Maybelline cousins gather to support The Maybelline Story

A big shout out to Sibley at Barnes and Noble Chandler Mall, Chandler Arizona.  Thank You Silby for making my book signing such a fun event.  

The moment I walked into the store I could see all the little details Silbey added to make my event special.
The beautiful poster set up at the entry of the store with a picture of me and my book The Maybelline Story.

The table set up with Tulips and copies of The Maybelline Story  made a comfortable place for me to sign books and talk to my guests.

The row of chairs set up for my very inquisitive audience who had lots of fascinating questions for me during the hour and a half I spoke about The Maybelline Story.

The display of books (behind me,) in strategic locations around the store was very impressive and a real treat for me to see.  I have to say Arizona Barnes and Noble Stores really go all out for their authors.  Here I am with a quest who seemed more curious with a Barnes and Noble paint set than The Maybelline Story

All in all my book signing at Barnes and Noble was very special for me - even though Lady Ga Ga's appearance in Phoenix that night might have overshadowed the traffic flow in the store, it was still a night to remember.

Some of my Maybelline cousins showed up to surprise me with books to sign and all the love and support they could

Here I am with my daughter Georgia and three generations 

 of cousins ( left to right) from the Noel Williams family,
 Jeffery, Sherry, Patrick and little Chance Huber.

If you've read the Maybelline story or have been following my blog you will remember Noel was the brother that postponed his wedding to Frances and gave Tom Lyle $500 to start the Maybelline Co in 1915. 

Here is a picture of Noel and Frances outside the Maybelline building in Chicago in 1916 the year Maybelline introduced  the little red box with a cake of black mascara and the tiny black brush. 

Noel and Frances were Patrick Huber's grandparents and their first child Helen was Patrick's mother.  Remember Helen the beautiful Maybelline Princess who was once did a Maybelline Ad from my post in Dec. 2010.

This is Noel and Frances' first child Helen Williams Huber. Patrick's mother, Jeffery and Sherry's grandmother and little Chance's great grandmother. 

It was quite a reunion having part of the Noel Williams branch of the family come out and support me and my book and what I can gather, they all loved the story and think I should write a second book as will. 

After all what did happen to everyone after the Maybelline Company sold in 1967?  enquiring minds still want to know. 

Read more about the fabulous Williams family and the Maybelline Company in The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.

Maybelline Targets the Flapper in the 1920's with film star Phyllis Haver.

       Why did Tom Lyle choose Phyllis Haver as a
                            Maybelline Model?

Phyllis Haver was one of the magic names during the Silent Film era and an original Mack Sennett bathing beauty.

The Sennett Bathing Beauties were pin-up girls for the doughboys during the First World War...... Phyllis Haver, starred in a series of top films and was known as the Nation's blond-darling during the teens and twenties of the twentieth century.  

"Her hair is a curly mass of golden corn silk. Her eyes are cerulean blue. Her teeth are perfect pearls. Her coloring is a Fort Valley Peach Festival," described a magazine writer of Haver. Other descriptions were, "Phyllis Haver's smile is coquettish and charming," "5' 6", 125 Ibs.," "picture of health," "skin like satin," and "her smile like peaches and cream  in her heyday.

Haver appeared on the covers of  Photoplay, Screenland. Motion Picture. Pathe Sun. Picture Play. and The Police Gazette.   She graced the cover of the sheet music, Singapore Lil, theme song for the Pathe motion picture production. Sal of Singapore, in which she starred. She, also, adorned calendars, matchbook covers, and postcards.

 I think you can see why Tom Lyle wanted Phyllis Haver as a Maybelline Model!  He wanted to target the Flappers in the 1920's and Phyllis Haver was had sex appeal.  

The Balloonatic (1923)  Catch a glimpse of Phyllis Haver with Buster Keaton in The Ballonaic, Click below.

http://www.archive.org/details/TheBalloonatic

She stared in Chicago a 1927 comedy-drama silent film produced by Cecil B. DeMille and directed by Frank Urson.

Phyllis Haver was in the ranks of Greta Garbo, Clara Bow, Colleen Moore, Delores Del Rio, Norma Talmadge, Conrad Nagel, Gloria Swanson, Wallace Beery, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Norma Sheerer and Lon Chaney.

In 1924 She played on Broadway in Laurence Stallings and Maxwell Anderson's gritty WWI comedy-drama What Price Glory?  Haver played Shanghai Mabel.

