Merle Nethercutt Norman

During the late 1920s, Merle Norman with her knowledge of chemistry from college, would start creating homemade cosmetics in a makeshift laboratory in her Santa Monica estate's kitchen.

During World War II she temporarily stopped cosmetic production and the company produced gun oil and camouflage sticks for the U.S.

[12] Norman has been credited of being ahead of her time, laying out the foundations for franchising before they were properly defined in modern business.

[18] Merle Norman was friends with legendary MLB player Babe Ruth and sponsored his little League through her company over 15 years.

[19] In 1936 Norman commissioned a custom Mediterranean-style mansion to be built in Santa Monica by architect Ellis Martin.

It would later be known as the Merle Norman House and in 1996 was dedicated as a historic landmark in the City of Santa Monica.

[20] In the 1950s Norman purchased several acres of land in Tucson, Arizona and commissioned a large ranch house compound named El Rancho Merlita, which became a vacation retreat for her friends and colleagues.

[21] Merle Norman through herself and her company donated several million to dozens of charities, churches, and veteran programs in the United States and Canada.