Maybelline Story makes it's way across the Country, as it tours America.

                     From the cornfields of Nebraska,

                    To Bikram Yoga Studios in Dallas,

                To the beaches,  in Southern California,

        Everyone is Buzzing about The Maybelline Story.

Runner up in New York's Best Beach Read contest, and honorable mention in The Hollywood Festival. 

Maybelline says goodbye to the 1950's.

In 1959, Maybelline introduced Magic Mascara, with it's revolutionary new Spiral Brush, saying goodbye forever to the little red box. The end of the decade marked the beginning of the Boomer Generation, reaching their teenage years, and Maybelline jumped into the youth market with this new exciting product.

Even with all the excitement going on within the Maybelline Company - sponsoring the Miss America Contest, Princess Grace and Prince Rainier lll, wedding in Monaco  The Perry Como Show and introducing exciting new products - Tom Lyle, Unk Ile to us, always found time to spend with his family, both on the West Coast and Chicago.  His generosity and humble spirit made him the ideal Godfather to the entire family and he taught us all to be grateful for the simple yet fun lives we had in the 1950s and to look forward to an even brighter future to come.    


My four year old sister Billee Rae Williams, with Unk Ile, (Tom Lyle,) and her Barbie Doll, Christmas, 1959.

My father, Bill Williams on the right, saying goodbye to friends, New Years, 1959.

New Years at our house in California,1959,
 ushering in 1960.

Thank you for following the Maybelline Blog through the decades of the 20th Century in America.  I hope this has been fun as well as educational, as you traveled with a family who created a company that influenced so many women for over 95 years. This is my way of giving back to the world for everything that has been given to me.

If you want to take a real joy ride through the ups and downs of American life with the Williams family be sure to purchase a signed copy of The Maybelline Story from my site, Barnes and Noble or amazon.com.

Maybelline expands with population during 1950s.

Maybelline Grows as the average middle class family expands in the 1950s.

Noel Allen with his children Chuck and Nancy in California.

An American dream, 1957 - Two or three kids, a home in the suburbs, two cars in the garage and a dad who works in a corporate job.  Except this isn't just any typical family, this is my cousin Chuck, BB1, the car guy with his dad Noel Allen and sister Nancy. 

Eva and Ches Haines family, 1955 in Deerfield, Illinois.

From left to right,  Tom Lyle's sister Eva's family - Jackie, Bob, Dick Westhouse, Marilyn, John Gary, June, & Eva.  Front row, Marilyn and Dick's sons, David Lyle, Richard Gerald and  June's daughter Kathy.



While Maybelline commercials were being shown on all the popular 50's shows on TV, The Maybelline families on the West Coast and Chicago were living normal middle class lives, never realizing that someday Maybelline would change our lives forever.

read more about how the selling of Maybelline in 1967 changed our lives, in The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.

Maybelline introduced Eye Cream in 1955.

Maybelline introduced an Eye Cream in 1955, but at the time women were not aware of how important it was to protect  the skin around the eye from wrinkling.  It was discontinued the next year.

Pauline Williams, 1955.

My mother, however started using Maybelline eye cream when I was 8 years old and by the time I was 15, I too was hooked on eye cream - long after Maybelline eye cream was not available.  In fact, interestingly enough, I started using Estee Lauder, Eye Zone, 30 years ago and to my great disappointment, it has just been discontinued.  So, I've switched to la prairie, SWITZERLAND, and I have to say, it's amazing.  If you don't use eye cream it's never to early to start.  Remember, beautiful eyes are your most important feature.

Read more about Maybelline and the family behind the name, in The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.  Tell your friends as well,  Thank you for following my blog, 

Sharrie Williams

Maybelline targeted the average housewife in the 1950's.

Maybelline in the 1950's may have represented fashion, glamour and style, but it's target market was the average middle class lady shopping with her kids in the local drugstore.

