Miss Universe 1959

Miss Universe 1959
Akiko Kojima
Date	24 July 1959 (1959-07-24)
Presenters	Byron Palmer
Venue	Long Beach Municipal Auditorium, Long Beach, California, United States
Broadcaster	CBS
Entrants	34
Placements	15
Debuts	Bolivia Burma Luxembourg
Withdrawals	Alaska Australia British Guiana Chile Paraguay Singapore Suriname Venezuela West Indies
Returns	Austria Costa Rica Iceland Thailand Turkey
Winner	Akiko Kojima Japan
Congeniality	Sodsai Vanijvadhana (Thailand)
Photogenic	Pamela Anne Searle (England)
←  1958 1960  →

Miss Universe 1959 was the eighth Miss Universe pageant, held at the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium in Long Beach, California, United States on 24 July 1959. This was the last year that the pageant was held in Long Beach before it moved to Miami Beach, Florida in 1960.

At the end of the event, Luz Marina Zuluaga of Colombia crowned Akiko Kojima of Japan as Miss Universe 1959. ^[1] Kojima was the first representative of Japan, and the first Asian woman to win the contest. ^[2]

Contestants from thirty-four countries and territories competed in this year's pageant. The pageant was hosted by Byron Palmer.

Background

Long Beach Municipal Auditorium, the venue of Miss Universe 1959

Selection of participants

Contestants from thirty-four countries and territories were selected to compete in the pageant.

Debuts, returns, and withdrawals

This edition saw the debuts of Bolivia, Burma, and Luxembourg, and the returns of Austria, Iceland, Thailand, and Turkey. Thailand last competed in 1954, while Austria, Iceland, and Turkey last competed in 1957. Alaska, Australia, British Guiana, Chile, Paraguay, Singapore, Suriname, Venezuela, and the West Indies withdrew after their respective organizations failed to hold a national competition or appoint a delegate. ^[3]

Christine Matias of the Philippines was set to compete at Miss Universe, but was barred by her university, the Philippine Women's University, as they do not allow their students to wear a swimsuit in front of the public. ^{[4] [5]} Aida Kadamani was supposed to represent the United Arab Republic at Miss Universe, but withdrew after refusing to wear a swimsuit in front of the judges. ^[6] She was then replaced by Nawal Ramli, but she also did not push through with the competition as the pageant organizers failed to answer her queries whether she could substitute Kadamani. ^[6] Indonesia was supposed to compete for the first time, but was not able to send a candidate due to protests in Jakarta against the creation of Miss Indonesia. ^[7] Other countries who would not sanction their people to appear in swimsuits according to Oscar Reinhardt, then-executive producer of Miss Universe Inc., include Ireland, Portugal, and Spain. ^[5] Spain and Portugal would send their first representatives in the following year.

Results

Miss Universe 1959 participating countries and territories

Placements

Placement	Contestant
Miss Universe 1959	Japan – Akiko Kojima [8]
1st runner-up	Norway – Jorunn Kristjansen [8]
2nd runner-up	United States – Terry Lynn Huntingdon [8]
3rd runner-up	England – Pamela Anne Searle [8]
4th runner-up	Brazil – Vera Regina Ribeiro [8]
Top 15	Belgium – Hélène Savigny [8]   Colombia – Olga Pumarejo [8]   France – Françoise Saint-Laurent [8]   West Germany – Carmela Künzel [8]   Greece – Zoitsa Kouroukli [8]   Iceland – Sigríður Þorvaldsdóttir [8]   Israel – Rina Issacov [8]   Poland – Zuzanna Cembrowska [8]   South Korea – Oh Hyun-joo [8]   Sweden – Marie Louise Ekström [8]

Special awards

Award	Contestant
Miss Friendship	Thailand – Sodsai Vanijvadhana [9]
Miss Photogenic	England – Pamela Anne Searle [10]
Miss Popular Girl	South Korea – Oh Hyun-joo [10]

Pageant

Format

Same with 1955, fifteen semi-finalists were chosen at the preliminary competition that consists of the swimsuit and evening gown competition. Each of the fifteen semi-finalists gave a short speech during the final telecast using their native languages. Afterwards, the fifteen semi-finalists paraded again in their swimsuits and evening gowns, and the five finalists were eventually chosen. ^[11]

Selection committee

• Maxwell Arnow – American director
• Claude Berr – French director, writer, producer, actor and film distributor ^[12]
• Ghislaine R. de Amador – Ecuadorian judge ^[12]
• Vion Papamichalis - film producer
• Joseph Ruttemberg - Ukrainian-American photojournalist and cinematographer
• Vincent Trotta – American artist ^[11]
• Paul Wellmann - American journalist

Miss Brazil 1969 Vera Ribeiro with Miss Universe 1959 Akiko Kojima during the national costume parade in Miami Beach, Florida.

