Have you ever wondered what life was like for our grandparents and great-grandparents? One way to get a glimpse into the past is to explore vintage photo booth images. From the 1930s to the 1960s, people all over the world spent time in photo booths to capture their memories in a unique way. From black and white headshots to lively group portraits, these snapshots offer a rare window into the past.

In this article, we’ll take a look at the history of vintage photo booth and explore fun samples of vintage images I found on the web.

Note: this part 2 post is all based off a post I did on 2018 entitled, Vintage Photo Booth Images.

Enjoy!

1950s photo booth image of a woman in a polkadot dress and cat eye glasses and curly hair

Source: eBay

Disclosure: Some of the links on my blog from Etsy , eBay, are Affiliate Links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Note: If the item you clicked on is no longer available, just do a search for like items. There are loads of vintage items being added to Etsy and eBay daily!

Vintage Photo Booths Images from the 1930s to 1950s

Brief History of the Photo Booth:

The first-ever working photo booth was made by French inventor T.E. Enjalbert in March 1889 and was presented later that same year at the World’s Fair in Paris. He named it the “Apparatus for Automatic Photography” (which sounded way cooler in french: Appareil pour la photographie automatique).

The photo booth as we think of it today was created by Anatol Marco Josepho in 1925. The coin-operated machine he called “Photomaton ” was introduced on Broadway in New York. This version was used by more than 200,000 people, all of which waited patiently for 8 minutes while their photo strips developed.

After this success, he created the Photomaton Company and a fun fact is that the future president Franklin D. Roosevelt was actually on his board of directors. The Photomaton Company went on to install booths all over the country. In 1928, Josepho sold the rights to his invention to Henry Morganthau Sr. He was paid $1,000,000 for it and was promised a guaranteed lifetime royalty (Source–Outsnapped).

The Vintage Photo Booth Images:

1931 photo booth image of a mother & daughter who are clearly related.

1930s vintage photo booth image of a mother and daughter in 1930s fashions and 1930s hairstyles.

Source: Etsy – maclancy

Little Miss Sassy – 1930’s photo booth image.

1930s vintage photo booth image of a young Black girl having fun with the camera.

Source: Pinterest

1938 image of a woman with a stylish coat and fur collar.

1930s vintage photo booth image of a woman in a coat with a fun collar and 1930s hairstyle from 1938

Source: Etsy – maclancy

1940s smiling young man in Army uniform.

1940s vintage photo booth ~ Smiling young man in Army uniform.

Source: Etsy – therescuedphoto

Same place, different day.

Two 1940s photo booth images of a pretty Black Women in a lovely dress with a bow and the second image we discover she is a mother with another shot with her son.

1940s vintage photo booth image of a pretty Black woman in a 1940's dress posing for a photo.

1940s vintage photo booth image of a pretty Black mother with her son in a suit.

Source: Etsy – JakeRoeBucks

To say that I am madly in love with this photo, is a bit of a understatement…I LOVE this photo! Why? Because she looks like a player from the The All-American Girls’ Professional Baseball League aka “A League Of Their Own”. From the baseball hat, to the hair and even the red lip she could 100% be a player.

1940s vintage photo booth image of a woman with red lips and baseball hat. She looks like a baseball player from a League of their Own

Source: MoMa

I recreated this look not from this photo (but it’s almost the same) but from the TV show “A League of their Own” (Greta) which you can see below.

1940s inspired hairstyle for wearing with a baseball hat.

For the love of dogs.

How cute is this 1940s photo of a young man trying to get a lasting memory with his favourite cocker spaniel? Too cute!

1940s vintage photo booth image of a young man posing with his cocker spaniel dog.

Source: Etsy – therescuedphoto

Remebering that time at the “Paradise”.

1940s image of two curly haired friends with dress clips and a doll face brooch posing together under a sign that says “Paradise”.

1940s vintage photo booth image of two women with curly 1940s hairstyles and dress clips and brooches posing together

Source: Etsy – therescuedphoto

This 1940s tinted photo booth image of this young women with the gorgeous curls is MY vintage hair inspiration. In fact, I have slowly been working towards having my hair look like this, without ever seeing this image until now (I shared a recent photo of myself from Instagram below). Love it!

1940s vintage photo (tinted) of a young women in a photo booth with a 1940s hairstyle of curls. Super 1940s vintage hairstyle inspiration.

Source: Etsy – therescuedphoto

It’s me again! I need more curls all over but I’m getting there.

1940s vintage Hairstyle Inspiration as seen on Liz from the Vintage Inn Blog.

“Kennywood Park Memories-May 20th, 1950”. I adore our smiling couples fun “animal” sweathers. We have a fish sweater and a blue jay sweater.