She appeared in Up in Mabel's Room released in 1926, If there was ever a star with the kind of sex appeal Maybelline wanted to exude during the Roaring 20's Haver had it!

Stay tuned next week for more Maybelline Models, including "Sex Symbol" Jean Harlow and "It Girl" Clara Bow.

Silent Film Star Mildred Davis was Maybelline Model in 1922.

            Who's captivating Eyes grace the cover of
                           The Maybelline Story?http://www.maybellinebook.com/2014/03/mildred-davis-lovely-leading-lady-in.html

Mildred Davis.

After Maybelline's initial advertisement ran in the classifieds of popular magazines in the late 1910's with Mabel Williams illustrated image, Tom Lyle began looking for a film star to represent Maybelline.  In the early 1920's he contracted beautiful Photoplay stars because of the wide audience they brought into theatres all over the country.   One of the most popular actresses of the day was beautiful silent film star Mildred Davis or Mid as Tom Lyle liked to call her.  She was a tiny 5 foot, perky-ingenue with monster-big flashing eyes that captivated the audience and drew them in.

Mildred Davis married Harold Lloyd in 1922.  Harold Lloyd was a comedian in the ranks of Charlie Chaplin and he'd been looking for a leading lady to replace Bebe Daniels. He cast Davis in his comedy short  From Hand to Mouth in 1919.  It would be the first of fifteen films they would star in together.

Harold Lloyd and Mildred Davis.

Soon after "From Hand To Mouth," was released Tom Lyle contacted Mildred to discuss her being the next face of Maybelline. Mildred Davis appealed to sweet young ladies who were just beginning to look in the mirror and compare themselves with the beautiful faces on screen.  Mildred Davis with her huge made-up larger than life eyes on screen an off silently encouraged young ladies to pick up a Photoplay movie magazine and order their first little red box of Maybelline.  Once they tried Maybelline with it's tiny black brush and cake of mascara they were hooked and word of mouth spread from one sweet young lady to the next.

Mildred Davis in early 1920 ad.

Click here to see Harold Lloyd and Mildred Davis' most famous silent film  video.

http://www.videosurf.com/video/swinging-safety-last-1744008   Swinging Safety Last.

If you watched the video of Mildred Davis you saw what Tom Lyle saw when he sat in that theatre in 1922 and gazed up into those eyes on the silver screen.  He knew what he wanted and he wanted Mildred Davis "the girl next door" to  represent Maybelline.

Read more about Mildred Davis and Tom Lyle in The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.

Did Mabel really singe off her eyebrows or is there more to the story?

There has been so much controversy within the Maybelline family about what really happened to Mabel's eyebrows and why she mixed coal dust from a burnt cork with a dab of Vaseline to darken them.  I'm so happy that I finally have the absolute true story from Mabel's very own granddaughters and my cousins Donna and Linda Hughes - from the original Chicago branch of the family.  Here is what happened and how Maybelline actually came into the world.

"The real story of Uncle Lyle's invention is that Mabel thought her eyebrows were sparse and used a preparation that was supposed to thicken them. Unfortunately, it had the opposite effect and bleached them out. She then tried a homemade remedy of applying the ash from a burned match to darken them. Eva also had pale brows and the sisters made a pact that whichever sister died first, the other would come to the funeral home and fill in her eyebrows for her. The story about Mabel burning her eyebrows and lashes actually never happened."

What did happen after that momentous occasion was that Tom Lyle formed a one and a half-inch ad with a picture of a girl who looks very similar to Mabel.  The original "Maybelline Girl" might have been Mabel Williams.

Here is a picture of Mabel, so beautiful, demure and sweet, the perfect image to promote a product with her name on it. Look at those engaging gorgeous eyes, who wouldn't buy an eye beautifier from this girl. Mabel was the face of Maybelline and it was her image that changed the face of American women who now wanted to have "Those Eyes."

This is one of Maybelline's first ads and as you can see the model has a similar look as Mabel Williams. 


I know Mabel was very shy and sweet and may not of wanted any recognition, but I bet Tom Lyle wanted a like-image, someone with an innocent sweet face to advertise his new product to a public who had never dreamed of applying an eye darkener to their eyes.  In those day's vanity wasn't a virtue and it must have been a bit of a challenge to convince women to make-up their eyes like the silent film and stage actresses of the day.  Not an easy sell - I'm telling you that. 

