| Winner: | Patricia Donnelly |
| Represented: | |
| Date: | September 9, 1939 |
| Entrants: | 43 |
| Placements: | 15 |
| Venue: | Steel Pier, Atlantic City, New Jersey |
| Before: | 1938 |
| Next: | 1940 |
Miss America 1939, the 13th Miss America pageant, was the last pageant to be held at the famed Steel Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey.[1] The finals were held on Saturday, September 9, 1939, and Miss Michigan, Patricia Donnelly, was crowned Miss America 1939.[2] The Miss Congeniality Award was also introduced at the 1939 competition.
Donnelly later became a singer and actress. Third runner-up Marguerita Skliris became the actress Margia Dean, who starred in such Hollywood films as Seven Women from Hell and The Quatermass Xperiment. Fourth runner-up Rose Marie Elliott had a successful musical career on the Broadway stage as Rose Marie Brown.
| Placement | Contestant | |
|---|---|---|
| Miss America 1939 | ||
| 1st Runner-Up |
| |
| 2nd Runner-Up |
| |
| 3rd Runner-Up | ||
| 4th Runner-Up | ||
| Top 15 |
|
| Birmingham | Florine Holt | Birmingham | Vocal, "Moonglow" & "A Little Bit of Heaven" | Top 15 | ||||
| Arkansas | Jean Thompson | Helena | ||||||
| California | Marguerita Skliris | San Francisco | Dramatic Monologue, "The Poison Scene" from Romeo and Juliet | 3rd Runner-up | Preliminary Talent Award | Later known as actress Margia Dean | ||
| Central Connecticut | Catherine Harrison | Derby | ||||||
| Charlotte | Marguerite Taylor | Charlotte | ||||||
| Connecticut | Frieda Lampar | Bridgeport | ||||||
| Coney Island | Grayce M. Reilly | |||||||
| District of Columbia | Evelyn Foster | 19 | Ballet en Pointe | |||||
| Eastern New York | Claire E. Foley | Vocal Comedy & Dance | Top 15 | |||||
| Eastern Ohio | Maxine Drumm | |||||||
| Eastern Pennsylvania | Emma Louise Knoell | Philadelphia | ||||||
| Florida | Rose Marie Magrill | Miami | Tap Dance | Top 15 | ||||
| Georgia | Mary Durrance | Glennville | Vocal | |||||
| Illinois | Ethel Lorraine Lodbell | Chicago | Monologue, "From the Diary of a Contestant" | Top 15 | ||||
| Kansas | Rosemary Winslow | Salina | ||||||
| Kentucky | Louise Holman | Pineville | ||||||
| Lexington | Mattigene Palmore | Lexington | ||||||
| Maryland | Elaine Pasqualla | Crisfield | ||||||
| Miami | Irmigard Dietel | Miami | Vocal Medley, "See You Again", "Blue Evening", & "Solitude" | Top 15 | ||||
| Michigan | Patricia Donnelly | Detroit | 19 | Vocal/Bass Fiddle, "To You" & "Ol' Man Mose" | Winner | |||
| Minnesota | Marion Rudeen | Minneapolis | Acrobatic Dance | Top 15 | Preliminary Talent Award | |||
| Mississippi | Doris Coggins | Baldwyn | Miss Congeniality | |||||
| Missouri | Margaret Ley | St. Louis | ||||||
| Montana | Lucille Chouinard | Fort Peck | ||||||
| Montgomery | Louise Robertson | Montgomery | ||||||
| Myrtle Beach | Mary Eleanor Parish | Myrtle Beach | ||||||
| New Hampshire | Lois Marjorie Truax | Nashua | ||||||
| New Jersey | Margo Lundgren | Harrison | Whistling Tunes Vocal, "Don't Worry About Me" | Top 15 | ||||
| New Orleans | Frances Helen Anello | New Orleans | ||||||
| North Carolina | Margaret Wood | Vocal, "If I Didn't Care" | Top 15 | Preliminary Talent Award | ||||
| Ohio | Jeanne Saboda | Cleveland | ||||||
| Oklahoma | Bettye Cornelia Avert | Oklahoma City | Original Piano & Vocal, "Wondering & Dreaming" | 1st Runner-up | ||||
| Pennsylvania | Ruth Phyllis Willock | Pittsburgh | ||||||
| Philadelphia | Nancy Lee | Philadelphia | ||||||
| South Carolina | Margaret Allan Shealy | Clinton | Vocal, "Especially for You" | |||||
| Staten Island | Lillian Evelyn Hessen | Annadale | ||||||
| Sun Valley | Louise Fletchner | Clarinet, "Stardust" | Top 15 | |||||
| Tennessee | Judy Jones | Tracy City | Vocal Medley, "I Surrender" & "Come True" | |||||
| Texas | Charmayne Smith | Dallas | Vocal, "Round Up Time in Texas" | Top 15 | ||||
| Virginia | Rose Marie Elliot | Sulfolk | Vocal, "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" | 4th Runner-up | Later known on Broadway as Rose Marie Brown | |||
| Washington | Anna Mae Schoonover | Seattle | Dramatic Monologue from Accent on Youth | 2nd Runner-up | ||||
| Western Tennessee | Louise Bussart | Etowah |