Ladies, no mater what age or what era, wanted to

 be pretty and pretty meant having those Maybelline eyes. 

A typical young middle class American family out for    

dinner.  It just happens to be my dad, Donna, my mom with her new Italian hair cut and me in 1954.                 

In the 1950's every housewife had their favorite drugstore, in fact it was so important, that the travel guide New Horizons by Pan American Airways, listed  "American drugstores under world's capitals.  Maybelline became a household name and an American institution, because of housewives spending so much at the drugstore to look Vogue. 

Maybelline and Loretta Young represent classic beauty in the 1950s.

Loretta Young, a symbol of beauty, serenity, and grace. But behind the glamor and stardom was a woman of substance.

Loretta Young hosted and starred in the well-received half hour anthology series The Loretta Young Show. It ran from 1953 to 1961. Her trademark was to appear dramatically at the beginning in various high fashion evening gowns. Her program ran in prime time on NBC for eight years, the longest-running prime-time network program hosted by a woman up to that time.

Maybelline as well represented fashion and glamour with serenity and grace, always ahead of it's time.

Click below to view Lorretta Young as televisions best dressed most elegant woman in the industry.

Like Loretta Young, Tom Lyle Williams was blessed with classic features and demended perfection in himself and his Maybelline Company.

Thank You for following the Maybelline Blog.  66 countries have looked in to view the American way of life in the 20th Century.  Want to meet Tom Lyle and the Williams Family, be sure to purchase The Maybelline Story and brace yourself for quite a ride. 

FROM MALI WEST AFRICA COMES THE TAMA BAG and Wrap Skirt.

Tama Walley is back in the U.S.A. from Mali Africa and her African Print Wrap Skirt and bag are the perfect combo for Summer 2012!                

Tama-Bag, made with reversible

Mali, West African fabric.

100% cotton, washable, reversible Tama-Bag inside out.

 Tama's reversible African print mini wrap skirt.

Book and Bag, $50.
Book, Bag and Skirt, $80.

Check in everyday to see when it will be available at the Maybelline Story Store. http://www.maybellinestory.com/.

CHRISTIAN DIOR AND MAYBELLINE - 1950's.

 In the post-war 1950's, high style and
fashion returned with the help of Christian Dior, while Maybelline continued to  personify "beautiful eyes." 

the New Look of Maybelline, 1952.

Christian Dior was Responsible for dramatically changing the style of the 1950s.  Dior created the” new look” which used lots of fabric and exaggerated the hourglass shape of the female figure. The new look was in direct contrast to the frugal and plain styles during the war, but women and the fashion industry embraced the move back to glamour.

New Look became revolutionary and strongly popular, influencing fashion and other designers for many years to come. Prominent Hollywood figures and the European upper-class became instant clients. Paris, which had fallen from its position as the capital of the fashion world after WWII, regained its esteemed position due in part to the attention it gained form Dior's New Look.

Maybelline represented high fashion since the 1930s, but when Dior became the mark of excellence, Tom Lyle introduced one of television's most beloved and fashionable stars of the 1950s. 

Maybelline Eyes, 1950's style.

Including Loretta Young who starred in The Loretta Show in the 1950's.  He was a major influence on what the middle class housewife considered high fashion.

Maybellline Story gets Honorable Mention in Hollywood Book Festival and Runner up in Best Beach Read The Maybelline Story

HOLLYWOOD BOOK FESTIVAL NAMES WINNERS for BIOGRAPHY/AUTOBIOGRAPHY

You just can't put it down!!

  Best Beach Read, Runner up, 
 The Maybelline Story

The sixth annual festival honoring books that deserve greater attention from the film, TV and video game communities.

