Maybelline Heiress says "let them eat cake," while filming at her fathers estate.

The Villa Valentino, Hollywood Hills, 1945. Rudolph Valentino's Statue, Aspiration symbolized aspiring to the stars and never giving up on your dreams. Photo below is of Tom Lyle's nephew Bill Williams with his girlfriend Pauline Mac Donald swimming in the pool.(My parents.)

30 years later, author Sharrie Williams and her father Bill Williams stood on his veranda overlooking his estate in Palm Springs, where Aspiration still looked up at the sky, ever reminding us to never ever give up on our dreams.

Excerpt from Sharrie's 1975 Diary.

My Dad and I stood on the veranda outside his master bedroom, waiting for the tub scene where Misty Rowe - playing a young Marilyn Monroe in Goodbye Norma Jean -would languish nude in a mountain of bubbles.  I was stoned out of my mind and relished my own role as daddy's little spoiled princess, while he fumed over his lawns being torn up with cables and trampling feet.

As we stood under the black and tan stripped awning, holding onto the black wrought iron railing, dad wanted to stop the filming and throw everyone off his newly landscaped estate.

 "What the hell am I going to do with all these god damned people ruining my fucking lawns." he said ready to throw me over the railing as well for getting him into this mess.

"Oh don't worry daddy," I said,in an arrogant tone - "Just let them eat cake," - in my best Marie Antoinette impersonation, looking over a swarm of peasants about to destroy Versailles.

He looked at me, gritting his teeth and said, " God damnit Sharrie, what the hell are you talking about - are you nuts?"  And of course I didn't have a clue what I was talking about and I was pretty nuts at the time! All I knew was this was my dream come true, and as I stared at Aspiration I hoped this feeling would never end.

More on the making of Goodbye Norma Jean in the next post.  You can also read about the sale of the Maybelline Company and how my dad's inheritance from the sale of the Maybelline co. affected my branch of the family in The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.

Filming of Goodbye Norma Jean at Maybelline Heir's estate in Palm Springs, 1975.

Author Sharrie Williams on the left sitting next to her little sister Billee Williams with the rest of the extras during the filming of Goodbye Norma Jean, at their father Bill Williams estate Casa de Guillermo's in 1975.

 Excerpt from Author, Sharrie Williams' 1975 Diary.

By January of 1975, Billee, my little sister had gone on a cattle call, to be an extra in an independent film called "Good-Bye Norma Jean", and she said I should go up to Hollywood, and see if I could get in the movie as well. Gene thought it would be fun and went with me for the audition. We needed to generate some cash flow with Nana gone, and I hoped I might make it into the movie business 

      and keep the excitement in our marriage going.     

The casting director was a young guy about our age and thought I was beautiful, but seemed even more impressed that Gene was a lawyer with that California laid back confidence.  In other words, he liked us both and thought we were a cool couple.  

He gave us the scene layout for the movie and I pictured the whole thing being shot at my dad's estate in Palms Springs.  I showed him pictures of the grounds, and he said it looked like an old 1930's directors home:  with its circular drive-way, rows of tall palm trees, fountains, wrought iron electric gates, Olympic size swimming pool, tennis court, 5 hole chipping green, Koi pond and stream running through it, as well as a guest house, 12 vintage cars and completely private.  He was blown away and said he had to have it.  I told him I'd ask my dad and get back to him. 

The whole thing was such a high, that I never thought about Nana, Hot Springs, or the  fortune hunter she ran off with at 74.  After all, I was creating my own fantasy-life in which I was the star.

My Dad actually thought it would be fun, so after the contracts were signed -  and some money paid for the use of the grounds -  and he was assured that if any damage took place he'd be covered -  the gig was on!  We shot the movie at the end of February and it was the most fun, exciting thing that ever happened. 

The Director let me cast all my friends and family as extras and a two day nonstop party was on.  Twelve of my friends, cousin Chuck and Anne, plus Gene and I stayed at the estate we were married in, with it's 7 bedrooms and full time maid and cook, while my dad and his cousin Noel and Jean and girlfriend Ernie, stayed at the Casa.  My dad actually had two estates a few blocks apart and the extravagance was off the charts. 

