| Miss America 1937 | |
|---|---|
| Date | September 11, 1937 |
| Presenters | King Neptune |
| Venue | Steel Pier, Atlantic City, New Jersey |
| Entrants | 49 |
| Placements | 16 |
| Winner | Bette Cooper Bertrand Island |
Miss America 1937, the 11th Miss America pageant, was held at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey on Saturday, September 11, 1937. [1] Shortly after being presented as Miss America, the newly crowned 17-year-old winner, Bette Cooper, left Atlantic City and returned home. Once there, she missed scheduled appointments on her first day as Miss America, as well as a theater appearance and a trip to Hollywood. [2] Her father cited illness as the reason. [3] Though not placing in the top five, representatives from different areas of New York captured three of the semi-finalist positions.
| Placement | Contestant |
|---|---|
| Miss America 1937 | |
| 1st Runner-Up |
|
| 2nd Runner-Up |
|
| 3rd Runner-Up | |
| 4th Runner-Up |
|
| Top 16 |
|
Best Evening Gown
| Awards | Contestant | Title |
|---|---|---|
| Talent | Phyllis Randall |  California |
| Claire Jean Nevulis |  Massachusetts | |
| Grace Travis |  New York City |
| Name | Title | Hometown | Age | Talent | Placement | Awards | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lorraine Mayfield |  Atlanta | Atlanta | |||||
| Olga Strickland |  Augusta | ||||||
| May Vivian Miller |  Baltimore | Baltimore | |||||
| Bette Cooper | Bertrand Island | Hackettstown | 17 | Vocal, "When the Poppies Bloom Again" | Winner | Best Evening Gown Award | |
| Josephine Beall |  Birmingham | ||||||
| Helen Fleiss |  Bronx | The Bronx | Top 16 | ||||
| Evelyn Townley | Buckeye Lake | Top 16 | |||||
| Phyllis Randall | California | Hollywood | 20 | Vocal/Dance | 3rd Runner-up | Preliminary Talent Award | Sister of Miss North Carolina 1941, Joey Augusta Paxton |
| Betty Hunneycutt | Charlotte | Charlotte | Top 16 | ||||
| Sally Lillian Frank |  Cincinnati | Cincinnati | |||||
| Frances Greene |  Connecticut | Milford | |||||
| Nickey Harriet |  Delaware | Harrington | |||||
| Mary P. Hollran | Delray Beach | Delray Beach | |||||
| Helen Greene |  District of Columbia | 24 | Blues Vocal & Piano | ||||
| Beryl Kober | Eastern Pennsylvania | Chalfont | |||||
| Margaret Myers | Eastern Shores | Rock Hall | |||||
| Dorothy Armstrong | Empire State | Whitesboro | |||||
| Frances Powell |  Jacksonville | ||||||
| Lucia Benton |  Kansas | Norton | Top 16 | ||||
| Audrey Catherine Flaig |  Kentucky | Bellevue | |||||
| Gertrude Rissie Miller |  Louisiana | Winnsboro | Top 16 | ||||
| Cornelia Campbell |  Maine | South Portland | |||||
| Claire Nevulis |  Massachusetts | South Boston | Vocal/Tap Dance | Top 16 | Preliminary Talent Award | ||
| Irmigard Dietel |  Miami | Vocal | 4th Runner-up | ||||
| Cecelia Rodge |  Minnesota | Minneapolis | |||||
| Virginia Riley |  Mississippi | West Point | |||||
| Mary Sue Klein | Moberly | Moberly | |||||
| Ingram Starkey |  Montgomery | Montgomery | |||||
| Ruth Lenore Jones |  Nebraska | Nebraska City | |||||
| Grace Travis |  New York City | New York City | Vocal | Top 16 | Preliminary Talent Award | ||
| Ruth Covington |  North Carolina | Tap Dance, "Gonna Go" | 2nd Runner-up | ||||
| Jean Fadden |  Ohio | Cleveland | Top 16 | ||||
| Kathryn Crase |  Philadelphia | Philadelphia | |||||
| Malen Pietrantoni |  Puerto Rico | ||||||
| Dorothy May Eden |  Rhode Island | East Providence | 18 | Dr. Dorothy May Eden Trayner Erinakes died at 97 on March 20, 2017 in San Luis Obispo, California. | |||
| Helen Frances Murphy | Riverside | Riverside | |||||
| Oliver Henderson |  San Antonio | ||||||
| Carolyn Cumbie | Savannah Beach | ||||||
| Wayring Smathers |  South Carolina | Columbia | |||||
| Margaret Julia Jardon | South Jersey | Burlington | |||||
| Wauneta Bates |  St. Louis | St. Louis | Top 16 | ||||
| Kathryn H. Kendrick | Sunnybrook | Sunnybrook | |||||
| Alice Emerick |  Texas | Fort Worth | Tap Dance | 1st Runner-up | |||
| Irene Alice Vanderburgh | Troy | Watervliet | |||||
| Frances Lee Sultan |  Virginia | Kecoughtan | Top 16 | ||||
| Juliana Bernhardt |  Washington | Seattle | |||||
| Evelyn Raye |  Westchester County | New Rochelle | Top 16 | ||||
| Mary Ann McLaughlin |  Wyoming | Riverton |
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