ONE of the pleasantest assignments a photographer ever had fell to Philippe Halsman, who in eight weeks photographed eight of the world's reigning beauties, for this week's color spread. Packing about 200 lbs. of special equipment, he jumped about from Brazil to Bangkok. Oddly enough, he came upon two of his reigning beauties about 15 miles apart, near the Swiss resort town of Gstaad. There he photographed Mme. Houphouet-Boigny, whose husband runs the Ivory Coast, and Philadelphia's Grace Kelly, whose husband runs Monaco. Halsman, who has known Princess Grace from her Hollywood days, finds her a cool customer, but "I consider her profile the most beautiful I ever photographed." Mme. Houphouet-Boigny looked fine in her Paris gown, but, says Halsman, "she is a naturally lovely girl. If I met her under a tree with only a native dress on, I would immediately pick her out as beautiful."

At his own daughter's suggestion, Halsman took along a twist record to give to Belgium's Queen Fabiola, on the theory that royal reserve might keep the palace from sending out for one on their own. An interested observer to the picture taking was King Baudouin, an enthusiastic amateur photographer who adjusted his wife's necklace so that it would photograph better, and suggested that she wear a white mink stole.

Arriving in Teheran, Halsman watched an army march-past outside the palace, and was surprised to see who was taking the salute: the Crown Prince, just 16 months old. Next day Halsman photographed the Empress Farah, whom he found "very young, pleasant, serious and timid."

Most queenly of the lot was Thailand's lovely Sirikit. Halsman, who has photographed more LIFE covers (90) than anyone else, believes that "to make a well-composed portrait, the photographer must control and direct his subject. This becomes rather difficult when the subject is a Queen!" When he left Sirikit, she told him: "It has been so nice that you did not make me at all nervous." Until that point, he thought he had been the only nervous one.

All his subjects, he discovered, were preoccupied by the reputation of Mrs. Kennedy, were very conscious of how heads of state should be seen to appear, felt themselves engaged in a sort of beauty competition, and were concerned for patriotic reasons. They need not have worried. This is the kind of competition, as the pictures show, in which there is more than one winner.

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