I am so bored by it all
Margaret Gorman, Mary Katherine Campbell and Miss America
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In 1920, Miss America contestants didn’t have to exhibit a special talent or prepare “pageant-ready” answers for judges’ questions. All Margaret Gorman had to do to enter the Miss Washington, DC pageant? Submit a photo.
Margaret’s parents, Irish immigrants living in DC’s Georgetown neighborhood, didn’t care about the pageant. But the winning girl stood to score $100, plus an all-expenses-paid trip to Atlantic City to compete in the official “Miss America” contest — so Margaret sent in her photograph. When the judges came by the Georgetown house to tell her she’d won, she was shooting marbles in the park, stunned to have made it past the photo round.
In September 1921, 16-year-old Margaret packed an evening gown (sequins, sea-green chiffon) and a modest two-piece bathing suit (it even came with matching socks) into her suitcase. Hundreds of local fans crowded the train station to wave Margaret off. Local designers clothed her in dresses and gems for free and bragged of their Margaret-approved fashions. Even President Warren G. Harding claimed to be a fan of the teenage pageant queen.
When she arrived in Atlantic City, Margaret beat out seven other East Coast contestants, including a New York City showgirl, to win the title. She won a rather motley assortment of prizes — no tiara yet included — and the “Golden Mermaid” trophy.
She returned to Atlantic City in 1922 to defend her title, but she ultimately lost to Miss Ohio, a woman named Mary Katherine Campbell.1 But after her graduation from George Washington University and her 1925 marriage to a prominent local real estate broker, Margaret tried — unsuccessfully — to live down the “Miss America” reputation:
My husband hated it. I did, too … I never cared to be Miss America. It wasn’t my idea. I am so bored by it all. I really want to forget the whole thing.
In 1960, the Miss America pageant invited her to attend the contest but didn’t offer to reimburse her for travel or accomodations, a “cheap” snub Margaret couldn’t stomach.
Margaret died in 1995, at the age of 90. And that sparkly sea-green chiffon gown from 1921? Her family found it still hanging in her upstairs closet.
More on 👑:
There She Was: The Secret History of Miss America, Amy Argetsinger
Margaret G. Cahill, 90, Is Dead; Was First Miss America, in 1921, The New York Times
100 years ago, the first Miss America pageant was just as messy as today’s, The Washington Post
Photos of the First Miss America Pageant in 1921, Business Insider
Margaret Gorman: Washington Teen Is The First Miss America, Ghosts of DC
American Idol, Smithsonian Magazine
Fun fact: Mary Katherine Campbell returned to the competition in 1923 and won again, after which the pageant changed its rules to forbid two-time winners.