Saucy Portraits of 1920s Showgirls

Alfred Cheney Johnston is most well-known for his photographs of the girls who performed in the Ziegfeld Follies in the 1910s and 20s. Here are some of his more risqué photos of the girls, including one of Gloria Swanson. They probably aren’t particularly suitable for viewing at work, depending on how open-minded your boss is about nudity!

I wonder where these photos would have been published. I imagine they’re a bit too risqué for use in any magazines of the time, so perhaps they were just used for saucy postcards. Anyone know?

Above:

Saucy Portraits of 1920s Showgirls

Caryl Bergman, Ziegfeld Follies girl

Saucy Portraits of 1920s Showgirls

Ziegfeld girl Dorothy Flood with a mirror

Saucy Portraits of 1920s Showgirls

Gloria Swanson photographed by Johnston in 1919

Saucy Portraits of 1920s Showgirls

Hazel Forbes (nee Hazel Froidevoux), Miss Long Island, Miss United States in the Paris International Beauty Pageant of 1926 (at age 16), Ziegfeld girl, actress, dancer and millionairess.

Saucy Portraits of 1920s Showgirls

Woman with camera. Photo by Alfred Cheney Johnston, 1920 or before

Saucy Portraits of 1920s Showgirls

Portrait of Virginia Biddle, 1927

Saucy Portraits of 1920s Showgirls

Image source 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and copyright: This media file is in the public domain in the United States. 8, This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.