1950s vintage photo from May 20th, 1950 of a young man and young woman posing together with a fish sweater and blue jay sweater.

Source: Pinterest

Cat Eye glasses are the best and our cutie 1950s gal is rockin her’s in style!

1950s vintage photo booth image of a pretty young Black women with cat eye glasses

Source: Worthpoint.com

You have three tries to get the photo right, what look are you going for? The smile? The goofy? Or the flirty?

1950s photo of a woman with a polkadot shirt and cute clip-on earrings.

1950s vintage photo booth image of a young woman in a polkdot shirt and clip on earrings posing with a big smile.

1950s vintage photo booth image of a young woman in a polkdot shirt and clip on earrings posing goofy.

1950s vintage photo booth image of a young woman in a polkdot shirt and clip on earrings posing sexy.

Source: eBay

“Hey ladies remember that night in 1923? Ahhh good times!”.

Fun 1950s photo booth image of 3 older ladies with great hair and fun glasses!

1950s vintage photo of three older ladies in a photo booth posing together with cat eye glasses

Source: Pinterest

“Don’t a-mess with my ducktails
Don’t a-mess with my ducktails
If you mess with my ducktails

I’ll get so mad at you” – Joe Clay “Ducktail”-

1950s photo booth image of a teenager boy with a ducktail hairstyle.

1950s vintage photo booth image of a teenager boy with a ducktail hairstyle.

Source: eBay

1950s image of a young woman with a scarf tied around her head and cute short bangs a style that was popular in the 1950s (Thanks to Audrey Hepburn).

1950s vintage photo booth image of a young girl wearing a scarf on her head tied at the neck and posing for a photo

Source: Etsy – therescuedphoto

I hope you enjoyed this fun photo booth filled post! It is always a joy to look back at the “early selfie” and smile.

Question time: Do you have some fun photo booth images of you or others? Share any thoughts in the comment section below.

Further Reading: Vintage Photo Tuesday: The Photo Booth & Vintage Photos 1920s-1960s (Archived Blog Posts).

Thanks for dropping by!

Liz

Over on Twitter an account I follow posted a vintage photos of “Miss Sausage Queen 1955” (seen below). It was such a fun photo and sparked a lot of conversation about how vintage beauty pageants, tended to have some very odd “titles” one could win. What do you think the criteria to be “Miss Sausage Queen” was (answer under the photo)?

For today’s post we are going to look at some “Fun & Wacky Vintage Beauty Pageants & Queen Titles from the 1920s-1960s”

Let the pageants begin!

Note: scroll to the end to see my other posts on this topic.

1950s 1950s vintage photo of a young woman in 1955 as the Sausage Queen dressed all up in Sausages. Sponsored by the Zion Meat Company during National Hot Dog Week.

About the photo: “Miss Sausage Queen” turned out to not be a contest at all. Actor Geene Courtney models a scarf, skirt, bracelets, and a crown made from hot dogs, frankfurters, and kielbasa in her role as Queen of National Hot Dog Week, as selected by the Zion Meat Products Company.

Fun & Wacky Vintage Beauty Pageants & Pageant Queen Titles

Vintage Images 1920s-1960s

Winner of the Miss Lemon beauty pageant, 1920.

“Miss Bobbed Hair”. In 1925 Coral Gables, Florida, held a contest for the most beautiful bobbed hair. Large number of ladies showed up with their bobbed hair and 1920’s dropped waist dresses and had some fun. Here is our winner.

1920s Vintage Photo: "Miss Bobbed Hair". In 1925 Coral Gables, Florida, held a contest for the most beautiful bobbed hair. Large number of ladies showed up with their bobbed hair and 1920's dropped waist dresses and had some fun.

Source: historydaily.org

“Miss Cigar Queen” contestants posing in a cigar box in 1930’s swimsuits in Tampa, Florida 1937.

1930s Vintage Photo of 1937 Beauty Pageant contestants for Miss Cigar Queen 1937. They are posing in a cigar box in 1930s swimsuits.

Source: Oldflorida

Clad in a skeleton costume, “Miss Unsafe Brakes” appeared at the 1939 Chicago Auto Show to drive home the importance of car owners keeping their brakes in good repair.

1930s Vintage Photo of Vintage beauty pageant winner, Miss Unsafe Brakes making an appearance at the 1939 Chicago Auto Show. She is wearing a skelton outfit.

Source: Pinterest

In 1951, the Muller Bros., an Oldsmobile-Firestone Tire- Car Wash-Café- Body Shop-Home Appliance- Auto Supply Dealer in Los Angeles, California held a competition in honor of their 3,000,000,000^th car wash. The field of beauties in the pageant represented each department of their mega-complex known as “The Landing”. Here’s a sampling of photos of the contest as documented by Life Magazine.

