Results
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Placements
| Placement | Contestant |
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| Miss America 1949 | |
| 1st Runner-Up |
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| 2nd Runner-Up |
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| 3rd Runner-Up |
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| 4th Runner-Up |
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| Top 15 |
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Awards
Preliminary awards
| Awards | Contestant |
|---|---|
| Lifestyle and Fitness |
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| Talent |
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Other awards
| Awards | Contestant |
|---|---|
| Miss Congeniality |
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| Miss America 1949 | |
|---|---|
| Date | September 10, 1949 |
| Presenters | Governor Alfred E. Driscoll, Bob Russell |
| Venue | Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey |
| Entrants | 52 |
| Placements | 15 |
| Winner | Jacque Mercer Arizona |
Miss America 1949, the 23rd Miss America pageant, was held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 10, 1949. The 1949 pageant marked the first time that a public official, New Jersey Governor Alfred E. Driscoll, had taken part in the coronation, placing the jeweled crown on the new queen's head. [1]
The winner, Jacque Mercer, was the first Miss Arizona to take the crown, as well as the last previously married woman before the Miss America pageant adopted new rules.
Among the finalists was Betty Jane Crowley, Miss New Jersey, who became an actress and guest-starred in dozens of television series, billed professionally as Kathleen Crowley. Another future actress, Allison Hayes, competed in the pageant as Miss District of Columbia.
In Philip Roth's 1997 novel, American Pastoral , Mary Dawn Dwyer (the future wife of main protagonist Seymour "Swede" Levov) was Miss New Jersey in the 1949 pageant, and did not make it to the top ten, despite the contest being held in her home state. Roth recreates the pageant in the novel, and mentions real-life winner Jacque Mercer, as well as several of the judges.
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| Placement | Contestant |
|---|---|
| Miss America 1949 | |
| 1st Runner-Up |
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| 2nd Runner-Up |
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| 3rd Runner-Up |
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| 4th Runner-Up |
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| Top 15 |
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| Awards | Contestant |
|---|---|
| Lifestyle and Fitness |
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| Talent |
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| Awards | Contestant |
|---|---|
| Miss Congeniality |
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| Title | Name | Hometown | Age | Talent | Placement | Awards | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Alabama | Freida Roser | Birmingham | Classical Vocal | ||||
 Arizona | Jacque Mercer | Litchfield | 18 | Dramatic Reading from Romeo and Juliet | Winner | Preliminary Lifestyle & Fitness Award Preliminary Talent Award | |
 Arkansas | Barbara Brothers | Little Rock | Painting Display & Poetry Recitation, "Old Black Joe" & "I'm in Love with a Wonderful Guy" | Top 15 | |||
 California | Jone Pedersen | Santa Rosa | Dramatic Monologue, "You Will Come Back" | 4th Runner-up | Preliminary Talent Award | ||
 Canada | Margaret Lynn Munn | Vancouver | Classical Vocal | Top 15 | Preliminary Talent Award | ||
 Chicago | Teresa Giorgian | Chicago | Vocal, "Jealousy" | Top 15 | |||
