It’s No Contest! Strange Beauty Queens & Pageants

 Vintage Beauty Queens & All Their Weirdness

Ah, the good ol’ days of beauty pageants. Once a great time-honored American tradition, today, beauty contests have lost their luster. It’s easy to see why.

But there was a time not so long ago when the crowning of beauty queens reigned supreme. Why? So snappy-dressed businessmen could sell stuff. Such a novel idea, huh?– Using scantily clad young women to hock every thing from hot dogs to lube jobs to putting a happy, sexy face on atomic bombs.

Yet today, it is fun in a bizarre kind of way to look back at these strangle photos and wonder what ever happened to Miss Junior Civitan Fruit Cake or Miss Flipper. And at the same time, hope that Donald Trump can finally make a buck as proprietor of today’s Miss America pageant.

 

Miss I-75 U.S.A… A very long interstate. An equally long pageant.

Miss I-75 ~ Strange Vintage Beauty Pageants

 

Miss Earth, 1952.

Miss Earth, 1952 ~ Strange Vintage Beauty Pageants

 

1968’s Miss Junior Civitan Fruit Cake.

Miss Civitan Fruit Cake, 1968 ~ Strange Vintage Beauty Pageants

 

She needs no introduction…

Apple Festival Queen, Jackson, Ohio ~ Strange Vintage Beauty Pageants

 

An entry from London England– The Miss Fat and Beautiful Contest, circa 1960. The winner was dubbed “Britain’s Most Glamorous Fatty.”

Miss Fat and Beautiful ~ Strange Vintage Beauty Pageants

 

Miami Vice: 1930s Beauty pageant contestants in Miami sporting NRA tats.

Beauty Pageant Contestants with NRA Tattoos, 1930s ~ Strange Vintage Beauty Pageants

 

Miss Archive, 1968. Librarians, perhaps?
Miss Archive, 1968 ~ Strange Vintage Beauty Pageants

 

What a catch! Miss Tarpon Round Up, 1962

Miss Tarpon Roundup, 1962 ~ Strange Vintage Beauty Pageants

 

Miss Psywar contestants from the state of Washington in the 1940s. It was most likely during WW II. Why? because “Psywar” is short for Psychological Warfare.

Miss-Psywar-1940s-Washington-St

 

Meat Meet Ann Coffee Harrison, 1968’s Miss Nebraska Stock Grower.

Miss Nebraska Beef, 1968 ~ Strange Vintage Beauty Pageants

 

At the South Boston, Virginia beauty pageant at the National Tobacco Festival, contestants stand naked in a large hickory barrel. Date unknown.

~ Strange Vintage Beauty Pageants

 

Space Queen in the early 1950s.

Miss Spce Queen, c. 1950 ~ Strange Vintage Beauty Pageants

 

Foxy Space Queen, 1959.
Miss Space, 1959 ~ Strange Vintage Beauty Pageants

 

Not the KKK, but the Miss Lovely Eyes Pageant in the 1930s.

Miss Lovely Eyes, 1930s ~ Strange Vintage Beauty Pageants

 

The Eyes Have It:  Mis Idaho Potato, 1935.

Miss Idaho Potato, 1935 ~ Strange Vintage Beauty Pageants

 

Sponsored by Hebrew National– It’s the Frankfuter Queen of 1952. Oh, ya just gotta love how she holds a wiener!

Miss Frankfurter Queen, 1952 ~ Strange Vintage Beauty Pageants

 

Miss Flipper, I’m guessing the mid 1970s?

Miss Flipper Queen, 1970s ~ Strange Vintage Beauty Pageants & Pinball

Donut Queen from the 1950s. And what the world wanted to know was how she could sit on all those donuts without squashing them.

Donut Queen c. 1950 ~ Strange Vintage Beauty Pageants

 

Lobster King Harry Hackney with his Lobster Waitresses, who won the prize in Atlantic City’s famous beauty pageant parade, date unknown.
Lobster king Harry Hackney with his Lobster Waitresses, who won the prize in Atlantic City’s famous beauty pageant parade, date unknown. Lobster king Harry Hackney with his Lobster Waitresses, who won the prize in Atlantic City’s famous beauty pageant parade, date unknown

 

Why should Atlantic City have all the fun? These bathing beauties protested in Venice, California over New Jersey’s monopoly of the pageant business.

Beauty contestants protest in Venice, California, over Atlantic City's monopoly on the beauty pageant business Seen right, beauty contestants protest in Venice, California, over Atlantic City's monopoly on the beauty pageant business

 

Standing in at 6’ 0”, Miss Tall San Fernando Valley, 1970 who later went on to win Miss Tall Universe. Not familiar with the Miss Tall Universe Pageant? That’s probably because it changed it’s name to Miss Tall International in 1974.

Miss Tall Universe Queen ~ Strange Vintage Beauty Pageants

 

Va-va-va-BOOM! It’s Miss Atomic Bomb, 1950.

Miss Atomic Bomb, 1950 ~ Strange Vintage Beauty Pageants

 

1970’s Miss Sertoma Follies, Clearwater Florida.

Miss Sertoma Follies, 1970 ~ Strange Vintage Beauty Pageants

 

Miss Cigar Queen contestants in 1937.

Miss Cigar Queens, 1937 ~ Strange Vintage Beauty Pageants

 

Miss Industry circa 1960. But why the sack of coins and the creepy dudes?

Miss Industry ~ Strange Vintage Beauty Pageants

Finally, who needs a sanctioning body or Donald Trump to hold a top-notch beauty pageant? 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 from queens that 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. (source: Along for the Ride)

Miss American Auto Club ~ Muller Bros Olds & Firestone Strange Beauty Queens, 1951 Miss Control Tower ~ Muller Bros Olds & Firestone Strange Beauty Queens, 1951 Miss Polish Job ~ Muller Bros Olds & Firestone Strange Beauty Queens, 1951

Miss-Lube-Rack-1950

a-miss-gasoline-vintage-beauty-queen-1950 Miss Auto Accessories ~ Muller Bros Olds & Firestone Strange Beauty Queens, 1951

Muller Bros Olds & Firestone Strange Beauty Queens, 1951

Check out more Strange Beauty Queens by clicking that there button->More Queens

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