More of the making Goodbye Norma Jean at the Casa tomorrow.  Also read more in the Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind it.   

Cosmetic Kid Sharrie Williams interview on First Business - Chicago.

http://www.firstbusinessnews.com/videos.php?video=eca774c5ec2c4929991783061e0037e2

Please check out Sharrie Williams interview on First Business, called The Cosmetic Kid. 

All suntanned and ready to roll, The Cosmetic Kid, author Sharrie Williams digs into her Birthday cake.  "I'm ready for my closeup Mr. DeMille." - Gloria Swanson Wantabee.

Read more about Sharrie and the Maybelline family in her book The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.  You can now buy an autographed copy of her book on maybellinestory.com. 

Sharrie will be signing books at Book Soup in Hollywood on Sunset Blvd on Feb 23 at 7:00 pm.

Sharrie will be at the Desert Classic Concourse d'Elegance Feb. 27th in La Quinta California showing their fathers classic Clenet Series 1. 

Sharrie is Tom Lyle Williams - founder of the Maybelline Co.'s great niece and Miss Maybelline Evelyn Williams granddaughter. 

Maybelline founder's nephew Bill Williams 1977 Clenet Series 1, will be shown at Desert Classic.

Tom Lyle Williams founder of the Maybelline Company with his 1940 convertible Packard, gold chromed, in front of his Villa Valentino, once owned by the Great Lover Rudolph Valentino.


Tom Lyle's nephew Bill Williams spent his childhood at his uncle's Villa Valentino and developed a passion for beautiful convertibles. Out of all the classic cars Bill collected and sold during his life, his favorite was his 1977 first edition Clenet.  Sharrie and her brother and sisters have now professionally preserved their father's clenet and will show it at the Desert Classic Concourse d'Elegance Feb. 26 in La Quinta, California.  Sharrie and her siblings believe the reason their father loved his Clenet, was because it reminded him of his uncle Lyle's custom made convertible Packard with the gold chrome shown in the above picture.

Bill Williams 1977 Clenet, Series 1.   -   watch as Bills Clenet is taken out of storage and placed on a flatbed - on it's way to be professionally preserved. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed8DYCpcTRk

Check out the interview with Bill's Daughter, author Sharrie Williams with Steve Kouracos -  "BILL," The Clenet,'s  (license plate is BILL,)  original fabricator, at his shop in Costa Mesa California Dec 19, 2010.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c25B2zbN5A

Maybelline founder's love of beautiful automobiles lives on today through author Sharrie Williams.



 Bill Williams with his buddy Earl looking at his 1935 Ford convertible given to him by his uncle Tom Lyle Williams for his 15th Birthday.  Bill's love of automobiles,  like his uncle TL,  became a theme throughout his entire life.

At his death in 2006 Bill had a collection of 12 classic cars at his estate in Palm Springs California.  All  but one car was sold - his favorite, a 1977 Clenet,series 1, was kept in storage for five years before his daughter, author Sharrie Williams and her siblings restored it recently and now will show it at the Desert Classic Concourse D'Elegance in La Quinta, California, Feb 27.  Stay tuned for video's of the event and "Bill The Clenet" as it begins it's comeback and hits the show circuit.

Check out author Sharrie Williams with her cousin Chuck Williams at the Barrett Jackson Classic Car Auction Jan 20th, 2011, looking at a Ford Hot Rod, something Bill would have loved. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2eXH0QQoo4

Also check out Bill Williams in 1977 on the Classic Clenet Club website below,  just click on HISTORY, and than CLENET ON TELEVISION.  Scroll down to the box that shows KEN NORTON and Bill will show up talking about his new car.
http://www.clenetclub.com/tv_clips.html

Read more about Maybelline founder, Tom Lyle Williams and his love of beautiful automobiles, his nephew Bill growing up around the at the Villa Valentino in Hollywood  and the glory days of  the Maybelline Co, in The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It. 

