Maybelline's Glamorous Film Goddess Rita Hayworth a favorite GI Pin Up Girl.

In the 1930s, Rita Hayworth (1918-1987) was confined to leads in "B" pictures, but through much of the 1940s she became the undisputed sex goddess of Hollywood films and the hottest star at Columbia Studios.

Whether illuminating the screen with a song and dance or beaming from a magazine photo, Rita Hayworth was an unforgettable sight. Capitalizing on her inherited beauty and talent to become a legendary motion picture star, Hayworth captured the hearts of countless American servicemen during the 1940s. At her peak, she epitomized American beauty,

Every woman in the world wanted the sex appeal love goddess, Rita Hayworth exuded on camera with her bedroom eye's batting from the silver screen.  Every serviceman dreamed of coming home to a doll like the voluptuous Rita Hayworth and Tom Lyle capitalized on her selling power.

During the World War ll in America romance was portrayed in every advertisement from the beauty of Maybelline eyes to the chic sex appeal of Chesterfield cigarettes.  Young love meant morale building and that encouraged the boys fighting for their country to come home soon.

 Rita Hayworth epitomized, youth, energy, romance and hope for bright future, a better future.  She was the seductive siren who called the boy's home with a glint of promise in her beautiful Maybelline eyes.

click here to see Rita singing in her famous 1946 film, Gilda.
a black-and-white film noir directed by Charles Vidor. It stars Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth in her signature role as the ultimate femme fatale.

Read more about Maybelline and the Hollywood Star System in The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind it.

Pearl White - a box office sensation in 1914 the year before Maybelline was born

The Perils of Pauline was an enormous box-office success, and made Pearl White a major celebrity;  she was soon earning in those times the astronomical sum of $3,000 a week.

Released in 1914, The Perils of Pauline consisted of twenty episodes that used the heroine-in-jeopardy story line to great success.  It is considered by some to be the most famous suspense serial in cinema history.

In the serials, week after week, Pauline evaded attempts on her life.  She fought pirates, Indians, gypsies, rats, sharks, and her dastardly guardian. 

The unresolved, heroine-in-danger endings left audiences wondering what would happen in the next chapter, and kept them coming back for more.  In the series, White performed many of her own stunts, and became known as the “stunt queen” of the silent film era

She was a daring, athletic, and active star, often placed in risky situations — sent aloft in a runaway balloon, trapped in a burning house, or left hanging from the side of a cliff - thus she was credited with generating the new phrase “cliffhanger.”)

At the same time, a little family living on a modest farm in Morganfield Kentucky,  watched The Perils of Pauline, at the Nickelodeon and had no idea how Hollywood film Stars, like Pearl White, would one day impact their lives. 

Mabel Williams, on the top left, with her mother Anna, seated, her sister Eva Kaye, on the ground, and two elderly aunts, pose for a picture in 1914, on the old
Homestead in Kentucky. 

For the rest of her life, Mabel, couldn't help but cry every time she listened to  "My Old Kentucky Home."

While The Peril's of Pauline,  remained a box office smash in 1914, and My Old Kentucky Home, continued
 to bring tears, to Southern men and women's eyes - a young boy, named Tom Lyle Williams moved into a boarding house in Chicago with his brother Noel James, and worked for $8.50 a week at Montgomery Ward.  On the side, he sold joke gifts and risque postcards through the classifieds and dreamed of someday having his own mail order business. 

His sister Mabel arrived in Chicago, in 1915, to help with the little catalog business and while there, concocted a mixture of coal dust and Vaseline, to enhance the color of her lashes and brows and help make them grow.  Soon, Lash-Brow-Ine, was born and a year later, it was  renamed Maybelline in Mabel Williams honor.

Two Dudes Review: This is not what might be easily presumed to be a girly-girl reading about "make-up

Phil Ankofski says:

• September 23, 2015 at 7:45 am

  
  

  
  

  

  Woody’s Culver City, the Toes Beach, Sharrie Williams and our own Bob.

  

  
  

  I would like to start this gorgeous day in Dublin , Ohio by revisiting some times gone bye during the mid 1960’s.
  It was our own Bob of Los Ranchos who introduced us to the name of Sharrie Williams. I do not remember the context in which Bob referred to her, but his comments piqued my interest and I have since discovered much more about this beautiful and talented lady.

  

  Towards the end of summer in 1964, I myself along with several other new crew members at Woody’s Culver City were learning to serve root beers, salads and how to work the cash register. Sharrie Williams, who was a junior at Culver City HS was suffering heart break because she was disqualified from the Miss Culver City Pageant.(1964)
  The Beach Boys, Rolling Stones and James Brown were appearing in Santa Monica for the TAMI concert.

