Miss Universe 1957

Miss Universe 1957
Long Beach Municipal Auditorium, Long Beach, California, United States
Broadcaster	CBS
Entrants	32
Placements	15
Debuts	Martinique Morocco Paraguay
Withdrawals	British Guiana Chile Dominican Republic Holland United States
Returns	Austria Ceylon Hawaii South Korea
Winner	Gladys Zender  Peru
Congeniality	Mapita Mercado Cordero  Puerto Rico
Photogenic	Gerti Daub  Germany
← 1956 1958  →

Miss Universe 1957 was the sixth

At the end of the event, Carol Morris of the United States crowned Gladys Zender of Peru as Miss Universe 1957. Zender was the first representative of Peru to win the contest.

After being crowned, it was revealed that Zender was only seventeen years old, five months under the contest's minimum age requirement of eighteen. Pageant officials decided that she could keep the crown after they were told she was considered to be eighteen in her country due to an old custom explained to them by the then-Peruvian ambassador to the United States, Fernando Berckemeyer Pazos.^[1]

Contestants from thirty-two countries and territories competed in this year's pageant. The pageant was hosted by Bob Russell for the sixth time.

Background

Selection of participants

Contestants from thirty-two countries and territories were selected to compete in the pageant. This is the first edition where women who are married and have children could not participate, which in turn became the reason why one candidate was disqualified after the preliminary competition.^[2] One contestant was selected to replace the original dethroned winner.

Debuts, returns, and withdrawals

This edition saw the debuts of Martinique, Morocco, and Paraguay, and the returns of Austria, Ceylon, Hawaii, and South Korea. Austria and Hawaii last competed in 1953, while Ceylon and South Korea last competed in 1955. British Guiana, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Holland, and the United States withdrew.^[2] Corine Rottschäfer of Holland was supposed to compete at Miss Universe. However, Rottschäfer just won another international contest that bars her from competing. Rottschäfer competed at the following year.^[3] British Guiana, Chile, and the Dominican Republic withdrew after their respective organizations failed to hold a national competition or appoint a delegate.

Disqualification of Miss USA

Leona Gage, Miss USA 1957, was announced as one of the fifteen semi-finalists, but was ejected from the pageant the afternoon before the final after it was discovered that she was married and the mother of two young children.^[4][5] Miss Argentina, Mónica Lamas, who had placed sixteenth in the preliminary competition, took over the spot vacated by Gage.^[2] Gage was also stripped of her title and was replaced by Charlotte Sheffield of Utah, but Sheffield was unable to compete because the preliminary competition had already taken place, thus marking the first (and as of 2023, only) time that a Miss USA did not compete at Miss Universe.^[6][7] Sheffield competed at Miss World 1957, but was unplaced.^[8]

Results

Placements

Special awards

Pageant

Format

Same with 1955, fifteen semi-finalists were chosen at the preliminary competition that consists of the swimsuit and evening gown competition.^[10] 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.^[10]

Selection committee

• Earl Wilson – American journalist and columnist^[14]
• Alberto Vargas – Peruvian-American painter known for his "Vargas Girls"^[14]
• Vincent Trotta – American artist^[14]
• Lois J. Swanson
• Roger Zeiler – French official from the Miss Europe Committee

Contestants

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

Country/Territory	Contestant	Age[a]	Hometown
Alaska	Martha Lehmann[16]	18	Fairbanks
Argentina	Mónica Lamas[17]	20	Buenos Aires
Austria	Hannerl Melcher[18]	19	Vienna
Belgium	Janine Hanotiau[19]	19	Brussels
Brazil	Terezinha Morango[20]	20	São Paulo de Olivença
Canada	Gloria Noakes[10]	18	Toronto
Ceylon	Camellia Perera[18]	23	Colombo
Costa Rica	Sonia Cristina Icaza[21]	18	San José
Cuba	María Rosa Gamio[22]	19	Havana
Ecuador	Patricia Benítez[23]	19	Guayaquil
England	Sonia Hamilton[24]	23	London
France	Lisa Simon[25]	22	Argenteuil
Germany	Gerti Daub[26]	19	Hamburg
Greece	Ligia Karavia[15]	18	Athens
Guatemala	Ana Walda Olyslager[15]	18	Guatemala City
Hawaii	Ramona Tong[27]	19	Honolulu
Iceland	Bryndís Schram[15]	19	Reykjavik
Israel	Atara Barzilay[28]	18	Tel Aviv
Italy	Valeria Fabrizi[29]	21	Bologna
Japan	Kyoko Otani[30]	21	Tokyo
Martinique	Ginette Cidalise-Montaise	18	Fort-de-France
Mexico	Irma Arévalo[31]	19	Mexico City
Morocco	Jacqueline Bonilla[32]	19	Casablanca
Paraguay	Lucy Montanero[33]	19	Asuncion
Peru	Gladys Zender[34]	17	Lima
Philippines	Mary Ann Corrales[35]	21	Manila
Puerto Rico	Mapita Mercado[11]	18	Santurce
South Korea	Park Hyun-ok[36]	21	Seoul
Sweden	Inger Jonsson	20	Malmö
Turkey	Güler Sirmen	18	Istanbul
Uruguay	Gabriela Pascal	18	Montevideo
Venezuela	Consuelo Nouel[37]	20	Caracas

Notes

References