Before the modern Miss Universe beauty pageant, there was a pioneering international competition called the International Pageant of Pulchritude. It was the first international contest in history and the model for modern beauty contests after World War II.
The winner of the International Pageant of Pulchritude was called Miss Universe. The competition ended at the height of the Great Depression.
In 1952, California-based clothing company Pacific Knitting Mills, manufacturer of Catalina Swimwear, founded the modern Miss Universe pageant. Here are the first 13 women to hold the Miss Universe title including the International Pageant of Pulchritude winners:
Hillevi Rombin, Miriam Jacqueline Stevenson
13. Miss Universe 1955 Hillevi Rombin of Sweden was 21 when she was crowned by her predecessor on July 22, 1955 at the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium in Long Beach, California besting 32 other candidates. Before becoming a beauty queen, she was the Swedish national decathlon champion.
Rombin appeared in the Hollywood films "The Benny Goodman Story" and "Istanbul." In 1996, she, her husband G. David Schine and one of their six children died in a plane crash making her the first modern Miss Universe winner to die.
Miriam Jacqueline Stevenson, Christiane Martel
12. Miss Universe 1954 Miriam Jacqueline Stevenson of the USA was 21 when she was crowned by her predecessor on July 24, 1954 at the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium besting 32 other candidates. In the final scores, she tied with Miss Brazil Martha Rocha, who became the first runner-up, but the pageant's major sponsor Catalina Swimwear broke the tie in favor of Miss USA because she had fitter hips.
Stevenson went on to become an actress, TV host and commercial model. She and her husband, "Christmas Eve in My Hometown" co-writer Donald Upton, has a son, Donald Upton, Jr.
Christiane Martel
11. Miss Universe 1953 Christiane Martel of France was 21 when she was crowned on July 17, 1953 at the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium besting 25 other candidates. She was crowned by "Hollywood Story" actress Julie Adams.
Martel starred in several international films, the last of which was the 1961 Italian comedy drama "Leoni al Sole" ("Lions in the Sun"). She and her second husband Miguel Aleman Velasco, son of former Mexico president Miguel Aleman Valdes, have one son and three daughters.
Armi Kuusela, Piper Laurie
10. Miss Universe 1952 Armi Kuusela of Finland was 17 when she was crowned by "Louisa" actress Piper Laurie on June 28, 1952 at the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium besting 29 other candidates. As the first winner of the modern Miss Universe pageant, she went on to become a model and charity worker.
On May 4, 1953, Kuusela became the first one to give up the Miss Universe crown to marry Filipino businessman Virgilio Hilario, who she met in March 1953 at a dance in Baguio City, the summer capital of the Philippines. Hilario died of a heart attack in 1975 and in 1978, Kuusela remarried to American diplomat Albert Williams.
Charlotte Wassef
9. Miss Universe 1935 Charlotte Wassef of Egypt was 23 when she was crowned on October 6, 1935 in Brussels, Belgium. She was the last woman to win the International Pageant of Pulchritude, the winner of which was called Miss Universe.
Wassef was from Alexandria, the same hometown of Miss World 1954 Antigone Costanda. The former died on January 17, 1988 in Brookfield, Connecticut at the age of 76.
Keriman Halis Ece
8. Miss Universe 1932 Keriman Halis Ece of Turkey was 19 when she was crowned in Spa, Belgium on July 31, 1932 besting 26 other candidates. After her coronation, Turkey's first president Mustafa Kemal Ataturk gave her the family name Ece, which is the Turkish word for Queen.
Ece had two marriages, first with Dr. Orhan Sanus then with Hasip Tamer Bey. She died of a heart failure in the house of her daughter in Istanbul on January 28, 2012, which was 19 days before her 99th birthday.
Netta Duchateau
7. Miss Universe 1931 Netta Duchateau of Belgium was 20 when she was crowned on June 16, 1931 in Galveston, Texas. One year before her coronation, she received her license as a pilot.
Duchateau went on to become an actress, married Henry Van Den Bossche and gave birth to their son Charles. In 1994, she died in Monaco at the age of 83.
Dorothy Dell Goff
6. Miss Universe 1930 Dorothy Dell Goff of the USA was the last International Pageant of Pulchritude winner to be crowned in Galveston. She was only 15 when she won the title on August 4, 1930.
In 1933, Goff moved to Hollywood to pursue a career as an actress. In 1934, she was killed in a traffic collision in Altadena, California at the age of 19.
Yolanda Pereira
5. Miss Universe 1930 Yolanda Pereira of Brazil was 20 when she was crowned at the Copacabana Palace in Rio de Janeiro on September 7, 1930 besting 25 other candidates. Brazilians were infuriated that Miss Brazil Olga Bergamini did not place in the 1930 International Pageant of Pulchritude that was won by Goff so they created their own version of the pageant.
Pereira married pilot Homero Souto de Oliviera with whom she had four children. In 2001, Pereira died of a respiratory infection in their home in Leblon, Rio de Janeiro at the age of 91.
Lisl Goldarbeiter
4. Miss Universe 1929 Lisl Goldarbeiter of Austria was 20 when she was crowned in Galveston winning a large silver plaque and $2000. Adding to her victory as the first non-American winner of the International Pageant of Pulchritude was the fact that she is a Jew in an era when antisemitism was common in the U.S. and Europe.
Goldarbeiter was married to Fritz Spielmann. She died on December 14, 1997.
Ella Van Hueson, Dorothy Britton
3. Miss Universe 1928 Ella Van Hueson of the USA was 22 when she was crowned on June 4, 1928 in Galveston besting 41 other candidates. The non-American candidates were from Belgium, Canada, Cuba, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico and Spain.
Like the previous winners, Van Hueson received $2000 and a gold and silver plaque engraved with the words, "Beauty Queen of the Universe." Not much was known about her after winning the third International Pageant of Pulchritude.
Like the previous winners, Van Hueson received $2000 and a gold and silver plaque engraved with the words, "Beauty Queen of the Universe." Not much was known about her after winning the third International Pageant of Pulchritude.
Dorothy Britton
2. Miss Universe 1927 Dorothy Britton of the USA was 19 when she was crowned on May 23, 1927 at the Galveston City Auditorium in Galveston winning $2000 and a gold and silver plaque engraved with the words, "Beauty Queen of the Universe." She bested 38 other candidates, including women from Canada, Cuba, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Portugal and Spain.
Britton and World War I aviator Clifford Ray Parliman secretly married in 1932. In 1976, she died of a stroke in a store parking lot after shopping for shoes at the age of 69.
Catherine Moylan
1. Miss Universe 1926 Catherine Moylan of the USA was 22 when she was crowned on May 16, 1926 at the Garden of Tokio in Galveston besting 38 other candidates. The only two international candidates were Miss Winnipeg Patricia O'Shea and Miss Mexico Maria Martha Perres, who finished third and fourth, respectively.
As the first International Pageant of Pulchritude winner, Moylan received $2000 and a gold and silver plaque engraved with the words, "Beauty Queen of the Universe." She became an actress in silent films and in 1969, she died in Fort Worth, Texas at the age of 65.
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