Buy an autographed copy for $14.99  - click on maybellinestory.com for purchase.

Maybelline founder Tom Lyle Williams passion for beautiful automobiles lives on today

Bill Williams with his uncle Tom Lyle Williams, founder of the Maybelline Company, and his mother Evelyn.  Taken at the home Tom Lyle bought for them in West Los Angeles in 1938.

Tom Lyle was loyal to Evelyn, promising to take care of her and Bill for the rest of their lives.  He gave her a diamond ring for standing by his brother Preston for 13 years and bought them a little house in West Los Angeles not far from the Villa Valentino.  Unk Ile, as Bill called his uncle, became a surrogate father, not only bringing security into his life but also the love of beautiful automobiles - a factor influencing Bill's desire for collecting classic cars after the sale of the Maybelline Company in 1967. 

Check out author Sharrie Williams, Bills Daughter and her cousin Chuck Williams, at the Barrett Jackson Classic Car Auction Jan 20th, discussing their great uncle, Tom Lyle's  passion for custom designed Packards. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLwq53JTUU0

Author Sharrie Williams and her cousin Chuck toast their great uncle Tom Lyle on his 115th Birthday,

Tom Lyle driving his brand new Paige Detroit, with his sister Mabel and his father TJ in the back seat.  They are parked in front of the first Maybelline office-warehouse in Chicago, 1916.  The family lived upstairs in an apartment and worked down stairs packing and shipping Lash-Brow-Ine, than Maybelline through mail order.

The Williams Family, Preston, Mabel, Tom Lyle, Tom Lyle Jr., Bennie (Tom Lyle Jr's mother,)  Frances and her sister Ellie.  Chicago, 1916 in Tom Lyle's new car, The Paige Detroit.

Check out a video of author Sharrie Williams and her cousin Chuck Williams discussing Tom Lyle on his 115th Birthday, (Jan 19, 1996, he died in 1976,)  Chuck's grandmother Frances is in the picture, his grandfather Noel took the picture.

Read more about Tom Lyle, The Maybelline Company and Family in The Maybelline Story.

Maybelline family films the movie Goodbye Norma Jean, at their estate in Palms Springs,

Noel Williams, Tom Lyle Williams nephew at his cousin Bill Williams estate in Palms Springs, 1975 in front of a 1934 Packard.

Author Sharrie Williams, Bill's daughter and Tom Lyle Williams great niece at her fathers estate in Palm Springs 1975.

Bill Williams at his estate in Palms Springs during the filming of the movie Goodbye Norma Jean, 1975

A scene from the film Goodbye Norma Jean, shot at Bill Williams estate, 1975.

Filming the movie, Goodbye Norma Jean at Bill Williams Estate in Palms Springs. Excerpt from Sharrie Williams Diary.

The next morning, old classic cars, brought in on flat bed

trucks arrived at the estate, and the camera crew, producer, director, costume designer, set designer, and the producers wife and mistress. were all on the  set. Dad started freaking out, when he saw all the cables, strung across his manicured lawns, and I kept assuring him that any damage would be taken care of. I had some great old costumes, I'd collected over the years, and we all got our make up and hair done, then dressed for our parts.  We had no speaking parts, we were just background dressing for Norma Jean Bakers Scenes, but we added the feeling of wealth, and status, the director was looking for.  The scenes got a little steamy, with nude bath tub shots, and obvious sexual scenes that made the future Marilyn Monroe, look like a whore, but it didn't bother anyone of us.

Read more about the wild ride after the Maybelline Company sells and the family lives out their fantasies in Sharrie Williams book The Maybelline Story.

MAYBELLINE GLAMOUR ADS created at Valentno's Villa in West Hollywood during the 1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's.

Tom Lyle Williams in front of the Villa Valentino posing with his convertible Packard late 1930's.

