Lotus Thompson: Silent Film Star

Somehow, in January, 1923, almost a century prior to online zoom meetings, an eighteen-year-old dancer and actress in Australia took part in a beauty contest that was held in New York. The actual competition, it was stated, was at a physical culture show conducted by the MacFadden Physical Culture Magazine.

An article appeared in the Sunday Times with the headline, ‘Three Girls with Claims to Perfect Figures.’ Lotus was, they said, ‘arrayed for the occasion. She wore a sash or a ribbon at her waist and was made up to look like a kewpie.’ Newspaper reports noted correctly that Lotus was a dancer with the Mother Goose pantomime at the time.

THREE GIRLS WITH CLAIMS TO PERFECT FIGURES (1923, January 28). Sunday Times (Sydney, NSW : 1895 – 1930), p. 3. Retrieved April 19, 2026, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article120534624

The spirit of competition in the 1920s began as light-hearted frivolous affairs, eg. dress-ups at the Coogee Mardis Gras. At other times, it was to raise funds for valuable community projects, eg. the Ambulance Fund at Bondi, but the spirit of competition soon became very serious affairs, supported by business interests.

‘When theatrical interests in Australia began a contest to determine whether the most beautiful girl resided there or in America, there came from the USA the picture of Dorothy Knapp, dressed in a one piece bathing suit. Naturally, Australia’s candidate had to be similarly attired…Lotus won the honours in Australia.’ Apparently. Or did they just feel that she should win the title in Australia?

It wasn’t only the girls/women getting into the spirit of competition. Three weeks earlier, the newspaper ran a similar contest for men. The spirit of competition was alive and well, encouraged by the newspapers and driven by a pathological patriotism.

AUSTRALIAN MEN CAN BEAT THESE AMERICANS (1923, January 7). Sunday Times (Sydney, NSW : 1895 – 1930), p. 5. Retrieved April 19, 2026, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article120544710

The competition for ‘the perfect man’ was also held in New York. The papers wrote that the Sunday Times had received many entries from Australian men who showed better physique and proportion than the three men in the picture. It was run by the same organisation for the same physical culture magazine. By the by, I stumbled across men’s beauty competitions that were held as far back as 1911 and wonder when they stopped calling men beautiful!

The Most Beautiful Girl in Australia

“Just Couldn’t Bear Her Own Shapely Beauty.” The Ogden Standard-Examiner, Utah, 8 Mar. 1925, p.25. Reproduced again “Beauty Sued for Desertion.” San Francisco Examiner. April 1936.

Wikipedia note that “Thompson was considered a beautiful girl as a youth. When she was fifteen her admirers entered her in a beauty contest. She was awarded first prize by a unanimous vote of the judges. One of the judges was a young artist. He was asked his reason for selecting her. He remarked that he chose her not so much for the beauty of her eyes, head, or lovely complexion. Instead, he admired her legs most, as they were “the sort of limbs a Diana or Venus must have had at her age”. The contest won for her the title as the most beautiful girl in Australia.”

SURF SIRENS

The 1920s heralded the rise of the surf girl, surf beauty, the surf siren if you will, with her bright eyes, rosy cheeks, healthy complexion, and relaxed countenance. Nervy girl? Get in the surf and have a swim, they recommended.

BEAUTY ON SHOW: COMPETITION AT BONDI

The only beauty competition recorded in those years was held at the Bondi Tram Shed, on February 5th, 1921, at Saturday, 3 pm. The girls gathered as did the spectators, and there were prizes for best figure/best built girl, most beautiful surfing costume, and prettiest girl in prettiest costume in a senior and junior category.

The costumes were varied in style and included all textures and hues. Some of the girls were lean and lank, some were plump, some were suntanned, and some protected their skins from the weather, the writers noted.

‘Down by the sea on Saturday, a daring sculptor judged various ladies who desired fame and the verdicts were delivered. Nelson Illingsworth had observed women of different countries and ‘sees with the artist’s eye.’

