Tennis History

The Vanity Fair sports writer Fred Hawthorne was filled with high praise for tennis star Molla Bjurstedt Mallory (1884 – 1959):

To-day Mrs. Mallory’s backhand shots are on par with her famous forehand drive, and her all-around play has improved tremendously. She is a splendid volleryer, too, though not in our typical American style. Mrs. Mallory has won the national singles title five times and last August defeated Mlli. Suzanne Lenglen, of France, probably the most finished woman tennis player in the world.

Marion Hall Zinderstein Jessup has one of the most versatile games on the courts. Overhead and off the ground, she possesses virtually all the strokes in tennis, forehand, backhand, lob, smash, volley and block volley, yet she has a weakness, one that has cost her many an important match, and when she met Mrs Mallory in 1920, probably the national championship.

For tennis, of course, the conventional flannel trousers will continue their popularity this season. But many men will also wear white duck or twill trousers, which has the advantage of great coolness and comparatively easy to launder… -but wait! the excitement does not stop with such trilling prose! The reader will also find a lovely fashion drawing of some awfully mannly tennis players as well as photographs of the fashions being praised.

In 1916 Coco Channel was not a household word in American fashion circles yet, but judging by this fashion editorial that appeared in Vanity Fair magazine, one can assume that her presence was being felt.