Against a backdrop of clear, blue skies and blossoming oleanders, more than two-dozen young women — resplendent in bathing suits, flowing summer dresses and sashes from faraway lands — pose carefree for the camera.
The amateur film footage is from the 1931 International Pageant of Pulchritude in Galveston. Recently digitized and posted online by the Texas Archive of the Moving Image (TAMI), it’s also one of the earliest surviving color films shot in the Lone Star State.