Beach Boys with Chuck Williams having Fun, Fun, Fun, since 1970.

My Cousin, Chuck Williams, BB1, has known the Beach Boys since 1970 and is still friends with them today.

This picture of the Beach Boys was taken in
 Chuck's living room, before a concert at the Santa Barbara Bowl, where Chuck produced concerts with legendary  groups for several years in the early 1970's. Chuck had the perfect background, because he owned every single album The Beach Boys ever recorded.                                                                 

 Chuck with Mike Love, at a concert in Ventura California, August 9th, 2011.  Chuck gives Mike a choice of pens before signing his original Beach Boy 45, of the song, Fun Fun Fun.  Chuck bought the record Feb 15, 1964, on the first day of release.

 Mike signing Fun, Fun, Fun, 1964, remarks,
"Chuck, this is a real Gem in your collection, no ebay for BB1."

          Fun, Fun, Fun - To Chuck BB1, Love Mike Love. Mike remarked, "my name wasn't on this, but it is now."

 Mike and Chuck still can draw the Babe's, even in their 60's.  Mike, turned to Chuck and said, "I think she likes you!"

 Chuck back stage with Mike Love, Bruce Johnston and the drummer from Blondie.

                       Mike Love on Stage singing Fun, Fun, Fun.

                       I wish they all could be California Girls!

                       Kickin it on stage, as Mike rocks out to,
                               Good Vibrations!

 Rock & Rolling with some of Chucks buddies.

Chuck escorts Mike and Bruce to the Stage, telling the bouncer, "please keep the chicks in line," with a straight face. 

Stay tuned tomorrow for some more Beach Boy Lore, from BB1.

Tickets will be available for my Maybelline Story presentation, Sept 7th, and the Beverly Hills Women's Club next week.  The Beverly Hills Women's Club founded in 1916, uses its historic location for the advancement of cultural, social, educational and philanthropic endeavors thus creating community spirit.
click to see pictures of the vintage home/club.

                    Fun, Fun, Fun, 1964.

All Beach Boy pictures copyrighted by Chuck Williams, BB1, and must have written permission to use.

Happy 40th Birthday Great Lash!!!  It all started with Tom Lyle Williams.

Maybelline Kids: "To Thine Own Self Be True, in the 1970's."

Plough Inc. merged with Schering and became Schering-Plough in 1971 and the stock doubled for all the Maybelline stockholders.  By June of 1972,  it was my generation's turn to get a taste of honey, with or without our parents blessings. 

Bill Williams and Sharrie, June, 1972.

By 1972, my parents were divorced and my dad was about to marry Linda, against our wishes - so to soften the blow he showered us with gifts to keep us preoccupied.  Here I am on my 25th Birthday with a hand full of hundred dollar bills, meant to pay for a summer in Europe.  He figured that while my sister Donna and I were out of town, he'd sell our house on Lido Isle and buy an estate in Palm Springs, right next door to the famous pianist, Liberace.  He wanted to start a new life with Linda, her three kids and my little sister Billee and brother Preston.  All I wanted to do was marry my boyfriend, Gene Dorney and start a new life myself.

                 My sister Donna, in Barcelona Spain. 

She was supposed to hook up with me for the summer, but decided to take off on her own with friends she'd run into in Paris.  She didn't contact us at all and my uncle Tom Lyle, insisted my dad call the American Embassy and send out a search party.  She finally surfaced after driving us to the brink of fearing the worst.  She'd been shopping all over Paris and London and came home with a suitcase full of the latest 70's fashions.  Looking like a Vogue model, and living in Los Angeles she hoped to break into the film industry someday. 

Sharrie, Tom Lyle, Donna, 1972.

Unk Ile, called my dad and said he wanted to make sure Donna was home safe, so, invited us up for the day.  He was so happy to see my sister, that he hugged her so tight, he thought he broke a rib.  With the same wonderful sense of humor, he was known for, he joked about how funny it would sound to his doctor, when he explained he cracked a rib hugging his niece. 

The Hay Day for the Williams cousins was just beginning as we all came of age in the 1970's.  The quest  to live out our fantasies was in constant conflict with our parents expectations -

and like by dad always said, "I live by the Golden Rule -  The guy who has the gold rules."

Be sure to get your signed copy of The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.
Thank you for following my Maybelline Blog and reading about my American - Dream Family.

