Miss Universe 1959

Miss Universe 1959 was the eighth Miss Universe pageant, held at the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium in Long Beach, California, United States on 24 July 1959. This was the last year that the pageant was held in Long Beach before it moved to Miami Beach, Florida in 1960.

Miss Universe 1959
Akiko Kojima
Date	24 July 1959 (1959-07-24)
Presenters	Byron Palmer
Venue	Long Beach Municipal Auditorium, Long Beach, California, United States
Broadcaster	CBS
Entrants	34
Placements	15
Debuts	Bolivia Burma Luxembourg
Withdrawals	Alaska Australia British Guiana Chile Paraguay Singapore Suriname Venezuela West Indies
Returns	Austria Costa Rica Iceland Thailand Turkey
Winner	Akiko Kojima Japan
Congeniality	Sodsai Vanijvadhana (Thailand)
Photogenic	Pamela Anne Searle (England)
← 1958 1960 →

At the end of the event, Luz Marina Zuluaga of Colombia crowned Akiko Kojima of Japan as Miss Universe 1959.^[1] Kojima was the first representative of Japan, and the first Asian woman to win the contest.^[2]

Contestants from thirty-four 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 1959

Selection of participants

Contestants from thirty-four countries and territories were selected to compete in the pageant.

Debuts, returns, and withdrawals

This edition saw the debuts of Bolivia, Burma, and Luxembourg, and the returns of Austria, Iceland, Thailand, and Turkey. Thailand last competed in 1954, while Austria, Iceland, and Turkey last competed in 1957. Alaska, Australia, British Guiana, Chile, Paraguay, Singapore, Suriname, Venezuela, and the West Indies withdrew after their respective organizations failed to hold a national competition or appoint a delegate.^[3]

Christine Matias of the Philippines was set to compete at Miss Universe, but was barred by her university, the Philippine Women's University, as they do not allow their students to wear a swimsuit in front of the public.^[4][5] Aida Kadamani was supposed to represent the United Arab Republic at Miss Universe, but withdrew after refusing to wear a swimsuit in front of the judges.^[6] She was then replaced by Nawal Ramli, but she also did not push through with the competition as the pageant organizers failed to answer her queries whether she could substitute Kadamani.^[6] Indonesia was supposed to compete for the first time, but was not able to send a candidate due to protests in Jakarta against the creation of Miss Indonesia.^[7] Other countries who would not sanction their people to appear in swimsuits according to Oscar Reinhardt, then-executive producer of Miss Universe Inc., include Ireland, Portugal, and Spain.^[5] Spain and Portugal would send their first representatives in the following year.

Results

Miss Universe 1959 participating countries and territories

Placements

Placement	Contestant
Miss Universe 1959	Japan – Akiko Kojima[8]
1st runner-up	Norway – Jorunn Kristjansen[8]
2nd runner-up	United States – Terry Lynn Huntingdon[8]
3rd runner-up	England – Pamela Anne Searle[8]
4th runner-up	Brazil – Vera Regina Ribeiro[8]
Top 15	Belgium – Hélène Savigny[8]  Colombia – Olga Pumarejo[8]  France – Françoise Saint-Laurent[8]  West Germany – Carmela Künzel[8]  Greece – Zoitsa Kouroukli[8]  Iceland – Sigríður Þorvaldsdóttir[8]  Israel – Rina Issacov[8]  Poland – Zuzanna Cembrowska[8]  South Korea – Oh Hyun-joo[8]  Sweden – Marie Louise Ekström[8]

Special awards

Award	Contestant
Miss Friendship	Thailand – Sodsai Vanijvadhana[9]
Miss Photogenic	England – Pamela Anne Searle[10]
Miss Popular Girl	South Korea – Oh Hyun-joo[10]

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.^[11]

Selection committee

• Maxwell Arnow – American director
• Claude Berr – French director, writer, producer, actor and film distributor^[12]
• Ghislaine R. de Amador – Ecuadorian judge^[12]
• Vion Papamichalis - film producer
• Joseph Ruttemberg - Ukrainian-American photojournalist and cinematographer
• Vincent Trotta – American artist^[11]
• Paul Wellmann - American journalist

Contestants

Miss Brazil 1969 Vera Ribeiro with Miss Universe 1959 Akiko Kojima during the national costume parade in Miami Beach, Florida.

Thirty-four contestants competed for the title.^[13]

Country/Territory	Contestant	Age[a]	Hometown
Argentina	Liana Cortijo[14]	20	Buenos Aires
Austria	Christine Spatzier	19	Vienna
Belgium	Hélène Savigny[15]	24	Brussels
Bolivia	Corina Taborga[16]	19	La Paz
Brazil	Vera Regina Ribeiro[17]	19	Rio de Janeiro
Burma	Than Than Aye[18]	19	Rangoon
Canada	Eileen Butter[19]	25	Ancaster
Señorita Colombia	Olga Pumarejo[20]	20	Barranquilla
Costa Rica	Zianne Monturiol[21]	20	Heredia
Cuba	Irma Buesa Mas[22]	19	Havana
Denmark	Lisa Stolberg[23]	18	Copenhagen
Ecuador	Carlota Elena Ayala	19	Guayaquil
England	Pamela Anne Searle	21	Surrey
France	Françoise Saint-Laurent	18	Neuilly-Plaisance
Greece	Zoitsa Kouroukli[24]	18	Athens
Guatemala	Rogelia Cruz[25]	18	Guatemala City
Hawaii	Patricia Visser[26]	21	Honolulu
Holland	Peggy Erwich[27]	22	Rotterdam
Iceland	Sigríður Þorvaldsdóttir[28]	18	Reykjavík
Israel	Rina Issacov[29]	19	Tel Aviv
Italy	Maria Grazia Buccella[30]	18	Trento
Japan	Akiko Kojima[31]	22	Tokyo
Luxembourg	Josée Pundel[32]	19	Grevenmacher
Mexico	Mirna García Dávila	18	Mexico City
Norway	Jorunn Kristjansen[23]	18	Moss
Peru	Guadalupe Mariátegui Hawkins[33]	18	Callao
Poland	Zuzanna Cembrzowska[34]	19	Warsaw
South Korea	Oh Hyun-joo[35]	19	Seoul
Sweden	Marie Louise Ekström[36]	20	Sundsvall
Thailand	Sodsai Vanijvadhana[37]	22	Phra Nakhon
Turkey	Ecel Olcay[15]	19	Istanbul
United States	Terry Lynn Huntingdon[38]	19	Mount Shasta
Uruguay	Claudia Bernat[39]	20	Montevideo
West Germany	Carmela Künzel[40]	19	Berlin

Notes

1. Ages at the time of the pageant