1960 Miss America Pageant

Pageant Results > Miss America Pageant > 1960

• Miss America 1960: Lynda Lee Mead, Miss Mississippi
• 1st runner-up: Mary Alice Fox, Miss Wisconsin
• 2nd runner-up: Sharon Joyce Vaugh, Miss Washington
• 3rd runner-up: Susan Diane Broson, Miss California
• 4th runner-up: Patricia Anne Allebrand, Miss Arizona

1960 Top 10

• Miss Arizona, Patricia Anne Allebrand
• Miss California, Susan Diane Broson
• Miss Canada, Rosemary Catherine Kreenan
• Miss Illinois, Suzanne Ingeborg Johnson
• Miss Mississippi, Lynda Lee Mead
• Miss New York State, Bonnie Jo Marquis
• Miss Pennsylvania, Lois Janet Piercy
• Miss Tennessee, Marion Lee Wayland
• Miss Washington, Sharon Joyce Vaugh
• Miss Wisconsin, Mary Alice Fox

1960 Talent Competition

• Miss Arizona - Modern interpretive ballet about a girl who thinks her love has been rejected (which interestingly, resembles Marlon Brando in mob film, "On the Waterfront").
• Miss Pennsylvania - Art/flute: Seated next to her award-winning oil painting, "Night Rain on the City", she plays an original composition on the flute.
• Miss California - Modern jazz dance: She dances to "An America in Spain" wearing a suggestive costume that resembles a Playboy bunny bull-fighter (basically, a swimsuit with a bolero shirt, high heels and a toreador's hat).
• Miss Tennessee - Piano/vocal: After singing the classical aria "Près des remparts de Séville" from the opera "Carmen" while playing the piano... in mid "fa-la-la-la-la!", she suddenly leaps up from the piano, rips off her ball gown to reveal a sexy mini-skirt, and launches into the popular tune, "I Am Just a Girl Who Can't Say No".
• Miss Canada - Speech:  After being escorted out by two Royal Canadian mounted police in full uniform, she delivers a speech (frequently referring to note cards held daintily in her gloved hands) about "her feelings about freedom as an American living in this generation," most notably "the threat of annihilation due to discoveries by nuclear physicists."
• Miss Wisconsin - After Bert Parks introduces her with the sparse words, "Here is a talented dancer", she performs a comedy dance of what appears to be an inebriated hobo. (However, she is simply stunning in the swimsuit competition, which she has easily won in the preliminary competitions earlier in the week.)
• Miss New York State - Sings and dances to "What Lola Wants, Lola Gets" from the musical play "Damn Yankees" ... wearing a suggestive baseball babe costume... a swimsuit bottom, sleeveless shirt, hat, baseball bat and cap, and stiletto heels.
• Miss Washington - Classical vocal: Performs the aria "Haberna" from the opera "Carmen". She suddenly stops mid-song and remarks, "Hmm, it may be grand to do something from an opera ... but to do something from Oklahoma is more fun!" before belting out "I Am Just a Girl Who Can't Say No" (Incidentally, the second rendition of the tune that night).
• Miss Mississippi - Dramatic monologue, "Schizophrenia", about "the humor in the condition that is common to all females who are about to cross that famous threshold from girl to woman."

Host, Commentators

• Host - Bert Parks
• Color Commentator - Marilyn Van Derbur, Miss America 1958

Interesting Facts

• The announcement of the top 10 is a substantial departure from the format used in modern pageantry. Rather than having the ten semi-finalists announced during the live television broadcast, the top 10 wait backstage while the reminder of contestants are introduced in alphabetical order during the Parade of States.  As the Convention Hall audience and home viewers notice that certain states are being skipped over during the introduction, they realize (Ahah!) that the missed state is among the top 10. The first the audience sees of these semi-finalists is when they are introduced in the evening gown competition.
• Contestants in the 1960 pageant all wear princess-style ball gowns with massive hoop skirts, making them resemble a parade of southern belles from "Gone With the Wind".
• Miss Congeniality is Miss Hawaii, Gordean Lee.
• The pageant's TV commentator, Marilyn Van Derbur (Miss America 1958), perched in an anchor booth in the back of the massive Convention Hall auditorium, reports on the pageant's events by watching the competition through a pair of binoculars.
• Lynda Lee Mead is the second of back-to-back Miss Mississippis to win the Miss America crown.  She is crowned by her predecessor - Ole Miss classmate and Chi Omega sorority sister - Mary Ann Mobley, Miss America 1959.

All Miss America Pageant results | 1921 | 1922 | 1923 | 1924 | 1925 | 1926 | 1927 | 1933 | 1935 | 1936 | 1937 | 1938 | 1939 | 1940 | 1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 | 1946 | 1947 | 1948 | 1949 | 1951 | 1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959 | 1960 | 1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 | 1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991

Note: Results prior to 1936 are incomplete.  Placement Key: BR=Bather's Review | MP=Most Popular | F=Finalist | EG=Evening Gown Award | T=Talent Award | BM= Best Model | S=Swimsuit Award | MC=Miss Congeniality | QL=Quality of Life Award

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