A rich man, with a humble spirit, devoted to family first.

No matter how big Maybelline became, Tom Lyle Williams remained devoted to his Son and nieces and nephews, who loved and adored him all their lives.

Left to right - Bob (Williams) Haines, Dick Williams, Tommy (Williams) Hewes, Marilyn (Williams) Haines, Shirley (Williams) Hewes, June (Williams) Haines, Noel A. Williams, Bill Williams, Annette Williams, Helen Williams, Tom Lyle Jr. Williams holding baby, Joyce (Williams) Hewes.

Tom Lyle, The King of Advertising, was just Unk Ile, to the kid's who loved him.  Always humble, kind, generous and devoted - his love of family, remained constant,  all his life.

Parents were, Tom Lyle Williams and (Bennie Gibes,) Noel J. and Frances Williams, Mabel and Chet Hewes, Evelyn and Preston Williams and Eva and Ches Haines.

Read all about Tom Lyle and his family in The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.

Louis B Mayer, TL Williams and Emery Shaver at MGM.

Tom Lyle Williams and his partner, Emery Shaver, conducted business on a regular basis at MGM.  Negotiating Maybelline contracts, with some of Louis B. Mayer's,  most beautiful Stars.

                                          MGM Studio's famous gates.

          Louis B Mayer on the left with Paulette Goddard.

Paulette Goddard in an early 1940's Maybelline ad.

The FACE of Maybelline, in the 1940s, Joan Crawford.

MGM Star Joan Crawford, also Tom Lyle's personal friend.

One of the most beautiful women in the world,
Hedy Lamarr

                    MGM Star, Hedy Lamarr and Maybelline model.

                                                 Exotic Merle Oberon.

Merle Oberon made pictures at MGM for Samuel Goldwyn Productions, and was a Maybelline model.

My father Bill Williams and his mother Evelyn with uncle, Tom Lyle and Emery Shaver, (seated.)  Standing next to TL's 1934 Packard Victoria with the extra long hood.

To be Continued:

Read all about Maybelline and Old Hollywood in
                        The Maybelline Story.


Tom Lyle and Emery were bi-coastal, between Chicago and Hollywood in the 1930's and though Tom Lyle was a Hollywood mogul, contracting the biggest Stars in the world, he remained the Godfather for his family throughout his entire life. 

MGM - Louis B. Mayer - Maybelline - in the 1930s.

Louis B. Mayer, the Godfather of The Hollywood Star System, created Super Stars out of starlets. But not without the help of Tom Lyle Williams and Maybelline.

The star system was the method of creating, promoting and exploiting movie stars in Classical Hollywood cinema.

MGM was one of the most powerful and most prestigious of all the major motion picture studios.

Studios would select promising young actresses and glamorise and create personas for them, often inventing new names and even new backgrounds.

Louis B. Mayer, the most powerful , highest paid man in Hollywood, created the Hollywood myth, "that anything is possible, regardless of class or money."  He didn't want real life scandals to tarnish that dream, and diminish his audiences. 

The star system put an emphasis on the image rather than the acting. Women were expected to behave like ladies, and were never to leave the house without makeup and stylish clothes.

Part of creating the ideal image of emerging stars, was to promote them in Maybelline ads,

Jean Harlow on the cover of Picture Play, would also appear in a Maybelline ad inside the magazine.

Tom Lyle Williams kept his private life hidden from public scrutiny, to protect Maybelline's image.  However, he was as big, if not bigger, than any Hollywood Studio head and like Louis B. Mayer,  created Super Stars, by  grooming and promoting them in Maybelline advertisements.  

Jean Harlow, illustrated in a Maybelline ad, appeared in all the popular gossip, Hollywood movie magazines, in the early 1930s.

TO BE CONTINUED:

The whole exciting saga unfolds in my book, The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.

Glamour during the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Maybelline was synonymous with Hollywood Glamour in the 1930s.

Before and After Maybelline ad, with Paulette Goddard.

Carole Lombard, one of Tom Lyle's favorites.

Betty Grable, Maybelline Star.

Paulette Goddard, a personal friend of T L Williams.

Gloria Swanson, a Maybelline model from the 1920s.

Jean Harlow, another Maybelline model, Tom Llye, helped groom.

Marion Valle' brought fashion and Maybelline together.

Maybelline box, in the 1930s.

Black and white Maybelline ads, appeared in all the Hollywood gossip magazines.

Typical Maybelline ad found in Photoplay.

Tom Lyle Williams, with his son Tom Lyle Jr in 1934.