The judge had a difficult task, assessing the qualities of the contestants, but judge he did. Judge for yourself but can you see Lotus there? It’s possible that she was a winner in another beauty competition in another year, but there’s no record of it, unfortunately.

A COMPETITION FOR A STAGE CAREER

Unlike the beauty contests, this was a competition that was actually won on merit, and from the moment she won, Lotus had an establishment known as ‘The Firm’ managing her theatrical interests.

On ‘the hunt for new talent for its theatres’ in February, 1923, J C Williamson initiated the “Stage and Society” competition in conjunction with Mr E G Tait and the Stage and Society Magazine, ‘a fortnightly magazine of attractive appearance.’ Over a thousand singers, dancers, and amateur actors were heard and seen by the judges over several weeks when three winners emerged: two vocalists and a dancer.

“It is interesting to note that the Sydney directors of the Williamson firm, in their search for native talent, recently instituted a competition for which local aspirants for a stage career were invited to enter. There were over a thousand entries, out of which considerable number three young women were selected for immediate engagements. Misses Rowena Ronald and Anona Wilkins are singers whose voices have much impressed Mr Andrew McCunn, the chief musical director: the third – Miss Lotus Thompson – is a dancer, of whom remarkable things are predicted. Sydney will watch the careers of these youthful newcomers with special interest.”

SEEKING A FILM STAR

In April, 1923, Ashby Studios at 183 Pitt St, Sydney were, to put it colloquially, really raking in the cash at the expense of naive girls who dreamt of becoming film stars. If the girls didn’t have suitable photographs, Ashby nobly offered their photographic services to the girls at a special rate. The prize was ‘an all expenses paid trip to America, and an introduction to a leading photoplay house.’ It was, in fact, Universal Studios. The best photographs were to be published in the newspaper, and the whole affair was dragged out to beyond September.

Though the winners were to be decided by public ballot, the competition seemed to disappear at the end of September without a trace, despite public enthusiasm and media build-up. It is incredibly revealing about the number of women who almost entered the industry and the gap between Hollywood aspiration and reality.

Ashby was just one of a maze of talent studios that appeared almost overnight, offering film acting tuition and taking advantage of dreamers.

The image above was reproduced from Everyone’s Magazine on 1st November, 1922 but was first seen by me in The Show Girl and the Straw Man, Liz Connor, page 34, ‘Beauty Contestant in the Photographic Scene.’

The Sydney Evening News, Conor writes, throughout April and May of 1922, invited girls and women to send in their photographs to be judged by a panel, noting that it was the first newspaper in the 1920s to adopt the beauty competition as a means to expand its readership, drawing over two thousand aspirants.

Perhaps there was another beauty contest held at Bondi that I have somehow missed but I will say three things: firstly, the photograph of fifteen-year-old Lotus in the bathing costume first came to light in an American newspaper in 1925, following a dramatic stunt involving her legs. Secondly, Wikipedia cannot provide a source for the claim that Lotus won a beauty contest or that the judge declared her legs as a Venus or a Diana. Thirdly, there was an even bigger beauty contest win in America, and this time Lotus was actually in the country, but we’ll dig into that one later…

REFERENCES

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article245814266

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article129819763

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article245826990

(Trove Articles from the 30 January, 7th, 8th, and 9th February, 1921)

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146319148

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article15291160

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Thompson

Everyones Retrieved April 19, 2026, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-549829275

Best Figure Contest Opens at Hoyt’s, Sydney, to Capacity with “Waiting for (1 November 1922). (1922-11-01). In Everyones. 3 (139), 99.

Nile, Richard, 1958-. (2001). The Show Girl and the Straw Man / [editor, Richard Nile]. St. Lucia, Qld. : ‘Beauty Contestant in the Photographic Scene’, Liz Connor, p. 34. University of Queensland Press.