Contestants

Thirty-four contestants competed for the title. ^[13]

Country/Territory	Contestant	Age [a]	Hometown
Argentina	Liana Cortijo [14]	20	Buenos Aires
Austria	Christine Spatzier	19	Vienna
Belgium	Hélène Savigny [15]	24	Brussels
Bolivia	Corina Taborga [16]	19	La Paz
Brazil	Vera Regina Ribeiro [17]	19	Rio de Janeiro
Burma	Than Than Aye [18]	19	Rangoon
Canada	Eileen Butter [19]	25	Ancaster
Señorita Colombia	Olga Pumarejo [20]	20	Barranquilla
Costa Rica	Zianne Monturiol [21]	20	Heredia
Cuba	Irma Buesa Mas [22]	19	Havana
Denmark	Lisa Stolberg [23]	18	Copenhagen
Ecuador	Carlota Elena Ayala	19	Guayaquil
England	Pamela Anne Searle	21	Surrey
France	Françoise Saint-Laurent	18	Neuilly-Plaisance
Greece	Zoitsa Kouroukli [24]	18	Athens
Guatemala	Rogelia Cruz [25]	18	Guatemala City
Hawaii	Patricia Visser [26]	21	Honolulu
Holland	Peggy Erwich [27]	22	Rotterdam
Iceland	Sigríður Þorvaldsdóttir [28]	18	Reykjavík
Israel	Rina Issacov [29]	19	Tel Aviv
Italy	Maria Grazia Buccella [30]	18	Trento
Japan	Akiko Kojima [31]	22	Tokyo
Luxembourg	Josée Pundel [32]	19	Grevenmacher
Mexico	Mirna García Dávila	18	Mexico City
Norway	Jorunn Kristjansen [23]	18	Moss
Peru	Guadalupe Mariátegui Hawkins [33]	18	Callao
Poland	Zuzanna Cembrzowska [34]	19	Warsaw
South Korea	Oh Hyun-joo [35]	19	Seoul
Sweden	Marie Louise Ekström [36]	20	Sundsvall
Thailand	Sodsai Vanijvadhana [37]	22	Phra Nakhon
Turkey	Ecel Olcay [15]	19	Istanbul
United States	Terry Lynn Huntingdon [38]	19	Mount Shasta
Uruguay	Claudia Bernat [39]	20	Montevideo
West Germany	Carmela Künzel [40]	19	Berlin

