- Miss USA 1957
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Miss USA 1957 Date July 17, 1957 Presenters Bob Russell Venue Long Beach Municipal Auditorium, Long Beach, California, USA Entrants 44 Placements 15 Winner Mary Leona Gage
Maryland (dethroned)Miss USA 1957, the sixth Miss USA pageant, took place in Long Beach, California on July 17, 1957 during the run-up to the year's Miss Universe pageant. The 1957 Miss USA pageant is noted as marking the only occasion to date on which the winner was stripped of her title by pageant organizers.
Contents
Scandal and dethronement
At the end of the pageant, Mary Leona Gage of Maryland was declared the winner and was crowned by the outgoing titleholder (and Miss Universe 1956) Carol Morris of Iowa. The following day however, rumors about Gage's past and current circumstances began to circulate, and it subsequently emerged that not only had Gage lied about her age (she was 18, not 21 as she had originally claimed), but she was also the twice-married mother of two children. As Gage had clearly broken a number of eligibility rules, pageant officials immediately disqualified her once the accusations against her had been checked and verified.[1][2]
The crown and the associated prize package thus passed to the 1st runner-up, Charlotte Sheffield of Utah, with the other three finalists being moved up a place, and the highest-scoring semi-finalist, Kathryn Gabriel of Ohio, being promoted to 4th runner-up. However, by the time the scandal broke publicly, the Miss Universe preliminary judging had already taken place (in which, ironically, Gage had been chosen as a semi-finalist by the judges, having been allowed by the organizers to participate while the allegations being made against her were investigated), so Sheffield was unable to compete in the pageant – the only time the USA has not been represented at Miss Universe.[1] Later in the year, Sheffield was sent to London as the USA delegate for Miss World 1957, but failed to place.
Results
Final Results Contestant Miss USA 1957 - Maryland - Mary Leona Gage(dethroned)
Miss USA 1957 - Utah - Charlotte Sheffield (successor)
1st runner-up - West Virginia - Ruth Parr
2nd runner-up - Nevada - Joan Adams
3rd runner-up - Nebraska - Carolyn McGirr
4th runner-up - Ohio - Kathryn Gabriel
Top 15 - Arkansas - Helen Garrott
- California - Peggy Jacobson
- Illinois - Marianne Gaba
- Iowa - Judith Hall
- Massachusetts - Sandra Ramsey
- New York - Sanita Pelkey
- South Carolina - Jean Spotts
- Texas - Gloria Hunt
- Washington - Diana Schafer
Delegates
The Miss USA 1957 delegates were:
States
- Arkansas - Helen Garrott
- California - Peggy Jacobson
- Colorado - Mary Clapham
- Connecticut - Rosemary Galliotti
- Delaware - Patricia Ellingsworth
- Florida - Deanie Cates
- Georgia - Ruth Lycan
- Illinois - Marianne Gaba
- Indiana - Pat Dorsett
- Iowa - Judith Hall
- Louisiana - Earlyn Regouffre
- Maine - Roberta Aymie
- Maryland - Mary Leona Gage (dethroned)
- Massachusetts - Sandra Ramsey
- Michigan - Sharon Moore
- Minnesota - Mary Ford
- Missouri - Judith Murback
- Nebraska - Carolyn McGirr
- Nevada - Joan Adams
- New Hampshire - Lyla Moran
- New Jersey - Jeanne Lewis
- New Mexico - Patricia Stafford
- New York - Sanita Pelkey
- North Carolina - Peggy Ann Dennis
- North Dakota - Anne-Marit Studness
- Ohio - Kathryn Gabriel
- Oklahoma - Rose Mary Raab
- Oregon - Sonja Landsem
- Pennsylvania - Rosalie Culp
- Rhode Island - Myrna Altieri
- South Carolina - Jean Spotts
- South Dakota - Gay Marshall
- Tennessee - Patricia Prather
- Texas - Gloria Hunt
- Utah - Charlotte Sheffield
- Vermont - Marjorie Link
- Virginia - Patricia Bush
- Washington - Diana Schafer
- West Virginia - Ruth Parr
- Wisconsin - Natalie Lueck
- Wyoming - Marilyn Hawkins
Cities
- Miami Beach, Florida - Faye Ray
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Barbara Miller
- St. Louis, Missouri - Carole Learn
References
- ^ a b Woestendiek, John (April 10, 2005). "The Long, Unhappy Pageant of Mary Leona Gage". The Baltimore Sun. http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/bal-missusa041005,0,7470155,full.story. Retrieved October 11, 2010.
- ^ Thursby, Keith (October 9, 2010). "Leona Gage, Miss USA For a Day, Dies at 71". Los Angeles Times. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/afterword/2010/10/leona-gage-miss-usa-for-a-day-dies-at-71.html. Retrieved October 11, 2010.
External links
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2011 · 2012Miss Universe Organization · Titleholders · Special award winners Categories:- Miss USA
- 1957 in the United States
- 1957 beauty pageants
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