       From the Villa Valentino studio in Hollywood came Technicolor airbrushed photos of stars’ faces so flattering and popular that movie studio executives flocked to Tom Lyle to promote the movies their stars were appearing in.  Fox girl,  Betty Grable posed for Maybelline in what became one of the most effective ploys in advertising: before-and-after photos (and a favorite war-time pin-up girl), which Tom Lyle pioneered. Maybelline was also the first cosmetic company to create cosmetic displays in dime and drug stores across the nation. Maybelline became the largest eye beauty retailer in America, provoking Revlon’s Charles Revson to accuse them of monopolizing the market.

Read more about Tom Lyle Williams, the Maybelline Co, and his love of beauty in every form, in The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind it.  Buy an autographed copy from author Sharrie Williams, Tom Lyle's great niece by clicking onto maybellinestory.com.

Maybelline's, King of Advertising also the king of custom made automobiles.

Top picture, Preston, Evelyn, Tom Lyle and Bill Williams.  Bottom picture Tom Lyle and his son Tom Jr.  Picture to the right, Tom Lyle Williams founder of the Maybelline co.  Pictures taken in Chicago, 1934.

Tom Lyle Willams founder of the Maybelline Co. told me he never wanted to be remembered as the man who invented mascara, he wanted to be remembered as the King of Advertising.  He also was the King of custom designed Packard's .  Read more about his love of beautiful automobiles in The Maybelline Story and also stay tuned this week for Tom Lyle's great nephew Chuck Williams who will be discussing Tom Lyle's automobiles from his 1916 to 1967, while we are at the Barrett Jackson Classic Car Auction in Scottsdale Arizona (on video. ) See pictures of Tom Lyle's automobiles as well as the up close and personal cars at the auction.  Click on below and see Sharrie Williams at he Arizona Biltmore Resort announcing her cousin Chuck's visit.

video at the Biltmore click here to see Sharrie at the Biltmore

Maybelline founder's nephew takes family on wild ride after inheriting millions at 45.



Maybelline Story Author Sharrie Williams with her father, Bill Williams, at his estate in Palm Spring California,  during the filming of the movie Goodbye Norma Jean, in 1975.

Read more about Tom Lyle's nephew Bill Williams in the Maybelline Story, and the wild ride he took his family on after the sale of the Maybelline Co. sold in 1968. 

 It could be said that all hell broke lose after Bill inherited millions overnight at only 45, but in the end I'd have to say "it sure was a fun ride."

Also stay tuned for Sharrie's cousin Chuck Williams as he discusses his great uncle Tom Lyle Williams love of beautiful automobiles while at the Barrett Jackson Classic Car Auction in Scottsdale next week.

Life at the Villa Valentino in Hollywood, in the 1930s.

Pool Party at the Villa Valentino with Evelyn Williams standing dressed to kill and Bill Williams on the diving board surrounded by friends and family.  Tom Lyle and Emery are watching from the veranda. 1938.

Tom Lyle and Emory led a quiet life in the luxury of the Villa Valentino, and didn't flaunt their relationship. In the 1920's and 30's people didn't care much if somebody was gay as long as they kept a false identity in public. In Chicago Tom Lyle and Emery stood out, gossip circulated about them wearing a hint of Maybelline, wearing expensive suits, driving flashy custom made cars and sporting pencil thin mustaches.  They didn't fit in the Midwest, but Hollywood was different, it offered tolerance and acceptance.  Tom Lyle could be comfortable at the Villa Valentino with Evelyn and Bill around him, and he invited some of the biggest stars in Hollywood to his sanctuary where he contracted them for Maybelline ads.

Read more about the Villa Valentino, and Tom Lyle's love of beautiful automobiles in The Maybelline Story, and check out Sharrie Williams at the Sanctuary Resort in Arizona talking about her cousin Chuck Williams upcoming visit to   the Barrett Jackson Classic Car Auction next week.  He will be discussing his great uncle Tom Lyle's love of cars while at the show, as well as his personal car collection - as he follows in his great uncles footprint. 

the video will be on the blog to enjoy at that time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8tEcQpRUNM

Maybelline King buys The Great Lover's Villa Valentino in the Hollywood Hills

The Villa Valentino, with Aspiration overlooking the pool.

