On this day in 1947, the famed RKO Theater franchise put out a call for “bathing beauty” contestants aged 16 and up, and while we don’t know the specifics of judging who was selected to participate in the competition happening at theaters borough-wide, we can only guess it screamed “HR nightmare.”
However, the prize money was certainly nothing to scoff at — $1,500 would definitely afford you at least three movie theater popcorns with extra butter today, let alone in the ’40s.
And the contest boasted travel, too. After a series of weekly local eliminations from July 1 to August 12, competitors would then head to the final round at RKO Albee Theater (which has since been replaced by Alamo Drafthouse, Trader Joe’s, et al), a whole five miles from the RKO Greenpoint location (which is now a Crunch gym).