1930s Murray’s Cigarettes Bathing Belles – Complete 40 Card Set

Description

Issued by Murray Sons & Co. Ltd. of Belfast and London in the late 1930s, the “Bathing Belles” series was one of the company’s most visually stylish and culturally flirtatious offerings. Known for their high-quality cigarette cards, Murray’s produced these as a promotional insert—part pin-up, part publicity still—at a time when Hollywood’s rising starlets captivated the British public. Printed in rich halftone on a lightly glossed card stock, each card features a bathing beauty pose on the front and a short printed biography on the back. A complete 40-card run like this is increasingly difficult to find intact, especially in such well-preserved condition.

Among the featured actresses are a mix of household names and glamorous deep-catalog favorites: Ida Lupino, Frances Drake, Jean Parker, Ann Sheridan, Iris Adrian, and Jane Hamilton—each pictured in full 1930s swimwear regalia. From high-kick poses to beachside glamour shots, this set captures a cinematic and cultural moment just before WWII would shift public sensibilities. It’s a remarkable blend of Hollywood marketing, vintage fashion, and collectible ephemera—all in palm-sized portraits with impeccable style.

Whether you’re a vintage movie buff, a pin-up ephemera collector, or a completist chasing classic cigarette cards, this Bathing Belles set hits all the marks. Rarely seen complete—and rarer still this clean.