Mid Century Bathing Beauties

I have always wondered who took the photo?  Circa 1942, the men were overseas and the ladies on the shores of Lake Erie at Erie Beach behaving themselves!   Erie Beach incidentally will host a 100th anniversary reunion this August with fireworks and festivities. Think this photo would cause some fireworks.   Here's my mother and her friends.  I grew up referring to them as aunts even though they weren't actually relatives:  Aunt June , sometimes 'typhoon June', Aunt Barb, Aunt Phyliss  and Rosie who always , no matter what the occasion looked perfectly posed! 

 

Now I am reticent about their identity but in the early days of the BBB I actually with the help of photoshop did up this poster for my various trade shows.  Always amusing when a gent would walk by our display and say 'lovely'bags'.  One aunt was a bit taken aback when someone mentioned seeing this poster in a window display at a swish boutique in Toronto.   The last showing was on Martha's Vineyard where I was doing a trunk show.  Highlight of this show was selling a Mini bag to Oscar winning actress Patricia Neal;  when I think of it she would've been a contemporary of my Mom's generation.  Trunk show ended and took the ferry back to Newport.  Deboarded the ferry and watching it leave the dock realized someone would find a cardboard tube with my bathing beauty poster rolled up inside. Would they wonder who took the photo too?  More likely who forgot it.  Oops.