The Maybelline Story
Room VIII · The Studio

“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”

By Sharrie Williams · Written February 2013 · 2 min read



“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”.

“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”

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


“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”

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


“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”

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

“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”

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.


“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”

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.

“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”

 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.


“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”

“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”

Thank you for following the Maybelline Book Blog.



Coming soon · Next from Sharrie Williams

Maybe She’s Born With It

The next chapter of the Maybelline family story. Get a text the day it’s out.

Where it began: The Maybelline Story — Amazon · Ebook · Signed copy

© 2026 Sharrie Williams · All photographs from the Williams family archive