Miss World 1959
- an amalgam
of news reports -
Was the 1959 Miss
World Beauty Contest rigged?
“Poppycock,”
contest officials said.
Well, if it wasn’t
rigged at least the winner wore falsies, complained losing American
contestant Loretta Powell, a Bridgeport, Conn., secretary.
The winner was
Corine Rottschaefer of the Netherlands, a 21-year-old blue-eyed honey blonde
whose dimensions were given officially as 37-22-37.
Corine is pleased
over charges that the contest was rigged.
“I’m a model and I
need publicity,” said Corine after her selection prompted wails of protest
from the American and Canadian contestants. “Now I’ll be able to charge
higher prices.”
“I am sure Miss
Holland was padded,” the American beauty said. “You certainly can tell.
She’s a tall, slender model, not a buxom bathing beauty.
“They ought to
check her bathing suit,” Miss Powell said. “She’s padded.”
Miss Holland
indignantly denied there was anything in her bathing suit. “I had no
support, no wires, no padding,” she declared. “You can have a look at my
bathing costume to see for yourself.”
Corine was tolerant
about Miss United States’ charge.
“Maybe she was just
upset,” she said.
The judges chose
Miss Rottschaefer as the winner by a whisker over Miss Peru (Maria Rosell),
a dark and sultry 36-23-36. It took two ballots and the final nod was five
to four for Corine, the daughter of an Amsterdam business machines
executive.
Third prize went to
Ziva Shomrat, 18, a private in the Israeli army. She was followed by Anne
Thelwell of England, 22, and Kirsten Olsen, 20 of Denmark.
One of those who
didn’t make it was Miss Canada (Huguette Demers), 21, with 36-23-36
dimensions. She took issue with the American contestant on the subject of
falsies.
“There’s been no
padding as far as I know,” she said. “There were judges who checked for
that - and they checked.”
“From what I’ve
heard, her (Miss Holland’s) boyfriend is one of the judges,” she said. “If
that’s true, it wasn’t fair to the other girls. Frankly, she’s not a beauty
queen.”
One of the
judges is Frenchman Claude Berr, a beauty contest organizer who sponsored
Corine in last year’s Miss Universe competition. In July 1958 she was one
of the 15 semifinalists selected in the Miss Universe judging, but was
eliminated when the final five were chosen.
“Poppycock,”
Berr said of both reports - the padding and the romance. So did Miss
Holland. So did Eric Morley, organizer of the contest.
“Quite
untrue,” said Morley, looking pained.
“I’ve heard
this talk but believe me there’s nothing to it,” Berr declared. “Some of
the girls apparently believe that Corine is my fiancée but that’s impossible
- I’m already married.”
“The
‘falsie’ accusation against Miss World is entirely false,” according to Miss
China Altman of the United Press International staff, who said she
personally put the tape measure on the Dutch girl the day after she won the
title.
Beginning at
the top of the 5-foot 9 Corine Rottschaefer of Amsterdam, Miss Altman put an
American tape measure around her bust. “It stopped almost precisely at the
mark of 37, and she wasn’t inhaling either.
“The
waistline was exactly 22 inches, and the hips 37, exactly the measurements
Corine claimed when she entered the contest.”
Asked about
her future, Corine said she wanted to continue her modeling career and “then
open a little fashion shop for myself.”
