin - (on his mother Evelyn Boecher Williams side) - Bill Stroh, on the right.,during WWll.

I have done several posts about Bill Stroh and his 1965 Shelby, gt350 Mustang racing car.