Stay tuned for Maybelline's models throughout the 1920's tomorrow and the rest of the week and read more about Mabel and Tom Lyle in The Maybelline Story.

Trivia:  When Tom Lyle, Noel and Mabel moved from Morganfield Kentucky into a boarding house in Chicago they lived right next door to the Marx Brothers, how cool is that!

Geometry of the Heart, Miss Maybelline was in love with both brothers!

Preston and Evelyn in a passionate embrace, 1922, Chicago.

An odd understanding had developed—a virtual trinomial equation with no solution. Preston had no doubt that Evelyn reserved her passion for him alone, and that Tom Lyle was no threat sexually. If Preston understood why, he kept it to himself.  Evelyn adored them both, but accepted the fact that Tom Lyle had no romantic interest in her. Tom Lyle couldn’t stand for her to know the truth. Perhaps Evelyn convinced herself that Tom Lyle refused to move in on his brother’s turf.  Still, his lack of interest was painful to her. Again, she put on her mask and acted perfectly delighted with things as they were.

Tom Lyle and Evelyn sitting on his Packard, 1937, California.

Why was it that Evelyn was crazy over Preston and wound up being taken care of the rest of her life by her brother in law, Tom Lyle?  You will have to read The Maybelline Story and find out for yourself!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYltl0D_zvA  Check out Good Morning Arizona 3-21-11

Author of The Maybelline Story - Today on Good Morning Arizona!

Here I am with my daughter Georgia at the AZ Family Station in Phoenix today where I did a short segment on my book The Maybelline Story.  I will be signing books Sat at 6:00 at Barnes and Noble at the Chandler Mall in Chandler AZ.  Hope to see you there!!



Click her to watch the Three minute segment.  http://www.azfamily.com/good-morning-arizona/inside/The-Maybelline-Story-by-Sharrie-Williams-118381169.html

Author Sharrie Williams, whose great uncle launched Maybelline in 1915, sat down with Tara Hitchcock to talk about her new book, which is as much a family memoir as it is a business success story.

Noel James Williams was the Maybelline Company!

People have asked me about Tom Lyle's older brother Noel James Williams - not sure of how he fit in with the founding of the Maybelline Company.

Noel was the second son born to TJ and Susan Williams and he like the rest of the Williams kids had plans of his own that didn't include working a farm.  He fell in love with his childhood sweetheart Frances Allen and planned to earn the money to marry her while she was in her first year of college.  There was no way to earn money in Morganfield Kentucky so he moved to Chicago where he found employment with the railroads as a bookkeeper.

You'll have to read The Maybelline Story for the whole story but in a nutshell his younger brother Tom Lyle also joined him in Chicago, followed by sister Mabel and the three of them helped build Tom Lyle's budding mail order business.   If you've been following my blog you have an idea of the magnitude this major event meant to the Williams family and eventually the world.  However when Tom Lyle needed the money to launch Maybelline, he turned to his brother Noel who had saved $500 to marry Frances.  The rest is history, but to honor Noel for believing him him Tom Lyle made his older brother Vice President of the Maybelline Company, a position he held for the rest of his life. 

Tom Lyle paid  the $500 back one year later and on Nov 8th 1916 Noel and Frances were married.  Here is a picture of Noel and Frances soon after the wedding standing in front of Tom Lyle's convertible Page in Chicago's heavy snow. 

Noel and Frances moved into an apartment down the street from the Maybelline warehouse while the rest of the Williams family lived together in the apartment above it.  Noel and Tom Lyle were the driving force behind the little budding cosmetic company and together they made an unbeatable team.

 Here is the whole Williams Clan in Chicago after Noel and Frances first baby, Helen Frances was born May 31, 1918. 

Right to Left we see Proud Papa Noel looking at Frances in awe with his father TJ behind, holding baby Helen.  Next in the picture is Mabel, Preston in a Navel uniform,  Susan (their mother,) with her arm around Eva.  (not sure who the girl with the long curls is.) 

