Miss America 1933

DateSeptember 5–9, 1933

VenueBoardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey

Entrants31

Placements18

Miss America 1933
Date	September 5–9, 1933
Venue	Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey
Entrants	31
Placements	18
Winner	Marian Bergeron Connecticut
← 1927 1935 →

Miss America 1933, the eighth Miss America pageant, was held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on Saturday, September 9, 1933. This was the first competition since postponing the event after the 1927 contest. Armand Nichols attempted to organize it with the support of the Mayor and City Council,^[1] but without support from either the Atlantic City Chamber of Commerce.^[2] or the Hotelsmens Association,^[1]

While the contestants of the pageants of the 1920s mostly represented cities, usually sponsored by local newspapers, 1933 marked the change to exclusively state queens with little newspaper sponsorship. The lack of organizational infrastructure together with the decline of (free) newspaper support and advertising resulted in state qualifying contests that varied widely - from multi-day multi-city contests involving thousands, to a simple selection from a photo array.

The 1933 pageant, a five-day extravaganza on Tuesday-Saturday, September 5–9, 1933, was the first to be held at the Convention Hall (later renamed the Boardwalk Hall). Promised grand prizes (including a RKO screen test, theatrical contracts, Ford automobile, diamond wrist watch and a trip to Bermuda) enticed 31 contestants from 30 states nationwide,^[2] far fewer than the 48 state contestants originally planned.

Marian Bergeron, Miss Connecticut, was chosen Miss America but there was so much confusion during and after the vote tabulations that nobody informed Marian she had won.^[3] She was unaware of her victory until the dressing assistants placed the banner on her.^[3] At age 15 she is the youngest winner in the history of the Miss America Pageant.

The pageant was a public relations nightmare, financially unsuccessful, with a "Keystone Kops series of mishaps"^[4] including a stolen crown. Two contestants withdrew, four were disqualified, four were underage, four represented states they did not reside in, and 18 states sent no contestant. Amid the contention and bickering there were allegations the contest was not on the "up and up"^[5] and judge Russell Patterson alleged undue influence, stating that Atlantic County treasurer and political boss Nucky Johnson tried to pressure the judges to choose his favorite.^[6] The pageant went on hiatus again the following year but was revived permanently in 1935 with new organization.

Placements

Placement	Contestant
Miss America 1933	Connecticut – Marian Bergeron
1st Runner-Up	New York – Florence Meyers^[7]
2nd Runner-Up	California – Blanche McDonald
3rd Runner-Up	Virginia – Evangeline Glidewell
Top 18	District of Columbia – Rita Burns Kentucky – Lucille Rader Louisiana – Marjorie Hagler Maine – Iva Stewart Massachusetts – Elsie Taylor Michigan – Barbara Strand Mississippi – Dorothy Eley Missouri – Marie LaTourette Marks New Jersey – Gertrude Christman Ohio – Corinne Porter Pennsylvania – Geraldine Glassman Washington – Gladine Sweetser West Virginia – Mildred Fetty Wisconsin – Marie Marguerite Huebner

Other awards - September 6: Most Beautiful Girl in an Evening Gown Competition

Result	Contestant
Winner of the Evening Gown competition	New York – Florence Meyers
Second Place	New Jersey – Gertrude Christman
Third Place	California – Blanche McDonald
Semi-Finalists	Connecticut – Marian Bergeron Maine – Iva Stewart Michigan – Barbara Strand New York City – Elsa Donath Pennsylvania – Geraldine Glassman Virginia – Evangeline Glidewell Washington – Gladine Sweetser

Contestants

29 Miss America contestants with Pageant Organizer Armand Nichols and hostess Miss Atlantic City (Miss Maine is missing as she had no bathing suit; Miss Oklahoma had withdrawn due to hospitalization with appendicitis). Thank you to Louis K. Meisel for sharing this from his Miss America panorama collection.


