Miss Universe 1961 Explained

Winner:	Marlene Schmidt
Represented:	West Germany
Date:	15 July 1961
Presenters:	Johnny Carson
Venue:	Miami Beach Auditorium, Miami Beach, Florida, United States
Broadcaster:	CBS
Entrants:	48
Placements:	15
Congeniality:	Eleftheria Deloutsi Greece)
Photogenic:	Sharon Brown (United States)
Before:	1960
Next:	1962

Miss Universe 1961 was the tenth Miss Universe pageant, held at the Miami Beach Auditorium in Miami Beach, Florida, United States on 15 July 1961.

At the end of the event, Linda Bement of the United States crowned Marlene Schmidt of West Germany as Miss Universe 1961. Schmidt was the first representative of Germany to win the contest.^[1]

Contestants from forty-eight countries and territories competed in this year's pageant. The pageant was hosted by Johnny Carson.

Background

Selection of participants

Contestants from forty-eight countries and territories were selected to compete in the pageant.

Debuts, returns, and withdrawals

This edition saw the debuts of Ireland, Jamaica, Madagascar, the Republic of China, Rhodesia, Scotland, the United States Virgin Islands, and Wales, and the returns of Ceylon, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, and Turkey.^[2] Ceylon and Puerto Rico last competed in 1957, while the others last competed in 1959. Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Jordan, New Zealand, Portugal, Suriname, and Tunisia withdrew after their respective organizations failed to hold a national competition or appoint a delegate.

Helen Tan of Malaya and Julie Koh of Singapore were supposed to compete in the pageant. However, they chose to compete at Miss International in Long Beach, California instead.^[3] ^[4] Koh eventually competed at Miss Universe the following year.^[5]

Results

Placements

Placement	Contestant
Miss Universe 1961	– Marlene Schmidt^[6]
1st runner-up	– Rosemarie Frankland
2nd runner-up	Argentina – Adriana Gardiazábal
3rd runner-up	– Arlette Dobson
4th runner-up	United States – Sharon Brown
Top 15	Chile – María Gloria Silva^[7] France – Simone Darot Iceland – Kristjana Magnúsdóttir Israel – Atida Pisanti Peru – Carmela Stein – Wang Li-Ling - Susan Jones – Seo Yang-hee Sweden – Gunilla Knutsson Switzerland – Liliane Burnier

Special awards

Award	Contestant
Miss Congeniality	– Eleftheria Deloutsi
Miss Photogenic	United States – Sharon Brown

Pageant

Format

Same with 1955, fifteen semi-finalists were chosen at the preliminary competition that consists of the swimsuit and evening gown competition. Each of the fifteen semi-finalists gave a short speech during the final telecast using their native languages. Afterwards, the fifteen semi-finalists paraded again in their swimsuits and evening gowns, and the five finalists were eventually chosen.

Contestants

Forty-eight contestants competed for the title.

Country/Territory	Contestant	Age	Hometown
Argentina	Adriana Gardiazábal^[8]	18	Buenos Aires
	Ingrid Bayer^[9]	20	Vorarlberg
Belgium	Nicole Ksinozenicki^[10]	18	Saint-Gilles
	Gloria Soruco^[11]	19	Santa Cruz de la Sierra
Brazil	Staël Maria da Rocha Abelha^[12]	19	Caratinga
	Khin Myint Myint^[13]	18	Daik-U
Canada	Wilda Reynolds^[14]	19	Toronto
	Ranjini Jayatilleke^[15]	–	Colombo
Chile	María Gloria Silva^[16]	22	Santiago
Colombia	Patricia Whitman^[17]	21	Medellín
Cuba	Martha García Vieta	25	Miami, Florida
Denmark	Jyette Nielsen^[18]	18	Copenhagen
Ecuador	Yolanda Palacios^[19]	18	Guayaquil
	Arlette Dobson	18	Surrey
Finland	Ritva Wächter^[20]	20	Naantali
France	Simone Darot^[21]	19	Paris
	Marlene Schmidt^[22]	24	Stuttgart
	Eleftheria Deloutsi^[23]	18	Athens
	Anabelle Sáenz	–	Guatemala City
	Gita Kamman^[24]	22	Amsterdam
Iceland	Kristjana Magnúsdóttir^[25]	21	Reykjanesbær
	Jean Russell	21	Lisburn
Israel	Atida Pisanti^[26]	19	Haifa
Italy	Vivianne Romano	21	Lazio
Jamaica	Marguerite LeWars	20	Kingston
Japan	Akemi Toyama	20	Tokyo
Lebanon	Leila Antaki	22	Beirut
Luxembourg	Vicky Schoos	18	Luxembourg City
	Jacqueline Robertson	22	Antananarivo
Morocco	Irene Gorsse	–	Rabat
Norway	Rigmor Trengereid	19	Bergen
Paraguay	María Cristina Osnaghi	–	Asunción
Peru	Carmela Stein	20	Lima
Puerto Rico	Enid del Valle	20	Aguadilla
	Wang Li-Ling	19	Taipei
	Jonee Sierra	19	Salisbury
	Susan Jones	20	Aberdeen
	Marina Christelis	20	Johannesburg
	Seo Yang-hee	21	Seoul
Spain	Pilar Gil Ramos	19	Madrid
Sweden	Gunilla Knutsson	20	Ystad
Switzerland	Liliane Burnier	19	Geneva
Turkey	Gülseren Uysal	–	Istanbul
United States	Sharon Brown^[27]	18	Minden
	Priscila Bonilla	–	Charlotte Amalie
Uruguay	Susanna Ferrari	–	Montevideo
	Ana Griselda Vegas	20	Caracas
	Rosemarie Frankland	18	Lancashire