Miss Universe 1961 was the 10th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Miami Beach Auditorium in Miami Beach, Florida, on 15 July 1961.
At the conclusion of the event, Linda Bement of the United States crowned Marlene Schmidt of the West Germany as Miss Universe 1961. Schmidt was the first representative of the West Germany to win the contest.
Contestants from forty-eight countries and territories competed in this year's pageant. The pageant was hosted by Johnny Carson.
Background Selection of participants Contestants from forty-eight countries and territories were selected to compete in the pageant. Two candidates were appointed to replace the original winner.
Replacements Both, Ana Griselda Vegas of Venezuela and Pilar Ramos of Spain replaced Gloria Lilue and María del Carmen Cervera, respectively, as the latter chose to compete at Miss International 1961.
Debuts, returns, and withdrawals This edition saw the debuts of Ireland, Jamaica, Madagascar, the Republic of China, Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Scotland, the United States Virgin Islands, and Wales, and the returns of Ceylon, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, and Turkey. Ceylon and Puerto Rico last competed in 1957, while the others last competed in 1959. Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Jordan, New Zealand, Portugal, Suriname, and Tunisia withdrew after their respective organizations failed to hold a national competition or appoint a delegate.
Helen Tan of Malaya and Julie Koh of Singapore were supposed to compete in the pageant. However, they chose to compete at Miss International in Long Beach, California instead. Koh eventually competed at Miss Universe the following year.
Results
Placements Placement Contestant Miss Universe 1961 – Marlene Schmidt 1st Runner-Up – Rosemarie Frankland 2nd Runner-Up Argentina – Adriana Gardiazábal 3rd Runner-Up – Arlette Dobson 4th Runner-Up – Sharon Brown Top 15 – Gloria Silva – Simone Darot – Kristjana Magnúsdóttir – Atida Pisanti – Carmela Stein – Li-Ling Wang – Susan Jones – Yang-hee Seo – Gunilla Knutsson – Liliane Burnier
Special awards Award Contestant Miss Congeniality Greece – Eleftheria Deloutsi Miss Photogenic – Sharon Brown
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 Peter Demaerel – Director of the Belgian-American Tourist Office in the United States Gustavo Lorca Rojas – Former mayor of Viña del Mar Raul Manteola – Argentinian painter Russell Patterson – American cartoonist Michel Tapié – French painter Earl Wilson – American journalist and columnist Miyoko Yanagita – Japanese fashion designer
Contestants Forty-eight contestants competed for the title. Country/Territory Contestant Age Hometown Argentina 18 Buenos Aires Austria 20 Vorarlberg Belgium 18 Saint-Gilles Bolivia 19 Santa Cruz de la Sierra Brazil 19 Caratinga Burma 18 Daik-U Canada 19 Toronto Ceylon 19 Colombo Chile 22 Santiago Colombia 21 Medellín Cuba 25 Miami Denmark 18 Copenhagen Ecuador 18 Guayaquil England 18 Surrey Finland 20 Naantali France 19 Paris Greece 18 Athens Guatemala 19 Guatemala City Holland 22 Amsterdam Iceland 21 Reykjanesbær Ireland 21 Lisburn Israel 19 Haifa Italy 21 Lazio Jamaica 20 Kingston Japan 20 Tokyo Lebanon 22 Beirut Luxembourg 18 Luxembourg City Madagascar 22 Antananarivo Morocco – Rabat Norway 19 Bergen Paraguay 18 Asunción Peru 20 Lima Puerto Rico 20 Aguadilla Republic of China 19 Taipei Rhodesia and Nyasaland 19 Salisbury Scotland 20 Aberdeen South Africa 20 Johannesburg South Korea 21 Seoul Spain 19 Madrid Sweden 20 Ystad Switzerland 19 Geneva Turkey 18 Istanbul United States 18 Minden United States Virgin Islands 18 Charlotte Amalie Uruguay – Montevideo Venezuela 20 Caracas Wales 18 Lancashire West Germany 24 Stuttgart
Notes
References
External links
Miss Universe official website