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Category: Womens History


Apr
2023

Fun & Wacky Vintage Beauty Pageants & Pageant Queen Titles

categories: vintage images, Womens History

Over on Twitter an account I follow posted a vintage photos of “Miss Sausage Queen 1955” (seen below). It was such a fun photo and sparked a lot of conversation about how vintage beauty pageants, tended to have some very odd “titles” one could win. What do you think the criteria to be “Miss Sausage Queen” was (answer under the photo)?

For today’s post we are going to look at some “Fun & Wacky Vintage Beauty Pageants & Queen Titles from the 1920s-1960s”

Let the pageants begin!

Note: scroll to the end to see my other posts on this topic.

1950s 1950s vintage photo of a young woman in 1955 as the Sausage Queen dressed all up in Sausages. Sponsored by the Zion Meat Company during National Hot Dog Week.

About the photo: “Miss Sausage Queen” turned out to not be a contest at all. Actor Geene Courtney models a scarf, skirt, bracelets, and a crown made from hot dogs, frankfurters, and kielbasa in her role as Queen of National Hot Dog Week, as selected by the Zion Meat Products Company.

Fun & Wacky Vintage Beauty Pageants & Pageant Queen Titles

Vintage Images 1920s-1960s

Winner of the Miss Lemon beauty pageant, 1920.

Winner of the Miss Lemon beauty pageant, 1920

“Miss Bobbed Hair”. In 1925 Coral Gables, Florida, held a contest for the most beautiful bobbed hair. Large number of ladies showed up with their bobbed hair and 1920’s dropped waist dresses and had some fun. Here is our winner.

1920s Vintage Photo: "Miss Bobbed Hair". In 1925 Coral Gables, Florida, held a contest for the most beautiful bobbed hair. Large number of ladies showed up with their bobbed hair and 1920's dropped waist dresses and had some fun.

Source: historydaily.org

“Miss Cigar Queen” contestants posing in a cigar box in 1930’s swimsuits in Tampa, Florida 1937.

1930s Vintage Photo of 1937 Beauty Pageant contestants for Miss Cigar Queen 1937. They are posing in a cigar box in 1930s swimsuits.

Source: Oldflorida

Clad in a skeleton costume, “Miss Unsafe Brakes” appeared at the 1939 Chicago Auto Show to drive home the importance of car owners keeping their brakes in good repair.

1930s Vintage Photo of Vintage beauty pageant winner, Miss Unsafe Brakes making an appearance at the 1939 Chicago Auto Show. She is wearing a skelton outfit.

Source: Pinterest

In 1951, the Muller Bros., an Oldsmobile-Firestone Tire- Car Wash-Café- Body Shop-Home Appliance- Auto Supply Dealer in Los Angeles, California held a competition in honor of their 3,000,000,000th car wash. The field of beauties in the pageant represented each department of their mega-complex known as “The Landing”. Here’s a sampling of photos of the contest as documented by Life Magazine.

Please drop by “Along for the Ride” to see all the other contestant photos from this Beauty Pageant day (courtesy of Life Archives).

1950s vintage photo from 1951 of a beauty pageant contestants of a dealership representing various departments of the shop. In this photo they are all posing in a car in 1950s swimsuits.

“Miss Lube Rack”.

1950s vintage photo from 1951 of a beauty pageant featuring a woman in a 1950s swimsuit represening "Miss Lube Rack" posing in a garage with a car and the mechanics of the Muller bros dealership.

“Miss New Car Dept. (Oldmobile).

1950s vintage photo from 1951 of a beauty pageant featuring a woman in a 1950s swimsuit representing "Miss New Car" of the Muller bros dealership.

“Miss Steel Pier of 1963”, crowned by the Contest’s First Winner.

“Mousie” Green, Miss Steel Pier of 1917 — the first winner of the nation’s oldest beauty pageant — crowns “Cissie” Carson, the new Miss Steel Pier of 1963.

