The above photos show three bathing beauties picketing a showing of Jean Renoir’s 1945 drama The Southerner. If you’ve ever seen the movie you know there’s really nothing controversial in it, so you won’t be surprised to learn that the picket was a publicity stunt dreamt up by theatrical producer and director Earl Carroll to promote both his theater in Hollywood and his Earl Carroll Girls. Bathing suit picket lines were a favorite Carroll trick. He even once picketed himself, arranging for half a dozen sign-carrying girls to march in front of his own theater. The Southerner premiered today in 1945.
1920—League of Nations Holds First Session
The first assembly of the League of Nations, the multi-governmental organization formed as a result of the Treaty of Versailles, is held in Geneva, Switzerland. The League begins to fall apart less than fifteen years later when Germany withdraws. By the onset of World War II it is clear that the League has failed completely.