Take a glance at the fascinating topics featured in my book

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Maybelline, Cosmetics,  Great Lash Mascara, beauty, Chicago, Hollywood, Morganfield KY, Tom Lyle Williams, L’Oreal, Great Depression, Bix Beiderbecke, Marketing Strategist, History, Family Dynasty, Mabel Williams, Noel J. Williams, Preston Williams, Evelyn Williams, Eva Williams, Chester Haines, Chet Hewes

Nickelodeon, Mary Pickford, Sears Roebuck and Co, Popular Mechanics Magazine, The Mayflower Families, Mercy Hospital, Mail Order Catalogues, The Household Guest, Weeghman Park, Balaban and Katz Theatre, Charlie Chaplin, The Little Tramp, World War 1, Cecil B. DeMille, Rudolph Valentino, Boston Opera Company, Jazz-Bo, Erte’, Art Nouveau, Harry Houdini,

 The Lusitania, Lillian Gish, Birth of a Nation, Photoplay magazine, Vaseline, Victorian Era, Marshall Fields and Co., Park-Davis, Mascaro, Police Gazette, Saturday Evening Post, Gibson Girl, Coco Chanel, Powder, Rouge, Wall Street Journal, Lost Generation, Lord and Taylor, The Jazz Age, Louis Armstrong, Al Capone, Flappers, Chicago Institute of Music, Theda Bara,

 Miss America Pageant, Lake Zurich, Scabs, Cleveland, Pinkerton Agents, Mildred Davis, Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunney, Cubs Park, Wrigley Field, Mayo Clinic, Charlie Chase, Viola Dana, Lefty Flynn, Beverly Hills Hotel, The Polo Lounge, Tom Mix, Miss Mixit, Will Rogers, Clara Bow, Mildred Davis, Gloria Swanson, Malibu Colony, Wings the film, 

The Jazz Singer, Argentina, gangsters, St Valentines Day Massacre, Herbert Hoover, Academy of Motion Picture Arts, Douglas Fairbanks, Roosevelt Hotel, The Circus (film), Marion Davies, Roaring Twenties, Art Deco, Ponds Cold Cream, Helena Rubenstein, Duke University, Actress Natalie Moorhead, Actress Norma Shearer,

Eastman-Kodak Camera, Tarzan of the Apes, Amos and Andy, “The Little Engine That Could,”  Jimmy Shield, William “Bill” Haines, MGM Studios, Baby Face Nelson, John Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, Clyde Barrow, Bonnie Parker, The New Deal, The San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge,

 Adolf Hitler, Tower Hill Military School, Dundee Illinois, Jean Harlow, Bombshell, National Recovery Act, FDR, The Maybelline Hour, WFNT, Penthouse Serenade,

 Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, Dust Bowl, Biograph Theatre, Biograph Studio, Lady In Red, Joan Crawford, Technicolor Film, 1934 Packard Automobile, The 1934 Worlds Fair, Jake the Barber, William Randolph Hearst,

 Marion Davies, Vogue Magazine, Ladies Home Journal, Max Factor, Charles Revlon, Merle Norman Cosmetics, Production Code Administration, (PCA), Hays Code, Cary Grant, Randolph Scott, California, Marlene Dietrich actress, Lilly Dache’, Carmen Miranda, Laguna Beach, The Great Ziegfeld, Deanna Durban actress, Judy Garland,

 Biltmore Hotel,  Musso and Franks restaurant, Hedy Lamaar actress, Carole Lombard actress, True Confession Magazine, World War 11, Eleanor Fisher actress, Santa Anita Racetrack,
 Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Bing Crosby, Seabiscuit,

 Benny Goodman band leader, Alice Faye actress, Alexander’s Ragtime Band, Fox Studio, The Fleishmann Hour, Times Square, Merle Oberon actress, Glenn Miller bandleader, The Wizard of Oz, Gone With The Wind, King Kong, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Eleanor Powell actress, Tommy Dorsey,

 Jimmy Dorsey bandleader, Tommy Dorsey bandleader, Frank Sinatra, Winston Churchhill, Tony Martin, Daryl Zanuck, Betty Grable, Phil Harris, Shirley Temple, Jane Withers, Busby Berkeley, Gene Krupa drummer,

