Yolande Fox | |
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![]() Betbeze in 1950 | |
Born | Yolande Margaret Betbeze November 28, 1928 Mobile, Alabama, U.S. |
Died | February 22, 2016 87) Washington, D.C., U.S. | (aged
Alma mater | New School for Social Research |
Occupation(s) | Opera singer, activist |
Title | Miss America 1951 |
Predecessor | Jacque Mercer |
Successor | Colleen Kay Hutchins |
Spouse | |
Partner | Cherif Guellal |
Children | Yolande Fox Campbell |
Relatives | Paris Campbell Grace (granddaughter) |
Yolande Margaret Betbeze Fox (November 28, 1928 – February 22, 2016) was an American singer, feminist, activist and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss America 1951.
Betbeze was born on November 28, 1928, in Mobile, Alabama, to William, a butcher, and Ethel Betbeze. [1] [2] Betbeze was raised in a Catholic family of French Basque descent, and she attended convent schools. [3]
She captured her first crown in 1949 when she won Mobile's "Miss Torch" pageant. [3] In 1950, Fox (then Betbeze) entered Miss Alabama for the scholarship opportunities the pageant presented. [4] As Miss Alabama, she traveled to Atlantic City, New Jersey, to compete in the Miss America 1951 pageant. Having been educated in a convent school, she was reluctant to pose in a swimsuit and refused to do so after she won Miss America. [5] That led the swimsuit company, Catalina, to withdraw their sponsorship of the Miss America pageant and eventually brought about the creation of the rival Miss USA pageant. [2]
Fox's Miss America title, although won in 1950, was for 1951 and is the first Miss America title to be "postdated" in this manner. Due to the change, there was no Miss America 1950. The Miss America Organization has claimed that Fox's (then Betbeze's) actions were pivotal in directing pageant progress towards recognizing intellect, values, and leadership abilities, rather than focusing on beauty alone. From then on, the Miss America pageant concentrated more on scholarship than beauty. [2]
Fox was active in the feminist movement. After her one-year reign as Miss America, she was active in the NAACP, CORE (Congress of Racial Equality), and SANE (The Committee for a SANE Nuclear Policy); and studied philosophy at the New School for Social Research in New York City.
Fox was an opera singer and did gain a reputation in that area. She continued to sing, appearing with the Mobile Opera Guild (now the Mobile Opera), and helped found an off-Broadway theater. [3]
She married movie magnate Matthew M. Fox, the former vice president of Universal Pictures, in 1954. [6] They had one daughter, Yolande "Dolly" Fox Campbell. [5] Her husband died of a heart attack in 1964, after 10 years of marriage. [7]
After her husband's death, she moved to Georgetown, Washington, D.C., purchasing the Newton D. Baker House from Michael Whitney Straight and his then wife Nina Gore Auchincloss. The home had previously been the residence of Jacqueline Kennedy after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963. [8]
Fox had a relationship with Cherif Guellal, with whom she raised her grandchild, Yolande Paris Campbell, until Guellal's death in 2009. [9]
In the early 1990s, Yolande Fox was contacted by the writer Philip Roth, who was researching the Miss America beauty pageant for his novel American Pastoral . Roth studied Fox's scrapbooks and interviewed her about the culture surrounding the pageant in the late 1940s; he later said, "She was very smart, very funny....She just opened up whole ideas for me that I couldn't have had on my own." [10]
Fox died on February 22, 2016, in Washington, D.C. of lung cancer. [1]
A beauty pageant is a competition traditionally focused on judging and ranking the contestants' physical attributes. Pageants have now moved towards including inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, talent, character, and charitable involvement, through private interviews with judges and answers to public on-stage questions. Pageant titles are subdivided into Miss, Mrs. or Ms., and Teen – to clearly identify the difference between pageant divisions.
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.
Yolande or Yolanda may refer to:
Miss USA is an American beauty pageant that has been held annually since 1952 to select the entrant from United States in the Miss Universe pageant. The Miss Universe Organization operated both pageants, as well as Miss Teen USA, until 2020, when the organization announced it was licensing operation of the Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants to Crystle Stewart, Miss USA for 2008 prior to her suspension in October 2022, thus returning the said pageants to the Miss Universe Organization.
A swimsuit competition, more commonly now called a bikini contest, is a beauty contest which is judged and ranked while contestants wear a swimsuit, typically a bikini. One of the judging criteria is the physical attractiveness of the contestants. The Big Four international beauty pageants have included examples of such a competition.
Gretchen Lynn Polhemus-Jensen is an American actress, journalist, tv host and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss USA 1989 and second runner-up to Miss Universe 1989.
The Miss Alabama competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Alabama in the annual Miss America Competition.
The Miss Washington competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Washington in the Miss America pageant.
The Miss District of Columbia competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the District of Columbia in the Miss America Pageant.
Miss Universe 1952 was the first Miss Universe pageant, held at the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium in Long Beach, California, United States on 28 June 1952.
Newton D. Baker House, also known as Jacqueline Kennedy House, is a historic house at 3017 N Street NW in Washington, D.C. Built in 1794, it was home of Newton D. Baker, who was Secretary of War, during 1916–1920, while "he presided over America's mass mobilization of men and material in World War I. After the assassination of president John F. Kennedy in 1963, Jacqueline Kennedy purchased the house and lived here for about a year.
Cherif Guellal was an Algerian businessman and diplomat, who fought in the Algerian independence movement. He served as the Algerian Ambassador to the United States and the Algerian Ambassador to Canada.
Miss America 1951, the 24th Miss America pageant, was held at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 9, 1950. Traditionally, since a majority of Miss America's reign occurred during the year following her coronation, the pageant referred to her title with the upcoming year. Thus, Yolande Betbeze, who was crowned in September 1950, was called Miss America 1951. This practice continued until 2006, when pageant activities moved from September to January. From that point, the title year aligned with the year in which the titleholder won. This change also occurred recently in 2024, and it marked the transition from Atlantic City, the pageant's long-time base, to its new home in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Audra Diane Mari is an American model, television host and beauty pageant titleholder. She was crowned Miss World America 2016 on July 8, 2016, and represented the United States at Miss World 2016. She also represented the state of North Dakota at the Miss Teen USA and Miss USA pageants where she placed 1st runner-up in each pageant.
Kalyn Chapman James is an American model, television host, and beauty pageant titleholder from Mobile, Alabama, who was crowned Miss Alabama in 1993, the first African American to win the pageant. She competed for the Miss America 1994 title and placed as a top-ten semi-finalist.
Kimberly Marie "Kim" Wimmer is an American actress, singer, and educator from Mobile, Alabama, who was crowned Miss Alabama 1992. She competed for the Miss America 1993 title and won the pageant's Quality of Life Award. She co-starred in the Comedy Central series Strip Mall.
Paris Campbell Grace is an American TikToker, comedian, and singer. She began her career in stand-up comedy in 2012 and has performed at various clubs in New York City. Campbell started working on musical projects with her wife, punk rock musician Laura Jane Grace, in 2023. Together with Grace, she joined musicians Matt Paton of Drive-By Truckers and Mikey Erg of The Ergs! to form the punk rock band the Mississippi Medicals. She is also a member of the band Laura Jane Grace and the Trauma Tropes.
Yolande Dolly Fox Campbell, known professionally as Dolly Fox, is an American actress, producer, and philanthropist.
Matthew M. Fox was an American film and television executive.