                HOLLYWOOD IS THE ANSWER

     To protect the Maybelline Company, the family and his own public scrutiny, Tom Lyle and Emory moved to California, and bought Rudolph Valentino's Villa at 6776 Wedgwood Place, in Whitely Heights. The beautiful Mediterranean Villa with its white stucco and old world tile roof was bought by Valentino in 1921 when he was engaged to Natasha Rambova, and later auctioned off for debts after Valentino's death in 1926.

      There in the privacy of the Villa Valentino, Tom Lyle and Emory concentrated on advertising while Rags stayed in Chicago and concentrated on marketing to the trade. Since Maybelline was a privately owned family operated Company with no stockholders to please, it was able to pump every bit of profit back into advertising and tremendous marketing campaigns.

Read all about Tom Lyle and Emery in Hollywood in The Maybelline Story, by his great niece Sharrie Williams.

Maybelline Founder Tom Lyle Williams letter saying goodbye to Maybelline, Dec 24, 1967.

Click on letter to enlarge

Maybelline Story author Sharrie Williams interview on Talk radio 680 WCBM in Baltimore

http://www.wcbmpodcast.com/podcasts/womantalk%201-8.mp3 Click here to hear Sharrie's interview on

WomanTalk Live with Ann Quasman on TalkRadio 680 WCBM in Baltimore   (http://www.WomanTalkLive.com )

Sharrie speaking to a group of ladies about the Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.

Maybelline Story author Sharrie Williams recomends Iwata Silver Jet Sprayer.

After I did my KCAL 9 interview Oct 29, 2010, I fell in love with this product.  Watch the video of me at CBS having my make- up applied and check out Iwata Silver Jet Sprayer. I have never looked so flawless and recommend you check it out for yourself.

Watch Sharrie having her face airbrushed with the Iwata Silver Jet Sprayer.

Airbrushed Makeup is in high demand. Widely used by professionals in television and film, airbrush makeup has changed the complexion of traditional makeup application techniques, rapidly expanding from Hollywood to salons and bridal boutiques everywhere. It delivers superior, lightweight and natural-looking results – even under the scrutiny of High Definition. All you see and feel is beautiful skin.

Mabelline ad in 1942 War Time

Maybelline Ad 1942

Experpt from The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind It.  Copyright, Bettie Youngs Books, 2010.

Noel phoned Tom Lyle. “We’ve got a production problem, T. L. The President issued a warning to the beauty industry that rationing of certain raw products would begin soon, especially petroleum jelly!” This was still Maybelline’s key ingredient.

“That’s all we need,” Tom Lyle said. “We’ve got to do something fast or we’ll sink along with the enemy battleships.”

Tom Lyle, Emory, and Arnold brainstormed. As in World War I, businesses tailored their ads to fit the war effort. Emory noticed a trucking ad that said, They’ll Never Bomb Us Out! . . . Trucks will always get through!  

“We need to get that kind of spirit into our ads,” he said, “creating a strong demand that will get through to Washington. Remember how well Patriotism Through Beauty worked in 1916?”

Arnold said, “The boys have got the inside of their Quonset huts covered with pinups—including most of our girls. They may say they’re fighting for flag, mom, and apple pie, but their wallpaper tells the truth.”

Tom Lyle agreed. “If we could just ask some of the military brass to consider how many of the girls in the pinups might be wearing make-up, and whether their pinup appeal would be as powerful if they were not wearing cosmetics.”

“That should get their attention,” Emory agreed.

