Miss Universe 1958 was the seventh Miss Universe pageant, held at the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium in Long Beach, California, on 25 July 1958.
At the conclusion 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.
Contestants from thirty-six countries and territories competed in this year's pageant. The pageant was hosted by Byron Palmer.
Background
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 as she decided to get married instead of competing at the pageant. 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. 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. Due to this, the pageant organizers decided to appoint Dorothy Hazeldine as the representative of England in this edition.
Debuts, returns, and withdrawals This edition saw the debuts of Colombia, Poland, and Surinam, and the returns of Australia, the British Guiana, Chile, Denmark, Holland, Norway, Singapore, the United States, and the West Indies. Denmark, which last competed in 1953, Australia and Singapore in 1954, Norway and the West Indies 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. 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. Carmen Remedios Tuason of the Philippines withdrew due to her family not allowing her to join the competition. Miss Turkey 1958, Ezel Olcay withdrew from competition for unknown reasons but competed in the Miss Universe 1959 instead.
Results
Placements Placement Contestant Miss Universe 1958 – Luz Marina Zuluaga 1st Runner-Up – Adalgisa Colombo 2nd Runner-Up – Geri Hoo 3rd Runner-Up – Eurlyne Howell 4th Runner-Up – Alicja Bobrowska Top 15 – Raquel Molina – Evy Norlund Greece – Marily Kalimopoulou – Corine Rottschäfer – Miriam Hadar – Tomoko Moritake – Beatriz Boluarte – Gertrud Gummels – Birgitta Gårdman – Marlies Behrens
Special awards Award Contestant Miss Friendship – Tomoko Moritake Miss Photogenic – Corine Rottschäfer Miss Popular Girl Australia – Astrid Lindholm
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.
Selection committee David Arasik – Israeli editor of Cinema magazine Raul Ferrada – Chilean newspaper editor Jacob Gaudaur – Canadian oarsman Ma Ma Loa – Famous Hawaiian singer Miyoko Nayagita – Member of the Woman Artists Association Vincent Trotta – American artist Alberto Vargas – Peruvian-American painter known for his "Vargas Girls" Earl Wilson – American journalist and columnist Roger Zeiler – French official from the Miss Europe Committee
Contestants Thirty-five contestants competed for the title. Country/Territory Contestant Age Hometown Alaska 20 Fairbanks Argentina 19 Misiones Australia 20 Adelaide Belgium 20 Brussels Brazil 18 Rio de Janeiro British Guiana 18 Georgetown Canada 21 Toronto Chile 23 Quilpué Colombia 19 Manizales Cuba 21 Havana Denmark 20 Copenhagen Ecuador 22 Riobamba England 19 Rochdale France 21 Paris Greece 18 Athens Guatemala 19 Guatemala City Hawaii 18 Honolulu Holland 20 Amsterdam Israel 21 Jerusalem Italy 20 Lazio Japan 20 Nagasaki Mexico 19 Mexico City Norway 20 Stavanger Paraguay 18 Asunción Peru 19 Lima Poland 22 Kraków Singapore 19 Singapore South Korea 19 Seoul Suriname 20 Paramaribo Sweden 19 Stockholm United States 18 Bossier City Uruguay 20 Montevideo Venezuela 18 Carúpano West Germany 19 Munich West Indies – Port of Spain
Notes
References
External links Miss Universe official website