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Miss America 1938
Date	September 10, 1938
Venue	Steel Pier, Atlantic City, New Jersey
Entrants	44
Placements	15
Winner	Marilyn Meseke Ohio
← 19371939 →

Miss America 1938, the 12th Miss America pageant, was held at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey on Saturday, September 10, 1938. The decision by the 15 judges there that Miss Ohio, Marilyn Meseke, rather than Miss California, Claire James, as Miss America surprised the audience at the event. Famous Broadway producer Earl Carroll, Murder at the Vanities, also disagreed with their choice and took the runner-up to New York City where he performed a coronation of Miss California as "the true Miss America" shortly after the official pageant. Carroll's actions resulted in widespread publicity of the incident.

Results

Placements

Awards

Preliminary awards

Contestants

Title	Name	Hometown	Age	Talent	Placement	Awards	Notes
Arizona	Anna Marie Barnett	Bisbee			Top 15
Arkansas	Lorene Bailey	Jonesboro		Piano, "Dinah"
Asbury Park	Ruth E. Brady	Asbury Park		Vocal & Tap Dance	3rd Runner-up	Preliminary Talent Award
Birmingham	Mildred Oxford	Birmingham		Tap Dance/Toe Ballet	Top 15
Brooklyn	Barbara Beech	Brooklyn			Top 15
Burlington	Ruth Joan Sada	Burlington
California	Claire James	Los Angeles		Dance	1st Runner-up
Charlotte	Rebecca Pearl Hankins	Charlotte	18
Cleveland	Evelyn Bertelsbeck	Cleveland			Top 15
Colorado	Rosanna Bean	Montrose
Connecticut	Blanche Hawley	Stratford
Delray Beach	Patricia Hollran			Vocal, "A-Tisket, A-Tasket"
Detroit	Marjorie Jackson	Detroit
District of Columbia	Dorothy Parker			Vocal & Tap Dance, "How'd You Like to Love Me"	Top 15
Eastern Pennsylvania	Wilma Kaspar	Rahns
Empire State	Elissa Winston				Top 15
Florida	Mary Joyce Walsh	Miami		Vocal/Ballet
Fort Lauderdale	Mary Jane Thomas	Fort Lauderdale			Top 15
Georgia	Alice Talton	Atlanta			Top 15
Indianapolis	Rosemary White
Jacksonville	Gloria Smyley	Jacksonville		Acrobatic Dance	4th Runner-up	Preliminary Talent Award
Kansas	Blanche Webb	Humboldt
Kentucky	Evelyn Cooper	Somerset		Vocal, "A-Tisket, A-Tasket"
Letts	Helen Emly	Letts			Top 15
Long Island	Marion Rosamund
Long Island Sound	Adeline Shull
Maine	Doris Marie Bergeron	Lewiston
Maryland	Yolanda Ugarte	Baltimore
Minnesota	Avis Darrow	Duluth
Mississippi	Frances Sykes	Aberdeen
Montgomery	Patricia McDaniel	Montgomery
Nebraska	Emmajane Newby	Humboldt
New Jersey	Gloria Martha Riley	Paterson
New Orleans	Irene Blush Schomberger	New Orleans		Vocal/Trumpet/Dance
Ohio	Marilyn Meseke	Marion	21	Tap Dance, "How'd You Like to Love Me", "The World is Waiting for the Sunrise", & "Joseph, Joseph"	Winner
Oklahoma	Marjorie Ann Adams	Ada
Philadelphia	Kathryn "Kay" Buckley	Philadelphia		Swing Vocal	Top 15
Riverside	Dorothy Kathryn Powers	Riverside
South Carolina	Margaret Simrill Land	Chester
Tennessee	Victoria Ann Motlow	Mulberry		Vocal, "You Turned the Tables on Me"
Utah	Muriel La Von Goodspeed	Salt Lake City		Classical Vocal & Piano	2nd Runner-up	Preliminary Talent Award
Virginia	Kathleen Mann	North Arlington
Western Pennsylvania	Ruth Willock	Pittsburgh

References

1. "'Beautiful But Dumb' Legend Haunts Miss America 1938". Chester Times. 1938-09-12. p. 7.
2. Associated Press (1938-09-12). "Producer Carroll Differs in Choice of Miss America". Oshkosh Daily Northwestern. p. 5.
3. Associated Press Wire Photo (1938-09-12). "Meet Miss America - Both of 'Em". Oakland Tribune. p. 5.

Secondary sources

• Saulino Osborne, Angela (1995). "Miss Americas and their Courts". Miss America The Dream Lives On. Taylor Publishing Company. ISBN 0-87833-110-7.

External links

• Miss America official website

• Miss America
• 1938 in the United States
• 1938 in New Jersey
• September 1938 events in the United States
• Events in Atlantic City, New Jersey