By 1935 Noel and Frances had four children.   In this picture we see left to right, Annette, Helen, Noel, Dick, Frances and Noel Allen.  Family came first for Noel Williams followed by Maybelline, in fact it was hard to separate the two because Maybelline was  family and family was  Maybelline.   Noel represented stability, responsibility and propriety to the the highest level.  With him at the helm of Maybelline's ship Tom Lyle concentrated on what he did best Advertising and since he spent most of his time at the Villa Valentino in the Hollywood Hills, he depended on Noel's ability to run a tight ship at the Maybelline Company in Chicago.

After 30 years living in a brownstone not far from the Maybelline Company in Chicago, Noel and his family moved to the suburbs into a large custom home fit for an executive.  He was 55 years old and the little company he believed in and supported with his wedding money proved to be one of America's biggest success stories - and still is today after almost 100 years.  In this picture left to right, we see Ches Haines, Eva's husband head of transportation for the company, (not sure who second man is,) than Noel's youngest son Dick, his son Noel Allen, Noel, and Rags Ragland the marketing genius Tom Lyle hired in 1933 and the only person outside the family to work for the Maybelline company.

Noel and Frances' son Noel Allen's wedding Feb 12, 1949. Left to right, mother of the bride Alberta Kilroy, Noel and Frances, Father of the bride, Charles Thomas Kilroy, Jean (Kilroy) Williams, Noel Allen and Jean's girlfriends as maid of honor and bridesmaids. On November 23, 1949, Charles Allen Williams, (Chuck,) was born while Noel Allen and Jean were living in one of the apartments in the  Maybelline building.

This picture of Noel outside the Maybelline Building at 900 Ridge and Clark in Chicago shows a man meticulous in every way.  He's such a stunning example of the quintessential executive with his overcoat, hat and briefcase under his are, that the man walking down the street had to do a double take.  Noel never took a day off from work in the 36 years he ran the Maybelline Company. It was only after a heart attack shortly after his sons wedding, that Tom Lyle insisted he take time off and visit him at his new estate in Bel Air California.  

Here is one of the last pictures of Noel and Frances - at Tom Lyle's ultra modern stone and glass estate in Bel Air -before Noels death the following year in 1951.

Tom Lyle Williams with his older brother Noel, founded the Maybelline Company, and at Noel's death it was said the Noel was the Maybelline Company.  We sure know that without him there certainly wouldn't have been a Maybelline Company. 

Tom Lyle had a great idea, given to him by his sister Mabel, but without the capitol to launch it, and the devotion to run it, Maybelline might have remained just a good Idea.

Read more about Noel and the building of an empire in The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Behind It.

Mabel Williams will forever be MAYBELLINE!

Here is a picture bio of Mabel Williams the inspiration for the Maybelline Company.

Why did Mabel mix that burnt cork with the Vaseline? 

I grew up hearing the story from my grandmother and father. They said she had very pale brows and lashes and wanted to darken them, so concocted a mixture of ash and Vaseline to make them appear darker.  Another story came from Mabel's sister Eva, who said she accidentally singed her lashes and brows while cooking over the stove.  Yet another story floated around the family saying Mabel had some kind of disease that made her brows and lashes fall out.  I chose the singed brows and lashes version for my book, The Maybelline Story, only to be corrected after the book came out by Mabel's two daughters, Shirley and Joyce.  They say their mother accidentally bleached her brows.  "Using what I thought - I can't imagine - Peroxide? - Why!"  But no matter why it happened really doesn't matter, what matters is  -  she mixed the ash from a burnt cork with Vaseline and the result was a product that has stood the test of time for nearly 100 years - Maybelline. 

I love this picture of Mabel - standing behind her mother Susan seated and her sister Eva sitting on the ground (with a giant bow in her hair.)

22 year old Mabel was her mothers right hand and devoted in every way to her family and as you can see in this picture taken in 1914, before Maybelline was even a twinkle in her brother Tom Lyle's eye. Mabel favored her mother in appearance and was actually quite beautiful, considering the time, living on a farm and having sew her own clothes.  Mabel was always fashionable, smart, elegant and had that sweet Southern Bell way about her.  She was an old fashioned girl at heart and only wanted one thing - a devoted husband and a family of her own.  But for now fate had other plans in store and marriage wasn't going to happen for another twelve years.

By 1917 the Williams family had moved off the farm and into an apartment above the  Maybelline warehouse where they helped Tom Lyle with his little mail order business called Maybelline. 

In this picture Tom Lyle had just bought his first car, called a "Page, The Most Beautiful Car in America," and parked it in front of the Maybelline warehouse.  He is at the wheel with Mabel and TJ their father in the back seat. 