The authors and other winners in the competition will be honored July 22 at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood


WINNER: Life, on the Line – Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas
RUNNER-UP: Unraveling Anne – Laurel Saville


HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Winchell and Runyon – Trustin Howard
A Fall to New Heights – Sidney Andrews
The Kennedys – All the Gossip That’s Fit To Print – Darwin Porter and Danforth Prince

The Maybelline Story – Sharrie Williams with Bettie Youngs

When Someday Comes – Joe Markko
Box of Mustaches – Stan Evans
On Toby’s Terms – Charmaine Hammond
Walking the Tiger’s Path – Paul M. Kendel
Solacers: A Memoir – Arion Gomakani

                                        Best Beach Read, Runner up,
                                          The Maybelline Story

My Aunt Bunny, Nana's sister, at Lake Zurich, Chicago, 1931. She didn't read the Maybelline Story..... she lived it.  

An Exotic International Face Represents Maybelline in the 1950's.

Maybelline's sophisticated  image for the 1950's has an international appeal, telecasted around the world on Black and White Television.

                   Maybelline a name trusted for over 95 years.

An American company that's lived through the decades - is now owned by L'Oreal of Paris and renamed,
                        MAYBELLINE NEW YORK.
Read the true story about the global brand that's still the number one mascara, preferred by, REALLY SMART WOMEN THE WORLD OVER, in.....
                       THE MAYBELLINE STORY.

Debbie Reynolds ushers Maybelline into the 1950's

Maybelline embraces 1950 with the fresh young face of Debbie Reynolds.

Arnold Anderson, Debbie Reynolds, Tom Lyle and Sparky at TL's home in Bel Air California, 1950.     

Debbie Reynolds was signed at the age of 16 by Warner Bros., but her career got off to a slow start. When her contract was not renewed, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) gave her a small, but significant part in the 1950 movie Three Little Words, then signed her to a seven year contract. In her next film, Two Weeks with Love, she had a hit with the song "Aba Daba Honeymoon". However, it was her first leading role, in Singing in the Rain (1952), that set her on the path to fame. By the mid 1950s, she was a major star.

Tom Lyle and Arnold Anderson, Maybelline's in house artist and photographer, did the photo shoot for MGM's newest starlet, Debbie Reynolds, when she appeared in Three Little Words.   The next year Tom Lyle focused on Television and sought a more sophisticated face to represent Maybelline.

Click here to see 18 year old Debbie Reynolds in her first film, Three Little Women, 1950.

Click to see Debbie Reynolds sing Tammy, 1957.


Mali African Print reversible Tama-bag and wrap skirt on the way.  It will be worth the wait, hold on.

Proceeds from the sale of Bags and skirts as well as a portion of the Maybelline Story will go to the nonprofit organization in Mali, Instruments 4 Africa, check it out on the right hand side of the blog.

Beach Boy Al Jardine and Chuck Williams sing "Surfin USA".

Beach Boy Al Jardine invites BB1, Chuck Williams up on the stage to sing along with the band last week at Santa Barbara's Music in the Park.  Long time friend of Mike Love and the rest of the Beach Boys since the early 1970's, Chuck has endearingly been called  "The Beach Boys Number 1 fan!"

Al Jardine says he looks forward to holding Dennis Wilson 's drum sticks given to Chuck by Dennis in 1983 before his untimely death, drowning, after falling off his yacht in Marina Del Rey, California.

Al Jardine singing "Surfin USA." 

Al Jardine.

Al Jardine calls chuck up to the stage to sing along with the band.

Friends for over 40 years, Chuck Williams greets

 Al Jardine with a handshake.

Chuck singing "Surfin USA" along with the band.

BB1, Chuck Williams singing with the Band.  I really 
think Chuck has a fascinating memoir about his life in the Maybelline family and his longtime relationship with Mike Love and the Beach Boys.

                     

Click on video to see and hear the Beach Boys singing Surfin USA, at the Live Aid Concert, 1985.

Click here to go to Al Jardine official Website

           THE BEACH BOYS 2010 - " New " Recording  
                          DON`T FIGHT THE SEA

An unfinished Beach Boys recording from 1978 completed in 2010 by Al Jardine . It features the vocals of Brian Wilson , Carl Wilson , Mike Love ...

