For once, the question in this post’s title is neither rhetorical nor a setup for a joke, though I suppose the answer is obvious. She’s having her picture taken. But this leads me to the next question: Why did this lady dress like a medieval princess to have her picture taken?
If you do a search for “King Arthur” in Google’s nifty archive of images produced for Life Magazine, you bring up a whole slew of images tagged only by date, “May 1952”, photographer, “George Skadding”, and subject, “King Arthur”. This is one of those hits.
Filed along with our Truman-era Guenevere are pictures of men and women, mostly college-aged, all dressed like extras on an Errol Flynn movie. Festivities of this mystery day in May of ’52 include an archery contest, a mock naval battle, a sock-hop, and a feast attended by jongleurs. My first thought is an early Renaissance Faire, but it seems several shades more awesome than any faire I’ve ever seen, and it’s tagged under “King Arthur,” not “Renaissance Faire.” There was a Connecticut Yankee movie made in 1952–the one for “Studio One” that starred Boris Karloff, but this event has no obvious connection to it. Certainly, there’s no Karloff to be seen anywhere.
So, does anyone out there know why Life would be sending a famous photographer to a rockin’ King Arthur-themed medieval party in May, 1952?