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  Sharrie was now driving her 57 Chevy, so she now had an independent access to her favorite places ; The Culver Theater, the Studio Drive In, Woody’s SmorgasBurger and the Toes Beach. Toes Beach is in Playa del Rey at the very northern end of D & W beach. ( where the La Marina Inn was and the lagoon still is. )
  

  
  

  

  
  

  Sharrie had another year of high school with graduation in June, 1965. So what all this means is ; Sharrie and I were interacting for some time while she was a patron at Woody’s , plus her time at Toes. I had been renting a room in a private home on Fowling ST. which overlooked
  the lagoon and Toes beach. I used to walk there in 10 minutes.

  
  Now ( 2015 ) , I get to wonder ……. was that really Sharrie who I remember ?

  
  

  Sharrie Williams is the Grand Niece of Tom Lyle Williams who was the founder of the Maybelline Co.
  In 2010, Sharrie authored her book ; ” The Maybelline Story “.

  I just purchased my copy from Amazon and have found this story to be FABULOUSLY WRITTEN AND SO ENTERTAINING AND INFORMATIVE.
  ~ Well done Sharrie Williams ! ~

  Yes, I am recommending this book to everyone. You local guys get extra fun because much of the story was written about your own backyard. Last week I enjoyed watching the PBS TV story of Walt Disney.  While reading about Tom Lyle Williams , I can see so many similarities
  between him and Mr. Disney. It is like their DNA is identical.

  I need to give Bob of Los Ranchos a ” shout out ” for putting me on to Sharrie Williams. Thank you Bob.

  Sharrie Williams has several web sites of her own, plus she contributes to others as well. She also has a Facebook site which is a real blast to peruse.

  
  If anyone was to write a book about Woody’s Smorgas Burger, Sharrie would be the ultimate co author to have as a partner.

  
  

  Phil Ankofski
• Phil Ankofski says:

  September 23, 2015 at 2:43 pm

  Again , I am encouraging everyone here to get a copy of ” The Maybelline Story “. While you are awaiting the delivery of your book, you can check out the Facebook site I was referring to above. A little help for you ………..
  facebook.com/maybellinebook

  Phil Ankofski
• Bob of the Village of Los Ranchos (NM) says:

  September 24, 2015 at 10:08 am

  Whoa! Quite an exalted book review Phillip! (Probably what I might have done for Atlas Shrugged, back in the day!) Maybe drop such a review on Amazon http://tinyurl.com/pjcatjn

  
  I think the context of the original reference about Sharrie was when I ran across, by happenstance, her reference to enjoying CC’s Woody’s! I think you then “admitted” you thought you tried to get her phone number per being the self admitted lecher you were as evidenced by giving her a Sign-up card for a comped Birthday Woody, but alas she filled it out and returned it to another Dude!!!!
  In any event, very nice review!

Bob of the Village of Los Ranchos (NM) says:

• If truth be told, I’ve become embarrassingly lazy when it comes to reading books! Being surprised by Phil’s exuberance however, I picked up a copy of The Maybelline Story.

  
  

   So as the topic does not get lost lest my reading slows down, I’d like to note that after only the first 86 pages last night, you will find this is not what might be easily presumed to be a girly-girl reading about “make-up”. In addition, and despite stereotypes that may come to mind for some, given Sharrie’s ‘cuteness’, this is well written prose that most Guys will enjoy.

  
  Pardon: I was far from being an English Lit major so am not precise with “terms” in trying to describe it. Sharrie has gathered known and factual family history and ‘filled in’ plausible narrative to make it other than dry facts to create what I’m thinking is known as in the genre of being a historical novel. E.g. taking known facts and fleshing-in what most likely was said by the actual characters. Surely, I stand to be corrected.

