SAN DIEGO — The One and Only Jewish Miss America premiered Sept.8 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City. This marked the 75th anniversary of Bess Myerson winning the Miss America pageant. As the name implies, she was and still is the only Jewish woman to win the prestigious beauty competition. Directed by David Arond, the film is both educational and inspiring.
September 8, 1945 was a unique time around the world. Not too long before, Germany had surrendered in World War II and the Nazi death camps were liberated. Despite Jews being freed from torture and the horrors of war, much of the world still held anti-Semitic beliefs. Some bought into the propaganda that Jews were greedy, evil, conniving, etcetera. Others were spiteful and blamed Jews for the war—the war in which many lost deployed family members. It was not uncommon for Americans to grieve the loss of their son, brother, or husband lost in battle and think thoughts such as, “He died to save those Jews. If it weren’t for those Jews, my loved one would still be here”.
Nevertheless, as a young woman growing up in New York City, Bess Myerson was faced less with direct anti-Semitic violence and more with discreet discrimination. Bess was part of the Jewish minority, an “other” as society would label her. Nothing came easy to her, and she had to work hard for everything she had. While pursuing her studies, Bess was approached by a photographer and started doing some modeling on the side. At 5’10”, she was tall and slender with a full head of thick brown hair. While Bess would be considered model material by today’s standards, that wasn’t the case in her era. Beautiful as she was, the standard of beauty in 1945 was blond, short, and curvy with hips.
Sadly, Bess didn’t consider herself pretty. Those closest to her recall how insecure Bess was in her body and looks. In fact, it wasn’t even Bess’ idea to compete in beauty competitions. While she enjoyed the attention and payment from modeling, she never thought she was anywhere near the level of beauty required for a pageant. Nevertheless, Bess’ sister thought otherwise and entered her in the Miss New York City competition. After winning that competition, Bess was catapulted into the Miss America running. It was too late to turn back.
Being in her early 20s, Bess was not yet established in any career. Even with her modeling payments, she was not rich by any stretch of the imagination. As for her financially struggling Russian immigrant family, they did not have any excess funds to contribute to her pageants. It is recounted in the documentary that Bess primarily had four items of clothing—a blue skirt, a green skirt, a blue top, and a green top. Bess got by due to the generosity of others as a prominent clothing manufacturer donated her eveningwear to showcase at the pageant.
Even though there was animosity towards Jews, that discrimination was prevented from seeping its way into the Miss America pageant due to its unique judges and points system. No matter how biased one was towards Jews, the contestants were judged by multiple people and scored using objective criteria. During the talent part of the competition, Bess blew judges away with her musical prowess. It was even rumored that the main reason Bess went thru with the competition was to win scholarship money for furthering her music studies and purchasing a piano.
Even after winning the Miss America competition, life was not easy for Bess. Unfortunately, three of the five pageant sponsors refused to have Bess represent their companies as Miss America. Additionally, while on her yearlong tour as Miss America, Bess was often faced with “No Jews” signs in hotels and other venues. It was experiences like these that made Bess get involved in politics and join the Anti-Defamation League. She even started a campaign and lecture series called “You Can’t Be Beautiful and Hate.” Bess also worked in television on game shows and talk shows. Listening to one play music and watch one parade around in dresses is great, but it doesn’t let others see what a person is truly like. With her involvement in television and politics, Bess was starting to use her voice to show the world that she was more than just a pretty face. People all around the world were starting to see an alternate view of what a Jew could be. No longer seen as ugly, helpless, and ostensible, Jews were beginning to be seen as beautiful, smart, and brave. After building a glorious legacy, Bess died in 2014 at the ripe age of 90.
While the documentary paints Bess Myerson as a heroine and model of Jewish femininity, her life was not without its bumps in the road. She had multiple marriages, one of which involved domestic abuse and lasted eleven years. She was also involved in a scandalous romance with a married man. To be crowned Miss America is no small feat. Many women around the nation looked to Bess as the ideal of beauty. One cannot help but wonder why the most beautiful woman in America would spend over a decade married to a man who hit her or get involved with a married man. Surely, she could do better, one would think. But what did Bess think? What was in her mind? Did she ever truly see herself as beautiful, or did she think herself ugly and worthless despite the accolades showered upon her?
The less rosy parts of Bess’ life were left out of the documentary. This isn’t stated to downplay her greatness, but rather to point out her humanness. No matter how beautiful people may be or how successful they become, they have struggles like all of us. Bess didn’t lead a perfect life, but the good she did merits her life and memory to be for a blessing. It also goes to show how important one’s outlook, self-esteem, confidence, and self-worth are. Not matter how many times one is called beautiful, it means nothing if one doesn’t truly believe it.
Those interested in learning more about the documentary and obtaining a copy may do so via this website. It is generally a family friendly film with nothing inappropriate.
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Teresa Konopka is a freelance writer based in San Diego.
Teresa,
I spent the summer of 1952 at a summer camp Kanawha Minawaha with Bess Myerson’s sister. She was the women’s camp head counselor and I was the swimming instructor. She looked nothing like her sister. She was attractive, but not a beauty like Bess. I think her name was Helen, but I’m not sure if my memory is keen enough.
I believe they were from the Bronx in NYC.