 Cedric Gibbons, Douglas Aircraft, Louie B. Mayer, Mickey Rooney, Jeanette MacDonald, Glamour magazine, Ronald Reagan, Combat Camera, Bette Davis, Hollywood USO, Rita Hayworth , Mocambo restaurant, Xavier Cugat, Desi Arnaz, Greer Garson actress, Edgar Cayce, Jitterbugging, The Palladium, Romanoff’s restaurant, Humphrey Bogart, Lana Turner, The Coast Guard, Elyse Knox pinup girl, Linda Darnell, Maria Montez Susan Hayward, Virginia Mayo, Barbara Stanwyck, Fort Riley, Fort Ord, Philippines, General Douglas MacAuthur, Lois Collier actress, Ava Gardner,

 The American Dream, Norma Christopher, 1947 Tournament of Roses, Carlyle Blackwell Jr. Photography Studio, Hess Photography, Monoplies, McCarthyism, Bel Air Fire, Baldwin Hills Flood, Tungsten, Adlai Stevenson, President Eisenhower, Walkie Talkie Dolls, Dorian Gray, Chinatown in LA, Olvera St in LA, Frederick’s of Hollywood, Rosie the Riveter, James Dean, Bill Haley and the Comets, Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry Maybellene the song, Grace Kelly, Prince Rainier 111 of Monaco,

 Marilyn Monroe, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Ben Hur, Camarillo State Mental Hospital, Manic-Depressive disorder, F.W.Woolworth, Patricia Stevens Modeling School, Dream Girl, The Gong Show, The Dating Game, Plough Inc, Schering-Plough,  Martin Luther King Jr, Robert Kennedy, The Vietnam War, Neil Armstrong, Balboa Bay Club Newport Beach CA, Conway Twitty, Arson Fire In Hot Springs AK.

REVIEW.....Anyone interested in the fashion world and the power of artifice will absolutely relish each and every chapter, to the very tumultuous end of the story.

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A great story about the beautiful mortals.....A Compelling True Story of Success and Intrigue.....

I was only casually acquainted with the glamorous woman at the center of this saga. I was 22 years old in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and she was a brilliant but oddly vulnerable creature on the outer boundaries of my life then. This book answers so many questions I have had about her for many years. I am so glad it exists, and even more glad that it was written in a dynamic and thrilling style. The man who may be partially responsible for her death has been aptly described by the author. This book captures the legend that surrounded the woman and her family, and it is a great page-turner.   More importantly, the shining character of the remarkable Tom Lyle Williams guides this book.  By Holly

Marketing guru saw expansion potential for Maybelline in 1930s

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Maybelline's best kept secret was Rags Ragland Sr.

 

Let me introduce myself.  I am Alan 'Rags' Ragland the youngest and closest son to the 'Rags', who you undoubtedly will be coming to know in THE MAYBELLINE STORY.  Rags was the marketing guru who saw the expansion potential of this lonely little company at the corner of Ridge and Clark in Chicago.

I am so delighted that Sharrie Williams and Bettie Youngs have brought this silent story to you.  This has been a dream of Sharrie’s and I started talking to her about the inner workings of  Maybelline an estimated eighteen years ago. I am probably the last inside person left, that is able to reflect this fascinating and unbelievable success story.  Dad/Rags, was the only top executive outside of the Williams family.  Most of the reflections are from him and my exposure to these remarkable people.  Hence, hopefully, this will be another perspective of the scenario that is helpful in filling in the total picture of The Maybelline Story.

The effectual buyout of the Maybelline company was now $132.3M!

Alan A. Ragland and Sharrie Williams

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Excerpted from a letter from 
Alan A. Ragland.  Ragland also wrote the preface for The Maybelline Story 

The Maybelline Company was acquired by Plough, Inc. effective 2/28/68.  Negotiations were currently going on with American Cyanamid, Revlon, and Kimberly Clark.  Rags Ragland, The Marketing genius Tom Lyle hired in in 1933, had owned Plough stock and was the unique influence in recommending Plough as a suitor to the Maybelline Co.  Ragland's reasoning was that he knew that Plough was in a solid enough position to buy the Maybelline and also due to the leverage factor, he knew that Plough would be a preferred candidate.  Plough was in a far superior leveraged condition in that the company had much fewer shares outstanding.

During the 11th hour of negotiations, Ragland suggested to Tom Lyle's son Tom Jr., that Maybelline include Plough in the bidding:  Tom's initial reaction was "Rags, they do not have the money"... Ragland's response was, "Yes, they do Tom. I know their circumstances, as I have been a stockholder for years and know they are cash heavy."  Tom called Abe Plough and the next day

Plough was quickly and shrewdly chosen as the suitor:  They offered a minimum of  $100M  and there was a period of grace, whereupon the stock would float, then a specific day, which was 2/28/68 that the Plough stock price would be "pegged" for the official exchange.  On 2/28/68 the price of Plough had rallied so dramatically that the effectual buyout of the Maybelline company was now $132.3M!  Yes, it was leverage that caused this!  Demand plus fewer shares caused a stock breakout, which is a scenario seen on Wall Street each day.

