MARLENE ANN DEE MISS WORLD & BRITISH ENGLISH BEAUTY Queen Pin Up Rare 1950s Photographs x4 unique images at the Carlton Hotel Gardens TORQUAY
Super social history original photo traces of gum and paper where adhered in album .. not modern copy --
4 photographs as one lot largest 20 x 9 cm free of all copyright .. unique private images
A Beauty queen and movie actress
Marlene Ann Dee: Lady Godiva Rides Again retitled Bikini Baby (1951). !
Britain spent six years recovering from World War II. The nationalization of many industries by the post-war government complicated the rebuilding of its economy. Britain also experienced problems with a few colonies - the partition of India, Jewish immigration into Palestine, and a dispute with Egypt over the Suez Canal. In the summer of 1951, the government staged the Festival of Britain as a statement to the world that Britain was once again a strong nation. An enormous exhibition hall was constructed in London to display the latest British industrial products and technological discoveries, as well as a festival hall to display the arts, and a large amusement park was constructed three miles away. Millions of visitors from home and overseas came to view the sciences and enjoy the arts.
A British movie magnate sponsored a Miss Festival of Britain contest to find the “typical British girl.” More than 3,000 young women participated in preliminaries throughout Britain. The winner was fresh-faced Judy Breen, the 20-year-old daughter of an Irish passport official living in London. Among her prizes was a trip around the world to promote the Festival.
Eric Morley Mecca Ltd., a leisure company that operated dance halls, restaurants and places of amusement all over Britain, ran the Lyceum Ballroom in London. Festival organizers asked Mecca if it might be able to come up with an idea to promote the Festival. That task was given to Mecca’s Publicity Relations director, Eric Morley, who after some thought suggested an international beauty contest. As there was not such an event at that time, the Festival organizers readily accepted this idea. The winner of the Festival Beauty Contest would be awarded a £1,000 first prize by Mecca’s trade newspaper. Morley decided to have the contestants judged in bikinis, a recent creation that was a sensation wherever it was worn. He wanted the pageant to reflect the modern times, attract the media and appeal to both the young and old.
Morley had experience organizing local beauty contests in Britain, but the task of arranging an international event and finding contestants from around the world was much more difficult. Many countries did not have national beauty contests during these times, nor had even heard of them. Morley spent hours by telephone or letters attempting to find overseas sponsors. When he located people with experience or involvement with beauty contests, most were usually unable to co-operate due to insufficient time or for some other reason.
Claude Berr, head of the Comite International Pour L’Election de Miss Europe which had been established in 1948, was very helpful. He sent as many national beauty queens as he could gather from the European continent. Despite all the effort, Morley ended up with only five foreign contestants - believed to be from Denmark, France, Holland, Sweden and USA - so he recruited 21 British beauty queens to increase the number. The Festival Beauty Contest generated enormous publicity in the world press and it was not long before news reporters referred to it as Miss World. Eric Morley liked the title enough to trademark it, after first checking to ensure that it did not exist anywhere in the world.
Berr was concerned because he had already envisaged an international beauty pageant, having in 1950 promoted his idea to the management of the Hollywood Bowl in California. The Americans were interested enough to begin arrangements to hold the event in the following year, switching the venue to Long Beach where better facilities existed. They lined up many sponsors, among them Catalina Swimsuits who had recently quit sponsorship of the Miss America pageant. This pageant would be called Miss Universe.
Miss World 1951 The Miss World contest with its publicity and timing unintentionally stole attention away from Miss Universe, causing it to be delayed by a year to 1952. After all his hard work, Morley was unwilling to let the Americans claim that they were first with a world beauty contest. Encouraged by positive reaction in letters of praise from countries in the British Commonwealth, Europe and America, he decided to run Miss World as an annual event.
The scoring system at the first Miss World pageant was very simple. The judges scored 50% for figure, 20% for facial beauty, 20% for poise and 10% for audience acclaim. The winner, Sweden’s Kerstin "Kiki" Håkansson, who not only sparkled with personality but also looked great in a bikini, was a very popular choice.
MISS WORLD 1951 - COMPLETE RESULTS
1951 July 29
London, England
26 entries (5 foreign & 21 British)
Results
1 Sweden Kerstin "Kiki" Håkansson
2 Britain Laura Ellison-Davies
3 Britain Doreen Dawne
4 Holland
5 Britain Aileen P. Chase (Universe '52)
The five entries from foreign countries
Denmark Lily Jacobson
France Jacqueline Lemoine
Holland
Sweden Kerstin Hakansson
U.S.A. Annette Gibson
Among the other British contestants
Pat Cameron
Fay Cotton
Marlene Ann Dee (World '52, 1st RU Europe '53)
Brenda Mee
Elayne Pryce (Europe '49)
Nina Way
Sidney Walker
Ann Rosemary West
please ignore watermark lines for image security only not on the original