Thomas Lyle Williams, founder of Maybelline

July 09, 2021

Thomas Lyle Williams, founder of Maybelline

   15 years before the Great Depression in Edgewater there was a young woman named Mabel. Unfortunately for Mabel, she had bleached her brows and her lashes. To fix this she decided to mix Vaseline and coal powder to use as eye makeup. During this time eye makeup was not readily available to the general public and normally it was only starlets who used it. Makeup like rouge and lipstick were available but nothing for the eyes.

   This is when her brother Thomas Lyle Williams decided to help his sister by creating his own product called the Lash-Brow-Ine in 1915. However, although there weren’t many products out there for eye makeup there was one and it was called the Lash-Brow-Ine. Thomas had to change the name of the product. In 1917 he changed it to Maybelline, naming it after his sister and the inspiration behind the product.

   Thomas was married to a woman named Bennie Gibbs in 1912 and had one son with her, Thomas Lyle Williams, Jr. The marriage did not last long and was later annulled. Thomas moved to Chicago after this and met the man who would become his life partner, Emery Shaver. During this time it was hard to live as an openly gay man or woman so they kept their relationship a secret.

Emery helped with the marketing of the new makeup cakes. He had the idea to use starlets in their advertisements, the first time this had been done. The company took off during the 1920s, along with the flapper style. Thomas developed his new cakes at 5900 N. Ridge Ave. which was to be the company's headquarters for more than 50 years. There is still an emblazoned cursive "M" at the front of the building.

   Maybelline was thriving and prospering when The Great Depression hit. Thomas, who was used to the flamboyance of the 1920s, was not prepared to stand out so much and was not used to the new attention. There was an incident that happened when he ordered a custom made car and had it delivered to the Maybelline Headquarters. Many found this to be insensitive and were very upset by it. This was not a good time for Thomas to put a target on his back, at this time the U.S. government was conducting “witch hunts” to stop gay men from influencing the public, more particularly women.

   Thomas and Emery decided to move to California and bought a house in Hollywood Hills. Maybelline kept the Chicago headquarters and continued to grow. In 1964 Emery passed away and in 1968 Thomas sold the company to a pharmaceutical company, Plough Inc.

   The company had told Thomas that they would honor his wishes and keep his employees and the headquarters in Chicago, this did not happen. They began to change everything and turned Maybelline into a beauty conglomerate. According to Thomas’ family he deeply regretted not grooming someone to take over the company after him.

   Thomas passed away in 1976 at the age of 80. Today Maybelline is called Maybelline New York, essentially cutting all of it’s Chicago ties from it’s narrative. The company’s page also gives a slightly different account of how Thomas was inspired by his sister Mabel, spelled Maybel on their website. They add a “love triangle story” type of spin and only mention that Thomas was from Chicago and not that it was founded there.

   Thomas made a great contribution not only to the makeup world but to American History. This is a story of an entrepreneur who had to hide part of his identity in order to stay safe and be successful. The story has been spun to be marketable and largely leaving out important parts to who Thomas truly was.

What do you think about the history of Maybelline, had you heard it before? Please leave a comment.