Miss USA 1957

Miss USA 1957
Date	July 17, 1957
Presenters	Bob Russell
Venue	Long Beach Municipal Auditorium, Long Beach, California, USA
Entrants	44
Placements	15
Winner	Charlotte Sheffield Utah Mary Leona Gage Maryland (dethroned)

Miss USA 1957, the sixth Miss USA pageant, took place in Long Beach, California on July 17, 1957 during the run-up to the year's Miss Universe pageant. The 1957 Miss USA pageant is noted as marking the only occasion to date on which the winner was stripped of her title by pageant organizers.

Scandal and dethronement

At the end of the pageant, Mary Leona Gage of Maryland was declared the winner and was crowned by the outgoing titleholder (and Miss Universe 1956) Carol Morris of Iowa. The following day however, rumors about Gage's past and current circumstances began to circulate, and it subsequently emerged that not only had Gage lied about her age (she was 18, not 21 as she had originally claimed), but she was also the twice-married mother of two children. As Gage had clearly broken a number of eligibility rules, pageant officials immediately disqualified her once the accusations against her had been checked and verified.^[1][2]

The crown and the associated prize package thus passed to the 1st runner-up, Charlotte Sheffield of Utah, with the other three finalists being moved up a place, and the highest-scoring semi-finalist, Kathryn Gabriel of Ohio, being promoted to 4th runner-up. However, by the time the scandal broke publicly, the Miss Universe preliminary judging had already taken place (in which, ironically, Gage had been chosen as a semi-finalist by the judges, having been allowed by the organizers to participate while the allegations being made against her were investigated), so Sheffield was unable to compete in the pageant – the only time the USA has not been represented at Miss Universe.^[1] Later in the year, Sheffield was sent to London as the USA delegate for Miss World 1957, but failed to place.

Results

Final Results	Contestant
Miss USA 1957	Maryland - Mary Leona Gage(dethroned)
Miss USA 1957	Utah - Charlotte Sheffield (successor)
1st runner-up	West Virginia - Ruth Parr
2nd runner-up	Nevada - Joan Adams
3rd runner-up	Nebraska - Carolyn McGirr
4th runner-up	Ohio - Kathryn Gabriel
Top 15	Arkansas - Helen Garrott California - Peggy Jacobson Illinois - Marianne Gaba Iowa - Judith Hall Massachusetts - Sandra Ramsey New York - Sanita Pelkey South Carolina - Jean Spotts Texas - Gloria Hunt Washington - Diana Schafer

Delegates

The Miss USA 1957 delegates were:

States

Arkansas - Helen Garrott California - Peggy Jacobson Colorado - Mary Clapham Connecticut - Rosemary Galliotti Delaware - Patricia Ellingsworth Florida - Deanie Cates Georgia - Ruth Lycan Illinois - Marianne Gaba Indiana - Pat Dorsett Iowa - Judith Hall Louisiana - Earlyn Regouffre Maine - Roberta Aymie Maryland - Mary Leona Gage (dethroned) Massachusetts - Sandra Ramsey Michigan - Sharon Moore Minnesota - Mary Ford Missouri - Judith Murback Nebraska - Carolyn McGirr Nevada - Joan Adams New Hampshire - Lyla Moran New Jersey - Jeanne Lewis

New Mexico - Patricia Stafford New York - Sanita Pelkey North Carolina - Peggy Ann Dennis North Dakota - Anne-Marit Studness Ohio - Kathryn Gabriel Oklahoma - Rose Mary Raab Oregon - Sonja Landsem Pennsylvania - Rosalie Culp Rhode Island - Myrna Altieri South Carolina - Jean Spotts South Dakota - Gay Marshall Tennessee - Patricia Prather Texas - Gloria Hunt Utah - Charlotte Sheffield Vermont - Marjorie Link Virginia - Patricia Bush Washington - Diana Schafer West Virginia - Ruth Parr Wisconsin - Natalie Lueck Wyoming - Marilyn Hawkins

Cities

• Miami Beach, Florida - Faye Ray
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - Barbara Miller
• St. Louis, Missouri - Carole Learn

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Woestendiek, John (April 10, 2005). "The Long, Unhappy Pageant of Mary Leona Gage". The Baltimore Sun. http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/bal-missusa041005,0,7470155,full.story. Retrieved October 11, 2010. 
2. ^ Thursby, Keith (October 9, 2010). "Leona Gage, Miss USA For a Day, Dies at 71". Los Angeles Times. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/afterword/2010/10/leona-gage-miss-usa-for-a-day-dies-at-71.html. Retrieved October 11, 2010. 

External links

• Miss USA official website
• Detailed narrative of the 1957 Miss USA/Miss Universe pageant