The Maybelline Story Blog

Maybelline Story brings Romance back to life.

Rudolph Valentino was every woman's Romantic Idol, in the 1920's and even more so after his untimely death in 1926. Tom Lyle Williams, bought the Villa Valentino, around 1930 and like Valentino, loved beautiful automobiles, architecture and the exotic Hollywood stars, who represented Maybelline.

Tom Lyle, at the Villa, with his new 1940 Packard,

Rudolph Valentino and Natacha Rambova, lived in the Villa Valentino, while their home, Falcon Lair, was being built.

The Villa Valentino.


Maybelline model and Hollywood star, Gloria Swanson, and Valentino	.

"The Romance."

Tom Lyle and Emery Shaver, with Tom Lyle's new 1934, Packard, Victoria.

Tom Lyle and Emery Shaver, lived together at the Villa Valentino, and were together for over 50 years.

Read more about Tom Lyle and Emery's life together at the Villa Valentino, in The Maybelline Story.

Maybelline's founder Tom Lyle Williams belief in positive thinking.

Words of Wisdom from Tom Lyle Williams on how to become a success.

Tom Lyle Williams, at his cabin on Lake Michigan, 1937.

Besides having the statue ASPIRATION, at the Villa Valentino and in Bel Air, representing Rudolph Valentino, and his great success in Hollywood, Tom Lyle, believed in the principals outlined in this brochure, sponsored by Maybelline. Read and see if you can incorporate some of these valuable concepts in your thinking as well. Click on the page to enlarge.

Dream Big, and never give up!!

Purchase a signed copy, of The Maybelline Story, by Sharrie Williams, Tom Lyle's great niece, at www.maybellinestory.com.

Maybelline still gives to those in need through the Tom Lyle Williams Foundation.

Never before seen picture of the Williams Family in 1916.

Lash-Brow-Ine a product of Maybell Laboratories, had just become Maybelline, named for Tom Lyle's sister Mable, third from the left looking very humbled by the honor. She is arm and arm with my grandfather, William Preston Williams in his WW l, Navy uniform. Next to him is Frances Allen, soon to be Tom Lyle's brother, Noel J. Williams, Bride, followed by their mother, Susan Anna Williams, in the center next to her sister in law, Frances Elizabeth Williams. Tom Lyle and his father, Thomas Jefferson Williams, are on the right. Below an unknown girl, next to Tom Lyle's sister Eva.

Here are a couple of never before told stories about

Tom Lyle Williams.

Tom Lyle had the Morganfield Kentucky paper delivered to him in LA. If he saw any one in town needed help he'd send them an anonymous check.

Emery and Lyle had a long-time housekeeper named Leola. When she died Tom Lyle, drove Leola's mother in his Cadillac to a poor neighborhood to attend Leola's funeral. Then he put the mother on the Maybelline payroll which continued until her own death.

Tom Lyle Williams remained a humble, generous man all his life, not only with his family, but with anyone who needed help. He said that, what ever he gave away came back to him, 10 fold. We could all learn from Tom Lyle's kindness, love and faith.

Goodbye Norma Jean, scenes from Casa De Guillermo's.

Misty Rowe stars in Goodbye Norma Jean, filmed at my father's estate in Palm Springs, in 1975.

Here are some views of Casa Guillermo, inside and out.
Read all about the filming of the movie at the Casa with all my family and friends as extras, in The Maybelline Story and be sure to get a signed copy of my book...

Maybelline Company remembered, by Rags Ragland.

The Maybelline Story, takes Beverly Hills by Storm!

Rags Ragland with Sharrie Williams, speaking at The Beverly Hills Women's Club, Sept 7th, 2011. Rag's remembers when his father first came to work for the Maybelline Company in 1933, discusses Max Factor's brother's kidnapping.

Rags Ragland and Sharrie Williams with Sharrie's cousin Ann Williams-Corbett - and, on the left, Margie Scherick, (widow of Edgar Scherick, one of the most prolific producers of television miniseries, made-for-television films, and theatrical motion pictures.)

Part of Sharrie Williams, video Presentation, will be posted soon. Thank You for following The Maybelline blog. Stay tuned for more fun, next week.

Vintage Maybelline Glamour Alive and Well in Beverly Hills

Glamor, Style and Panache at The Beverly Hills Women's Club, kicked of a season, sure to match the sensational Maybelline Story event.