State/City	Name	Hometown	Age	Placement
Arkansas	Vivian Ferguson	Little Rock	21	Disqualified - married^[8]
California	Blanche McDonald	Hollywood, Los Angeles	18	2nd runner-up, #3 Evening Gown competition
Connecticut	Marian Bergeron	West Haven	15	Winner
Delaware	Victoria George	Newark	19
District of Columbia	Rita Burns	Washington, D.C.	19	Top 18
Idaho	Margaret Wittman^[9]	Spokane, Washington	19	Disqualified - residency
Illinois	Lillian Mary Kroener^[10]	St. Louis, Missouri	18	Disqualified - residency
Iowa	Eleanor Alma Dankenbring	Manning, Iowa	20	Disqualified - residency^[11]
Kansas	Pauline Sayre	Wichita	23
Kentucky	Lucille Rader	Berea	14	Top 18
Louisiana	Marjorie Hagler	Winnfield	18	Top 18
Maine	Iva Stewart	Hebron	19	Top 18
Maryland	Dorothy Dennis	Baltimore	16
Massachusetts	Elsie Taylor	South Walpole	23	Top 18
Michigan	Barbara Strand	Dearborn	17	Top 18
Mississippi	Dorothy Eley	Moss Point	24	Top 18
Missouri	Marie LaTourette Marks	St. Louis	15	Top 18
New Hampshire	Letha Langley^[12]	Caribou, Maine	19
New Jersey	Gertrude Christman	Ridgefield	15	Top 18, #2 Evening Gown competition
New Mexico	Julia Valdez	Albuquerque	18
New York City	Elsa Donath	Bronx, New York City	19	withdrew^[13]
New York State	Florence Meyers	East Rockaway, Long Island	21	1st runner-up, #1 Evening Gown competition
North Carolina	Leola Councilman	Bonlee	20
Ohio	Corinne Porter	Youngstown	19	Top 18
Oklahoma	Joanne Alcorn	Ponca City	16	withdrew^[14]
Pennsylvania	Geraldine Glassman	Philadelphia	18	Top 18
Vermont	Nettina Anne Rich^[15]	Norton, Massachusetts	19
Virginia	Evangeline Glidewell	Danville	18	3rd runner-up
Washington	Gladine Sweetser	Seattle	22	Top 18
West Virginia	Mildred Fetty	Clarksburg	20	Top 18
Wisconsin	Marie Marguerite Huebner	Portage	19	Top 18

