Miss America, Atlantic City, New Jersey: Our Family History

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Documents » Slide Show		Miss America Pageant - Atlantic City, New Jersey 1924 4th Miss America Pageant Contestants (left) (d)
		Miss America Pageant Alantic City, New Jersey 1924 contestants (center) (d) Freeda is in this group, wearing the banner "Miss Beaumont." She is on second row, first on the left. (d)
		Miss America Pageant - Atlantic City, New Jersey 1924 contestants (right) (d)
		Silver Sea Shell Bathers Revue 1923 - winner Ruth Malcomson Miss America 1924 Winner: Ruth Malcomson (Miss Philadelphia) (Previous winner of Silver Sea Shell in 1923) (d) At seventeen, after being coaxed into the competition, Ruth Malcomson won a Silver Sea Shell as the winner of the amateur division in the 1923 Bather's Revue. A year later she returned as "Miss Philadelphia" in the Inter-City contest for the Miss America title and to face-off against the largest field in Miss America History -- 84 representatives. She narrowly defeated returning champion Mary Katherine Campbell after hours of deliberation. Ruth spent most of her year around the Philadelphia area visiting schools, hospitals, and senior centers. Ruth decided not to defend her title due to her belief that professionals were entering the Inter-City competition as a Hollywood film was to be shot around the 1925 pageant. Her decision drew controversy in the press, and began false speculation that the pageant wasn't on the up and up. The pageant committee quickly instituted a new rule that no Miss America could return to competition. Several years later Ruth married Carl Schaubel, and enjoyed a quiet life in her native Philadelphia. "The simple life for me," she once said. Ruth's niece became Miss Pennsylvania 1956, and her grandniece became Miss Delaware 1981. Ruth remained a firm supporter of the pageant until her passing in 1988.
		Silver Sea Shell Bathers Revue 1923 Miss American Winner 1924 - Ruth Malcomson (Miss Philadelphia) (d) winner of the Silver Sea Shell from the year before. This turned out to be controversial and rules were changed after this year that once held title would not be eligible for Miss America.
		Galveston Daily News, August 29, 1924 "Hotel Pennsylvania to Welcome Texas Beauties on Arrival in New York" "Hotel Pennsylvania, New York, which will be the domicile of the Texas beauties during their sojourn in the metropolis." (Miss America Pageant, Atlantic City) (d)
		Miss America Pageant - Atlantic City, New Jersey Miss America 1824 - Ruth Malcomson, Miss Philadelphia (d)
		Miss America Pageant 1924 - Atlantic City, New Jersey 2nd runner-up Fay Lanphier - She won the title of "Miss Santa Cruz 1924" and finished third for the 1924 Miss America title. The following year, she arrived as a favorite in Atlantic City as "Miss California" and became the first Miss America to have represented an entire state at the national finals. (d)
		Miss America Pageant 1924 - Atlantic City, New Jersey Mary Katherine Campbell 1st Runner-up (photo from one of her previous wins in either 1922 or 1923) (d) (December 18, 1905–June 7, 1990) was the only person to win the Miss America pageant twice. Campbell was Miss America 1922 and Miss America 1923, and she was also First Runner Up at the 1924 Miss America Pageant. Competing as "Miss Columbus" (interchangeable with Miss Ohio) in all three pageants, Campbell was only sixteen years old at the time of her first crowning in 1922. After the 1924 pageant, in which the judge's scores revealed that Campbell had almost won the title a third time, the Miss America Organization changed the rules so that "a contestant may only win the Miss America title once."