The Man of the hour, Rags Ragland, (contributor to the Maybelline Story,and son of Harold W. Ragland, marketing genius at Maybelline from 1933 to 1968.) Author, Sharrie Williams, President of the Beverly Hills Women's Club, Jill Tavelman Collins, Columnist at the Huffington Post, Patricia Rust. .

Donna Williams, (Sharrie's sister,) Rags Ragland, Sharrie Williams, Jill Tavelman Collins.

Ann Williams-Corbett, (Sharrie's cousin,) Donna Williams, Rags Ragland,

Sharrie Williams.

Rags Ragland, Sharrie, Jill Tavelman Collins,

Lauri Tepper.

Ladies Lunching.

Ladies of The Beverly Hills Women's Club, excited to see, The Maybelline Story.

Buzzing, as the Fall Season for the Club takes off in a whirl of fashion.

Bettie Youngs, of Bettie Youngs Books, Publisher of the Maybelline Story, introduces Sharrie Williams.

Sharrie Williams at the podium.

The Maybelline Story takes the stage, as 235 vintage Maybelline ads and family pictures, set to the music of the Philharmonic Orchestra, playing Beach Boy songs, and a vintage recording of Tom Lyle Williams, doing a 1930's, Maybelline, Penthouse Serenade commercial, created a special atmosphere for Sharrie to make the Maybelline Story come alive.

The Maybelline Story presentation, kicked of the Season for the Beverly Hills Women's Club, as well as establishing their new President, Jill Tavelman Collins, in her new position for the year. The tables were decorated with vintage memorabilia and fresh cut flowers, setting the tone for a walk down memory lane during the 20th Century. Over 90 ladies filled the grand hall of the beautiful home built in 1916, where the ambiance of the era, bloomed for all who attended. A separate room, filled with tables of Campaign and wine, salads and deserts, as well as loads of bright Sunflowers, made the event a special reception for The Maybelline Story to make it's debut in Beverly Hills.

The books were signed by the author after the presentation and many well wishers expressed a desire for a movie, or mini series, like Mildred Pierce ,or Boardwalk Empire. Romance seemed to be the call of the day, for all the ladies who love nostalgia, history and of course Maybelline.

Sharrie Williams is available to repeat her show. Information available under CONTACTS.

Rudolph Valentino's Aspiration, sets the tone for positive thinking.

Rudolph Valentino's Aspiration, still inspires the Williams family to always look up.

Here is a picture of my father Bill Williams with his cousin Noel A. standing next to Aspiration.

Aspiration (Rudolph Valentino)

1930. Roger Noble Burnham. Marble and bronze statue, 36' x 16' x 16. De Longpre Park, 1350 North Cherokee Street, Hollywood, California. Plaque reads: Erected in memory of Rudolph Valentino, 1895-1926. Presented by his friends and admirers from every walk of life in all parts of the world in appreciation of the happiness brought to them by his cinema portrayals.

The Villa Valentino, with Aspiration overlooking the pool. Bottom right, Bill, Tom Lyle and Evelyn Williams.

Aspiration at the Villa Valentino, Tom Lyle's home in the Hollywood Hills. I believe Tom Lyle, was a major contributor, paying for the statue to be set in De Longpre Park, in 1930. He bought the Villa, placed a copy of Aspiration in a fountain and called his home, The Villa Valentino. Aspiration is still in our family and we love his inspiration to aspire up and never look down.

Maybelline Heir, Bill Williams, says "I do," for the third time.

Bill Williams, marries his third wife, Gloria Rosan, at his cousin Noel A. and Jean Williams home in Montecito California, on New Years Eve, 1977.

The Minister gives the vows to Bill and Gloria as Jean and Noel stand by.

Bill toasting his bride.

Mr. and Mrs. William Preston Williams Jr.

The big 4, Jean, Bill, Gloria and Noel A. Williams
"Let the 80's begin!"

If you've been following the Maybelline Blog, you have watched Bill and his cousin Noel A. since they were babies together. Now they're in their 50's as life takes on yet a new beginning.

The statue created for Rudolph Valentino in 1930, lives on.

Aspiration lives on to inspire the next generation, even after Tom Lyle and Maybelline are gone.

1979, Baby Georgia rocks in her rocking chair unaware of the history that has come before!

My One Woman Show today was a smashing success. Please check in this weekend for pictures, video's and details of the event in Beverly Hills, California.

The healing begins, as my family takes on a new make-up.