In 1973 Schering, the 2nd largest pharmaceutical company in the world and Plough merged.  Each of the stockholder's received 1.32 shares of Schering for every share of of Plough that they had owned. 

Abe Plough and Lanny Smith flew up with their executive staff in their private jet from Memphis to talk to Maybelline in Chicago ... post haste!

many lessons you will learn about ethical and creative smart business practice.

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Not only was the marketing behind Maybelline brilliant, the handling of the business as a whole was ingenious.  If you own a business or are starting a business pick up a copy of "The Maybelline Story And The Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It,"  for the many lessons you will learn about ethical and creative smart business practice.  

Through the 53 year history when Tom Lyle Williams and his brother Noel James Williams were at the helm, Maybelline weathered and overcame some disastrous times in this country and the world. And it never folded. One of Tom Lyle's secrets was he surrounded himself with educated, brilliant people, like Rags Ragland, a marketing genius who helped shoot Maybelline to the moon with his innovation and inventive thinking. 

 And when the government considered Maybelline a monopoly and threatened to destroy the company, Tom Lyle divided Maybelline within the family, turning the production of mascara over to his brother in law, Chet Hewes and the transporting of Maybelline over to his brother in law Ches Haines.....to keep it a private, family-owned business.....  

Read all about the ups and downs of the Maybelline Company and the family behind it. 

Buy a signed copy from author Sharrie Williams today.

ULTRA BIG ULTRA LASH UPDATE FOR ALL THOSE WISHING TO HAVE IT BACK..

I finally found the Ultra Big Ultra Lash Mascara on Ebay and paid $29.99 for it. It is the ONLY mascara that keeps my lashes curled and soft. Maybelline Great Lash is awful, I makes lashes hard and brittle and does not keep the curl! I called Maybelline after receiving my Ultra Big Ultra Lash because my lashes now look like they did when I was 25 because of this mascara. WHY did Maybelline discontinue??? WHY?? PLEASE bring it back! It's selling for $50.00 to $75.00 per tube on the Internet! PLEASE! Pamela. MAYBELLINE ULTRA BIG ULTRA LASH MASCARA


Helen Tanguay February 19, 2013 6:20 pm I agree with all lovers of this mascara. I have used it as well, since my teen years and never had need to give it up till it was sadly discontinued. It was the best ever mascara of all time for me. Went on perfectly with no globs or clumps...smoothly, evenly, naturally and it kept the curl. It lengthened beautifully as well. I received so many compliments way back when, on my eyelashes. The brush was the best design ever. I HATE those big fat brushes out there that don't allow any control whatsoever. I have never been happy with any mascara since, (and I have been searching for over 20 years. PLEASE bring it back! on MAYBELLINE ULTRA BIG ULTRA LASH MASCARA

I was more than disappointed when I was unable to find this mascara. I was just telling my 3 daughters this morning, on the way to school and they were apply mascara, talking about their new mascaras. Yes, they all use something different and have their favorites. Well be the stay at home mom with no makeup on, yet, I had to chime in on the fact that there's not a mascara in the world that could touch UBUL! I have used it since I started wearing makeup and when they stopped making it, I went to every store buying up all they had. For over 10 years now I have tried every brand and every brands type! Still to this day 1/20/2013 NO SUCCESS! Now the girls are like "mom, try to see if they have repackaged it under a different name, you know Google it". So I did and came across this site. PLEASE tell me they will bring this back or sell the recipe for it to a brand that will! Robin Pierce, Atlanta GA onMAYBELLINE ULTRA BIG ULTRA LASH MASCARA

I truly feel as if your email today was heaven sent! Unfortunately, they are out of stock at the moment and I am anxiously waiting their reply. Thank you so much for taking the time to refer their website to me. PS - just came home from shopping and the fresh peaches were on sail. I am going to try your Aunt Mabel's recipe for peach cobbler. I saw a video link for you actually making it and it looked delish! You made my day twice today, thank you.




I'm thinking of doing a poll here on the Maybelline Book Blog to see if enough people would like me to petition Maybelline New York to bring back "Ultra Big Ultra Lash Mascara"  leave me a comment below if you want it back.

Here are the winners of my Facebook Contest!!!

FACEBOOK....
Christina Barber of Ottumwam IA

TWITTER.....
Amy Howard of Pavilion NY (@tarportelsis)

Thank you so much for taking the time to LIKE me on Facebook Ladies, your copy of The Maybelline Story, will be in the mail this week.  Congratulations!!!

