• Short Summary

    Miss Philadelphia is crowned Miss America in the annual beauty contest.

  • Description

    Full title reads: "Miss America 1940".

    United States of America (USA).

    VS. of girls in swimsuits parading along platform in crowded hall for the title of Miss America. Large audience watches the beauty contest.

    MS. Man dressed as Neptune crowning the winner Miss Philadelphia, Francis Burke. (nat sound).

  • Tags

  • Data

    Film ID:
    1057.18
    Media URN:
    21142
    Group:
    Pathe newsreels
    Archive:
    British Pathé
    Issue Date:
    30/09/1940
    Sound:
    Sound
    HD Format:
    Available on request
    Stock:
    Black & White
    Duration:
    00:00:48:00
    Time in/Out:
    01:15:53:00 / 01:16:41:00
    Canister:
    40/79

Comments (2)

  1. Unknown user says

    The location is the Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City.

    The date of the competition was 7 September 1940.

    "Francis Burke" should read Frances Burke.

    Also seen in the clip is, at 00:09, "Miss California" Rosemary LaPlanche.

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  2. RiverGirl says

    My mother (maiden name Juanita Park Wright) is in the video above. She was Miss Huntington, West Virginia, and is the first woman on the lefthand side in the still above. In the video she is the fourth person in line. In 1940, a city or a state could send a contestant to the Miss America contest. At a later day, the contest was changed so that only the winner from each state attended. Juanita finished in the top 15 of the Miss America pageant.
    This was a wonderful Christmas surprise for me to find this video today. We have still pictures of her from this pageant but we hadn't seen any video before. I think my mother was prettier than the eventual winner but maybe I'm a little biased!

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