Tom Lyle called Noel the next day and told him to buy up as much petroleum jelly as he could before the rationing went into effect. The first wartime ad to appear showed a housewife writing a letter to her husband at the front.  Naturally, her eyes were perfectly Maybellined, and the slogan read, They’re doing They’re doing their bit by keeping their femininity. That’s one of the reasons we are fighting. Another ad showed an elegant young woman as lovely as a pinup girl with an admiring military officer adoring her as he helped her with her white stole. The caption read, Just as he dreamed her eyes would be, reminding women to be as lovely as the pinups by using Maybelline. One ad simply said War, Women, and Maybelline.

In spring of 1942, the Pentagon warned the White House that the war should not create a glamour shortage. A memo to Roosevelt advised that such a loss of beauty  “might lower national morale.” Suddenly petroleum flowed like water into Maybelline’s vats. Tom Lyle’s campaign had virtually saved the entire cosmetic industry for the duration.

Maybelline King Tom Lyle Williams' nephew weds his childhood sweetheart Pauline Mac Donald.while at boot camp.

Maybelline King Tom Lyle Williams nephew Bill Williams and his bride Pauline Mac Donald Williams. March 1945, a few day's before Bill shipped overseas to the Philippines during WW11.  

It must have been hard for a 21 year old girl - only married a few day's - to say goodbye to her husband knowing she may never see him  again. 

Read more about Bill and Pauline, Tom Lyle, the Maybelline Company  and the Williams family during the War years of the 1940's in The Maybelline Story by Sharrie Williams with Dr. Bettie Youngs.



Contact Sharrie Williams at maybellinebook@gmail.com

Maybelline founder Tom Lyle Williams - always an inspiration to his family

Bill and Pauline Williams.  Picture taken on their Honeymoon, March 17, 1945  in Big Bear California.

Against his mother's wishes Bill married his sweetheart Pauline Mac Donald before shipping off to the Philippians.  The war ended five months later and Bill returned to the USA.  Their first child Sharrie Williams was born June 10th, 1947.  Evelyn swore that if it took the rest of her life she would break them up.  She won! Tom Lyle played a major role in his Nephew Bill, and Pauline's life, while trying to keep his Sister In Law, Evelyn at bay.  You won't be able to put this book down!  

MGM Studio Brat meets, The Maybelline Kid.

Evelyn, Tom Lyle, Bill Williams with his girlfriend Pauline Mac Donald at Tom Lyle's Villa Valentino - 1941.  Sparkie the dog is in the float.

Pauline was a "Studio Brat."  She loved to eat and sleep dance and was used to a rigorous training regime at MGM.  Her father Andy Mac Donald, was a special effects pioneer who ran seven departments, including the construction department and supervised hundreds of men who built sets for the studio's musical extravaganzas.   Pauline's friends included Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Deanna Durbin, and even Fox girl, Shirley Temple when little Shirley made pictures at M.G.M. with Bill Bojangles Robinson.

Pauline was invited to all the cast parties and was loved by everyone who knew her.  As a teenager, she spent every free minute at the studio practicing dance routines with her  teachers, Bill Bojangles Robinson and Eleanor Powell, who were both impressed by the young girl's ability to move her feet so fast, master complicated steps and work tirelessly.   Eleanor Powell believed she had a career at  M.G.M., and encouraged some of the biggest producers and directors to keep an eye on her.

Pauline's father  worried about his only daughter becoming a Louis B. Mayer puppet. He knew how the heartache of rejection many starlets faced could take them to the the point of throwing themselves off the Hollywood Sign committing suicide, doing drugs or drinking themselves into ruin.  Her mother wanted her daughter to have the career she'd once dreamed of, but was  concerned Pauline wasn’t prepared for the real world at 15. To balance her daughter's ambitions she enrolled her in Cotillion where she might prepare to be a Debutante as well. 

It was here that Pauline Mac Donald met Bill Williams, his mother Evelyn and his uncle Tom Lyle Williams, founder of the Maybelline Co. 

 Read more about Pauline  in The Maybelline Story.

Maybelline Prince meets MGM Princess in 1939.

Pauline Elna Mac Donald born Jan 17, 1924 in Santa Monica, California.  She met Bill Williams at University High School , in West Los Angeles in 1939.  They were 15.   


