16. The Bather’s Revue and The Golden Mermaid
Inter-City Beauties wasn’t the only pageant going on in Atlantic City at that time. A swimsuit competition entertained many as a separate event, called “Bather’s Revue”. The winner of Inter-City Beauty and Miss America were allowed to compete in the swimsuit contest afterwards, alongside “professional competitors”. These were actresses and models who had great bodies and weren’t afraid to show off. These girls were competing to win a trophy called The Golden Mermaid.
Remember that back in the 1920’s, women’s bathing suits covered their entire bodies. Wearing a one-piece bathing suit that we would consider to be modest by today’s standards was scandalous enough for a woman to be arrested for “indecent exposure”. Sixteen year old Margaret Gorman won The Golden Mermaid after winning the first Inter-City Beauties, even though she went up against professional models. Many other Miss America pageant winners would go on to win the bathing suit contest, because it was usually the same audience members who were helping to judge on the girl’s popularity.
As you might imagine, having two separate competitions for personality and swimsuits must have been problematic. They eventually decided to combine both contests into a single event. In modern times, the swimsuit competition became the most problematic portion of beauty contests, when the tradition continued on years after the contest was no longer held on a sandy boardwalk near the ocean.