Miss Universe 1952

Miss Universe 1952, the 1st Miss Universe pageant, was held on June 28, 1952 at the Long Beach Municipal Auditorium in Long Beach, California, United States. The pageant was held on the day following the first Miss USA pageant, at the same venue. Thirty contestants competed for the crown. The first winner of the pageant was 17-year-old Armi Kuusela of Finland, who was crowned by actress Piper Laurie.^[2][3]

Miss Universe 1952
The winner of Miss Universe 1952, Armi Kuusela.
Date	June 28, 1952 (1952-06-28)
Presenters	Bob Russell
Venue	Long Beach Municipal Auditorium, Long Beach, California, United States
Entrants	30^[1]
Placements	10
Debuts	Alaska Australia Belgium Canada Chile Cuba Denmark Finland France Germany Great Britain Greece Hawaii Hong Kong India Israel Italy Japan Mexico Norway Panama Peru Philippines Puerto Rico South Africa Sweden Turkey Uruguay United States Venezuela
Winner	Armi Kuusela  Finland
Congeniality	Myriam Lynn  Belgium Valerie Johnson  Montana
1953 →

Results

 

Miss Universe 1952 participating nations and results

Placements

Placement	Contestant
Miss Universe 1952	Finland – Armi Kuusela
1st Runner-Up	Hawaii – Elza Edsman
2nd Runner-Up	Greece – Ntaizy Mavraki
3rd Runner-Up	Hong Kong – Judy Dan
4th Runner-Up	Germany – Renate Hoy
Top 10	Mexico – Olga Llorens Pérez-Castillo   South Africa – Catherine Edwina Higgins   Sweden – Anne Marie Thistler   United States – Jackie Loughery   Uruguay – Gladys Rubio Fajardo

Special awards

Award	Contestant
Miss Friendship	Belgium – Myriam Lynn   Montana – Valerie Johnson

Contestants

30 contestants competed for the title.^[4]

Country/Territory	Contestant	Hometown
Alaska	Shirley Burnett	Anchorage
Australia	Leah MacCartney	Melbourne
Belgium	Myriam Lynn	Brussels
Canada	Ruth Carrier	Ontario
Chile	Esther Saavedra Yoacham†	Santiago
Cuba	Gladys López	Havana
Denmark	Hanne Sørensen	Copenhagen
Finland	Armi Kuusela	Muhos
France	Claude Goddart	Paris
Germany	Renate Hoy	Ludwigshafen
Great Britain	Aileen P. Chase	London
Greece	Ntaizy Mavraki	Athens
Hawaii	Elza Edsman	Honolulu
Hong Kong	Judy Dan	Hong Kong
India	Indrani Rahman †	Chennai
Israel	Ora Vered	Tel Aviv
Italy	Giovanna Mazzotti	Lombardy
Japan	Himeko Kojima	Osaka
Mexico	Olga Llorens Pérez	Ciudad Juárez
Norway	Eva Røine	Oslo
Panama	Elzibir Gisela Malek	Coclé
Peru	Ada Gabriela Bueno	Apurímac
Philippines	Teresita Sanchez	Malolos
Puerto Rico	Marilia Levy Bernal	Lares
South Africa	Catherine Edwina Higgins	Transvaal
Sweden	Anne Marie Thistler	Stockholm
Turkey	Gelengul Tayforoglu	Ankara
United States	Jacqueleen Loughery	Brooklyn
Uruguay	Gladys Rubio Fajardo	Montevideo
Venezuela	Sofía Silva Inserri	Tumeremo

Notes

Replacement

•   Uruguay - Rosa Adela "Nenela" Prunell was replaced by Gladys Rubio Fajardo.

References

1. "Blonde from Finland named Miss Universe". Ottawa Citizen. June 30, 1952. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
2. Coetzee, Nikita (October 16, 2019). "PICS: This is what the very first Miss Universe pageant looked like 67 years ago!". Channel 24. Retrieved January 3, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
3. Bell, Diane (September 5, 2014). "La Jollan was 1st 'Miss Universe'". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved May 14, 2022.
4. Lo, Ricky (September 30, 2016). "The first (1952) Miss U pageant". Philippine Star. Retrieved May 14, 2022.