Getting on the right track, as our family heals from the aftermath of Arkansas.

Gene's mother, Evelyn Dorney, Gene, Sharrie, Baby Georgia, my sister Billee, Bill and Gloria at Georgia's second birthday at Disneyland.

Life took on a new slant, three years after Nana's death, and our war-torn family began to heal. Bill calmed down with Gloria, and he took his role, as head of the family, more seriously. He was a grandfather now, a father and soon to be a married man once again. The best years of our lives waited for us in the 1980's.

Stay tuned for Bill and Gloria's Wedding in Montecito, New Years Eve, 1979.

It's still not to late to purchase tickets for my One Woman Show, Sept 7th, at The Beverly Hills Women's Club. Hope to see some of you there as I make The Maybelline Story come alive.

That 70's show...Life after Nana's mysterious death, 1978

After Nana's sudden death - that shook us all to the bone - I realized I was no longer her little glamour-protege'. I embraced a healthier lifestyle, which included, eating clean, exercising and being Baby Georgia's Mommy.

Sharrie and Baby Georgia, on her first Birthday, loving her first set of Hot Wheels and all the cake she wanted to eat with her hands.

Gene and Sharrie with Baby Georgia.

The baby gave our lives meaning, and dreams of becoming a star seemed to melt away after Nana was gone. I felt happy inside and not so concerned about how I looked in designer clothes anymore. Our lives became simple, quiet and peaceful.

Of course you know the drill by now. If you want to know more about my life after Nana's death, purchase your copy of The Maybelline Story and let me know what you think.

The Beach Boys sing, God Only Knows.

Stay tuned next week for highlights from my One Woman Show for the Beverly Hills Women's Club. I will be featuring rare music from the Philharmonic Orchestra, playing The Beach Boys in concert. This music is from Chuck Williams, BB1's private collection given exclusively to him from Mike Love. It should create a nostalgic atmosphere that will make the 250 vintage pictures I'm showing, pop off the screen.

Lash-Brow-Ine history, by James Bennett.

Anyone who talks about the origins of Maybelline usually starts with Maybelline’s founder, Tom Lyle Williams, watching his sister Mabel applying burnt cork mixed into petroleum jelly to her eyebrows and lashes after she singed them on the stove. The story goes on to describe how Tom Lyle created an eyelash and eyebrow preparation (using a chemistry set) and a business (after borrowing some money from his brother Noel). However, the product he eventually sold through mail-order was developed by Park-Davies not his chemistry set and the business used to sell it was called Maybell Laboratories not Maybelline.

Maybell Laboratories

The product Tom Lyle got from Park-Davis was a scented cream made of white petroleum with oils to provide sheen. He marketed it through his mail-order business as ‘Lash-Brow-Ine’ a name he selected because of its similarity with other eyelash and eyebrow products already on the market such as ‘Eye-Brow-Ine’ and ‘Lashneen’. The business he started to sell Lash-Brow-Ine he named Maybell Laboratories.

Tom Lyle called Lash-Brow-Ine an eyebrow and eyelash growth promoter. Applying Lash-Brow-Ine to eyelashes and eyebrows would have made them appear darker and thicker but would not have stimulated them to grow. However, a long held belief that oils and petrolatum would stimulate hair growth would have given his claim substance in the minds of many potential buyers. Clearly there was demand as sales reached over $100,000 by 1920.

Tom Lyle registered the name ‘Lash-Brow-Ine’ as a trademark in 1917 but by 1921 it was no longer used in advertising. It had been replaced with ‘Maybelline’, a word Tom Lyle reputedly created by combining his sister’s name (Mabel) with the ‘ine’ of Vaseline. The reason usually given for the change was that the original name proved to be a mouthful. However, this simple explanation is not the whole truth.

In 1920 Tom Lyle was taken to court to settle a trademark dispute with Benjamin Ansehl, the founder of ‘Lashbrow Laboratories’. The outcome of the case was that Maybell Laboratories trademark for Lash-Brow-Ine was invalidated and Tom Lyle was given a court order to remove and destroy any references to Lash-Brow-Ine from that day onward.

Lashbrow Laboratories

Lashbrow Laboratories was started by Benjamin Ansehl in St Louis in 1912. It also made an eyebrow and eyelash growth promoter marketed as ‘Lashbrow’. The similarity between the names Lashbrow and Lash-Brow-Ine was the cause of the trademark dispute.

