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I'm trying to figure out what that thing is in the lower left of the picture. It looks like a broomstick and that it's going up under the skirt of the woman in white. It is casting a shadow so it is something there on the beach. Can anyone else figure out what it is?
[It's a rope. Also at the left edge of the photo. - Dave]
Actually those wool bathing suits weren't all that bad. I have worn pure wool men's bathing attire from the early 1900's and found it to be quite comfortable. Further, not all old-timey suits were wool; many were plain cotton.
Looks like a Magritte painting as told by Proust. Incredible image and structure.
[And, thank God, there are no singing butlers. - Dave]
All my life I have been underweight and called skinny. But darn, my thighs are thicker then that chap's sitting in the sand!
For a change. This is a beautiful picture.
there's no towels or beach blankets. how can you have 'your spot' without a towel laid down to claim it?
I wouldn't want to be one of the ladies in the dresses, especially the dark one, they must be dying from the heat. No wonder so many ladies fainted easily back then.
[Palm Beach was a winter resort. It's probably not hot. - Dave]
The guy in the derby seems to be getting quite an eyeful of the lovely ladies in the skimpy bathing suits.
He can see clear up to their knees! Yowser!
The woman with the parasol makes me wish I had lived in that era because of her elegant femininity and mystery.
In the past several pictures it finally dawned on me - no obesity. Some people may be a bit thick in the middle but, by and large, people look to be close to their proper weight. When you post images of today's culture, Dave, that won't be the case. Yesterday Disneyland re-opened Small World which had undergone deepening of the boat channel and a redesign of the boats to make them more buoyant.
Makes nudism quite appealing, doesn't it?
The basics never change, although modern mirrored sunglasses do allow you to be more discreet.
All of these recent beach pictures seems to have some overdressed voyeur sitting on the beach and getting an eyeful of the overdressed bathing beauties.
Every time I look at these photographs of people on the beach circa 1900 I have to ask myself, what would be worse -- full set of heavy skirts and long sleeves or an itchy wool bathing costume?
It's a live version of "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte."
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