Maybelline's stunning Cover-Girls from the 1940's

Maybelline was synonymous with fashion, style and indisputable Hollywood glamor.  Here are a few of Tom Lyle's favorite movie queens of the silver screen during the 1940's. 

Dorothy Lamour starred in the "Road to..." movie series with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope in the 1940s and 1950s. The movies were enormously popular during the 1940s, and they regularly placed among the top moneymaking films each year

The Unique Beauty of Gene Tierney - Excerpted from Michael Atkinson's essay, Dec 1994 Movieline magazine.  "Among faces, Gene Tierney's is a tournament rose, an Opaline study in serene, sexualized perfection, a mad musky Egyptian daydream of cat thoughts."

Lana Turner was discovered and signed to a film contract by MGM at the age of sixteen.

Joan Crawford is the movies personified.  The embodiment of the American Dream and the official face of Maybelline in the 1940's.

 Known for her sultry good looks Merle Oberon played Cathy Linton in Wuthering Heights with Laurence Olivier in 1939.  The 1940's proved to be a very busy decade where she appeared in no less than 15 movies.

Click on videos below for Scrapbook of beautiful 1940 stars -  many gorgeous faces used in Maybelline Ads - Tom Lyle sure knew how to pick-em.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AShAPReYOfg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XbskY9DQaA

Nothing has changed in 95 years - Girls still want to stand out and have fun!!!!

Maybelline in the middle of Times Square, with eyes that stop traffic!

Read it all in The Maybellie Story and the Spirited family Dynasty Behind It.

Maybelline's Adorable Alice Faye

Alice Faye  illustrated in this Ad was considered Tom Lyle's ideal Maybelline image and he kept a framed 8 by 10 photo of her on his baby grand piano for years next to a vase of long stem red roses. 

Tom Lyle and Alice Faye were very close during the filming of Alexander's Ragtime Band in 1938.

A giant neon Maybelline sign with Alice Faye's Eyes stood in the middle of Times Square and was shot in a scene for Alexander's Ragtime Band.

 

Alice advertises both Lux Soap and Lillian Russell in this ad.  An example of a studio selling their stars and making deals with other companies at the same time to promote their products.   

Alice Faye Star of 20Th Century Fox Production 

"Lillian Russell."

• Films made by Alice Faye during the 1940's.
• Lillian Russell (1940)
• Tin Pan Alley (1940)
• That Night in Rio (1941)
• The Great American Broadcast (1941)
• Week-End in Havana (1941)
• Hello, Frisco, Hello (1943)
• The Gang's All Here (1943)
• Four Jills in a Jeep (1944)
• Fallen Angel (1945)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TLosFQFtWU 

Click to see a video of Alice Faye in Alexander's Ragtime Band.

Alice Faye introduced almost twice as many 'Hit Parade' songs in her movies (23) as each of her closest competitors: Judy Garland (13), Betty Grable (12) and Doris Day (12).

 

Click here to see Alice Faye sing "You'll Never Know,"

Faye starred in the Technicolor musical Hello, Frisco, Hello. Released at the height of World War II, the film became one of Faye's personal favorites and one of her highest-grossing pictures for Fox. It was in this film that Faye sang "You'll Never Know." The song won the Academy Award for Best Song for 1943 and the sheet music for the song sold over a million copies. However, since there was a clause in her contract (as was the case with most other Fox stars) stating that she could not officially record any of her movie songs, other singers like Dick Haymes (whose version hit #1 for four weeks), Frank Sinatra, and Rosemary Clooney have been more associated with the song than Faye. However, it is still often considered Faye's signature song. That year, Faye was once again named one of the top box office draws in the world.

Read more about the beautiful, talented top box office star Alice Faye and her friendship with Tom Lyle Williams in 

The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It. 

