Selene Mahri

Mahri was born as Solveig Ann Mari Eklund in Finland, on December 17, 1924, to Karl and Thyra Eklund.[3] She moved to the United States in 1942 with her mother.[3] According to an account in Life magazine, Mahri and her mother traveled to the United States to see the World's Fair, and "America seemed such a peaceful place, they decided to stay."[4] Mahri could not speak English when she arrived and studied for two years to become proficient.[2] In addition to Swedish and English, Mahri was able to read in Finnish, Danish, and German.[5] Her mother reportedly worked as a personal aide to Mary Pickford.[2] Mahri became a United States citizen in 1946.[1][6]

Mahri first gained a degree of fame in August 1942 when she was chosen to represent New York in the Miss America pageant.[7][8] She was disqualified from the competition, with some sources stating that the disqualification was for being too young (age 17),[9] and others stating it was due to her immigration status[10] or foreign citizenship.[11] After being eliminated from the Miss America competition, she was promoted by the U.S. Treasury Department as "Miss War Bonds".[9][12]

Mahri became a model for fashion designer Nettie Rosenstein and by 1943 with the John Powers modeling agency.[2][13] Her hair was described as "so blond it's almost white".[14] Her body was described as being "slim as a wand" with "lovely, flowing lines".[5] She was 5 ft 9+1⁄2 in (1.77 m)[5] to 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m),[14] 120 to 125 pounds (54 to 57 kg)[5][14] and had measurements of 34 inches (860 mm) (bust), 24 inches (610 mm) (waist), and 34 inches (860 mm) (hips).[5] She became a favorite of photographer John Rawlings and "Manhattan's top model."[2][14] She appeared on covers of Vogue magazine (including January 15, 1943,[15] September 1, 1944,[16] and December 15, 1944). She was also featured on the cover of other magazines, including Life (December 6, 1943,[4] and October 9, 1944[17]), Cosmopolitan, and British Vogue. Dorothy Kilgallen called Mahri "probably New York's most beautiful model"[18] and wrote in October 1944 that Mahri had appeared in a single month in eight national magazines and was charging $25-an-hour for modeling work.[19]

In addition to fashion modeling, Mahri became the poster girl for the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) in 1943.[20] She was used on most of the recruitment posters issued by the WAVES and "became the face and figure of the WAVES."[21] She was also a Yank pin-up girl in 1944.[22]

According to columnist Doris Lilly of the Daily News, Mahri became known as "the personification of the blonde ice goddess."[2] By 1947, she was charging $40 per hour for her modeling services which was well above the prevailing rates at the time of $10 to $25 per hour. She noted that her high hourly rate also ensured that photographers and clients behaved themselves: "At that price, your time is too valuable. No matter who you are, or how rich, they keep their minds on their work."[14] She added, "I kept raising my price to keep from working – and people kept meeting it."[14]

Some thought that Mahri might have had a career as a movie star but for her "strange, nasal voice."[2]

In 1944 Mahri was engaged to Emilio Tagli, a wealthy Chilean man.[23] Mahri also had a relationship in the 1940s with the married Greek shipping billionaire Stavros Niarchos and was regularly seen with him at the Stork Club and El Morocco in Manhattan. Niarchos bought her a car, a town house, a country house, jewelry, and two standard French poodles. Mahri later recalled of her attraction to Niarchos that he had "such fantastic, bony, degenerate hands."[2]

Mahri's first husband was Albert George "Bert" Rupp Jr., to whom she was married in 1947.[24] They were divorced in 1949.[3]

Mahri's second husband was John Wendell "Jack" Anderson Jr. of Grosse Pointe, Michigan, a Detroit industrialist. They were married in 1949 and had two sons, John and Christopher.[1] They divorced in 1957.[3]

Mahri's third husband was William Merritt Weaver Jr., a wealthy financier and operator of tungsten mines.[1] They married in 1958 and had a daughter Wendy Mari.[25] They divorced in 1972. At the time, syndicated newspaper columnist Suzy wrote that she was "divorcing her third husband (and her third millionaire)".[26]

Mahri received press coverage for her romantic relationships and marriages to wealthy men. She was credited with inventing the saying, "Marriage is a question of give and take. You give. I take."[2]

• Pin-ups of Yank, the Army Weekly
• List of Vogue (US) cover models
• List of British Vogue cover models