Side note: Germany is one of the Maybelline Blogs most loyal followers and this could be why - Maybe Germans love The Beach Boys too!

Surfing is one of the premier adventure and recreational activities in Germany. People usually not only from Germany but also all around the globe love to visit Germany for surfing in its exotic locations.

If you think that is interesting, check out

 The Beach Boys on the Mike Douglas Show, July 8th 1969. Part 1: 2 and 3.

Al Jardine and the Surf City All Stars, Santa Barbara, 2011, singing Runaway.

A DAY AT THE VILLA VALENTINO.....Tom Lyle with his nephew's living the California Dream, 1946.

Tom Lyle with his nephew's Noel Allen and Dick Williams at the Villa Valentino on the 4th of July, 1946.

Tom Lyle, Noel Allen, Sparky and Dick Williams living the California Dream on the 4th of July, 1946.

Dick Williams, (Noel A. and Dick are Noel and Frances' son,) with Sparky on the diving board with Unk Ile looking on in 1946.

Tomorrow I will be posting Noel Allen's son Chuck Williams BB1, with Al Jardine of the Beach Boys for the 4th of July, so stay tuned for some great shots on the stage in Santa Barbara California.  Also hold on, Tama Bags and skirts with Maybelline books on the way!!!

No Star on the Walk of Fame for Tom Lyle Williams.

HOLLYWOOD CHAMBER Of COMMERCE

  WALK OF FAME COMMITTEE ANNOUNCES NEW WALK OF FAME..HONOREES FOR 2012 

HOLLYWOOD, CA. June 21, 2011 —A new group of entertainment professionals in Motion Pictures, Television, Radio and Recording have been selected to receive stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, it was announced today by the Walk of Fame Committee of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. These individuals were chosen from among hundreds of nominations to the committee at a meeting held on June 17, 2011 and ratified by the Chamber's Board of Directors.

The Walk of Fame recipients for the year 2012 are:
MOTION PICTURES:
Jennifer Aniston, Vin Diesel, Scarlett Johansson, John Lasseter, Malcolm McDowell, Sumner Redstone, Kate Winslet and Richard Burton (posthumous)


Tom Lyle Williams wasn't chosen unfortunately, because only one posthumous nominee is chosen in each category once a year.  Tom Lyle Williams was nominated under Television for his groundbreaking commercials.  The Chamber of Commerce didn't feel Tom Lyle Williams body of work was worthy, as far as being part of Hollywood itself.  Maybe they are right, his body of work encompassed Advertising and Marketing.  Even though, he was a pioneer in the Hollywood Star System, as well as being The King of Advertising!  Read The Maybelline Story yourself and let me know your opinion!!


TELEVISION:
Valerie Bertinelli, Matt Groening, Mariska Hargitay, Patricia Heaton, Marg Helgenberger, Walter Koenig, and Adam West
RECORDING:
Pepe Aguilar, AMERICA, Boyz II Men, Hal David, David Foster, Vince Gill, Jennifer Lopez, Ann and Nancy Wilson (Heart) and Barry White (posthumous)

RADIO:
Ellen K.
“The committee has selected a fabulous slate of stars to add sparkle and luster to the Hollywood Walk of Fame over the next year, as well as to generate a once-in-a-lifetime Hollywood experience for many of the visitors who stop by when their favorite personalities are having their stars placed in the world-famous sidewalk of the stars,” said John Pavlik, chair of the Hollywood Walk of Fame Selection Committee.

I will be posting more exciting news about cousin Chuck Williams known as BB1 - "Beach Boy One."   Chuck is considered the # 1 Beach Boy Fan among the Beach Boys themselves.  BB1 sang with Al Jardine this week at Santa Barbara's Summer in the park series.  Want to know anything about the Beach Boys,  ASK CHUCK!!