Stay tuned tomorrow for pictures and stories about my cousin Chuck Williams, The Beach Boys and his friendship with Mike Love, that began in 1970.  His dream is still playing out today!!!

Great Lash Mascara celebrates it's 40th anniversary.

Here is a picture of my uncle Tom Lyle Williams with his nephew, Bill Williams (my father,) in 1971 with a display sent to him by the new owners of the Maybelline company, Plough Inc.   

It was exactly 40 years ago on August 8th, that Ultra Lash became Great Lash and it is still America’s best selling mascara with a tube being sold every 1.7 seconds.

Get your signed copy of the Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It for $14.99 at www.maybellinestory.com. A never before told story that will leave you spellbound - wanting more.

WHAT HAPPENED TO Tom Lyle Williams, sister in law, Evelyn Williams.

Nana on her 70th Birthday, in 1971, a power to be reckoned with!!

Still beautiful, commanding and rich at 70, her life is about to take a course that leads to a lethal dose of vanity.  You must read the Maybelline Story to find out what happend to Nana.  From this point on I can't reveal the ending of the book, but I can tell you one thing.  She didn't deserve it!!!

Maybelline money, a blessing and a curse for my family.

While most of the Maybelline families were adjusting to their new lifestyles, mine was falling apart in 1970

My grandmother, (Nana,) and my mother Pauline at my parents 25th wedding anniversary, mock wedding in 1970.  My parents filed for divorce shortly after.

My father, (Bill Williams,) meets Linda Cattanio,
 12 years his junior and marries her.

Like our family, crushed after the money came, my father's GT 500 Shelby Mustang was rolled by a parking attendant at his cousin Noel's Christmas party that year, symbolizing the end of an era for our family.

Bill turns to his cousin Noel, asking "What now Cuz?" As always Noel stands by Bill through thick and thin, proving blood is thicker than water when the chips are down.

The whole story unfolds in The Maybelline Story, get your signed copy today at www.maybellinebook.com

Tom Lyle Williams watches his family spend, spend, spend!

So what did Tom Lyle think of the way his family spent the money he gave them? 

Here he is in Montecito, California, visiting his nephew, Noel A. and Jean Williams at the Maybeck estate in 1970.  It must have been bitter sweet for him seeing his niece's and nephew's expand so quickly, after he himself  lived modestly, to preserve a fortune he hoped would last for many generations.

 

Stay tuned this week as the 1970's unfold, and decide for yourself if Tom Lyle was pleased or disappointed the       way things went, as he,the Godfather of the family, watched things unfold from his estate in Bel Air. 

Want to know what really happened?   You will be             stunned!!  Get your singed copy of The Maybelline Story  today at www.maybellinestory.com.

 Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy ride!!!!!  

a day in the life of a Maybelline Story reader

The Ladies in Woodland Hills, California just can't put the Maybelline Story down!

Lauri's first mistake was bringing a book for her hairdresser, now everything came to a stop.

She tried to pay for her hair, and the ladies at the desk couldn't but the book down to take her money.

Even at the Farmers Market, she had to know what happened next while trying to fill her bag with organic fruit.

Three hours in her cabana by the pool, she kept reading, barely able to take a phone call as they came in.

Finally she and a friend, late for the theatre  had to grab one last paragraph before running out the door.


It's not surprising that 105 countries have checked into the Maybelline Blog, the nostalgia, the vintage pictures and Maybelline ads bring back memories of the way it used to be in America when life was a little slower and the world was wide open for young entrepreneurs to make their dreams a reality.  

Get your singed copy of the Maybelline Story today, $14.99 Order your copy from PAYPAL NOW

Summer with the Beach Boys in California.

Check out this video of the Beach Boys singing Good Vibrations and enjoy a little summer nostalgia and don't forget to pick up you copy of the Maybelline Story,  runner up for Best Beach Read this summer.  Tama Bag and book available at www.maybellinestory.com.  More fun stuff coming up, STAY TUNED.  Have a great August. 

Maybelline Money, Property and Prestige in the 1970's.

The 1970's exploded with a spending frenzy for property and prestige after the sale of the Maybelline Company.

My cousins, Nancy and Chuck Williams with my sister, Donna, at our new home on Lido Isle, Newport Beach in 1971.  My father, Bill bought the property for $185,000 in 1968 and built two homes on it.  He sold one for $195,000 in 1970 and the other for $250 in 1973 when he moved to Palm Springs California.

