“The ubiquitous cover girl is a fairly accurate for fashion in females”. Yellowbook in 1900 showed a trim waisted young woman with a large hat, the 1920s look was slinky and boyish, and Cosmopolitan has always favored the fresh look.
When it’s counted as “news”, the cover girl gets more exposure, as literally demonstrated by a publicity stunt where Gina Carr “accidentally” fell from a lifeboat and was rescued, sans swimsuit.
By the early 1950s, beauty and publicity had become almost ridiculous, as evidenced by the crowning of Potato Queens (Marilyn Monroe), National Soybean Queen (and Miss Missouri), Sourkraut Queen, Queen Pickle.
This article claims that every one of these 22 pictures were accepted for distribution by one of the 3 major publications.
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