According to court records Lashbrow consisted of petrolatum, beeswax and powdered willow charcoal. It may have been made to a recipe similar to the one given below:

Vaseline yellow 56

Beeswax 4

Lampblack 40

The mixture of ‘vaseline’ and beeswax is melted by being placed in a warm mortar, and the lampblack is well ground in. The preparation is stored in small pots.

Redgrove & Foan, 1930, pp. 67-68

‘Lashbrow’ was marketed as promoting the growth of eyebrows and eyelashes rather than as a mascara. The product sold well enough for Ansehl to extend sales at the end of 1912 to the rest of the United States through Meyer Bros., a wholesale drug company.

Maybelline

In 1917 Tom Lyle developed a new product for darkening and lengthening eyelashes he called ‘Maybelline’. This product was an early version of what would be later known as cake mascara although Williams did not refer to it as such. It was a mixture of sodium stearate soap and pigment mixed together, extruded into strips, stamped and dried and was applied with a small brush that was first wet before being rubbed over the cake.

Why did Williams call the new product ‘Maybelline’? This was a new line and perhaps after all ‘Lash-Brow-Ine’ was hard to say. However, cake mascara is not vaseline based so that part of the story cannot be true.

A name change

Williams advertised extensively, particularly in film magazines such as ‘Photoplay’. In 1920, while the court case was running, advertisements were taken out for Lash-Brow-Ine and Maybelline. In one version the two products are clearly differentiated by suggesting that Lash-Brow-Ine should be applied at night to ‘nourish and promote growth’, while Maybelline makes lashes and eyebrows ‘longer, thicker and more luxuriant’. However, the advertising copy for that year is not consistent and in another advertisement the two products appear to be equivalent:

Just a wee touch of the little brush over your eyelashes and eyebrows with Lash-Brow-Ine and you will find a new beauty in your eyes. For Maybelline instantly furnishes that delicate touch of darker color so necessary to eyelashes and eyebrows while they are gently invigorated by the little brush.

1920 Maybell Laboratories Advertisement

1920 [September] Viola Dana endorsement for ‘Lash- Brow-Ine’ and ‘Maybelline’.

The lack of consistency in the advertising in 1920 probably reflects the uncertainty generated by the court case. However, it is clear that Lash-Brow-Ine was not renamed Maybelline simply because it was hard to say. Tom Lyle was probably hoping to maintain both products on the market as Lash-Brow-Ine had been a good earner and 1920 was not the best time to lose it. The world was in the middle of a post-war depression that would run through to 1922 so times were tough and as Maybelline was more expensive – it sold for 75 cents compared to 50 cents for Lash-Brow-Ine – there may have been concerns about potential sales. However, the court case forced Tom Lyle’s hand and Lash-Brow-Ine soon disappeared.

In 1923, Maybell Laboratories was renamed Maybelline and concentrated operations on eye make-up. The business flourished, helped by the continued use of extensive advertising and Tom Lyle’s shrewd use of actresses as role models. A liquid form of Maybelline was made available and sales of the “solid form” and “waterproof liquid form” of Maybelline did well, eventually finding their way onto the toilet counters of drug, variety and department stores.

See also Maybelline

19th April 2010

Sources

Poucher, W. A. (1932) Perfumes, cosmetics and soaps, Vols. 1-2 (4th ed.). London: Chapman and Hall.

Quirk, J. R. (1920) Photoplay magazine. Chicago, Ill.: Photoplay Publishing Co.

Redgrove, H. S. & Foan, G. A. (1930). Paint, powder and patches: A handbook of make-up for stage and carnival. London: William Heinemann.

The United States Trade-Mark Association. (1921). The trade-mark reporter. Volume 10. New York: Author.

Williams, S. & Youngs, B. (2010). The Maybelline story and the spirited family dynasty behind it. Florida: Bettie Youngs Books Publishing.

1920 [April-May] Ethyl Clayton endorsement for ‘Lash-Brow-Ine’.1920 [December] Ethyl Clayton endorsement Lash-Brow-Ine and other cosmetics. Note the Maybelline box in the background and the interchange of Lash-Brow-Ine and Maybelline in the copy.

Copyright © 2011 James Bennett

email: cosmeticsandskin@gmail.com

Vogues in beauty come and go then crop up again in the never-ceasing search for something new.

—G. Vail (1947)

email: cosmeticsandskin@gmail.com

Tickets for Sharrie Williams presentation at The Beverly Hills Women's Club click here.