| Winner: | Jacque Mercer |
| Represented: | Arizona |
| Date: | September 10, 1949 |
| Presenters: | Governor Alfred E. Driscoll, Bob Russell |
| Entrants: | 52 |
| Placements: | 15 |
| Venue: | Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey |
| Before: | 1948 |
| Next: | 1951 |
Miss America 1949, the 23rd Miss America pageant, was held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 10, 1949. The 1949 pageant marked the first time that a public official, New Jersey Governor Alfred E. Driscoll, had taken part in the coronation, placing the jeweled crown on the new queen's head.[1]
The winner, Jacque Mercer, was the first Miss Arizona to take the crown, as well as the last previously married woman before the Miss America pageant adopted new rules.
Among the finalists was Betty Jane Crowley, Miss New Jersey, who became an actress and guest-starred in dozens of television series, billed professionally as Kathleen Crowley. Another future actress, Allison Hayes, competed in the pageant as Miss District of Columbia.
In Philip Roth's 1997 novel, American Pastoral, Mary Dawn Dwyer (the future wife of main protagonist Seymour "Swede" Levov) was Miss New Jersey in the 1949 pageant, and did not make it to the top ten, despite the contest being held in her home state. Roth recreates the pageant in the novel, and mentions real-life winner Jacque Mercer, as well as several of the judges.
| Placement | Contestant | |
|---|---|---|
| Miss America 1949 | ||
| 1st Runner-Up |
| |
| 2nd Runner-Up |
| |
| 3rd Runner-Up |
| |
| 4th Runner-Up |
| |
| Top 15 |
|
| Awards | Contestant | |
|---|---|---|
| Lifestyle and Fitness |
| |
| Talent |
|
| Alabama | Freida Roser | Birmingham | Classical Vocal | |||||
| Arizona | Jacque Mercer | Litchfield | 18 | Dramatic Reading from Romeo and Juliet | Winner | Preliminary Lifestyle & Fitness Award Preliminary Talent Award | ||
| Arkansas | Barbara Brothers | Little Rock | Painting Display & Poetry Recitation, "Old Black Joe" & "I'm in Love with a Wonderful Guy" | Top 15 | ||||
| California | Jone Pedersen | Santa Rosa | Dramatic Monologue, "You Will Come Back" | 4th Runner-up | Preliminary Talent Award | |||
| Canada | Margaret Lynn Munn | Vancouver | Classical Vocal | Top 15 | Preliminary Talent Award | |||
| Chicago | Teresa Giorgian | Chicago | Vocal, "Jealousy" | Top 15 | ||||
| Colorado | Sylvia Canaday | Denver | Monologue from Dinner at Eight | 3rd Runner-up | Preliminary Lifestyle and Fitness Award | |||
| Connecticut | Barbara Smetana | Bridgeport | Vocal & Monologue, "Maybe" & "Jackie, Son of a Hardboiled Cop" | |||||
| District of Columbia | Mary Hayes | 19 | Classical Vocal | |||||
| Florida | Shirley Ann Rhodes | Tampa | Vocal, "Put Your Shoes on, Lacy" | |||||
| Georgia | Dorothy Johnston | LaGrange | Vocal from H.M.S. Pinafore | |||||
| Greater Philadelphia | Miriam Lopayowker | Philadelphia | Electric Guitar, "I'm in the Mood for Love" | |||||
| Hawaii | Bee Jay Johnston | Honolulu | Top 15 | |||||
| Illinois | Trudi Germi | Chicago | Classical Vocal, "Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix" | 2nd Runner-up | Preliminary Lifestyle and Fitness Award | |||
| Indiana | Patricia Cunningham | Peru | Water Ballet | |||||
| Iowa | Barbara Juel | Council Bluffs | 20 | Classical Vocal, "Strie la Vampa" from Il trovatore | ||||
| Kansas | Shirley Hargiss | Topeka | Vocal, "Cecilia on a See-saw" | Top 15 | ||||
| Kentucky | Betty Haverstock | Louisville | ||||||
| Louisiana | Annie Hollingsworth | Baton Rouge | ||||||
| Maine | Connie Gingrass | Augusta | Fencing | |||||
| Maryland | Jean Crow | Baltimore | Fashion Design | |||||
| Massachusetts | Gloria Curelli | Roslindale | Dance | |||||
| Minnesota | Gloria Burkhart | Minneapolis | Violin, "Zigeunerweisen" | Top 15 | Preliminary Talent Award | |||
| Mississippi | Katherine Wright | Pascagoula | Dramatic Sketch, "Hagar" | 1st Runner-up | ||||
| Missouri | Mary Stone | Jefferson City | ||||||
| Montana | Carol Fraser | Billings | Equestrian Display | Miss Congeniality | After her horse nearly fell into the Orchestra Pit, the use of live animals was banned from the talent competition | |||
| Nebraska | Vanita Mae Brown | Omaha | ||||||
| Nevada | Carol Lampe | Reno | Speech, "4-H" | |||||
| New Hampshire | Flora Sleeper | Laconia | ||||||
| New Jersey | Betty Jane Crowley | Green Bank | Poetry Recitation & Vocal, "Might Like a Rose" | Top 15 | Miss Congeniality | |||
| New Mexico | Shirley Hughes | Carlsbad | 18 | Charcoal & Chalk Drawing, "Cruising Down the River" | Non-finalist Talent Award | |||
| New York | Wanda Nalepa | New York City | Speech, "Nursing" | |||||
| New York City | Loreen Osgood | New York City | Piano, "The Blue Danube" | Top 15 | ||||
| North Carolina | Nancy Lee Yelverton | Rocky Mount | Monologue, "A Delightful Dilemma" | |||||
| North Dakota | Kitty Page | Bismarck | Tap Dance & Baton Twirling | |||||
| Ohio | Florence Bondi | Cleveland | ||||||
| Oklahoma | Georgine R. Leeka | Tulsa | Vocal | |||||
| Oregon | Beverly Kruger | The Dalles | Monologue, "The Waltz" by Dorothy Parker | |||||
| Pennsylvania | Marlene Carozzo | Kennett Square | Piano, Clair de Lune | |||||
| Puerto Rico | Avelina Medrallo | |||||||
| South Carolina | Barrie Wingard | Columbia | ||||||
| South Dakota | Carol Quinn | Sioux Falls | Dramatic Monologue from Pygmalion | |||||
| Tennessee | Adelyn Sumner | Knoxville | Modeling/Speech | |||||
| Texas | Ysleta Leissner | Fort Worth | Ballet en Pointe | |||||
| Utah | June Barlow | Bountiful | Vocal/Dress Design, "Villanelle" & "The Wren" | |||||
| Vermont | Annalou Johnston | Enosburg Falls | ||||||
| Virginia | Betty Lewis | Norfolk | Vocal | |||||
| Washington | Libby Aldrich | Kelso | Vocal, "Stormy Weather" | |||||
| West Virginia | Georganne Steiss | Barrackville | Piano | |||||
| Wisconsin | Phyllis Ann Kessler | Green Bay | 18 | Baton Twirling | Top 15 | Phyllis Ann Kessler Lynn Sacho died at age 90 on March 7, 2022, in DePere, Wisconsin. | ||
| Wyoming | Esther McLeod | Sheridan |
Lillian Ross, "Symbol of all we possess (October 22, 1949 (On the Miss America pageant))" from "The 40s: The story of a decade: The New Yorker"Edited by Henry Finder with Giles HarveyModern Library, New YorkCopyright 2014 by The New Yorker Magazine
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