Miss America 1945
{{Short description|Beauty pageant}}
{{Infobox beauty pageant
| winner = Bess Myerson
| represented = {{flag|New York City}}
| date = September 8, 1945
| presenters = Bob Russell
| entrants = 39
| placements = 13
| venue = Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey
| broadcaster =
| before = 1944
| next = 1946
}}
Miss America 1945, the 19th Miss America pageant, was held at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 8, 1945.{{cite news|title=Will Use Prize To Study Music|publisher=Ogden Standard-Examiner|page=1|date=1945-09-10}} 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 (Bess Myerson) as their favorite beauty queen.{{cite news|title=Beauty Queen of AAF Veterans |agency=Associated Press Wire Photo |date=1944-09-06|publisher=Lowell Sun|page=1}}
Overview
File:Bess Myerson 1957.jpg: Miss America 1945 (Image taken in 1957)]]
Bess Myerson was the first Jewish-American and the first Miss New York{{cite web|url=http://www.missamerica.org/our-miss-americas/1940/1945.aspx |title=Bess Myerson Biography (Miss America 1945) |publisher=Miss America Organization |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150213110152/http://www.missamerica.org/our-miss-americas/1940/1945.aspx |archive-date=2015-02-13 }} (competing as Miss New York City, a competition organized by a local radio station) to win the Miss America Pageant as Miss America 1945.{{cite web|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/missamerica/filmmore/pt.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020410125710/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/missamerica/filmmore/pt.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 10, 2002|title=PBS American Experience: Miss America Transcript|date=2002 |publisher= PBS American Experience}}{{cite web
|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/06/nyregion/bess-myerson-miss-america-and-new-york-official-tarnished-in-scandal-dies.html?emc=edit_th_20150106&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=19530762&_r=2
|title=Bess Myerson, New Yorker of Beauty, Wit, Service and Scandal, Dies at 90|last= Nemy|first=Enid|date=January 5, 2015|work= New York Times}}{{cite web|url=http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-bess-myerson-20150105-story.html#page=1|title=Bess Myerson, Miss America who rose in politics and fell in scandal, dies at 90|last= Woo|first=Elaine|date=January 5, 2015|work= Los Angeles Times}}{{cite web|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/bess-myerson-beauty-queen-turned-nyc-public-servant-dies-at-90-1420497010|title=Bess Myerson, Miss America who rose in politics and fell in scandal, dies at 90|last= Hollander|first=Sophia|date=January 5, 2015|publisher= Wall Street Journal}} As the only Jewish contestant, Myerson was encouraged by the pageant directors to change her name to "Bess Meredith"{{cite web
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3eQCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA30
|title=Bess and the Mess: Myerson's Slide Into Scandal (pp. 34-35)
|last=Morrisroe
|first=Patricia
|date=March 30, 1987
|publisher=New York
}} or "Beth Merrick" but she refused. After winning the title (and as a Jewish Miss America), Myerson received few endorsements and later recalled that "I couldn't even stay in certain hotels [...] there would be signs that read no coloreds, no Jews, no dogs. I felt so rejected. Here I was chosen to represent American womanhood and then America treated me like this." Consequently, she curtailed her Miss America tour and instead embarked on a journey with the Anti-Defamation League. In this capacity, she spoke against discrimination in a talk entitled, "You Can't Be Beautiful and Hate."
Results
=Placements=
| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size: 95%;"
! Placement ! Contestant |
| Miss America 1945
|
|
| 1st Runner-Up
|
|
| 2nd Runner-Up
|
|
| 3rd Runner-Up
|
|
| 4th Runner-Up
|
|
| Top 13
|
|
=Awards=
==Preliminary awards==
| class="wikitable"
! Award ! Contestant |
| Lifestyle and Fitness
|
|
| Talent
|
|
=Other awards=
| class="wikitable"
! Awards ! Contestant |
| Miss Congeniality
|
|
Contestants
The Miss America 1945 contestants were:{{cite book |title=Official Yearbook of the Miss America Pageant, 1945 |year=1945 |publisher=Miss America Organization |url=http://digital.hagley.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/p268001coll20&CISOPTR=152&REC=1 |access-date=July 29, 2010}}
References
{{reflist|2}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20150213110152/http://www.missamerica.org/our-miss-americas/1940/1945.aspx Miss America 1945] - Miss America Organization
- Bess Myerson: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIF9xc0sJlA Miss America 1945, Bess Myerson Dies At The Age Of 90] - CBS News, January 5, 2015.
{{Miss America}}
Category:1945 in the United States