Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests
Miss Voodoo
Stella Danfray, aka "Miss Voodoo," seemed poised to become a movie star when she arrived in the United States from France in 1950. She had all kinds of meetings lined up with Hollywood bigwigs.
New Castle News - Jan 7, 1950
Source: Oklahoma Historical Society
But it turned out that Miss Voodoo had some peculiar views about marital relations. Unprompted, she told a reporter that she thought American husbands were browbeaten and should slap their wives.
I don't know if this comment ended her Hollywood career before it even began (as far as I can tell, she never appeared in any movies), but it definitely turned the American press against her. Within a few months she had left America. She continued working as a model in Europe for a number of years. I don't find any more references to her after 1955.
Montreal Daily Star - May 25, 1950
La Crosse Tribune - Sep 24, 1950
Posted By: Alex - Sun Oct 23, 2022 -
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Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Husbands, Wives, Marriage, 1950s
Miss Esperanto
I have three references to this contest, from 1929, 1963 and 1967. No firm idea of how long it lasted, if it's still going on, or if it was held faithfully every year.
Puccini's opera 'La 66Bohème' was performed as a special performance for the Esperantists. Finally, Miss Maria Wenczel from Hungary was chosen as 'Miss Esperanto 1963'. Diethilde Magori from Germany and Helen Salmos from Sweden took second and third place in this competition. After the end of the congress, the young people drove to Sofija in a special caravan, where they were expected by the 48th Esperanto World Congress.
Posted By: Paul - Sun Oct 16, 2022 -
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Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Languages, 1920s, 1950s, 1960s
Miss Drive-In Teller
According to wikipedia, drive-through windows began appearing at banks in the early 1930s. By 1958, over 4000 women were working as drive-in tellers, and that's the year that the Mosler Safe Company sponsored the first nationwide "Miss Drive-In Teller" contest.Contestants were judged on "personality, courtesy, and efficiency." And, of course, appearance. The winner got a two-week all-expense-paid trip for two to Havana, Cuba. Plus $500 in spending money. So it attracted quite a few contestants. In later years, winners went to places like Bermuda and Norway.
Marion Polk, a teller at Peoples National Bank in Rock Hill, South Carolina, became the first Miss Drive-In Teller. She must have been fairly proud of this because it's mentioned in her obituary. The contest continued to be held annually until 1972 (as far as I can tell) when Jacqueline Fleming became the final Miss Drive-In Teller.
Marion Polk, Miss Drive-In Teller of 1958
Columbia Record - Oct 4, 1958
Tamra Evans, Miss Drive-In Teller of 1961
Wausau Daily Herald - Oct 3, 1961
San Rafael Daily Independent Journal - June 27, 1961
Susan Erickson, Miss Drive-In Teller of 1962
Corvallis Gazette-Times - Aug 16, 1962
Jean Doggett, Miss Drive-In Teller of 1964
Morgan City Daily Review - July 3, 1964
Jeanie Archer, Miss Drive-In Teller of 1966
Racine Journal Times - Sep 1, 1966
Jacqueline Fleming, Miss Drive-In Teller of 1972
Sioux City Journal - Oct 23, 1972
Posted By: Alex - Fri Sep 30, 2022 -
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Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Money
The National College Queen
This contest for top female college student ("fifty percent beauty, fifty percent brains") appears to have begun in 1953:
Source: ETSU Collegian (Johnson City, Tennessee) 01 Apr 1955, Fri Page 5
The first photo below is from 1969, and I can't envision the contest surviving much beyond that revolutionary date.
Source: The Aggielite (Tishomingo, Oklahoma) 15 Mar 1955, Tue Page 1
It was once so popular, it was televised nationwide.
Source: The Kingston Daily Freeman (Kingston, New York) 10 Jun 1967, Sat Page 16
Posted By: Paul - Fri Sep 23, 2022 -
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Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Intelligence, Television, 1950s, 1960s
The Miss Black America Crown
The Miss Black America beauty contest was launched in 1968 to protest the lack of black women in the Miss America pageant. There's nothing weird about that. But what is a bit odd is the crown that was introduced in the second year of the contest. It looks like miniature Christmas ornaments on sticks, or extraterrestrial antennae.There must have been a reason for this unusual crown, but I haven't been able to find any info about it. Perhaps the contest organizers thought it looked more modern and space-age?