Here is a picture of Mabel with her brother Noel sitting on the running board of Noel's new automobile. Mabel was now 25, living in Chicago and the namesake for the Maybelline company. She loved beautiful clothes and hats and became a woman of impeccable style and glamour.  

She - like the rest of the Williams family - worked for Tom Lyle, loved silent films, Photoplay magazine and kept up with the fashion of the day. OH! and of course wore Maybelline on her lashes and brows.

Still true love escaped her, but she like her brother Tom Lyle, she was determined to make her dream come true and find the perfect mate.

In 1919 Susan Williams, Mabel's mother died of the "Great Flu" and once again Mabel stepped in to fill the role of matriarch.  She cared for her father until his death in 1935 and was ever devoted to Tom Lyle, Maybelline and her entire tribe as she called them.

 Now at 27 she questioned her dream of finding true love and  worried she might be a caretaker or worse have to join the convent. 

 By 1924 her little sister Eva was married to Ches Haines, My grandfather Preston married my grandmother Evelyn and had my father Bill, Noel married Frances and had two daughters but Mabel continued to care for her father and help Tom Lyle with the Maybelline Company.

Finally one day in church Mabel met Chet Hewes and on her 34th Birthday she and Chet were married!  Sweet Mabel knew she'd found her one true love and soon they had three beautiful Children and lived a quiet life for nearly 50 wonderful years.  Mabel remained devoted to her brothers and and sisters, their children and grandchildren through out her long life and was for ever called Auntie Mabel by all who loved and adored her.

Here is a picture of Auntie Mabel with her sister Eva's husband Ches, isn't she glamouus after almost ten years after she and Chet married. Uncle Chet worked for the Maybelline Company until the day Tom Lyle sold it in 1968 and ran the the department that manufactured Maybelline mascara.  Mabel and Chet remained a humble, understated family-oriented couple for the rest of their lives and though they suffered terrible losses never gave up their faith in God.   The little idea Mabel had for darkening her lashes and brows is still the largest cosmetic company in the world and represents the quality, purity and beauty that Mabel herself stood for.

Here is the last picture I have of auntie Mabel and uncle Chet taken in August 1973 at my great uncle Tom Lyle's home in Bel Air California.  She was 81 and passed away the next year.  Losing auntie Mable was the end of an era and broke everyone's heart. 

There will never be a lady quite like Mabel - and her beautiful Maybelline eyes will remain in our hearts forever.  She inspired a product that changed the face of women everywhere and is still working it's magic today.

Mabel will forever be MAYBELLINE!

Maybelline might have been called Evaline

        People have asked me why I didn't put more pictures in my book so they could see the different family members as they went from children to old age.  Well I was only allowed 13 pictures and it was a hard choice as you can imagine.  So I'm doing a picture-bio of the main characters - starting with Tom Lyle's youngest sister Eva.  Here she is with her brother Preston, my grandfather, on their Morganfield Farm in in 1908, dressed for church I bet.  Don't you love the big bow in her hair and the posing?   Eva and Preston were very close playmates all their lives and she once told me how they loved to roam the woods around the old homestead, exploring and seeking adventure.  When young Preston got in trouble and their father Sheriff TJ locked him in jail to teach him a lesson, it was Eva who snuck in dime novels to keep him busy while he learned his big lesson.

     When the family moved off the farm and into their first little warehouse/office in Chicago -with an apartment upstairs - they all helped Tom Lyle get his little Maybelline company off the ground.  Fifteen year old Eva's job was to be the "go-for" girl. When anyone needed something it was Eva who ran down the block to get it.

      She once told me how when the family wanted a milk shake she gladly took a quarter for 5 drinks and ran down the street to the soda fountain, where she quickly drank her shake before slowly making her way back home so the shakes wouldn't spill.  Sometimes the walk home took so long she got thirsty and sipped a little from each siplings drink.  By the time she returned, you can just hear the flack she got from her brothers and sister, however Eva was a spitfire with a sharp wit and had a darn good reason for sipping those drinks I'm sure.

      I love this picture of my grandfather Preston and auntie E, as my dad called her.  She and Preston remained devoted even when my grandmother was at her wits end with his endless trouble making.  When my grandmother kicked him out of the house Eva gladly welcomed him into hers and there was nothing I mean nothing she wouldn't do for her darling brother.

