Tee Matthews sports Bathing Suit Styles from 1944

In 1944, the ambition of every girl in the balmy Florida city of Winter Haven was to be one of Dick Pope's girls. Dick Pope was a promoter of a tourist fairyland called Cypress Gardens. Every Sunday he turned loose in the gardens about a dozen girls - the prettiest in Winter Haven - dressed in corny Southern-belle fashions. For a fee (55 cents for civilians, 30 cents for men in uniform) visitors could roam at will through the cypress grove, sniff the gardenias and photograph the girls.

Queen of the 1944 season's pack of girls is Tee Matthews. Army photographers from 12 fields have voted her the most photogenic girl in Winter Haven. Bombing-range pilots at Avon field have crowned her Queen of the Range. Tee was 17 and still at high school. When she graduates she plans to try her luck at modeling.

Winter Haven's 'Queen of the Range' shows off bathing suits styles from 1944.

Tee Matthews and Bobbie Chambliss of Winter Haven, Fl. take time out to feed the gulls. Most of their Sundays are spent posing in southern Belle Costumes. I love the treatement of the single shoulder.

Sports clothes are Tees favorite wearing apparel. Here she models a play-and-swim suit with lace edged muslin panties by Cole of California.

In a one strap suit, Tee Mathews is a 1944 beach beauty. One strap-suits were the seasons sensation at southern resorts. This one of Guatemalan cotton was designed by Tina Leser.

In a two-piece suit by Jantzen, Tee likes to swim, dive, sail and water skit. This is her favorite type of suit. No matter how violent the exercise, the trunks and bra top stay in place.