Miss Universe 1958

Miss Universe 1958 was the seventh Miss Universe pageant, held at the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium in Long Beach, California, United States on 25 July 1958.

Miss Universe 1958
Luz Marina Zuluaga
Date	25 July 1958 (1958-07-25)
Presenters	Byron Palmer
Venue	Long Beach Municipal Auditorium, Long Beach, California, United States
Broadcaster	CBS
Entrants	35
Placements	15
Debuts	Colombia Poland Suriname
Withdrawals	Austria Ceylon Costa Rica Iceland Martinique Morocco Philippines Puerto Rico Turkey
Returns	Australia British Guiana Chile Denmark Holland Norway Singapore United States West Indies
Winner	Luz Marina Zuluaga Colombia
Congeniality	Tomoko Moritake (Japan)
Photogenic	Corine Rottschäfer (Holland)
← 1957 1959 →

At the end of the event, Gladys Zender of Peru crowned Luz Marina Zuluaga of Colombia as Miss Universe 1958. Zuluaga was the first representative of Colombia to win the contest.^[1]

Contestants from thirty-six countries and territories competed in this year's pageant. The pageant was hosted by Byron Palmer.

Background

Long Beach Municipal Auditorium, the venue of Miss Universe 1958

Selection of participants

Contestants from thirty-five countries and territories were selected to compete in the pageant. Two contestants were selected to replace the original dethroned winner.

Replacements

Luz Marina Zuluaga, the first runner-up of Señorita Colombia 1957, was appointed to replace Señorita Colombia 1957 Doris Inés Gil after it was discovered that the latter was already married.^[2] June Cooper was supposed to represent England in this edition, but was dethroned after it was discovered that she did not meet the minimum age requirement.^[3] Due to the dethronement of Cooper, a separate contest was held to pick a new representative of England to the contest. Wendy Peters won this contest, but was also dethroned after it was discovered that she was previously married.^[4] Due to this, the pageant organizers decided to appoint Dorothy Hazeldine as the representative of England in this edition.^[5]

Debuts, returns, and withdrawals

This edition saw the debuts of Colombia, Poland, and Suriname, and the returns of Australia, British Guiana, Chile, Denmark, Holland, Norway, Singapore, the United States, and the West Indies. Denmark last competed in 1953, Australia and Singapore last competed in 1954, Norway and the West Indies last competed in 1955, while the others last competed in 1956.

Austria, Ceylon, Costa Rica, Iceland, Martinique, Morocco, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Turkey withdrew. Hanni Ehrenstrasser of Austria withdrew after winning another international beauty contest.^[6] Eugenia Valverde of Costa Rica withdrew after not meeting the minimum age requirement. Despite being barred from the competition, Valverde was allowed to join the preliminary competition without being scored.^[7][8] Carmen Remedios Tuason of the Philippines withdrew due to her family not allowing her to join the competition.^[9] Miss Turkey 1958 Ezel Olcay withdrew from competition for unknown reasons but competed in the following edition.^[10][11] Ceylon, Iceland, Martinique, Morocco and Puerto Rico withdrew after their respective organizations failed to hold a national competition or appoint a delegate.

Results

Miss Universe 1958 participating countries and territories

Placements

Placement	Contestant
Miss Universe 1958	Colombia – Luz Marina Zuluaga[12]
1st runner-up	Brazil – Adalgisa Colombo[12]
2nd runner-up	Hawaii – Geri Hoo[12]
3rd runner-up	United States – Eurlyne Howell[12]
4th runner-up	Poland – Alicja Bobrowska[12]
Top 15	Chile – Raquel Molina[12]  Denmark – Evy Norlund[12]  West Germany – Marlies Jung Behrens[12]  Greece – Marily Kalimopoulou[12]  Holland – Corine Rottschäfer[12]  Israel – Miriam Hadar[12]  Japan – Tomoko Moritake[12]  Peru – Beatriz Boluarte[12]  Suriname – Gertrud Gummels[12]  Sweden – Birgitta Gårdman[12]

Special awards

Award	Contestant
Miss Friendship	Japan – Tomoko Moritake
Miss Photogenic	Holland – Corine Rottschäfer[13]
Miss Popular Girl	Australia – Astrid Lindholm[13]

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.^[14]

Selection committee

• David Arasik – Israeli editor of Cinema magazine^[14]
• Raul Ferrada – Chilean newspaper editor^[14]
• Jacob Gaudaur – Canadian oarsman^[14]
• Ma Ma Loa – Famous Hawaiian singer^[14]
• Miyoko Nayagita – Member of the Woman Artists Association^[14]
• Vincent Trotta – American artist^[14]
• Alberto Vargas – Peruvian-American painter known for his "Vargas Girls"^[14]
• Earl Wilson – American journalist and columnist^[14]
• Roger Zeiler – French official from the Miss Europe Committee^[14]

Contestants

Thirty-five contestants competed for the title.^[15]

Country/Territory	Contestant	Age[a]	Hometown
Alaska	Eleanor Moses[16]	20	Fairbanks
Argentina	Celina Mercedes Ayala	19	Misiones
Australia	Astrid Lindholm[13]	20	Adelaide
Belgium	Liliane Taelemans	20	Brussels
Brazil	Adalgisa Colombo[17]	18	Rio de Janeiro
British Guiana	Clyo Fernandes	18	Georgetown
Canada	Eileen Conroy	21	Toronto
Chile	Raquel Molina[18]	23	Quilpue
Colombia	Luz Marina Zuluaga[19]	19	Manizales
Cuba	Arminia Pérez[20]	21	Havana
Denmark	Evy Norlund[21]	20	Copenhagen
Ecuador	Alicia Vallejo[22]	22	Riobamba
England	Dorothy Hazeldine[5]	19	Rochdale
France	Monique Boulinguez[23]	21	Paris
Greece	Marily Kalimopoulou	18	Athens
Guatemala	Maya Glinz	–	Guatemala City
Hawaii	Geri Hoo[24]	18	Honolulu
Holland	Corine Rottschäfer[13]	20	Amsterdam
Israel	Miriam Hadar[25]	21	Jerusalem
Italy	Clara Coppola[26]	20	Lazio
Japan	Tomoko Moritake	20	Nagasaki
Mexico	Elvira Leticia Risser	19	Mexico City
Norway	Greta Andersen[27]	20	Stavanger
Paraguay	Graciela Scorza[28]	18	Asunción
Peru	Beatriz Boluarte[29]	19	Lima
Poland	Alicja Bobrzowska[30]	22	Kraków
Singapore	Marion Willis	19	Singapore
South Korea	Oh Geum-soon	19	Seoul
Suriname	Gertrud Gummels	20	Paramaribo
Sweden	Birgitta Elisabeth Gårdman	19	Stockholm
United States	Eurlyne Howell[31]	18	Bossier City
Uruguay	Irene Augustyniak	20	Montevideo
Venezuela	Ida Margarita Pieri[32]	18	Carúpano
West Germany	Marlies Jung Behrens[33]	19	Munich
West Indies	Angela Tong	–	Port of Spain, Trinidad

Notes

1. Ages at the time of the pageant