Liquid Paper and The Monkees

Liquid Paper and the Monkees have something in common and you might wonder what that could be. Let’s look at the history of Bette McMurray and Liquid Paper first to find the connection.

Bette Claire McMurray was born in 1924 in Dallas Texas. Her parents were Christine Duval and Jesse McMurray. Her mother was a businesswoman, she owned a knitting store. Her father worked in an auto parts store. Bette’s mother taught her how to paint, this knowledge came in handy later in her life. Bette left school when she was 17 to marry her childhood sweetheart Warren Nesmith. Her new husband was a soldier. Shortly after the wedding Nesmith went off to World War II. While he was serving his country Bette had their only son, Michael. In 1946 she divorced Nesmith and was left alone to raise her son.

Bette worked many odd jobs just to feed herself and her son. In 1952, after learning shorthand and typing, Bette was hired as executive secretary at Texas Bank and Trust. A large part of her job was typing. Advancement in typewriters and the change from fabric to carbon ribbons made it more difficult to correct with erasers that had worked before, the erasers smeared the paper. Bette knew there had to be a better way to correct typing mistakes. That is when she thought about artists and how they fixed their mistakes on canvas. Her mother had trained her to paint over her mistakes. This made her wonder if there was a way typists could paint over their mistakes.

In 1956 Bette created the first correction fluid in her home using a blender from her kitchen. She called it “Mistake Out.” Bette used white tempera paint as the main ingredient of her new product. She colored the paint to match the stationery she used at work. Bette put her mixture into a bottle and took it along with a watercolor brush with her to work. Trying not to be seen she used her “Mistake Out” to correct her typing mistakes. Her boss did not know because it worked great. It did not take long for another secretary to ask Bette for some of her correcting fluid. All the secretaries in the building were asking for some of her “Mistake Out” and Bette provided small bottles of her “Mistake Out” to her co-workers.

In 1958 Bette founded her own company, the Mistake Out Company. Even with the new company she continued making the “Mistake Out” in her kitchen. The business outgrew the kitchen, and she made it in her garage, she worked weekdays at the bank and spent her nights and weekends making the “Mistake Out.” Bette’s son Michael and his friends filled the bottles with the “Mistake Out’ for her. Her business had grown but she continued to work at the bank until her “Mistake Out” began to succeed. In 1958 Bette decided it was time to work full time in her own company. Bette changed the name of her “Mistake Out” to Liquid Paper. Next, she applied for a patent under the name Liquid Paper Company.

Between 1958 and 1979 Bette remarried. Her new husband was Robert Graham, a frozen-food salesman. Graham took an increasingly active role in Bette’s business.

The name was changed from “Mistake Out” to “Liquid Paper” and by 1967 “Liquid Paper” had grown into a million-dollar business. In 1975 Bette divorced Robert Graham. By 1976 Bette was considered a wealthy woman. Bette established two charitable foundations. In 1976 she founded the Gihon Foundation. The foundation’s purpose was to collect paintings and other artworks by women. In 1978 she founded the Bette Clair McMurray Foundation, the purpose of this foundation was to support women in need.

When Bette stepped down as chairperson of her own company her ex-husband Robert Graham took over. It was not long before Bette realized that was a mistake, she found herself barred from making corporate decisions, lost access to the premises, and the company changed her formula so she would lose royalties. Bette managed to regain control of the company and in 1979 she sold Liquid Paper Gillette, and her royalty rights were restored.

Now let us talk about the connection between Bette Claire McMurray Nesmith Graham, Liquid Paper, and the Monkees.

Bette’s son, Michael Nesmith, was a song writer, actor, and guitarist of the singing group the Monkees. He was a member of the cast of the TV show by the same name. Michael Wrote the song “Different Drum.” Linda Ronstadt and the Stone Poneys recorder the song.

In his teenage years he helped his mother with her invention “Mistake Out.” There is so much more to Michael’s story, but I will leave that to you, with all his fame you probably already know a lot about him.

Information from: (“Bette Nesmith Graham — Notes to Women”), (“Overlooked No More: Bette Nesmith Graham, Who Invented Liquid Paper”), . (“60 Facts About Michael Nesmith — FactSnippet”)