Tom Lyle's dear friend Alice Faye has a Stay on the Walk Of Fame in Hollywood, but I don't think he'll be chosen this year.  Though Tom Lyle pioneered the Hollywood Star System, he didn't work directly in the studio like Max Factor.  Tom Lyle may not of made-up the stars for films but he helped skyrocket them to fame through placement in Maybelline ads.  Alice Faye shown in the Lux ad above is a perfect example of what Tom Lyle did for Hollywood starlets and super stars.  You must read the book to learn more of it.  Thank you for following the Maybelline Blog.  

            
           Alice Faye with her beautiful Maybelline Eyes.

Maybelline Supports the Troops during World War ll.

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.

Stay tuned for more gorgeous, sexy Super Stars who filled the pages of movie magazines like this, with Maybelline Ads during World War ll. 

 Read All About It in The Maybelline Story. 

You won't be able to put it down!!

Maybelline's Love Goddess, Rita Hayworth, 1946.

Maybelline's Glamorous Super Model and film Goddess Rita Hayworth - a favorite GI Pin Up Girl.

In the 1930s, Rita Hayworth (1918-1987) was confined to leads in "B" pictures, but through much of the 1940s she became the undisputed sex goddess of Hollywood films and the hottest star at Columbia Studios.


Whether illuminating the screen with a song and dance or beaming from a magazine photo, Rita Hayworth was an unforgettable sight. Capitalizing on her inherited beauty and talent to become a legendary motion picture star, Hayworth captured the hearts of countless American servicemen during the 1940s. At her peak, she epitomized American beauty,

Every woman in the world wanted the sex appeal love goddess, Rita Hayworth exuded on camera with her bedroom eye's batting from the silver screen.  Every serviceman dreamed of coming home to a doll like the voluptuous Rita Hayworth and Tom Lyle capitalized on her selling power.  During the World War ll in America romance was portrayed in every advertisement from the beauty of Maybelline eyes to the chic sex appeal of Chesterfield cigarettes.  Young love meant morale building and that encouraged the boys fighting for their country to come home soon.  Rita Hayworth epitomised, youth, energy, romance and hope for bright future, a better future.  She was the seductive siren who called the boy's home with a glint of promise in her beautiful Maybelline eyes.

Who wouldn't want to come home to a sex goddess like glamorous, sexy, gorgeous Rita Hayworth!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q1SMBjfSjI  click here to see Rita singing in her famous 1946 film, Gilda (1946) - a black-and-white film noir directed by Charles Vidor. It stars Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth in her signature role as the ultimate femme fatale.

Read more about Maybelline and the Hollywood Star System in The Maybelline Story.  Buy your copy form Amazon for a greatly reduced price today. 

105 Countries following the Maybelline Blog!!

Maybelline - 20TH Century Fox and Betty Grable - 1940

Betty Grable was featured in a Maybelline Ad in the Sunday Paper doing a Before and After sequince while Grable was staring in Du Barry Was a Lady an Original Broadway Production in 1940. Grable was known for her million dollar legs posing as a famous Pin Up Girl during World War 11. 

Betty Grable on the cover of Life Magazine December 11, 1939 - A Musical Comedy in Two Acts

Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter
Book by Herbert Fields and B. G. De Sylva

Tryouts began November 9, 1939 at the Shubert Theatre, New Haven
November 13, 1939 at the Shubert Theatre, Boston
November 27, 1939 at the Forrest Theatre, Philadelphia

Opened December 6, 1939 at the 46th Street Theatre, NYC
Transferred October 21, 1940 to the Royale Theatre
Closed December 12, 1940; Ran for 408 performances

In 1940 Grable was also featured in 20TH Century Fox Pictures "Down Argentine Way," as well as on this full page color Maybelline ad.  Down Argentine Way (1940) Musical. Cast: Betty Grable's first leading role, and introduced Carmen Miranda to America. Don Ameche, The Nicholas Brothers, Charlotte Greenwood and J. Carrol Naish. Director: Irving Cummings. Producer: Darryl F. Zanuck. Cinematography: Leon Shamroy and Ray Rennahan. Costumes: Travis Banton.