Vintage 1960s Maybelline print ad slideshow

If my makeup bag ever dumped out of my school locker, slipped down bleachers during Football games, or slid under car seat at the drive-in….I quickly scrambled for my  mascara, because Ultra-Lash was clearly the key to my enchanting doe-eyed sex appeal.

A woman’s expressive eyes can say “Come look at me.”  “Coax me out of my bashfulness.”  “Yes, I’m flirting.”  “I’m interested in you.”  My great uncle, Tom Lyle Williams, appreciated beauty in all women and their beauty spoke to him straight through their eyes.  Here is a tribute to Maybelline during the 1960s.

IN THE BEGINNING THERE WAS MAYBELLINE...a never-before-told story that spans a 100 years and paints the picture of the American Dream.

   My Great uncle Tom Lyle Williams founded The Maybelline Company, in 1915 and owned it until it sold to Plough Inc. in 1967.

   Here is a peek at The Maybelline Story from the 1920's...

                          In the Beginning there was MAYBELLINE....

Noel James and Frances Williams 1917.

But it wouldn't have been possible without.....
Noel J. Williams.

“Once you become a star, you are always a star!” Maybelline Girl, Mae Murray, rose to fame during the silent film era and was known as "The Girl with the Bee-Stung Lips" and "The Gardenia of the Screen"

"One of the many Beautiful Stage and Screen Stars who wear and highly recommend Maybelline Beauty Aids''.

May Murray appeared in this Maybelline ad while starring with Rudolph Valentino in The Delicious Little Devil in 1919. 

Purchase this Comedy/The Delicious Little Devil (1919) DVD

The Delicious Little Devil is a silent film drama/comedy produced by Universal Film Manufacturing Company in 1919 stars Mae Murray and features a "pre-star" Rudolph Valentino. Purchase the card at Silent Cinema Inc. lobby card

Mae Murray: The Girl with the Bee-Stung Lips (Screen Classics) (Hardcover) The real-life silent screen queen of the 20s was defined, not only by her screen allure, but also by her fabrications, her fictions, her pretenses, her litigiousness and her decidedly odd behavior.

she was once "The Merry Widow," or a hardworking professional silent screen actress who got lost in her own publicity.

Mae Murray could not let go of the fantasy that Hollywood had and it destroyed any hope of her leading a normal life out of the spotlight.

 Murray's life could be the model for Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard.  She was a Ziegfeld Girl, a successful dancer and a successful Silent Film movie queen. 

Click on the video and enjoy Maybelline's beautiful

Movie Legend, Mae Murray.

Why is it that so many of these Silent Film Stars lives in so tragically? Mae Murray's sad ending.

When the Talkies took over many turned to Alcohol and died young like Mary Eaton.

Thank you for following the Maybelline Book Blog.

Viva Glam Magazine Featuring Author Sharrie Williams

 VIVA GLAM Article By Avijah Shaye 

Sharrie Williams

Walking into Sharrie Williams lavish Laguna Beach home and seeing the blonde beauty for the first time, I couldn’t help but think the scene I walked into was exactly what one would expect from an heiress of a beauty empire. The dramatic ocean views, expensive décor, and immaculate furnishings showed vast wealth and class. And Sharrie, who is now a grandmother, sparkled with youthful glamour and an energetic passion for life – which was most evident when she began talking about her remarkable family and their creation of one of the world’s most prominent cosmetics brands: Maybelline.

It all started out in 1915 when Sharrie’s great uncle Tom Lyle Williams witnessed his sister Mabel experiment with a trick called “the Harem’s Secret,” something she had read about in a women’s magazine. She mixed a little bit of burnt cork with some petroleum jelly and coal dust and used the concoction to fill in her eyebrows and eyelashes. Tom Lyle watched in amazement as Mabel made herself look as beautiful as the Hollywood film actresses he idolized as a kid working in a local Nickelodeon. The next day Tom Lyle set out to do research on eye beauty products and realized the market was wide open and that eyes were the last feature neglected by the beauty industry. After hiring a chemist to create a solution, the family business named after his sister Mabel, was started.

Tom Lyle Williams, 1915

Tom Lyle Williams, 1940

The rest is history. A fascinating and dramatic tale with so many twists and turns and ups and downs over the span of a century that it would make an excellent book. And that is exactly what Sharrie did – she made it her life’s work to preserve her family legacy in a book she wrote titled, The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.