  
  What caught my eye so far and caused me to write this, is the inspirational example that many of today’s ‘downtrodden’ teens might take a page from “Tom Lyle” in getting their act together rather than falling prey to the victimizers who ascribe and forecast one’s never- changing/hopeless condition in life to the harsh world we live in through no fault of our own. While I don’t yet know “how” The Story turns out, it’s been great so far and I Second Phil’s enthusiasm.
• 
  

  Bob of LR ,

  It is great to learn that you ordered Sharrie’s book and are enjoying it. I am also glad to see you did a much more detailed review than I did. It is significant that you made note that ” The Maybelline Story ” is not a girly- girl read. I would be thrilled to learn that Ron Howard or Tom Hanks
  picked up the rights for a TV mini series. ( Sharrie would be too ! )

  I’m thinking of a Woody’s type Steak a Bob for dinner. ( using PRIME beef )
  
  
   Bob of Los Ranchos says
• (Psst: finished The Maybelline Story. Indeed, the intrigue continued beyond page 86. Hmm…what would Sharrie’s Great-Uncle and his cabinet bring to our country’s leadership position? )

Beyond page 86: What a roller coaster of lives and living, often turning unexpected corners causing several chuckles along the way. Loved the "self-effacing(?)" line: "....That same year, my grandmother taught me to fall in love with my own reflection. I was five..."  Alas, t'was not a "Hollywood" ending. Great that you gathered yourself all up, as I would imagine it took a lot of "inner stuff" to put The Story together.

 http://www.oldlarestaurants.com/woodys-gallery/comment-page-3/#comment-26863

Maybelline might have been named Evaline rather than Maybelline

People have asked me why I didn't put more pictures in my book so they could see the different family members as they went from children to old age.  Well I was only allowed 13 pictures and it was a hard choice as you can imagine.

 So I'm doing a picture-bio of the main characters - starting with Tom Lyle's youngest sister Eva.  Here she is with her brother Preston, my grandfather, on their Morganfield Farm in in 1908, dressed for church I bet.  Don't you love the big bow in her hair and the posing?   Eva and Preston were very close playmates all their lives and she once told me how they loved to roam the woods around the old homestead, exploring and seeking adventure.  When young Preston got in trouble and their father Sheriff TJ locked him in jail to teach him a lesson, it was Eva who snuck in dime novels to keep him busy while he learned his big lesson.

When the family moved off the farm and into their first little warehouse/office in Chicago -with an apartment upstairs - they all helped Tom Lyle get his little Maybelline company off the ground.  Fifteen year old Eva's job was to be the "go-for" girl. When anyone needed something it was Eva who ran down the block to get it.

She once told me how when the family wanted a milk shake she gladly took a quarter for 5 drinks and ran down the street to the soda fountain, where she quickly drank her shake before slowly making her way back home so the shakes wouldn't spill.  Sometimes the walk home took so long she got thirsty and sipped a little from each siplings drink.  By the time she returned, you can just hear the flack she got from her brothers and sister, however Eva was a spitfire with a sharp wit and had a darn good reason for sipping those drinks I'm sure.

I  love this picture of my grandfather Preston and auntie E, as my dad called her.  She and Preston remained devoted even when mmgrandmother was at her wits end with his endless trouble making.  When my grandmother kicked him out of the house Eva gladly welcomed him into hers and there was nothing I mean nothing she wouldn't do for her darling brother.

Look at those beautiful Maybelline eyes with a twinkle like no others.  This picture was taken in 1924 for her sweetheart Ches Haines whom she married Oct 11th of that year.  Auntie E once told me that it could have easily been her who concocted the ingredients that gave her brother Tom Lyle the idea for Maybelline.  She was serious when she said it made her a little jealous that her sister Mabel got the credit, but then laughed at the idea of Maybelline being called Evaline.  Not quite the impact Tom Lyle was going for I'm sure.

Here is my glamorous Auntie E at her daughter June's wedding in the late 1940's.  She seemed to get more gorgeous the older she got and that quick wit made her a star in the family.  Don't you just love that feather in her hat?

 Uncle Ches the father of the bride, on the left next to June and her new husband John Gary.

 Here is a picture of Eva with her daughter Marilyn, (Ditty) taken in 1966 at Tom Lyle's estate in Bel Air California.  Eva is 65 in this picture, a beautiful, elegant lady with all the style and glamour of anyone of Maybelline's models.  Tom Lyle is sitting on the floor with Miss Snoop E. Williams and Sparkie.  He once told me chuckling, that the E in Snoop's name stood for his sister Eva.  I wonder what he meant? 

Eva is a colorful character in The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.  I think you will fall in love with her just like I did.  She was one of a kind.

 I recently had the pleasure of meeting up with my cousin Jerry Westhouse, Eva's grandson, while he was in California, visiting from Chicago. The love my grandfather, Preston had for his sister Eva, and my father had for Jerry's mother Marilyn, is still is alive and well in our generation. Maybe it's our history or Maybe it's Maybelline, but, no matter what we plan to keep the magic of the family story going as long as we're alive.



 Meet Jerry Westhouse

My Daredevil Maybelline Cousin, Jerry Westhouse...a real ...