Please drop by “Along for the Ride” to see all the other contestant photos from this Beauty Pageant day (courtesy of Life Archives).

1950s vintage photo from 1951 of a beauty pageant contestants of a dealership representing various departments of the shop. In this photo they are all posing in a car in 1950s swimsuits.

“Miss Lube Rack”.

“Miss New Car Dept. (Oldmobile).

1950s vintage photo from 1951 of a beauty pageant featuring a woman in a 1950s swimsuit representing "Miss New Car" of the Muller bros dealership.

“Miss Steel Pier of 1963”, crowned by the Contest’s First Winner.

“Mousie” Green, Miss Steel Pier of 1917 — the first winner of the nation’s oldest beauty pageant — crowns “Cissie” Carson, the new Miss Steel Pier of 1963.

1960s vintage photo of MIss Steel Pier of 1963 in a 1960s swimsuit being crowned the winner.

Source: Harry Ransom Center

“Miss Smiling Ankles of 1962”.

Beti Seay, Miss Smiling Ankles, displays her award-winners to photographers in Manhattan.

1960s vintage photo of Beauty Pageant Winner of 1962 for "Miss Smiling Ankles". She is posing on a bed.

Source: Harry Ransom Center

Here is a 1930’s photo of another ankle pageant. “The prettiest ankle contest” in England 1933. Great examples of 1930’s shoes.

1930's vintage photo of women showing off their ankles for the prettiest ankle contest in England in 1933. Super 1930's shoes on display.

Source: allthatsinteresting.com

1950s Photo: Beauty contestant “Miss Golden Nugget” in a bathing suit takes the stage while other contestants and the audience look on.

I could not find any information, but this possibly could be the “battle of the Las Vegas casinos” pageant?

FURTHER READING: Vintage Vegas-Golden Nugget Casino Hotel

1950s Photo: Beauty contestant "Miss Golden Nugget", Las Vegas in a bathing suit takes the stage while other contestants and audience look on.

Source: Etsy – Inspirationsnapshots

1950s photo of the “Glamorous Grandmother” beauty pageant featuring 12 STUNNING “older” women in 1950s dresses posing with their numbers.

Fun observation….most of these women are probably in their 40s. ha!

Source: eBay

Linda Lawson is the winner of the “1955 Miss Atomic Pageant”, with a mushroom cloud crown for good measure.

Her victory coincided with the Operation Cue atomic tests, which were long delayed by high winds and weather, so she became known as “Miss-Cue”.

There were four winners, with the last crowned in 1957. They took place in Las Vegas to celebrate the city’s two main attractions: nuclear bombs and showgirls (Source).

1950s vintage photo of a 1950s beauty pageant: Linda Lawson is the winner of the 1955 Miss Atomic Pageant, with a mushroom cloud crown for good measure. She is surrounded by men in uniform putting the crown on her head.

Source: Onthisday

Gail Hooper, 18, from Memphis, Tennessee, selected as Miss National Catfish Queen, holds a 56-pound catfish at the Hotel New Yorker. 1954.

1950s vintage photo of 1950s beauty pageant winner Gail Hooper, 18, from Memphis, Tennessee, selected as Miss National Catfish Queen, holds a 56-pound catfish at the Hotel New Yorker. 1954.

Source: Allthatsinteresting.com

Photograph caption dated August 20, 1959 reads, “Compete for county fair queen title – Eleven contestants put their best foot forward as they begin competing for title of “Queen of Los Angeles County Fair”, opening Sept. 18th, 1959 in Pomona.”

I added this photo to the post but I always think of LA as being a massive city, not one having a county fair.

1950s Vintage Photo of 1950s Beauty Pageant Contestants in two piece suits competing for the "Queen of the county fair in Los Angeles 1959".

Source: TESSA

I will leave you with a video of the “Miss Sweater Queen 1940” Pageant (video link).

I hope you had enjoyed the photos I shares above. It was a blast to put together.

QUESTION: What was your favourite pageant/ title/ winner? Share in the comments section below.

Further Reading:

Thanks for dropping by!

Liz

Tag: vintage photos

Vintage Photo Booth Images – Part 2

Vintage Photo Booths Images from the 1930s to 1950s

Brief History of the Photo Booth:

The Vintage Photo Booth Images:

Fun & Wacky Vintage Beauty Pageants & Pageant Queen Titles

Fun & Wacky Vintage Beauty Pageants & Pageant Queen Titles

Vintage Images 1920s-1960s