Miss America 1939 , the 13th Miss America pageant, was the last pageant to be held at the famed Steel Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey .[1] The finals were held on Saturday, September 9, 1939, and Miss Michigan , Patricia Donnelly , was crowned Miss America 1939.[2] The Miss Congeniality Award was also introduced at the 1939 competition.
Donnelly later became a singer and actress. Third runner-up Marguerita Skliris became the actress Margia Dean , who starred in such Hollywood films as Seven Women from Hell and The Quatermass Xperiment . Fourth runner-up Rose Marie Elliott had a successful musical career on the Broadway stage as Rose Marie Brown .
Placement
Contestant
Miss America 1939
1st Runner-Up
2nd Runner-Up
3rd Runner-Up
4th Runner-Up
Top 15
Title
Name
Hometown
Age
Talent
Placement
Awards
Notes
Birmingham
Florine Holt
Birmingham
Vocal, "Moonglow" & "A Little Bit of Heaven"
Top 15
Arkansas
Jean Thompson
Helena
California
Marguerita Skliris
San Francisco
Dramatic Monologue, "The Poison Scene" from Romeo and Juliet
3rd Runner-up
Preliminary Talent Award
Later known as actress Margia Dean
Central Connecticut
Catherine Harrison
Derby
Charlotte
Marguerite Taylor
Charlotte
Connecticut
Frieda Lampar
Bridgeport
Coney Island
Grayce M. Reilly
District of Columbia
Evelyn Foster
19
Ballet en Pointe
Eastern New York
Claire E. Foley
Vocal Comedy & Dance
Top 15
Eastern Ohio
Maxine Drumm
Eastern Pennsylvania
Emma Louise Knoell
Philadelphia
Florida
Rose Marie Magrill
Miami
Tap Dance
Top 15
Georgia
Mary Durrance
Glennville
Vocal
Illinois
Ethel Lorraine Lodbell
Chicago
Monologue, "From the Diary of a Contestant"
Top 15
Kansas
Rosemary Winslow
Salina
Kentucky
Louise Holman
Pineville
Lexington
Mattigene Palmore
Lexington
Maryland
Elaine Pasqualla
Crisfield
Miami
Irmigard Dietel
Miami
Vocal Medley, "See You Again", "Blue Evening", & "Solitude"
Top 15
Michigan
Patricia Donnelly
Detroit
19
Vocal/Bass Fiddle, "To You" & "Ol' Man Mose"
Winner
Minnesota
Marion Rudeen
Minneapolis
Acrobatic Dance
Top 15
Preliminary Talent Award
Mississippi
Doris Coggins
Baldwyn
Miss Congeniality
Missouri
Margaret Ley
St. Louis
Montana
Lucille Chouinard
Fort Peck
Montgomery
Louise Robertson
Montgomery
Myrtle Beach
Mary Eleanor Parish
Myrtle Beach
New Hampshire
Lois Marjorie Truax
Nashua
New Jersey
Margo Lundgren
Harrison
Whistling Tunes Vocal, "Don't Worry About Me"
Top 15
New Orleans
Frances Helen Anello
New Orleans
North Carolina
Margaret Wood
Vocal, "If I Didn't Care"
Top 15
Preliminary Talent Award
Ohio
Jeanne Saboda
Cleveland
Oklahoma
Bettye Cornelia Avert
Oklahoma City
Original Piano & Vocal, "Wondering & Dreaming"
1st Runner-up
Pennsylvania
Ruth Phyllis Willock
Pittsburgh
Philadelphia
Nancy Lee
Philadelphia
South Carolina
Margaret Allan Shealy
Clinton
Vocal, "Especially for You"
Staten Island
Lillian Evelyn Hessen
Annadale
Sun Valley
Louise Fletchner
Clarinet, "Stardust"
Top 15
Tennessee
Judy Jones
Tracy City
Vocal Medley, "I Surrender" & "Come True"
Texas
Charmayne Smith
Dallas
Vocal, "Round Up Time in Texas"
Top 15
Virginia
Rose Marie Elliot
Sulfolk
Vocal, "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes "
4th Runner-up
Later known on Broadway as Rose Marie Brown
Washington
Anna Mae Schoonover
Seattle
Dramatic Monologue from Accent on Youth
2nd Runner-up
Western Tennessee
Louise Bussart
Etowah
Saulino Osborne, Angela (1995). "Miss Americas and their Courts". Miss America The Dream Lives On . Taylor Publishing Company. ISBN 0-87833-110-7 .