I like to brag about my Maybelline family, when ever I get the chance... as you can see from the Blog Posts I've done featuring my cousin Jerry Westhouse, below. Jerry is an accomplished race car driver, who is still connected ...

clipped from Google - 10/2015

Maybelline Heir - RACE CAR DRIVER - Jerry Westhouse

Eva and Ches Haines, with their first grandchild, Jerry Westhouse, in the 1970's. Ches continued his love for beautiful automobiles until the end of his life and passed on his legacy to his grandson, Jerry. After the Maybelline ...

Happy 89th Birthday Chuck Berry, "Maybellene" has been a hit for 60 years on Maybelline's 100 year Anniversary

Berry's first single release and his first hit. "Maybellene" is considered one of the pioneering rock and roll singles: Rolling Stone magazine wrote, "Rock & roll guitar starts here."[2] The record is an early instance of the complete rock and roll package: youthful subject matter, small guitar-driven combo, clear diction, and an atmosphere of unrelenting excitement.

Spotting a mascara box on the floor of the studio, according to Berry’s partner Johnnie Johnson, Chess said, “Well, hell, let’s name the damn thing Maybellene” altering the spelling to avoid a suit by the cosmetic company.

 In 1988 "Maybellene" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for its influence as a rock and roll single.[8]

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame included "Maybellene" in their list of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll list, as well as "Rock and Roll Music" and "Johnny B. Goode".  In 1999, National Public Radio included it in the "NPR 100," the one hundred most important American musical works of the 20th century as chosen by NPR music editors.

 "Maybellene" is currently ranked as the 81st greatest song of all time, as well as the second best song of 1955, by Acclaimed Music.

Maybellene 1955 liveChuck Berry's Maybellene, ranked # 18, by Rolling Stone magazine's top 500 hits and # 81 in all time rock and roll songs.

Chuck Berry did ask Tom Lyle Williams, for permission to use the Maybelline name.  The spelling is often spelled the same as the mascara.  Read all about it in my book, The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.

What's in a Maybelline slogan?

Viola Dana - Beautiful Photoplay Star, 1925.  Read all about her in The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.  Order now on Amazon.

Today when you think of Maybelline, you think of Maybelline New York's catchy slogan,

 "Maybe She's Born With It?  Maybe It's Maybelline?"  

But over the last 100 years there have been many other wonderful slogans, with beautiful stars from stage and screen.  Here are a few:

In 1917, The slogan "Maybelline, Darkens and Beautifies Eyelashes and Brows Instantly," splashed onto the pages of movie magazines for the first time with lovely Mildred Davis as Maybelline's fetching face of the decade.

During the 1920's, the slogan, "Eyes That Charm" seduced women to mail order Maybelline, after being captivated by vampish silent  screen star Viola Dana.

In the 1930’s Maybelline ads went from black and white to beautifully colored art deco illustrations of glamorous women, inspired by actress Natalie Moorhead.

They read: "It's Easy now to have Bewitching Eyes!" 

"Alluring eyes may be instantly yours by the magic of Maybelline.

"Only genuine Maybelline can give you truly alluring eyes."  "Your eyes should be your most alluring feature." 
 
Another ad in the 30’s read "Old as ancient Egypt New as modern Paris," and had an illustration of Cleopatra on one half of the page and a modern 1930’s beauty on the other.

By the 1940’s Maybelline’s slogan became "Isn't She, or Isn't She," with before and after photography and the most famous slogan for several decades,

  "Quality Yet Sensibly Priced."

These ads featured full page colored, glossy photographs of Pin up girls like Betty Grable, Rita Haworth, Hedy Lamaar and Elyse Knox, bombshells of the WW11 era. 

By the 1950’s, TV slogans became more international and reached a new type of woman, the independent modern woman. 


The catch word became "Exotic," and the new slogan became "Achieve the new Exotic eye make up with Maybelline."  Tom Lyle was the first to do "before and after" ads using the slogans:

"What a difference Maybelline makes."

"Be Fashion-wise accent your eyes with Maybelline."

-Maybelline was now about fashion, being smart and accenting your beautiful eyes.

  "Preferred By Smart Women The World Over"

In 1964, Emery Shaver, the genius wordsmith who fashioned every Maybelline slogan from 1915 to 1964, died from a massive heart attack.  His last slogan for Tom Lyle's prized, Ultra Lash launched that year was,

 "Maybelline the most prized eye cosmetics in the world".  And never forget his famous,


"A woman's most prized possession is a man's imagination." 

"What's in a slogan?" was and still is today,

  SEX APPEAL!