Read all about the Golden Age of Hollywood in The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It. 

Hedy Lamarr's new book, Hedy's Folly!!!

Hedy’s Folly: The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, the Most Beautiful Woman in the World by Richard Rhodes.

What other book brings together 1920s Paris, player pianos, Nazi weaponry, and digital wireless into one satisfying whole? In its juxtaposition of Hollywood glamour with the reality of a brutal war,

One of the most beautiful actresses in Hollywood was also being a talented inventor.  Richard Rhodes describes Hedy Lamarr’s partnering with George Antheil to invent a fundamental new wireless technology.

As one of Maybelline's most stunning models in the early 1940's, and the most popular post on my blog, I am thrilled Richard Rhodes has released Hedy Lamarr's story, one year after The Maybelline Story was puplished.  You can never get enough inside information on Old Hollywood as far as I'm concerned. 

Both Hedy's folly and The Maybelline Story are available at Amazon.  

Also if you love Old Hollywood be sure to check out,  Damn You, Scarlett O'Hara: The Private Lives of Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier.

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.  

RUNNER-UP: The Maybelline Story – Sharrie Williams with Bettie Youngs, under BIOGRAPHY/AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Old Hollywood Glamour in Newport Beach CA..

A glimpse of Old Hollywood, Art Deco and The Great Gatsby, through the eyes of Maybelline heir, Bill Williams in the 1990s.

My father, Bill Williams, in his late 60s - still handsome, athletic and actively remodeling a stunning, Art Deco, second home in Newport Beach in the late 1980s.

Nothing spelled, Old Hollywood glamour, and turned heads, like Bill and Gloria, cursing down Coast highway, in Newport Beach, with the top down, in Bill's, 1977 Clenet, series 1, # 13. 

When visiting Bill and Gloria, "Aspiration," greeted you at the entry, all lit up, in a running fountain.  

The Art Deco, black and white marble tiles, and Frank Sinatra singing, "Unforgettable" from the surround sound stereo, piped into every room, immediately swept you away to another era.

A glass block bar, with lavender lighting, black marble counter and wall to wall mirror, made the white marble floors look like an ice skating rink at night.

But nothing screamed outrageous, 1930, Hollywood glamour, like the master bath, with it's hand carved, dark green and black, pillar sinks, it's beveled dressing table with Hollywood lights, a tub encased in mirrors, and it's white and black marble floor.


Bill and Gloria in their 70s, at the Condo, hosting  a Christmas, Boat Parade party.

All this splendor looked out at sweeping views of the harbor, from every room, and a veranda where you could sit and have a glass of wine while watching the yachts go by.  The condo included a movie screen that came out of the ceiling, controls that opened blinds, brought down the movie screen, turned on the TV,  surround sound and the recessed lighting that were set on dimmers.  It was a virtual wonderland, that took your breath away, transported you out of your hum drum life and made you feel young, at any age.
Feel the full flavor of this glamorous lifestyle, as it comes to life in my book,  The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.  

The Gatsby lifestyle during the 1970s.

 "Can't repeat the past?... Why of course you can!" 

 F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby.

Noel A. Williams, sitting in his brother Dicks, Excalibur. This picture was taken at Dick and Ann's estate in Boca Raton, Florida in the late 1970s.

Noel A.Williams, during the shooting of, Goodbye Norma Jean, in 1975.  Picture was taken at his cousin Bill Williams estate, Casa de Guillermo, in Palm Springs California.

Noel A. and Jean Williams, in their 1975 Rolls, with Mickey Mouse in the back seat.

Noel A. with his Rolls Royce, a gift to himself for his 50th Birthday.

For the Williams boys, a longing to relive the golden years of the 1920s, 30s and 40s, played out, by creating individual identities, that included luxury automobiles, beautiful estates and the freedom to do what ever they dammed well pleased, during the 1970s.    

GATSBY - The American Dream - Beautiful Cars and Homes.

Great Gatsby, Rolls Royce.

 Dick Williams, his brother, Noel A. Williams and cousin Bob (Williams) Haines, loved beautiful automobiles, reminiscent of their uncle Tom Lyle Williams, custom made gorgeous Packard's. 

Bob (Williams) Haines and Dick Williams, with their Gatsbyesque Excalibur's, in Boca Raton, Florida.

Noel A. Williams, bought this beautiful, 1975 Rolls Royce, for his 50th Birthday.  It looked spectacular parked in front of the Bernard Maybeck estate, in Monticito California in the 1970s.