1960s vintage photo of MIss Steel Pier of 1963 in a 1960s swimsuit being crowned the winner.

Source: Harry Ransom Center

“Miss Smiling Ankles of 1962”.

Beti Seay, Miss Smiling Ankles, displays her award-winners to photographers in Manhattan.

1960s vintage photo of Beauty Pageant Winner of 1962 for "Miss Smiling Ankles". She is posing on a bed.

Source: Harry Ransom Center

Here is a 1930’s photo of another ankle pageant. “The prettiest ankle contest” in England 1933. Great examples of 1930’s shoes.

1930's vintage photo of women showing off their ankles for the prettiest ankle contest in England in 1933. Super 1930's shoes on display.

Source: allthatsinteresting.com

1950s Photo: Beauty contestant “Miss Golden Nugget” in a bathing suit takes the stage while other contestants and the audience look on.

I could not find any information, but this possibly could be the “battle of the Las Vegas casinos” pageant?

FURTHER READING: Vintage Vegas-Golden Nugget Casino Hotel

1950s Photo: Beauty contestant "Miss Golden Nugget", Las Vegas in a bathing suit takes the stage while other contestants and audience look on.

Source: Etsy – Inspirationsnapshots

1950s photo of the “Glamorous Grandmother” beauty pageant featuring 12 STUNNING “older” women in 1950s dresses posing with their numbers.

Fun observation….most of these women are probably in their 40s. ha!

1950s photo of the "Glamorous Grandmother" beauty pageant featuring 12 STUNNING "older" women in 1950s dresses posing with their numbers.

Source: eBay

Linda Lawson is the winner of the “1955 Miss Atomic Pageant”, with a mushroom cloud crown for good measure.

 Her victory coincided with the Operation Cue atomic tests, which were long delayed by high winds and weather, so she became known as “Miss-Cue”.

There were four winners, with the last crowned in 1957. They took place in Las Vegas to celebrate the city’s two main attractions: nuclear bombs and showgirls (Source).

1950s vintage photo of a 1950s beauty pageant: Linda Lawson is the winner of the 1955 Miss Atomic Pageant, with a mushroom cloud crown for good measure. She is surrounded by men in uniform putting the crown on her head.

Source: Onthisday

Gail Hooper, 18, from Memphis, Tennessee, selected as Miss National Catfish Queen, holds a 56-pound catfish at the Hotel New Yorker. 1954.

1950s vintage photo of 1950s beauty pageant winner Gail Hooper, 18, from Memphis, Tennessee, selected as Miss National Catfish Queen, holds a 56-pound catfish at the Hotel New Yorker. 1954.

Source: Allthatsinteresting.com

Photograph caption dated August 20, 1959 reads, “Compete for county fair queen title – Eleven contestants put their best foot forward as they begin competing for title of “Queen of Los Angeles County Fair”, opening Sept. 18th, 1959 in Pomona.”

I added this photo to the post but I always think of LA as being a massive city, not one having a county fair.

1950s Vintage Photo of 1950s Beauty Pageant Contestants in two piece suits competing for the "Queen of the county fair in Los Angeles 1959".

Source: TESSA

I will leave you with a video of the “Miss Sweater Queen 1940” Pageant (video link).

I hope you had enjoyed the photos I shares above. It was a blast to put together.

QUESTION: What was your favourite pageant/ title/ winner? Share in the comments section below.

Further Reading:

Thanks for dropping by!

Liz


Mar
2023

International Women’s Day – The Vintage Edition

categories: Womens History

Hi everyone! It’s International Women’s Day (March 8th), a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women (during Women’s History Month).

Here at the Vintage Inn Blog, I have done my best to try and showcase many different women’s stories from the vintage era’s of the 1920’s – 1960’s (Singers, actresses, athletics, etc.). It’s a topic that I adore blogging about and I look forward to adding my posts to my “Vintage Women’s History” page.

For today’s post on this historical day, I thought I would do a little summary of some of the incredible women I have featured over the years and links to their blog posts so you can read more about them.

