The History of the American Beauty Pageant

In Search of Miss USA

On Sunday evening at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas, 15 women will pose in lavish evening gowns, strut in swimsuits, and answer minorly controversial questions in hope of becoming the next Miss USA. The winner of the Miss USA pageant—not to be confused with the Miss America contest—will go on to compete in the Miss Universe contest in September in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Pictured here is Sarah Chapman, Miss Nevada 2011, at a nightclub in Las Vegas, surrounded by other Miss USA contestants.

This is the 60^th year of the Miss USA pageant, which is currently co-owned by Donald Trump. But the American beauty pageant dates back more than 150 years.
Photograph by Ivan Vejar, courtesy Miss Universe L.P., LLLP.
1854: A Pageant Is Born

The circus magnate P.T. Barnum founded the modern American beauty contest in 1854, when he invited women to flaunt their figures in front of judges. Unfortunately, the contest was derided as low-brow and scurrilous. But Barnum tried again: This time, he asked participants to submit daguerreotypes—early versions of photographs printed on metal plates—for judgment. The more subdued format took off.
Credit: Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
1920: Bathing Beauties

In the early 20^th century, Australian swimmer and movie star Annette Kellerman popularized the bathing suit, and ”bathing beauty” contests such as this one proliferated as an entertainment source in resort towns throughout the country.
Credit: Wikimedia Commons
1921: The First Miss America

On Sept. 7, 1921, Margaret Gorman, pictured here, became the first Miss America when she won the inaugural pageant in Atlantic City. The contest began as a way to extend the city’s tourist season past the usual Labor Day drop-off and was originally called the Fall Frolic. Gorman was a Washington, D.C., native who was 16 years old, five feet one inch, and 108 pounds. The contest attracted wide attention and a huge audience. As the New York Times breathlessly reported the next day: “1,000 BATHING GIRLS ON VIEW IN PAGEANT; 150,000 See Picked Beauties in One-Piece Suits in Atlantic City's Fall Event. 8 MILES OF ROLLING CHAIRS People From 100 Cities Guests at Governor's Ball, Which Closes Celebration.”

Many histories state that the precursor to this pageant was held in Rehoboth Beach, Del., in 1880—when the town was a resort reserved for Methodists. Inventor Thomas Edison was supposedly one of the judges, and the prize for the unmarried winner, Myrtle Meriwether, was a bridal trousseau. But according to Rehoboth town historian Evelyn Thoroughgood, the story, which has thrived in books and films over the years, is probably a legend. A couple of strikes against the tale: One of the alleged judges of the pageant died in 1878 and the story originally came from a historian known to be “sloppy” with his facts. It’s also unlikely that the sedate, Methodist residents would’ve allowed such an immoral contest.
Photograph courtesy the Miss America Organization.
1926: The Little Mermaid

For the first seven years, the Miss America winner was awarded the Golden Mermaid Trophy, pictured here with 1926 winner Norma Smallwood. The original pageants maintained a nautical theme. Contestants paraded on the beachfront, and mascot King Neptune reigned over the festivities.
Photograph courtesy the Miss America Organization.
1945: A Jewish Triumph

Just a month after the end of World War II, Bess Myerson became the first Jewish woman to win the Miss America pageant. She also received the first scholarship from the organization for $5,000. She remained in the spotlight, working as a TV news correspondent, a game show hostess, a candidate for U.S. Senate, and a New York City’s commissioner of cultural affairs under Mayor Ed Koch. Her career in politics ended badly, however, when she was accused of trying to bribe a judge who was presiding over her lover’s messy divorce trial. She was indicted but acquitted.
Photograph courtesy the Miss America Organization.
1952: Miss USA Is Born

In 1951, Catholic school alum Yolande Betbeze won the Miss America pageant but declined to pose in a bathing suit in public, stating, “I’m an opera singer, not a pin-up.” Her refusal caused Catalina Swimwear to withdraw its sponsorship of the competition. A year later, the company launched the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants as commercial vehicles to promote its swimwear line. Pictured here is the first Miss USA winner, 21-year-old Jackie Loughery from Brooklyn, N.Y.
Photograph courtesy Miss Universe L.P., LLLP.
1983: The Rise, Fall, and Rise of Vanessa Williams

In 1983, Vanessa Williams became the first black woman to win Miss America. But in July of 1984, just two months before her title expired, Penthouse magazine announced that it would publish nude photos of her in its September issue under the headline “Oh, God, She’s Nude!” Pageant officials effectively forced Williams to resign, threatening to strip her of title if she refused. But Williams leveraged the scandal and subsequent media attention to her advantage: She’s maintained a successful career as a singer and actress since then.
Photograph courtesy the Miss America Organization.
2006: The Rise and Fall of Miss Nevada

Like Williams, Katie Rees, the then-Miss Nevada who was scheduled to compete for Miss USA, was dethroned for a series of sexually explicit photos posted online. The photos showed Rees kissing other women, showing her breasts and pulling down her pants. Even Miss USA co-owner Donald Trump was repulsed. “The pictures were disgusting,” he told Larry King on CNN. “We had no choice but to terminate her.” Just a week earlier, Trump decided the fate of another licentious pageant queen, Miss USA Tara Conner, who allegedly tested positive for cocaine and was accused of underage drinking. Conner, he announced, would keep her title and enter rehab.
Photograph by Ethan Miller/Getty Images for CineVegas.
2008 Alternative Beauty Pageants: Miss Klingon Empire

Star Trek superfan Eric L. Watts, who founded the annual TrekTrak gathering, a subsidiary of the larger Dragon Con fantasy convention, has held a Klingon beauty contest since 1999. The 2008 Miss Klingon Empire winner, Nej Vestai Le’nlvnav (Sonya Desilets), was selected on the basis of her beauty, talent, and personality. Contestants must walk the runway. Desilets’ crown partially obscures her crested forehead, a Klingon staple.
Photograph courtesy Eric L. Watts.
2009: Alternative Beauty Pageants: Miss Landmine

Artist Morten Traavik got the idea for the Miss Landmine competition while visiting his girlfriend’s father in Luanda, Angola, in 2003. The civil war that ravaged the country had ended only a year earlier, and landmines remained scattered across the nation. “Some street kids were staging a homemade beauty pageant in the back alley behind the father’s house and they asked me to sit in on the jury,” Traavik explains. He decided to turn their amateur efforts into a more professional competition for victims of landmine explosions. So far, he’s held pageants in Angola and Cambodia. The prize is a prosthetic limb. Pictured here is Miss Phnom Penh, Song Kosal, who was injured from a landmine in 1999.
Photograph courtesy Morten Traavik.
2009 Alternative Beauty Pageants: Miss Congeniality, Prison Edition

Murderers and drug traffickers like to put on makeup, too. Prison beauty pageants are popular in places like Siberia and Lithuania. Here, a woman from the Buen Pastor, or Good Shepherd prison in Bogota, Colombia, prepares to compete for a Miss Congeniality title.
Photograph by Rodrigo Arangua/AFP/Getty Images.