Read more about Betty Grable during the filming of Down Argentine Way and why she was chosen for the film and the Maybelline Ad over Alice Faye, in The Maybelline Story.  Purchase the book from Amazon or a signed copy from Sharrie on this website. 

Maybelline's Exotic Super Model, Hedy Lamarr 1945

Hedy Lamarr - known as the "Most Beautiful Woman in the World."  So naturally Tom Lyle chose her as one of his "Most Beautiful Maybelline Faces of the Decade."

Hedy Lamarr was was an Austrian-American actress known primarily for her extraordinary beauty and her celebrity in a film career as a major contract star of MGM's "Golden Age".

Exotic and liberated Hedy Lamarr was known as the ultimate Pin Up Girl during World War 11.  Maybelline used her image to target the 30 somethings rather than the teen market where up coming starlets ruled the day.  Tom Lyle targeted every aspect of the female market during the decades but none were more prosperous then the mature woman until the Baby Boom came of age in the 1960's. 

Hedy Lamar video. click here.

More Maybelline Super Stars during the 1940's next week...  also you can but the Maybelline Story and lean more about Tom Lyle's genius for advertising and marketing in The Maybelline Story.  Buy a copy from Amazon for a greatly reduced price today, you will love it.

Maybelline model and actress Marjorie Woodworth - 1941

Marjorie Woodworth, a true California Girl, born in 1923, captured the teen-market at 15, when she played a Baton Twirler in Alexander's Ragtime Band, (staring Tyrone Power, Alice Faye and Don Ameche in 1938.)  Woodworth was discovered and being groomed by 20Th Century Fox to be the next Blond Bombshell much like Jean Harlow, Bettie Grable and Alice Faye. 

Like so many young starlets Tom Lyle contracted to do full page, glossy color print ads for Maybelline, Woodworth aspired to be a Super Star but never made it to the top. However she did become a favorite GI Pin Up Girl during World War 11 and drove the youth-market into dime stores  where they purchased truck loads of Maybelline.

Woodworth played a featured role in the Musical Comedy, Broadway Limited is a 1941, (directed by Gordon Douglas, starring Victor McLaglen, Dennis O'Keefe, Patsy Kelly, and Zasu Pitts.)  She was known as the All American Co-Ed, and cast in the 1941 film All American Co-Ed.

The Girl Next Door, Pin Up Girl, Blond Bomb Shell and the next Jean Harlow - Woodworth created the perfect image for Maybelline during the early 1940's when teenage age girls gained spending power and developed their own identity.  The average high school girl with an extra dime for a 10 cent box of Maybelline might easily change herself into a glamorous Star with a few strokes of a little black brush. 

18 year old Marjorie Woodworth lead the parade as teenage girls came of age during the WAR YEARS. 

Pick up your copy of The Maybelline Story and see how my mother, Pauline Mac Donald, Bill Williams girl friend was transformed into his favorite high school sex symbol, Marjorie Woodworth, with a little Maybelline on her eyes when she was 15.

 Thank You to the 105 countries following The Maybelline Blog!

Maybelline - 1943 - American Beauty!

MAYBELLINE MODEL LOIS COLLIER and the Hollywood Star System.

Maybelline model and actress Lois Collier  represented the American ideal.

Lois Collier, one of Universal Studio's beautiful and talented actresses was showcased in Maybelline ads during World War 11.  She was discovered after winning a a contest sponsored by CBS Radio for a part in a radio play in Hollywood.

Collier, like many starlets during the War Era appeared on the cover of Yank, the Army Weekly as well as Maybelline print ads in various popular magazines. She was part of the Hollywood Star System that used companies like Maybelline to help promote movie stars careers.  

From 1940 through 1949 Collier's career would be active and somewhat successful, with her playing mostly heroine roles in B-movies, including Westerns, Horror and Science Fiction thrillers. 

.
Collier held the second female lead in what is considered the best of the Maria Montez adventure films, “Cobra Woman.” She also joined Loretta Young, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Anne Gwynne and Evelyn Ankers in the wartime drama “Ladie’s Courageous.” The Walter Wanger production told the story of the Women’s Auxiliary Ferrying Squadrons of the Second World War.

