Mack Sennett’s Bathing Beauties

Unfortunately none of Mack Sennett’s bathing beauties are identified in this photograph. Though I believe the woman second from the left is Virginia Fox, later the wife of Daryl F. Zanuck. Sennett employed Zanuck as a writer before he became a studio chief for Warner Bros. and later 20th Century Fox. Most of Sennett’s bathing beauties were anonymous. But some went onto fame, including Marie Prevost, Phyllis Haver, Carole Lombard and Gloria Swanson.

Compared to modern standards the women’s bathing suits shown above do not even border on risqué. But back in the teens and twenties,  a woman exposing her knees could be scandalous.

Sennett, a legendary silent film comedy director, figured one of the best ways to please picture goers was to have pretty girls display as much skin as possible – especially knees. From around 1914-1928 Sennett used hundreds of pretty women with good figures as “window dressing” in many of his films.

Sennett instructed his talent scouts to find attractive women to insert in the background of his movies while the main action was going on.  Sennett admitted, “Sure, I know they can’t act, but they don’t have to act. Put them in bathing suits and just have them around to be looked at while the comics are making funny.”

As the 1920s came to a close and women’s swimsuits continued to shrink and show more skin, the novelty of Sennett’s bathing beauties ended.