• 50 years of bathing beauties

Hollywood has always had a fascination with glamorous women in swimsuits. In his new book, author David Wills takes a stroll along the beach bringing together the most striking images from the Thirties through to the Seventies

Surf’s up for Joan

Posing with a longboard on Waikiki Beach, Hawaii in 1949, Joan Crawford (below) cashes in on the surf trend sweeping America.

Tantastic!

By the Forties tanning had become a serious business. A tan had previously been a sign of the lower classes who worked outside for a living but when Coco Chanel retuned from Paris with a healthy glow, everyone wanted one and it was no longer considered déclassé. Grace Kelly (below right) took full advantage of the sunshine in the South of France to top up her tan while filming To Catch A Thief (1955).

‘Beach’ photos were often carefully constructed in the studio with imported sand and potted palms, while actresses were painstakingly lit and carefully posed to maximum effect before retouch artists hand-finished the images, all overseen and stringently controlled by the studios. But they weren’t the only ones scrutinising the stills – they also had to be submitted to the Hays Office, which upheld the moral code of Hollywood. And there was one cardinal rule: the swimsuit must never get wet, not even slightly damp – the resulting cling would have been quite taboo!

Bette’s bombshell

Below: Bette Davis poses for a rare and somewhat quirky publicity shot for the 1932 film, Three on a Match.

A date with Rita

Rita Hayworth was on the verge of stardom in this picture (below right) despite the unflattering but Hays Code-friendly jersey one-piece swimsuit.