Maybelline founder Tom Lyle Williams

Reflection of Maybelline Eyes.

 What is more beautiful than the reflection of Maybelline Eyes? 

Ann Sheridan 


 Anita Page


 Barbara Stanwyck


Carole Lombard 


Claudette Colbert


Colleen Moore
                                                      Deanna Durbin


Joan Crawford


Greta Garbo


                                       Mae Clarke


                                      Marsha Hunt


Norma Shear


                                                       Veronica Lake

Read more about the Hollywood Stars who represented the face of Maybelline, during the Golden Age of Films, in The Maybelline Story. 
Purchase a signed copy at http://www.maybellinestory/.

Maybelline Beauties in the early 1910s.

Mabel Normand, in the early 1910's, was a forerunner for the great Hollywood Stars, who represented Maybelline, throughout the 20th Century.



By the time she first showed up at the Biograph studio in 1910, Normand was already a "Gibson Girl" (a model for illustrator Charles Dana Gibson) and she was not yet 18.




Most of the great beauties of the early 1910s were stage actresses who came to Hollywood looking for a career in Silent Films.  By 1915, when Lash-Brow-Ine
 was introduced to the public, Stars like Mabel Normand, had already set the standard for beauty.                                

Tom Lyle Williams saw an opening in the market that had been ignored - Eyes - the one feature on the face that had been overlooked.  He wrote a little book, called The Woman Beautiful, introducing Lash-Brow-Ine, how to use it, and what it can do to naturally enhance a woman's beauty.




Ethel Clayton, a beautiful stage and screen actresses, represented Lash-Brow-Ine.  Her pretty blond looks were reminiscent of the famous Gibson Girl drawings by Charles Dana Gibson.


One of the first Lash-Brow Ine ads, saying Actresses and Society Women endorse the new product.


Ethel Clayton endorsing Lash-Brow-Ine.

Find out more about Lash-Brow-Ine and Maybelline, as well as all the beautiful Hollywood Stars who endorsed them in The Maybelline Story.  Purchase a signed copy from http://www.maybellinestory.com/                                        

Maybelline during Prohibition and Hollywood's Heyday -1920's.

Women became aware of Lash-Brow-Ine, as Hollywood  broke the Victorian code of sexual silence. 

Risque photographs in the early 1900's revealed skin, as well as theatrical make-up - still not accepted on the street yet!


Hollywood introduced a new standard of beauty through the lens of a camera, and the public slowly replaced virtue - as a measure of beauty - for vanity.



Tom Lyle, through Hollywood Star endorsements, promoted Lash-Brow-Ine, as films were being pumped out and sent to theaters all over the country.


In 1920, Gloria Swanson, one of Hollywood's biggest Stars, endorsed Lash-Brow-Ine - raising the bar for courageous women to makeup their eyes - the same year women got the vote and Prohibition became the Law of the land.

Read more about Hollywood Silent Film Stars, Lash-Brow-Ine and Maybelline in The Maybelline Story.

Watch PBS PROHIBITION (click here)

Check out the trailer for Season 3, Boardwalk Empire, and get the feeling of Prohibition and the 1920's. 
 
The Maybelline Story, also captures Prohibition in gangland Chicago and Hollywood.  Be sure to purchase a copy at www.maybelliebook.com

Viola Dana, Super Star and Maybelline model from the 1920s,

Beautiful Viola Dana, another Maybelline model from the silent film era.










Viola Dana made over 100 films before retiring in 1929.  Read more about her and her years as a top box office star and a popular film magazine celebrity in The Maybelline Story.  Viola Dana endorsed both Lash-Brow-Ine and Maybelline, during the 1920s.

Mildred Davis one of Maybelline's first beautiful models.

If eyes are the mirror of the soul, Mildred Davis mirrored the soul of the American Girl in the early 1920's.


Beautiful Mildred Davis appeared in Maybelline ads in the early 1920s.

 Tom Lyle Williams, placed Maybelline ads, in all the       popular movie magazines during the 1920s.
  His promotion of gorgeous, Hollywood Stars,
 as Maybelline models, pioneered the 
Hollywood Star System. 

Read more about Mildred Davis, Maybelline and Tom Lyle Williams contribution to Hollywood, in

The Maybelline Story
                 

Scenes from Goodbye Norma Jean, filmed at my father's Casa Guillermo, 1975

Was Goodbye Norma Jean, a lost sleeper, or has it become a cult-favorite, capturing the film style of the 1970's?

A shot from inside Casa Guillermo.  On the left side is Jean Williams, my dad's cousin.  During the three day shooting of Goodbye Norma Jean, the director asked all of my friends and family to fill up the background in various shots. 


In this shot from Goodbye Norma Jean, Misty Rowe, morphs from being Norma Jean to Marilyn Monroe.  The three extras to her right are Jean Williams, my father, Bill Williams and his girlfriend Ernie Quarantello.

On the left is a friend of the family, Gerry Marks, in a scene shot in the living room of Casa Guillermo.

Maybelline Heir Bill Williams, Clenet Series 1, will show again!

Bill The Clenet is revving up again!  Chanting at the Bit, to get back on the road.   Look for "Bill," at The Santa Barbara Concours d' Elegance. click here!!


More about Bill the Clenet, and information about the Concours d' Elegance will be posted soon.  Also read more about Bill Williams and his love of beautiful automobiles in The Maybelline Story.  Signed copies available at www.maybellinestory.com.

Women clamor, for the promise of Provocative, Alluring Maybelline Eyes!

 America sinks deeper into hopelessness, during the 1930's, yet, Maybelline expands as the demand for beautiful eyes, continues to grow.
 
Top picture, Billy, Preston and Evelyn, with Tom Lyle. Bottom picture, Tom Lyle and his son Tom Jr. Right, Tom Lyle, President and sole owner of The Maybelline Company, with his 1934 Packard.

Tom Lyle, brilliantly used top actresses, to advertise Maybelline in film magazines, during the golden age of the 1930's.

One of Maybelline's most popular stars, Betty Grable, highlights the joys of beautifully made-up eyes.  Grable was part of the Hollywood Star System Tom Lyle helped create.

Read more about Tom Lyle Williams, sensational advertising techniques, that helped make some of the biggest Hollywood stars, and Maybelline, a household word, in...... 

               The Maybelline Story.

  Get a signed copy today at www.maybellinestory.com.

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.