Miss Universe 1959 was the eighth Miss Universe pageant, held at the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium in Long Beach, California, on 24 July 1959. This was the last year that the pageant was held in Long Beach, before moving to Miami Beach, Florida in 1960.
At the conclusion of the event, Luz Marina Zuluaga of Colombia crowned Akiko Kojima of Japan as Miss Universe 1959. Kojima was the first representative of Japan, and the first Asian woman to win the contest.
Contestants from thirty-four countries and territories competed in this year's pageant. The pageant was hosted by Byron Palmer.
Background
Selection of participants Contestants from thirty-four countries and territories were selected to compete in the pageant.
Debuts, returns, and withdrawals This edition saw the debuts of Bolivia, Burma, and Luxembourg, and the returns of Austria, Costa Rica, Iceland, Thailand, and Turkey. Thailand last competed in 1954, while Austria, Costa Rica, Iceland, and Turkey last competed in 1957. Australia, the British Guiana, Chile, Paraguay, Singapore, Suriname, Venezuela, and the West Indies withdrew after their respective organizations failed to hold a national competition or appoint a delegate. Alaska withdrew due to the former Territory of Alaska becoming a state of the United States and was thus demoted from a Miss Universe national pageant to a Miss USA state pageant.
Christine Matias of the Philippines was set to compete at Miss Universe, but was barred by her university, the Philippine Women's University, as they do not allow their students to wear a swimsuit in front of the public. Aida Kadamani was supposed to represent the United Arab Republic at Miss Universe, but withdrew after refusing to wear a swimsuit in front of the judges. She was then replaced by Nawal Ramli, but she also did not push through with the competition as the pageant organizers failed to answer her queries whether she could substitute Kadamani. Indonesia was supposed to compete for the first time, but was not able to send a candidate due to protests in Jakarta against the creation of Miss Indonesia. Other countries who would not sanction their people to appear in swimsuits according to Oscar Reinhardt, then-executive producer of Miss Universe Inc., include Ireland, Portugal, and Spain. Spain and Portugal would send their first representatives in the following year.
Results
Placements Placement Contestant Miss Universe 1959 – Akiko Kojima 1st Runner-Up – Jorunn Kristjansen 2nd Runner-Up – Terry Huntingdon 3rd Runner-Up – Pamela Searle 4th Runner-Up – Vera Ribeiro Top 15 – Hélène Savigny – Olga Pumarejo – Françoise Saint-Laurent Greece – Zoitsa Kouroukli – Sigríður Þorvaldsdóttir – Rina Issacov – Zuzanna Cembrowska – Hyun-joo Oh – Marie Ekström – Carmela Künzel
Special awards Award Contestant Miss Friendship Thailand – Sodsai Vanijvadhana Miss Photogenic – Pamela Searle Miss Popular Girl – Hyun-joo Oh
Pageant Format Same with 1955, fifteen semi-finalists were chosen at the preliminary competition that consists of the swimsuit and evening gown competition. Each of the fifteen semi-finalists gave a short speech during the final telecast using their native languages. Afterwards, the fifteen semi-finalists paraded again in their swimsuits and evening gowns, and the five finalists were eventually chosen.
Selection committee Maxwell Arnow – American director Claude Berr – French director, writer, producer, actor and film distributor Ghislaine R. de Amador – Ecuadorian judge Vion Papamichalis - film producer Joseph Ruttemberg - Ukrainian-American photojournalist and cinematographer Vincent Trotta – American artist Paul Wellmann - American journalist
Contestants
Thirty-four contestants competed for the title. Country/Territory Contestant Age Hometown Argentina 20 Buenos Aires Austria 19 Vienna Belgium 24 Brussels Bolivia 19 La Paz Brazil 19 Rio de Janeiro Burma 19 Rangoon Canada 25 Ancaster Colombia 20 Barranquilla Costa Rica 20 Heredia Cuba 19 Havana Denmark 18 Copenhagen Ecuador 19 Guayaquil England 21 Surrey France 18 Neuilly-Plaisance Greece 18 Athens Guatemala 18 Guatemala City Hawaii 21 Honolulu Holland 22 Rotterdam Iceland 18 Reykjavík Israel 19 Tel Aviv Italy 18 Trento Japan 22 Tokyo Luxembourg 19 Grevenmacher Mexico 18 Mexico City Norway 18 Moss Peru 18 Callao Poland 19 Warsaw South Korea 19 Seoul Sweden 20 Sundsvall Thailand 22 Phra Nakhon Turkey 19 Istanbul United States 19 Mount Shasta Uruguay 20 Montevideo West Germany 19 Berlin
Notes
References
External links Miss Universe official website