Chuck Williams and his dog, at his parents new estate in Montecito, California in 1969. The home was designed by Bernard Maybeck, a famous architect who built the home  in 1915, for the Ambassador to England.  Noel and Jean Williams bought the home for $185,000 in 1969 and today it is valued at over 15 million.  Noel sold it in 1976 for a half a million dollars. 

Eva and Ches' daughter Marilyn, (Williams-Haines) and her husband John Gary, moved to Virginia and bought this home built in the 1800's for $185,000 and created a storybook wonderland for their 6 children, in the 1970's. The home is still in the family today, but is now for sale because of Marilyn's declining heath, in her 80's.    

Noel Williams in his brother Dick's Excalabur, at Dick and Ann's estate in Boca Raton Florida where they like Bill also bought a yacht to go along with their new lifestyle. 

Read more about the sale of the Maybelline Company and the aftermath in my family that will leave you stunned, in The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.  Buy a signed copy from me, at http://www.maybellinestory.com/.  Thank you for following my blog, a stunning, historical piece of the

American Pie.   

Maybelline money made dreams come true for everyone in 1968.

The Transformation began in 1968, as the families took on  new lifestyles, matching dreams that were now reality..

My father Bill Williams was 44 when Maybelline sold, and by the time he reached his 45 Birthday, he was in full swing of making his dreams come true.  Here he is on his 45th Birtday, with my sister Billee on her 13th Birthday and our grandfather, Andy Mac Donald, on his 78th, in Nov, 1968.

The first thing my dad wanted was a 48 foot yacht, a house on the water in Newport Beach California and a whole new identity, "Captain Bill of Lido Isle."

My dad, Captain Bill, standing outside his mother's apartment on Lido Isle, looking at the bay in 1969.

A natural builder and designer my dad bought a double lot on Lido Isle in 1968, tore down the old home, built two matching homes, one for us on the right, and one to sell.  He was now a millionaire, builder, captain, and prey for every gold digger in Newport Beach.   

Too handsome and too young to have so much money in a time when most people on Lido had earned their money and were much older.  This new breed of new money was looked down on, and boy did we stand out in 1969 with new cars, flashy clothes and parties all the time. 

Evelyn Williams, my Nana, at 67, soon after she got her check in the mail from the sale of the Maybelline Company.    

The phone rang in our house, as we too, were looking at the figure on the check that had just come in the mail.  "I'm a millionaire," she screamed on the phone, "can you believe it."

Noel and Jean Williams celebrated the good news by flying to Maui, Hawaii and buying a condo on the water in Lahaina.  When Jean saw the check the day it came in the mail, she ran down the hallway of their home in Encino, California, screaming,  "I'm rich!!!" 

Read more about the Hay-Day that took place in the family after Tom Lyle sold the Maybelline Company and changed every one's lives, in The Maybelline Story and don't forget to check out www.maybellinestory.com for a signed copy from me.  Thanks for telling your friends to check into the Maybelline Blog.

$100,000,000 given to CARE and Salvation Army by Maybelline founder.

The Tom Lyle Williams Foundation, still gives to charity, 43 years after the sale of the Maybelline Company.

Tom Lyle Williams, with his niece Annette Williams-Corbett, in 1968, after the sale of the Maybelline Company.  Like her uncle, Annette believed in preserving her new wealth through non-profit foundations.  She worked as a secretary for the Maybelline Company before marrying George Corbett in the late 1940's and continued to have a unique relationship wih her boss (and uncle,) incorporating his values throughout her long life.  Tom Lyle believed that the more he gave to others, the more came back to him, 10 fold.  "Don't lend money if you can't afford to give it, with no expectation of return," was a statement he lived by his entire life.  His fondation still gives and lives on today helping those in need.

Read more about Tom Lyle and his unusual generosity  in The Maybelline Story.  Also we still have a few Tama Bags and Maybelline book, at http://www.maybellinebook.com/ for $50.  A good portion of profit from the bag and book goes to Instruments 4 Africa to help young girls in Mali, West Africa, have the opportunity gain an education. 

The Millionaires next door, with Maybelline money.

After 53 years of building the Maybelline Company, Tom Lyle sells to Plough Inc. and divides the profits among his family. 

Tom Lyle in the middle with his niece Marilyn (Williams-Haines), her husband John Gary and three of their 6 kids, Bobby, Lori and Cindy in Bel Air, 1968.

