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"Miss Marjorie Joesting, August 2, 1926." Our third look at Marjorie, a Miss Washington, D.C., who was runner-up at the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City. National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
I looked her up, trying to find out more about her, and I found this, along with the caption
"The girls are, left to right, Marjorie Joesting, Dorothy Proudlock, Emerita Monsch, and Anita Foy. "
Anyone know what she did for the talent portion of the pageant?
I am such a sucker for a girl with chubby cheeks and laugh lines. She could have wrapped me around her little finger.
is so subjective. You know what they say about opinions -- everybody's got one.
In the case of Marjorie, it is refreshing to see a young woman with such natural, unaffected beauty.
It is all too easy to pick away at the parts. But I feel that the whole is very pleasing, in any time.
She looks like a little pixie!
With all of the other 1920s cheesecake showing bobbed hair, it's a real rarity to see post-Great War long locks. She and the photographer were obviously proud of the look. To have resisted getting a flapper look her hair must have been considered beautiful at the time.
Put me in the camp that considers that she would be judged a beauty today.
Until I checked out the hi-def image, I missed out on the beautiful natural lighting. It really highlights her slightly-unmanaged curls, giving her a natural and water-nymph-like look.
...days of Woodstock, flower children, and natural beauty. Quite a few young women had a very similar style to them. She has also a resemblance to a singer named Nicolette Larson who did pretty well in the 1970's. Some of the ladies I dance with these days have hair just like that. Well, maybe a little more tamed, but close enough.
I'm the poster who requested more bathing beauties. You did not disappoint. A beautiful, sweet, innocent looking young lady. When they invent a time machine....
Miss Joesting was beautiful then, and would win my heart today as well. I understand beauty being in the eye of the beholder but... Wow... how can anyone not see her as lovely?
Except she has peasant feet.
This beautiful image sure is in stark contrast to the bleak shots of the industrial parts of Pennsylvania.
{And now I have new wallpaper!}
Come on, she has nice Janis Joplin hair.
I'm holding out for the time when women like Marjorie find short, overweight and balding men (preferably from Australia) attractive.
I'm so tired of looking like Brad Pitt
Miss Joesting is a true beauty in any time. She has a wonderful figure, a beautiful face and real naturally curly hair. I absolutely loved the other two photographs of her, so I'm quite thankful for this one.
Speaking of hair, it's very unusual to see a beauty queen of this era with such long, flowing locks. Besides being extremely gorgeous, she was also quite the rule breaker.
This girl is ever so lovely. but man, that swimsuit.
I can't believe the people that post on here criticizing her face.
Ummmmmmm! Moon Pies. The Original Marshmallow Sandwich.
Here's to you, Miss White Rock. Nice....wings!
My original "Moon Pie" comment was uncalled for. Today's tyrannical and completely unrealistic standards of beauty have succeeded in making millions of nice-looking women and men feel bad about themselves.
Ms. Joesting is lovely. I like Shorpy's previous photos of her even more:
https://www.shorpy.com/node/4772
https://www.shorpy.com/node/4282
Wow. You lot are awfully polite. I'm one of those goth girls you mention. Two piercings on each ear, my earlobes are stretched to a small degree and I have an eyebrow piercing. I like who I am and would never say my personal appearance is stupid. So, unless you want people saying "I hate what those men do today, with those combovers and narrow minds -- "
Try to be nice. We all have different tastes, respect that unless you don't want the same in return.
That all aside, this girl looks lovely. I really, really want a bathing suit like that now. The irony is that if I just take a few of my piercings out, I look pretty similar to her.
You could easily have convinced me that somebody took their CoolPix, set the mode to sepia, and snapped that this morning. Wow.
If Miss Joesting had put her hair up for this photo shoot, she'd have looked like Psyche, the White Rock sprite. And for the purposes of the great debate - I LOVE the look!
Thanks Dave, for answering the request of the poster on the last thread, for more bathing beauties. And yes, I too look forward to the day when I can say, "Remember when women *used to* get tattooed and pierced?"
I'm going to recommend a hot oil treatment wrap followed by a gentle
warm-water rinse and a vitamin-enriched conditioner.
Though I generally dislike this business of debating the appearance of any woman point by point as though she were a show horse, it doesn't seem so wrong in the context of a pageant contestant, who voluntarily presents herself as a show horse.
So: I'd say Marjorie's got a great little figure and a sweet, pleasant face. Sadly, she'd have to have that face gone at with scalpels and belt sanders to make it into a pageant today.
Indeed, as movies from around and not long after this era show, the definition of "pretty girl" used to be much more varied and flexible than it is in our picky day. Young and healthy seemed to pretty much cover the requirements.
With the -- fairly enormous -- caveat that, in mainstream entertainment in Marjorie's prime and beyond a "pretty girl" was a white girl, it's perhaps a healthier, and certainly a more cheerful, attitude.
I much prefer Marjorie's kind of beauty. Lovely!
Adore the sweet innocent look, MUCH more than the emo, goth piercings, and all the other stupidity young women do today.
[The debate begins! (Lincoln and Douglas, you might want to take notes.) - Dave]
Sweet figure, but face like a Moon Pie. So ran the tastes of the day.
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