| 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 |
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 now judged on these competition segments with the following scoring percentages: Private Interview (30%) – a 10-minute press conference-style interview with a panel of judges, On Stage Question (10%) – answering of a judge's question while onstage, Talent or HER Story (20%) – a performance talent or 90 second speech, Health and Fitness (20%) – contestants demonstrate physical fitness onstage while dressed in athletic wear, and Evening Gown (20%) – contestants model evening-wear onstage.
Bette Midler is an American singer, actress, comedian and author. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received numerous accolades, including four Golden Globe Awards, three Grammy Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards and a Kennedy Center Honor, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards and a British Academy Film Award.
Centenary University is a private university in Hackettstown, New Jersey. Founded as a preparatory school by the Newark Conference of the United Methodist Church in 1867, Centenary evolved into a Junior College for women and later a coeducational four year University offering undergraduate, Master's level, and doctoral graduate programs.
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The Miss Missouri competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the U.S. state of Missouri in the Miss America pageant.
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 York scholarship competition selects the representative for the state of New York in the Miss America scholarship competition.
The Miss Idaho scholarship program is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Idaho in the Miss America pageant. The current titleholder receives a $4,000 cash scholarship to any accredited institution of her choice. She also represents the state of Idaho for the live ABC broadcast of the Miss America pageant.
The Miss Indiana competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Indiana in the Miss America Pageant.
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.
Henrietta Leaver, Miss Pittsburgh, was crowned Miss America on September 7, 1935, at Atlantic City in New Jersey. She was 19 years old.
Miss America 1984, the 57th Miss America pageant, was held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 17, 1983, on NBC Network. Miss America 1983, Debra Maffett crowned her successor, Miss New York 1983, Vanessa Williams of Millwood, New York at the end of the nationally televised event. In July 1984, Williams was forced to resign over the unauthorized publication of nude photographs and was succeeded by first runner-up, Miss New Jersey Suzette Charles, who served as Miss America until September 15, 1984. Among the contestants who did not place among the ten finalists, Miss New Mexico 1983 Mai Shanley, eventually went on to win the Miss USA 1984 pageant on May 17, 1984.
The most frequently presented Miss America awards are for preliminary talent and swimsuit. The talent award was introduced in 1936, and the swimsuit award in 1940. In the 2000s, preliminary awards for evening gown and interview were briefly introduced but were discontinued after two years as it was felt that they made the semi-finalists too predictable.
Miss America 1945, the 19th Miss America pageant, was held at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 8, 1945. Two days prior to the actual selection and coronation, the night of the talent competition, the Army Air Force Veterans voted the eventual winner, Miss New York City as their favorite beauty queen.
What has become known as the first Miss America pageant was, at its start in 1921, an activity designed to attract tourists to extend their Labor Day holiday weekend and enjoy festivities in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Atlantic City's Inter-City Beauty Contest, as it was initially called, attracted over 1,500 photographic entries from around the country, all vying to win the "Golden Mermaid" award and cash prizes. With only 10 contestants, this would be the lowest number of contestants in the pageants history.
Miss America 1926, the sixth Miss America pageant, was held at the Million Dollar Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey on Friday, September 10, 1926. In selecting the new Miss America, it was the opinion of the judges that not only did the winner, Norma Smallwood, Miss Tulsa, have an excellent figure but also possessed a smile like that of Mona Lisa.
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