Imagine competing in a beauty pageant today and facing this judging panel...
Back in 1935, women gathered in Dallas to compete for a spot as an official face of the upcoming Texas Centennial Exposition. While the committee framed it as auditioning for a promotional job, the selection process was treated like a high-stakes beauty pageant—complete with some bizarre "scientific" testing.
According to an original Universal Newsreel content sheet from the time:
"Last-minute inventions give a perfect check on the degree of pulchritude possessed by lovely models seeking jobs with a Texas Centennial Committee. In one test, the girls are fitted into life-sized cutouts of the perfect figure."
To win a spot, contestants literally had to step inside a wooden stencil of what judges deemed the "perfect" body shape to see if they fit the mold. (Fun fact: Pulchritude is just a fancy, old-school word for physical beauty!)
Be honest: Had you ever heard the word pulchritude before today? What’s your favorite forgotten, old-school piece of slang that needs to make a comeback?
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