Pauline's father, Andrew Mac Donald was the main construction boss at MGM - the biggest, richest, and most productive studio in Hollywood.   It’s twenty-two stages and hundred acre back lot of standing sets produced forty two feature films a year.  The largest output of any studio in the history of the cinema.  In the 1930's M.G.M came into its golden age.  It was a magical period, and with it’s perfection - achieved more by hard labor than magical thought - and behind the beautiful facade of glamour and glitz  - the studio was truly a brutal, vulgar, grasping place that produced great art. This was the backdrop of Pauline's life.

Pauline's mother Elna Mac Donald created a home fit for a movie executive. Her home and family where her life.  She didn't drive a car and spent most of her time dressed in a cotton house dresses like a well kept Victorian housewife. Pauline was her pride and joy and she raised her only daughter to be a little Princess.  

There was a sweet natural chemistry between Bill and Pauline and she made him feel at ease, She was  the sweet, wholesome type - went to church, cared about others, and was a good listener.  Bill asked her about her dad, and she told him he was very busy working  on
“The Wizard Of Oz,” and “Gone with the Wind.” His men built every set ever made at MGM.

Pauline wanted to be a dancer at the studio and Bill hoped to be an art director as well.  It seemed like a match made in heaven.  Except for one thing. Evelyn wanted more for her only son and never accepted Pauline as being good enough.

Read more about Bill and Pauline and the magical era at  MGM and Tom Lyle's Villa Valentino in Hollywood Hills, in The Maybelline Story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nACj50uq6_s 

Happy New Year from Sharrie Williams and the Maybelline Story

Thank you for following my blog the last three months since The Maybelline Story came out on Sept 27. I will continue to post 5 days a week starting on Jan 3, 2011.  If you've enjoyed getting to know more about Tom Lyle Williams and the Maybelline company as well as the fascinating people behind it, please stay tuned for personal stories never revealed as well as vintage Maybelline Advertisements and family pictures.  Tell your friends about it too!  

Best wishes in the new year-

Maybelline family from the West Coast, "What Price Glory?

Christmas 1968, from left to right, Sharrie, Bill, Tom Lyle, Billee, Pauline, Donna and Evelyn Williams at our home in Culver City California. 8 year old Preston was sleeping, but little Pepsi our black poodle made the picture.

It was a bitter sweet Christmas that year, Unk Ile had made his entire family millionaires overnight and our family was busy building a 5,000 square foot home on the bay on Lido Isle in Newport Beach with a 50 ft. yacht already ordered and on its way.  This was the last year we'd be the family we'd always known and loved - the last year we'd have our beloved Unk Ile with us at Christmas, because his health wouldn't allow him to drive the distance to our new home any longer - and the last year before all hell broke loose, as every gold digger in Newport Beach tried to steal Bill away from Pauline.  So now I ask myself 43 years later, "What price glory, and was it all worth it?"  All the money, the cars, the beautiful homes, the beautiful people that came into our lives following the sale of the Maybelline Co.  Well, to answer that question you will have to read my story and judge for yourself. I know you'll find it hard to put down and you will never look at overnight wealth the same way again.

 Buy the Maybelline Story from Amazon, Barnes and Noble or a signed copy right here on my website www.maybellinestory.com

Tom Lyle Williams decides to sell the Maybelline Co. after the death of Emery Shaver.

Maybelline King, Tom Lyle Williams with his sister in law, Evelyn Williams, Christmas 1964.

Christmas 1964 was very sad for Tom Lyle as you can see in his face.  His lifetime partner, Emery Shaver, had died that Spring from a massive heart attack and by 1965 Tom Lyle realized he couldn't carry on alone.  His health began to take a turn for the worst and he could no longer handle the pressure of running a company that continued to expand. Maybelline sold two years later to Plough Inc.  Read more about Tom Lyle, the Maybelline Company, his lifetime relationship with Emery and his devotion to his sister in law, Evelyn Williams, in The Maybelline Story.