It was used for three years and then, in 1972, the contest reverted to a more traditional crown. Again, no explanation given that I can find.
Gloria O. Smith, Miss Black America 1969
Stephanie Clark, Miss Black America 1970
Joyce Warner, Miss Black America 1971
Posted By: Alex - Mon Sep 19, 2022 -
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Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Headgear
Miss Stainless Steel Wire
In addition to winning the non-glamorous title of Miss Stainless Steel Wire, Claire Dennis was named Miss Photoflash of 1949. She managed to leverage the publicity from that award into a small role in the 1950 film The Petty Girl. After that, her career as a model/actress seems to have ended.
Indianapolis Star - June 9, 1949
Posted By: Alex - Sat Sep 10, 2022 -
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Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, 1940s
Miss Cranberry 1972
Source
Posted By: Paul - Fri Sep 02, 2022 -
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Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Food, Regionalism, 1970s
Another Miss Psy War
I looked through an online newspaper archive to see if I could find out anything about those "Miss Psywar" photos Paul posted two days ago. I didn't. But I did come across another Miss Psywar.Bonnie Halpin was chosen as "Miss Psy War of 1962" by the 349th Psychological Warfare Company.
Arlington Heights Herald - July 12, 1962
Halpin, it turns out, is a minor celebrity. She had the distinction of being the very first Playboy bunny ever. She also appeared on the cover of the Oct 1962 issue of Playboy magazine. Unfortunately she died in 2004 at the relatively young age of 65.
More info about Halpin: FindAGrave.com
Hackensack Record - Apr 30, 2004
Posted By: Alex - Thu Aug 25, 2022 -
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Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Psychology, 1960s, Armed Forces
Miss Psywar
Alas, no info on this contest seems to have survived.
Posted By: Paul - Tue Aug 23, 2022 -
Comments (4)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, War
Miss Wisconsin Cheese
Marvene Fischer won the title of Miss Wisconsin in 1948. The Armour food company then decided to name a brand of cheese 'Miss Wisconsin' in her honor. It simultaneously hired her to serve as the traveling ambassador for the brand. In this position, she became known as Miss Wisconsin Cheese.She ended up working for nine years as Miss Wisconsin Cheese. During this time she reportedly traveled more than two million miles in 48 states, visited more than a thousand towns, and distributed over 15 tons of cheese samples in more than 8000 food stores.
Binghamton Press and Sun-Bulleting - June 6, 1951
Here are some more details about her job from the Portage Daily Register (Dec 21, 1953):
She is greeted by mayors, governors, senators, congressmen, movie stars, chiefs of police, food editors, currently reigning local beauty queens, and other assorted celebrities.
Most of these meetings are highlighted by a formal presentation of a basket of cheese by Miss Fischer in exchange for a gift symbolic of the city being visited. She has received roses, posies, rhododendrons, wine, fruit, foam rubber pillows, cake, and Indian headdress, and any number of giant keys of the city. In St. Joseph, Mo., she was made a deputy sheriff. At the Rockingham Park race track, Miss Wisconsin Day was proclaimed in her honor. In San Francisco, she toured a submarine, and the event was officially publicized by the U.S. Navy.
Miss Fischer takes all this gracefully, in fact gives a continuous impression that it's all a lot of fun. Actually, a lot of good hard salesmanship is involved.
Miss Fischer does most of her traveling by air and prefers to travel alone. She says she has no need for a chaperone. "Why I have about 65,000 chaperones — all Armour employees," she says.
Glamour may be fleeting, figures Miss Fischer, but cheese is here to stay.
Unfortunately I haven't been able to find many details about what became of Marvene Fischer after her time as Miss Wisconsin Cheese. The only info I came across was a listing for a Marvene Fischer, age 94, living in Wisconsin. About the right age, and living in the right state — so I'm guessing it's her.
Miss Wisconsin Cheese in Denver, 1949
Posted By: Alex - Sun Aug 21, 2022 -
Comments (3)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Food, Jobs and Occupations, 1940s
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| Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1. Contact Us |