      Look at those beautiful Maybelline eyes with a twinkle like no others.  This picture was taken in 1924 for her sweetheart Ches Haines whom she married Oct 11th of that year.  Auntie E once told me that it could have easily been her who concocted the ingredients that gave her brother Tom Lyle the idea for Maybelline.  She was serious when she said it made her a little jealous that her sister Mabel got the credit, but then laughed at the idea of Maybelline being called Evaline.  Not quite the impact Tom Lyle was going for I'm sure.

Here is my glamorous Auntie E at her daughter June's wedding in the late 1940's.  She seemed to get more gorgeous the older she got and that quick wit made her a star in the family.  Don't you just love that feather in her hat?

     Uncle Ches the father of the bride, on the left next to June and her new husband John Gary. 

    Here is a picture of Eva with her daughter Marilyn, (Ditty) taken in 1966 at Tom Lyle's estate in Bel Air California.  Eva is 65 in this picture, a beautiful, elegant lady with all the style and glamour of anyone of Maybelline's models.  Tom Lyle is sitting on the floor with Miss Snoop E. Williams and Sparkie.  He once told me chuckling, that the E in Snoop's name stood for his sister Eva.  I wonder what he meant?  

       Eva is a colorful character in The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.  I think you will fall in love with her just like I did.  She was one of a kind.

The original Maybelline Family from Kentucky to Chicago to Hollywood and beyond.

In my book The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind it, I tell the story the Williams family and the birth of the Maybelline Co.  The original family from Morganfield Kentucky started out with (from right to left,) Sheriff Thomas Jefferson Williams, his wife Susan and six children.  Their first child, a boy named Pearl died at 19 leaving Noel James, (in the middle,) Mabel Anna, Tom Lyle, William Preston, (my grandfather,) and Eva Kay. This picture was taken in 1916 when a little company called Maybell Laboratories first introduced an eyelash darkener called Maybelline.  The company was named after the founder Tom Lyle's sister Mabel and financed by his older brother Noel with $500. he'd saved to marry his sweetheart Frances Allen. 

By 1934 the five siblings had worked together to build the Maybelline Co into an unimaginable success and though the depression destroyed many well know companies, Maybelline continued to thrive.  Here is a picture of Sheriff TJ, with Tom Lyle and his son Tom Lyle Jr.  It was taken while Tom Jr was at Duke University and Tom Lyle lived at the Villa Valentino in the Hollywood Hills.  Susan had died of the great flu in 1919.

By 1934 Noel James, Tom Lyle's older brother was vice president of the Maybelline Co, married Frances and had four children.  From left to right you see, Annette Louise, (Neppy,) Richard Lyle, (Dick,) Noel, Helen Frances, Frances and Noel Allen Williams. 

Mabel married Chet Hewes in 1926 and had three children Shirley Anne, Thomas Randolph, (Tommy) and baby Joyce Mae are in this picture.  Chet handled the manufacturing of Maybelline and eventually formed his own company within the Maybelline Co. called Deluxe Mascara after Maybelline was investigated for being a monopoly.   Mabel, Maybelline's namesake became known as Auntie Mabel to all her nieces and nephews and remained the loving matriarch until the end of her life. Her family still lives in Chicago.

Eva, the youngest child of TJ and Susan married Ches Haines and had three children. June Anne, Marilyn Frances, (Ditty,)
and Robert Charles (Bobby.)  Ches Haines was in charge of transportation at the Maybelline company while Eva, (Auntie E,)  stayed home and raised her three children. 

Preston Williams a WW1 Veteran married my grandmother Evelyn Boecher and had my father William Preston Williams Jr.  Preston never wanted to work for the Maybelline Co. and was the wild card in the family.  Eventually Evelyn and Billy followed Tom Lyle to California and Billy was raised by his mother and Uncle Tom Lyle.


Today the Maybelline family has grown into the third and fourth generation and is a very large family.  The Maybelline Story is told from my branch of the family's point of view, the West Coast branch who grew up in California with Tom Lyle.  

The story goes back to the original family in Morganfield Kentucky, through the heyday's of Chicago gangsters and into the glitz and glamour of Hollywood when Tom Lyle was the King of Advertising. 

I hope you love The Maybelline Story and find it to be a fun ride through the 20th Century with the Williams family.