Let’s take a look!

International Women’s Day – Vintage Edition

Collection of Blog Posts on “Vintage Women’s History 1920s-1960s”

Internation Women's Day - Vintage Edition. A collection of women's stories from the 1920s to the 1960s. Like the International Sweethearts of Rhythm

Women of the Big Band Era Everyone Should Know

In 2016 I sat down at my computer and decided to write a post on “Women of the Big Band Era Everyone Should Know“. Since I launched the first edition, this post has been viewed OVER 52,000 times! WOW! Incredible! Thank you!

The topic covers not just singers but also leaders of big bands, musicians and dancers.

Women of the Big Band Era Everyone Should Know

Women of the Big Band Era Part 1:

  • The Boswell Sisters
  • Andrew Sisters
  • Helen Forrest – Singer
  • Martha Tilton – Singer
  • International Sweethearts of Rhythm
  • Ivy Benson & Her All-Girl Group
  • Norma Miller – Lindy Hopper
  • Jewel McCowan – Lindy Hopper
  • Read this vintage blog post HERE

Women of the Big Band Era Part 2:

  • Hazel Scott – Pianist
  • Mary Lou Williams – Singer
  • Mildred Bailey – Singer
  • Consuela Harris – Dancer
  • Marie Bryant -Dancer
  • Read this vintage blog post HERE

Women of the Big Band Era Part 3:

  • Lil Harden (Armstrong) – Pianist / Composer
  • Ella Mae Morse – Singer
  • Ivie Anderson – Singer
  • Paula Kelly – Singer
  • Read this vintage blog post HERE

Other Important Women of the Big Band Era (separate blog posts):

I will now leave this section with an incredible video of the ‘International Sweethearts of Rhythm‘ in action, with “Jump Children“. Enjoy!

The Women of World War 2

Blogging about the contributions of women during World War 2 has become a topic I have become passionate about over the years. So many women in Canada and beyond did so much for the War Effort and many times their stories are overlooked. I have started to try and highlight some of them here on the Vintage Inn.

1940's vintage magazine cover from the Toronto Star Weekly from September 1943 featuring an illustration of two women in 1940's fashions heading to work for the homefront war effort.

Vintage Photo Blog Posts:

Other Women WW2 Topics:

1940s Vintage photo of a young black women working in a factory during WW2

Women Fashion Designers of the 1920’s – 1960’s

If you have been following my blog for a long time (or even a short time) you might of noticed that I have a big love for vintage fashion (particulary the 1940’s & 1950’s). It’s probably because I went to school for fashion marketing, but whatever the reason I have amassed a lot of posts over the years on ‘Vintage Fashion‘. Recently I have started to venture more into the world of ‘Women Fashion Designers of the 1920’s – 1960’s‘. Here are those posts….

1950s Vintage Photo of Rose Marie Reid Swimsuit Designer working with a model in this 1950s image.
Rose Marie Reid – Swimsuit Designer
1950s Vintage Photo of Miss America 1957 Contestant Marian McKnight in a Fuller Everglaze cotton stain dress by Emma Domb
Emma Domb Design -1957

Classic Movie Stars, Singers & Other Notable Women:

Anna May Wong Asian American Movie Star
Anna May Wong

Other Vintage Women’s History Blog Posts:

1920's vintage image: 1928 Canada's womens olympic team the matchless 6
1928 womens olympic team the matchless 6

Here is the remaining blog posts I have done on various ‘Women’s History’ Topics (I’m sure I forgot some). Please enjoy!

1940s Vintage Photo of the winner of the 1946 Miss Toronto Pageant

I hope you will enjoy taking some time to check out the posts I have shared above on this International Women’s Day (or well any day!). It was a pleasure to write them and a pleasure to be able to continue to share them over and over again.

Question Time: What post is your favourite? Or what are you excited to read? Please share any thoughts on this post in the comments section below.

Thank you for stopping by!

Liz