Mabel

“It was very important for me to write this book,” Sharrie said. “My personal story may be inspiring and encourage other people to write their family's story, if only for future generations. It is a gift to leave a legacy, a road map for your children and grandchildren. The Maybelline Story is a thread in the fabric of America's Story and would have been lost forever if I didn't tell it.”

And listening to Sharrie’s story was like a history lesson itself. Each decade had its own customs and beliefs when it came to women, fashion, beauty, and what was considered acceptable at the time. Maybelline played a huge part in setting new trends and standards for women at a time when Victorian ideals were considered what was proper.

“Women back in 1917 didn’t wear makeup on the street. Prostitutes did and actresses did. But really it was difficult to try and convince regular women to make up their eyes in public. And it happened because of the movie stars just like it happens today,” Sharrie said.

Maybelline ad with Hedy Lamarr, 1943

Maybelline ad with Joan Crawford, 1945

And indeed it was Tom Lyle’s brilliant marketing strategies that capitalized on the love triangle between products, movies, and celebrities that is still in tact today. Some of Maybelline’s first models were actresses Gloria Swanson, Clara Bow, and Viola Dana. The ads featured photos of them heavily made up in Maybeline, with print that said things like, “You too can have eyes that charm.”

 

Maybelline ad WWII

Maybelline Ad with Betty Grable, 1940

“Young girls were starting to want to be beautiful like their favorite movie stars, and were learning how to do it from the magazines since their mothers didn’t wear a stitch of makeup,” Sharrie explained. “The 1920’s girls were the first to drive in cars with boys, have sex out of marriage, smoke cigarettes, wear skirts above their knees, go out dancing and wear makeup. It was a cultural transition that started with my Great Uncle Tom Lyle and has turned into what we have today.”

Maybelline mascara, 1916

Tom Lyle’s business and marketing skills were way ahead of his time – especially for a young man who grew up on a farm in rural Kentucky. But it was those early days that helped prepare him for his remarkable future.

“Ever since he was a little child on the farm, he was so curious and inquisitive. He lived by the Sears Catalog. Even as an eight-year-old child he would take himself out of the farm and into the world by studying that catalog. With that, he taught himself advertising and marketing because there was nothing else to do,” Sharrie said.

His self-taught marketing skills combined with several other factors to become the driving force Tom Lyle needed to fulfill his destiny. After getting his girlfriend pregnant when he was just 16-years-old, it seemed as if he had something to prove.

“He wanted to do the right thing so they had run off and gotten married, and her parents forced her to annul the marriage because he was a dreamer and was never going to make anything of himself. They thought he was a loser,” Sharrie said. “He became hell bent on making a success of himself for his child.”

Tom Lyle then moved around a bit and dabbled in several business before starting Maybelline with the help of his older brother Noel James Williams who postponed his wedding for one year and loaned Tom Lyle $500 to start his business in Chicago. Together Tom Lyle, Mabel, and Noel J founded what would someday become an empire and make the entire Williams family multi-millionaires when the company sold in December 1967. But the journey was not an easy one for the Williams Clan or the Maybelline Company.

 

Noel James Williams 

The business challenges documented in the book ranged from surviving the great depression, almost going out of business, and dealing with lawsuits while some of the more personal problems within the family included alcoholism, extramarital affairs, and homosexuality when it was far less acceptable in society. But it was these trials and triumphs that made the book remarkable and one that many people can gain inspiration from. And Sharrie’s descriptions of each family member’s character really draws you into their world. And like the other Williams, Sharrie herself ran into challenges while making her own mark.  

Tom Lyle Williams, 1965

“The biggest challenge was dealing with my fear. Fear of what my family would say, how they would feel about what I wrote about them,” Sharrie said. “Also since it took over 20 years to write the book and find a publisher, I had to constantly overcome feelings of wanting to give up and destroy my work. It isn't easy facing all the insecurities that come up for artist's of any kind. Some drink, do drugs or kill themselves. The process isn't for light weights that's for sure.”

In the end Sharrie’s hard work paid off. Even her house burning down in the midst of writing her book, during an infamous Laguna Beach fire, didn’t stop her. Her book and her blog became immensely popular, and she gained an incredible sense of accomplishment from telling her family’s story. “I now realize I was chosen to be a channel for those who have passed on - to live again through my words,” said Sharrie.

Sharrie Williams, 2013

And Sharrie’s words really do bring them back to life, from the first page up until the shocking and mysterious ending. To really understand the legacy of this glamorous family and their part in the history of American beauty, you can purchase the book The Maybeline Story at www.maybellinebook.com. or bettieyoungsbooks.com.  Follow Sharrie on Twitter @sharriewilliams and Facebook, Sharrie Williams.