Notes

1. Ages at the time of the pageant

References

1. "Japanese Girl Beauty Queen". The Sydney Morning Herald. July 26, 1959. Retrieved 5 January 2011.
2. Davidson, Garber (26 July 1959). "Japanese Beauty wins Miss Universe Title". Park City Daily News. p. 1. Retrieved 13 October 2023– via Google News Archive.
3. "Miss Venezuela's Out of Miss Universe". Midland Daily News . 15 May 2003. Archived from the original on 5 November 2022. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
4. "Cristina Matias: Miss Philippines 1959". Philippine Star . 16 September 2017. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
5. "Four Countries Bar Beauty Contest". The Canberra Times . 19 June 1959. p. 21. Retrieved 13 October 2023– via Trove.
6. "UAR won't be represented at "Miss Universe" contest". The Racine Journal-Times Sunday Bulletin. 19 July 1959. p. 4. Retrieved 13 October 2023– via Newspapers.com.
7. "Beauty contests banned in modest Indonesia; obscene". News Journal. 15 July 1959. pp. B4. Retrieved 13 October 2023– via Virginia Chronicle.
8. "Akiko Kojima "Miss Universo"" [Akiko Kojima "Miss Universe"]. El Tiempo (in Spanish). 25 July 1959. pp. 1, 8. Retrieved 19 July 2023– via Google News Archive.
9. "Miss Friendship". Youngstown Vindicator . 24 July 1959. p. 3. Retrieved 19 July 2023– via Google News Archive.
10. "Miss Universe choice nears; USA finals tonight". Youngstown Vindicator . 22 July 1959. p. 35. Retrieved 19 July 2023– via Google News Archive.
11. Thomas, Bob (24 July 1959). "How do losers feel in Universe tussle?". The Evening Independent. pp. 7B. Retrieved 12 October 2023– via Google News Archive.
12. "Protest". The Press-Courier. 25 July 1959. p. 10. Retrieved 12 October 2023– via Google News Archive.
13. "Most beautiful girls in world". Independent. Long Beach, California. 19 July 1959. p. 8. Retrieved 20 July 2023– via Newspapers.com.
14. "Solo una Latinoamericana entre las probables vencedoras este ano". El Tiempo (in Spanish). 18 July 1959. p. 9. Retrieved 22 November 2022– via Google News Archive.
15. "Miss Universe aspirants catch up on beauty sleep". The Royal Gazette. 17 July 1959. p. 5. Retrieved 13 October 2023– via Bermuda National Library.
16. Peredo Flores, Robin David (13 November 2020). "Gala final: El Miss Bolivia entregará tres coronas mañana". El Deber (in European Spanish). Retrieved 13 October 2023.
17. "Miss D.F. e a nova Miss Brasil" [Miss D.F. is the new Miss Brazil]. Jornal do Brasil (in Portuguese). 22 June 1959. p. 1. Retrieved 13 October 2023– via Google News Archive.
18. "မယ္စၾကာ၀ဠာၿပိဳင္ပြဲ၀င္ဖုိ႔ ျမန္မာအလွမယ္ ေမဘရဏီေသာ္ Las Vegas ေရာက္" [May Brani, Miss Myanmar, arrives in Las Vegas to participate in the Miss Universe pageant]. Voice of America (in Burmese). 15 December 2015. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
19. "A reunion as smooth as Butter". The Hamilton Spectator . 23 March 2014. ISSN   1189-9417 . Retrieved 13 October 2023.
20. Lo, Ricky (27 January 2015). "2nd Miss U for Colombia". Philippine Star . Retrieved 13 October 2023.
21. "Hace 50 años, viernes 4 de setiembre de 1959". La Nación (in Spanish). 4 September 2009. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
22. "Pulchritudinous pyramid". Herald-Journal. 16 July 1959. p. 18. Retrieved 13 October 2023– via Google News Archive.
23. "Fegurðar drottningar 1959" [Queen's Beauty 1959]. Alþýðublaðið (in Icelandic). 21 June 1959. pp. 6–7. Retrieved 13 October 2023– via Timarit.is.
24. "Zoe Laskari, Actress and Former Miss Greece, Dead at 72". The National Herald . 18 August 2017. Archived from the original on 12 October 2018. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
25. "Rogelia Cruz, la reina insurgente" [Rogelia Cruz, the insurgent queen]. Prensa Libre (in Spanish). 11 January 2017. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
26. "Miss Patricia Florence Visser". The Indianapolis Star. 31 July 1960. p. 62. Retrieved 13 October 2023– via Newspapers.com.
27. "Miss Holland 1959". Het vaderland (in Dutch). 6 May 1958. p. 4. Retrieved 13 October 2023– via Delpher.
28. "Sigríður Þorvaldsdóttir kjörin fegurðardrottning Islands 1958" [Sigríður Þorvaldsdóttir elected Iceland's beauty queen in 1958]. Tíminn (in Icelandic). 17 June 1958. p. 16. Retrieved 13 October 2023– via Tímarit.is.
29. "Miss Israel". The Australian Jewish News . 10 July 1959. p. 5. Retrieved 13 October 2023– via Trove.
30. "Miss Missouri one of finalists in Miss U.S.A. contest tonight". St. Joseph News-Press . 22 July 1959. p. 8. Retrieved 13 October 2023– via Google News Archive.
31. "Japanese girl beauty queen". The Sydney Morning Herald . 26 July 1959. p. 19. Retrieved 13 October 2023– via Google News Archive.
32. "Dýrmætur flutningur loftleiða" [Expensive air transport]. Tíminn (in Icelandic). 18 July 1959. p. 3. Retrieved 13 October 2023– via Tímarit.is.
33. "Miss Perú: las peruanas más bellas de las últimas décadas". El Comercio (in Spanish). 12 November 2017. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
34. Soliński, Janusz (15 February 1959). "Rozmawiamy z Zuzanną Cembrowską". Życie Bytomskie (in Polish). p. 1. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
35. "Aspirantes a "Miss Universo"" ["Miss Universe" hopefuls]. El Tiempo (in Spanish). 20 July 1959. p. 8. Retrieved 13 October 2023– via Google News Archive.
36. "Swedish beauty to wed dentist". Spokane Daily Chronicle. 10 October 1959. p. 2. Retrieved 13 October 2023– via Google News Archive.
37. "Beauty under hat". Independent. 19 July 1959. p. 3. Retrieved 13 October 2023– via Newspapers.com.
38. "Californian is Miss USA". Youngstown Vindicator . Youngstown, Ohio. 23 July 1959. p. 6. Retrieved 28 July 2023– via Google News Archive.
39. "Beauties reading about themselves". The Telegraph-Herald. 22 July 1959. p. 4. Retrieved 13 October 2023– via Google News Archive.
40. "Bright spots on a rainy day". Monroe Morning World. 12 July 1959. p. 35. Retrieved 13 October 2023– via Newspapers.com.

External links

• Miss Universe official website