We all received an unexpected check in the mail that   changed our lives overnight.  It was like winning the lottery.  We were now millionaires and though

 Tom Lyle asked that the money be preserved

 for future generations in safe investments, the race

 was on to create extravagant lifestyles.  We were rich

 in a time when money was worth something and luxuries could be bought at uninflated prices.  So the estates, cars, yachts, jewelry, clothes, that would be untouchable at today's prices were attainable

 45 years ago.                   

The fun of it was, there was no competition or

jealousy within the families, because we were all equally wealthy and and able to do most anything we wanted. 

If you're curious to know what we did, you'll have to read The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.  Buy a signed copy at http://www.maybellinestory.com/.                

                                                                                                    

                                                                                                              

An exhausted Tom Lyle Williams let's go of Maybelline in 1967.

Maybelline Company sells to Plough Inc. December 1967, after exhausting 11th hour negotiations seals deal, with cash-heavy pharmaceutical corporation.

This picture was taken soon after the sale of the Maybelline Company.  You can see a very weary, almost sad expression on Tom Lyle's face.  Notice the stacks of papers, perhaps reports on Plough's financial history as well as global magazines featuring Maybelline ads.   He and Tom Lyle Jr., worked 18 hour day's with Abe Plough, founder and owner of Plough Inc, making a deal that benefited 26 familes beyond their wildest imagination.   He was a truly great man with a passionate heart for those he loved.

One of Tom Lyle's first gorgeous Silent Film Star's Gloria Swanson, endorses Lash-Brow-Ine, the product that preceded Maybelline in 1915.  Tom Lyle will always be remembered in the cosmetic industry as the King of Advertising, a creative genius with an eye for what women want.

Read more about Tom Lyle and Emery's lunch with Gloria Swanson, at the Polo Club, in the Beverly Hills Hotel, 1928, in The Maybelline Story and get your signed copy today at maybellinebook.com. 

Maybelline Story helps young girls in Mali, Africa, gain an education.

Here I am with my friends Paul Chandler and Tama Walley, the founders of Instruments 4 Africa, looking at a few vintage pictures of old Hollywood in The Maybelline Story.  Tama and Paul head back to Mali, West Africa in a couple of weeks after spending the Summer raising money for their charity.  Paul plans to film a documentary on tribal instruments and Mallian music, that is on the verge of being lost forever.  I will keep you posted on his progress.  A portion of the Maybelline Story goes to help young girls in Mali gain an education and study their cultural arts. 

Sharrie's One Woman Show Sept 7th, Beverly Hills Women's Club.

Sharrie will be performing her One Woman Show about The Maybelline Story Sept 7th, at the Beverly Hills Women's Club.              Information will be posted on

how to purchase tickets.  

L'Oreal Paris purchased Maybelline and it's now called Maybelline New York.

Maybelline Company sells to Plough Inc. Dec. 1967.

Maybelline ads in 1967 were all about the ingenue, false eye lashes and fake hair.


Maybelline ad below was on the back of this cover in Dec, 1967

Maybelline introduces false eye lashes in 1967

False eye lashes created the big eye look that would really bloom in 1970.

I bleached my hair back blond, wore a "Fall, (fake hair,) and fell in love with false eye lashes, even wore up to three pair, two on top and one on the bottom.  Here I am on my 20th Birthday, right after filming 5 days of a show called Dream Girls.  We had no Idea Unk Ile was in serious negotiations to sell Maybelline this year.

My mom, Pauline, with her new Datson 2000 roadster convertible, bought in 1967. 

Cousin Chuck Williams, aka BB1, with his girlfriend Kathy, her little brother Michael and his dad, Noel Allen, Dec. 1967, leaving the hotel to catch a plane to Maui, Hawaii. The negotiations for the sale of Maybelline were in the 11th hour at the time this picture was taken. Our lives were about to radically change overnight.                         

My dad Bill, Unk lle and Nana at our house on Christmas Day, 1967.  Unk Ile was with us from 5 o'clock in the evening until 5 o'clock in the morning.  He knew the sale was complete and never mentioned it once.  We would get the shock of our lives in Jan. when a check came in the mail making all five original families multi-millionaires.   

The details of the sale of Maybelline to Plough Inc are spelled out in The Maybelline Story, I hope you get your copy today.  Buy a signed copy from me at http://www.maybellinestory.com/.  Also check my new bio picture, just click biography on the tap on my website.