Historic Paddle Photo: The Sennet Girls

Hope all my Canadian visitors are having a great Thanksgiving weekend. Weather here in Toronto has been stunningly warm...hot enough for shorts and bathing suits. In that theme, here is a oddly quaint shot of some "bathing beauties" with a canoe paddle dated to dated to 1919 (via Vintage Ephermera).


Another angle of this same shot can be seen on Shorpy.com which contains a caption explaining the context.

Washington, D.C., circa 1919. "Sennett girls." Producer Mack Sennett's comedy reels featured a bevy of "bathing beauties," among them Marvel Rea, seen here in the harlequin costume. National Photo Company.