Miss Universe 1959

Miss Universe 1959
Date	24 July 1959
Presenters	Byron Palma
Venue	Long Beach Municipal Auditorium, Long Beach, California, USA
Broadcaster	KTTV
Entrants	34
Placements	15
Debuts	Bolivia, Burma, Luxembourg
Withdraws	Alaska, Australia, British Guiana (Guyana), Chile, Paraguay, Singapore, Suriname, Venezuela, West Indies
Returns	Austria, Iceland, Thailand, Turkey
Winner	Akiko Kojima  Japan
Congeniality	Sodsai Vanijvadhana  Thailand
Photogenic	Pamela Anne Searle  England

Participating Nations and Results

Miss Universe 1959, the 8th Miss Universe pageant, was held on 24 July 1959 in Long Beach, California, USA. Thirty four contestants competed and in the end Miss Japan 22-year-old Akiko Kojima won the competition. She was crowned by Luz Marina Zuluaga from Colombia. This was the last year that the pageant was held in Long Beach before its move to Miami Beach Florida in 1960.

Results

Placements

Special awards

Panel of Judges

Contestants

Notes

Withdrawals

•  New Zealand - Arlenne Nesgitt
•  Philippines - Christine Matias
•  United Arab Republic (Syria) - Nawal Ramli

Trivia

•  Japan - Akiko Kojima is the first woman from Japan to win the Miss Universe title. Japan would not win the second Miss Universe crown until 2007, where Riyo Mori won.
•  USA - Terry Huntingdon is the first Miss California USA to win the Miss USA title and compete in Miss Universe.
•  Austria - Christine Spatzier went on to win the Miss Europe 1959 title.
• Misses  Turkey and  Luxembourg also competed in Miss Europe 1959. Both were unplaced.
•  Italy - Maria Grazia Buccella finished third in Miss Europe 1959 and then started a successful career as a movie actress.
•  Luxembourg went on to compete in Miss World 1959. She was also unplaced.
• After winning Miss Amity, Miss  Thailand pursued an acting and singing career in Hollywood for a few years and went back to become the first associate professor in dramatic arts at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand. She has been called "the mother of modern dramatic arts" in Thailand and there is an annual national award named after her for best playwrights in Thailand.
• Miss  Norway appeared on What's My Line during her trip to the United States for the pageant. Her line was Dental Nurse and she managed to stump the panel (though Arlene Francis did surmise she was a nurse of some sort).

External links

• Pageantopolis - Miss Universe 1959
• Judges