Volume 7 , Issue 2

Miss America- 1920s Decade In Review...

"In 1920, Atlantic City Businessmen staged a 'Fall Frolic' to secure summer tourism past Labor Day. This festival was highlighted by a spectacular rolling chair parade down the famed Atlantic City Boardwalk. In 1921, East Coast newspapers were looking for ways to increase their circulation. Newspaper organizations decided to sponsor photographic popularity contests and awarded their respective winners with an all expense paid trip to the Second Annual Fall Frolic. Once there, frolic organizers placed the young women in the "Inter-City Beauty" contest in which the judging was largely based on their personalities. In order to build hype, the women were later put in the running for the Golden Mermaid trophy given to "The Most Beautiful Bathing Girl in America." Margaret Gorman swept both events. By September 1922 she became known as "Miss America." In the ensuing years it would grow and reflect some of the most powerfully held attitudes towards what it meant to be an ideal American woman...... " -- READ MORE   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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