Collier appealed to young movie-goer's who balanced the horror of war with escapism.  Collier was young, beautiful and captivated her audience with those beautiful Maybelline Eyes!  She brought loads of young women into dime stores with disposable money ready to spend on Maybelline so they too could have "The Collier Look."   

Read more about Tom Lyle Williams contribution to the Hollywood Star System in

The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.

Maybelline Pin Up Girl, Elyse Knox, 1944.

Maybelline ushers in The Pin Up Girl, The Bomb Shell and The Girl Next Door during World War 11 - creating an American Ideal for beauty, style and fashion.

Maybelline model and Pin Up Girl Elyse Knox 1943, photographed by Paul Hesse. "Maybelline lights the way to new eye beauty, signed Elyse Knox."

Elyse Knox was one of Maybelline's World War 11 models contracted for her sexy yet innocent face during the 1940's.  Knox was a B-movie starlet in the Hollywood System playing secondary roles until she landed a role with Lon Chaney Jr. in The Mummy's Tomb; one of the series of Mummy horror films made by Universal Studios. 

Knox became well known after Maybelline placed her full page glossy autographed picture on the back of magazines after appearing as herself in Universal Studios 1944 production of "Follow the Boys."  One of the World War 11 morale-booster films made for both the soldiers serving overseas as well as civilians at home.

Knox was also a Pin Up Girl during the War, appearing in such magazines as YANK, a weekly put out by the United States Military.  Ads like this combined with Maybelline ads on the back of movie magazines, created a desire in all Service Men to return to the arms of their sweet All American girls - with those Maybelline eyes. 

In Late 1944 Knox was signed by Monogram Pictures to portray Anne Howe, the love interest of fictional boxer Joe Palooka in Joe Palooka, Champ.  Based on the very popular comic strip.  The instant success of the May 1946 film led to  Knox appearing in another five Joe Palooka productions.  She retired from film making in 1946 after appearing in the musical There's a Girl in My Heart but continued doing Print ads like the one above for Maybelline while appearing on the Bing Crosby radio show where she met foot star Tom Harmon.  She married fashion photographer Paul Hesse one of Maybelline's official photographers, divorced and married Tom Harmon in 1944.

The couple had three children, Kristin, who married Ricky Nelson and had Tracy, twins Gunnar and Lars, and a son Sam who modeled and acted in film and TV (TJ Hooker.) And Kelly..... and Mark Harmon of NCIS.

Read more about the Pin Up Girls Tom Lyle contracted during World War 11 in The Maybelline Story and stay tune for more Maybelline Pin Up Girls, Film Stars and Girls Next Door during the 1940's, all this week.

Thanks for following The Maybelline Blog, see you tomorrow and tell your friends to check in as well!!!!

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Maybelline Wins Runner-Up in 2011 Best Beach Read

2011 BEACH BOOK FESTIVAL NAMES WINNERS


BIOGRAPHY/AUTOBIOGRAPHY


RUNNER-UP: The Maybelline Story – Sharrie Williams with Bettie Youngs





NEW YORK _ The 2011 Beach Book Festival has named “Damn You, Scarlett O’Hara: The Private Lives of Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier” as the grand prize winner of its annual competition honoring the summer’s hottest reads.


Written by celebrity journalists Darwin Porter and Roy Moseley, the book is the quintessential juicy beach read, tracing the story of the couple once dubbed the Romeo and Juliet of their era. The book spares no punches, detailing the sordid side of the Hollywood legends in their public and private lives. Published by Blood Moon Productions, the publishing house that specializes in celebrity scandal, the book is a page-turner of the first order and perfect for a fun vacation read.


The winners will be honored at a gala awards ceremony on June 10 at the Algonquin Hotel in New York.


Be sure to purchase Summer's Best Beach Read, "The Maybelline Story"  a fun ride through Vintage Chicago and Hollywood!!!