 Colorado | Sylvia Canaday | Denver | Monologue from Dinner at Eight | 3rd Runner-up | Preliminary Lifestyle and Fitness Award | ||
 Connecticut | Barbara Smetana | Bridgeport | Vocal & Monologue, "Maybe" & "Jackie, Son of a Hardboiled Cop" | ||||
 District of Columbia | Mary Hayes | 19 | Classical Vocal | ||||
 Florida | Shirley Ann Rhodes | Tampa | Vocal, "Put Your Shoes on, Lacy" | ||||
 Georgia | Dorothy Johnston | LaGrange | Vocal from H.M.S. Pinafore | ||||
| Greater Philadelphia | Miriam Lopayowker | Philadelphia | Electric Guitar, "I'm in the Mood for Love" | ||||
 Hawaii | Bee Jay Johnston | Honolulu | Top 15 | ||||
 Illinois | Trudi Germi | Chicago | Classical Vocal, "Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix" | 2nd Runner-up | Preliminary Lifestyle and Fitness Award | ||
 Indiana | Patricia Cunningham | Peru | Water Ballet | ||||
 Iowa | Barbara Juel | Council Bluffs | 20 | Classical Vocal, "Strie la Vampa" from Il trovatore | |||
 Kansas | Shirley Hargiss | Topeka | Vocal, "Cecilia on a See-saw" | Top 15 | |||
 Kentucky | Betty Haverstock | Louisville | |||||
 Louisiana | Annie Hollingsworth | Baton Rouge | |||||
 Maine | Connie Gingrass | Augusta | Fencing | ||||
 Maryland | Jean Crow | Baltimore | Fashion Design | ||||
 Massachusetts | Gloria Curelli | Roslindale | Dance | ||||
 Minnesota | Gloria Burkhart | Minneapolis | Violin, "Zigeunerweisen" | Top 15 | Preliminary Talent Award | ||
 Mississippi | Katherine Wright | Pascagoula | Dramatic Sketch, "Hagar" | 1st Runner-up | |||
 Missouri | Mary Stone | Jefferson City | |||||
 Montana | Carol Fraser | Billings | Equestrian Display | Miss Congeniality | After her horse nearly fell into the Orchestra Pit, the use of live animals was banned from the talent competition | ||
 Nebraska | Vanita Mae Brown | Omaha | |||||
 Nevada | Carol Lampe | Reno | Speech, "4-H" | ||||
 New Hampshire | Flora Sleeper | Laconia | |||||
 New Jersey | Betty Jane Crowley | Green Bank | Poetry Recitation & Vocal, "Might Like a Rose" | Top 15 | Miss Congeniality | ||
 New Mexico | Shirley Hughes | Carlsbad | 18 | Charcoal & Chalk Drawing, "Cruising Down the River" | Non-finalist Talent Award | ||
 New York | Wanda Nalepa | New York City | Speech, "Nursing" | ||||
 New York City | Loreen Osgood | New York City | Piano, "The Blue Danube" | Top 15 | |||
 North Carolina | Nancy Lee Yelverton | Rocky Mount | Monologue, "A Delightful Dilemma" | ||||
 North Dakota | Kitty Page | Bismarck | Tap Dance & Baton Twirling | ||||
 Ohio | Florence Bondi | Cleveland | |||||
 Oklahoma | Georgine R. Leeka | Tulsa | Vocal | ||||
 Oregon | Beverly Kruger | The Dalles | Monologue, "The Waltz" by Dorothy Parker | ||||
 Pennsylvania | Marlene Carozzo | Kennett Square | Piano, Clair de Lune | ||||
 Puerto Rico | Avelina Medrallo | ||||||
 South Carolina | Barrie Wingard | Columbia | |||||
 South Dakota | Carol Quinn | Sioux Falls | Dramatic Monologue from Pygmalion | ||||
 Tennessee | Adelyn Sumner | Knoxville | Modeling/Speech | ||||
 Texas | Ysleta Leissner | Fort Worth | Ballet en Pointe | ||||
 Utah | June Barlow | Bountiful | Vocal/Dress Design, "Villanelle" & "The Wren" | ||||
 Vermont | Annalou Johnston | Enosburg Falls | |||||
 Virginia | Betty Lewis | Norfolk | Vocal | ||||
 Washington | Libby Aldrich | Kelso | Vocal, "Stormy Weather" | ||||
 West Virginia | Georganne Steiss | Barrackville | Piano | ||||
 Wisconsin | Phyllis Ann Kessler | Green Bay | 18 | Baton Twirling | Top 15 | Phyllis Ann Kessler Lynn Sacho died at age 90 on March 7, 2022, in DePere, Wisconsin. | |
 Wyoming | Esther McLeod | Sheridan |
Miss Universe is an annual international major beauty pageant that is run by a Thailand and Mexican-based Miss Universe Organization. Along with Miss World, Miss International, and Miss Earth, it is one of the Big Four beauty pageants.
Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 18 and 28. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is judged on competition segments with scoring percentages: Private Interview (30%) – a 10-minute press conference-style interview with a panel of judges, On Stage Question (10%) – answering a judge's question onstage, Talent or HER Story (20%) – a performance talent or 90 second speech, Health and Fitness (20%) – demonstrated physical fitness onstage dressed in athletic wear, and Evening Gown (20%) – modeling evening-wear onstage.
Miss Teen USA is a beauty pageant that has been run since 1983 by the Miss Universe Organization for girls aged 14–19 years old as of January 1st of the competition year. They must be US citizens, and cannot have been married, pregnant, or have children. Unlike its sister pageants Miss Universe, which currently broadcasts on JKN18 and like its sister pageant Miss USA, it is televised on The CW television network starting in 2024, after being streamed online for several years. The Miss Universe Organization previously operated Miss Teen USA, as well as Miss USA, until 2020 when the rights to produce both pageants were licensed to Miss USA 2008 Crystle Stewart prior to her suspension in October 2022, thus returning the said pageants to the Miss Universe Organization. The parent company of all three pageants and the Miss Universe organization remains the same under the licensing agreement: JKN Metaverse Inc., a subsidiary of JKN Global Group.
Yolande Margaret Betbeze Fox was an American singer, feminist, activist and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss America 1951.
Kathleen Crowley was an American actress. She appeared in over 100 movies and television series in the 1950s and 1960s, almost always as a leading lady.
The Miss Arizona competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Arizona in the Miss America pageant. Arizona has twice won the Miss America title. The first Miss Arizona, Anna Marie Barnett, was crowned in 1938.
The Miss Illinois is a pageant program affiliated with Miss America, which is competition for women models representing the state of Illinois.
The Miss New Jersey competition is an annual pageant held to select the representative for the state of New Jersey in the Miss America pageant.
Terry Lynn Huntingdon is an American actress and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss USA 1959.
Miss America 2010, the 83rd Miss America pageant, was held on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada at the Theatre for the Performing Arts of Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino on Saturday, January 30, 2010. Miss America 2009, Katie Stam from Indiana, crowned her successor, Caressa Cameron from Virginia, at the end of the event.
Miss America 1972, the 45th Miss America pageant, was held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on September 11, 1971, and broadcast on NBC.
Miss America 1975, the 48th Miss America pageant, was held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 7, 1974, and broadcast on NBC.
Miss America 1954, the 27th Miss America pageant, was held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 12, 1953. Though four women from Pennsylvania had previously held the title, Evelyn Margaret Ay was the first Miss Pennsylvania to be crowned Miss America, as the others represented cities.
Miss America 1941, the 15th Miss America pageant, was held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 6, 1941. Shortly after the crowning of Miss California, Rosemary LaPlanche, who had been first runner-up in 1940, the pageant committee adopted this rule: "No contestant can compete in Atlantic City for the title of Miss America more than once", thus eliminating future state winners with more than one attempt at the national title.
Miss America 1946, the 20th Miss America pageant, was held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 7, 1946.
Miss America 1948, the 22nd Miss America pageant, was held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 11, 1948.
Miss America 2012, the 85th Miss America pageant, was held at the Theatre for the Performing Arts of Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada on Saturday, January 14, 2012. Miss America 2011, Teresa Scanlan from Nebraska, crowned her successor Laura Kaeppeler from Wisconsin at the end of this event. It was broadcast live on ABC. All 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico competed for the title.
Margaret Gorman was an American model and beauty queen who was the winner of the first Miss America beauty pageant after being crowned Miss District of Columbia in 1921.
Miss India Worldwide is a beauty pageant which draws contestants from India and from among members of the Indian diaspora residing in other countries. It is conducted by India Festival Committee (IFC), first founded and headed by Dharmatma Saran in New York City, USA.
Lillian Ross, "Symbol of all we possess (October 22, 1949 (On the Miss America pageant))" from "The 40s: The story of a decade: The New Yorker" Edited by Henry Finder with Giles Harvey Modern Library, New York Copyright 2014 by The New Yorker Magazine