Notes and references

1 2 "Miss America The Dream Lives On", by Angela Saulino Osborne, p. 84
1 2 "Stage, Screen Offers Made Miss America". Atlantic City Press. 1933-09-11. p. 1.
1 2 "Miss America History 1933". Archived from the original on 2013-05-29. Retrieved 2013-07-14.
↑ "Miss America The Dream Lives On", by Angela Saulino Osborne, p. 85
↑ "Beauty Title Lines Field Against N. Y." Atlantic City Press article, September 9, 1933
↑ circa 1955 gossip magazine story by Russell Patterson - "I was in the lobby of the Ambassador Hotel with another first-time judge, artist Peter Arno, when we were buttonholed by two rough-looking agents from Nucky Johnson's office. 'This is the name of the winner Johnson wants you to pick,' they said, flaunting a piece of paper at us. 'If you know what's good for you, you'll vote for this girl.'" [Patterson and Arno did not]
↑ "Connecticut Platinum Blonde, Sweet 16, Is 'Miss America'", the Philadelphia Inquirer, September 10, 1933, p. 1 - "Miss New York State" - "Florence Meyers, 19-year-old brunette, was the runner-up". (Note: several 1933 newspapers reversed the names on first and second runners-up, so MAO had them reversed until 2005 when MAO historian Ric Ferentz corrected it. Previous to 2005 virtually all sources, including MAO and Osborne's 1995 "Miss America A Dream Lives On" (appendix, p.5), list the finalists' order incorrectly as Bergeron, McDonald, Meyers, and Glidewell. The 1933 Los Angeles Times confirms that hometown contestant Blanche McDonald was the second runner-up.
↑ Both Miss AR Vivian Ferguson and Miss KY Lucille Rader were chosen in photo arrays in May to the prestigious Court of Honor of the International Exposition (1933 World's Fair) in Chicago, to compete on May 26 for Queen to dedicate its opening. Although single when she applied, Vivian married Charles Stanley on May 20 prior selection of the Queen. In Atlantic City Vivian admitted she was married and stated that Miss America MidWest promoter Jimmy Carrier simply chose her to be Miss AR.
↑ Miss ID Margaret Wittman said she met Carrier in 1931 in Washington State when he was with a theatrical organization; he sent for her to be a contestant in the Miss America Pageant. (Sep 10th Marion OH newspaper)
↑ Miss IL Lillian Kroener had competed in the Miss MO contest and lost to Marie Marks! (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 13 July 1933). She authored an 8-page article published in newspaper installments in October 1933 and in the magazine "Romantic Confessions" in May 1934 titled "Beauty and the Beasts: The Amazing Adventures of Miss Illinois In a Recent Beauty Pageant". In the expose she stated that MidWest promoter Jimmy Carrier was one of the judges at the Miss Missouri contest (so he was very well aware in July that she was from St. Louis), and "showed me letters from an alleged pageant promotion director authorizing him to appoint any girls he thought suitable to wear the banners of those states not holding local beauty contests for the purpose of selecting a representative to the National Pageant."
↑ When asked to prove residency, a third of the contestants could not, including Miss IA Eleanor Dankenbring. Director Armand Nichols sent telegrams to those ten hometown mayors for confirmation; seven were returned and three were not -- ID, IL and IA -- and they were disqualified. While ID and IL were not from those states, IA was from IA; perhaps Mayor Albert Wiese had trouble verifying Eleanor's residency as she was the only Dankenbring in Manning IA, orphaned and living with her married maternal aunt's family for the past six years. Similarly to AR, ID, IL and KY, Eleanor Dankenbring was informed by MidWest promoter Jimmy Carrier that she had been selected as Miss IA, apparently noticing her in the Valparaiso IN June 16 newspaper where she was pictured as winner of a photo-array beauty contest at Valparaiso University.
↑ 1933 newspapers spelled her name as Leita Laugley/Laughley. Despite much research by many, she was not positively identified as Letha Langley until October 2023 when two 1933 Bangor, Maine newspaper articles were found listing her as winning the title of Miss Eastern Maine; her obituary did not mention her participation in the pageant. It seems that the New England promoter John Welch simply replaced her Miss Eastern Maine sash with a Miss New Hampshire one in Atlantic City.
↑ Sep 11 Atlantic City and Sep 10 Philadelphia newspapers: Miss NYC Elsa Donath withdrew at 5 p.m. on Sat., Sep 9 just before the final judging. The Atlantic City newspaper stated her manager Harry Arder, publicity man for RKO, told Armand Nichols the Pageant "was not on the up and up". The Philadelphia newspaper stated that Hal Olver was Elsa's manager and he double-crossed on the screen test agreement between Olver and Nichols, calling the Pageant "100 per cent phoney". Nichols' aide Noel Sherman claimed RKO wanted to sabotage the Pageant in order to take it to NY in 1934. RKO, who had sponsored both New York contestants, gave the screen test prize to Elsa.
↑ Atlantic City and Philadelphia newspapers: Miss OK Joanne Alcorne was hospitalized with appendicitis the first day of the pageant
↑ Miss VT Nettina Rich was the last 1933 contestant to be identified; in 2016 her 2005 Norton MA obituary was found by Daryl Schabinger and Donna Hay. She was crowned Miss New England on August 11, 1933 at a regional pageant in Fall River, MA. As with Miss New Hampshire, it appears New England promoter John Welch simply swapped her Miss New England sash for a Miss Vermont one in Atlantic City. She gave several newspaper interviews in November calling the Pageant "a racket".

Secondary sources

Osborne, Angela Saulino (1995). "Miss America The Dream Lives On" "A 75 Year Celebration" p.84-85. Taylor Publishing Company. ISBN 0-87833-110-7.