Miss America Pageant 1975 (September 1974)

[@spideraxis]

How I miss the pageants of years ago. They were majestic spectacles. Music, production numbers, runway. The suspense, glory and thrill of it all.

[@CH-tg6zq]

Loved this video. Phyllis George...the best Miss America ever. She left this world way too soon. 😥

[@hernacabreja5988]

Phyllis recently died

[@sarahdanette]

Loved seeing Delta Burke! What a beautiful woman!

[@ValleyoftheRogue]

She was very stunning.

[@LuvTadnDixie]

Where is Delta Burke. I can't find her.

[@artmaven]

@@LuvTadnDixie She is Miss Florida.

[@Harringtonml54]

@@LuvTadnDixie She can be seen in the parade of states as Miss Florida and later as the first non-finalist talent winner. She was simply gorgeous.

[@michaeldada-py5le]

From the heart ❤️ Miss America 1974. Lots of love 😘 Michael DADDA 👁️🇺🇸💎 محمد علي الددا

[@Timotimo101]

Wow! Miss Tennessee was dynamic in her talent. That was awesome!

[@RachelDavisMatthews]

Miss Rhode Island used to shop at a store I worked at on Thayer Street, she was so nice and had a great sense of fun. I remember her telling me she won a prelim talent award.

[@Laura-zy5jp]

Yes Phyllis George was a truly beautiful Miss America with years of involvement in Miss America whether co hosting ,being a judge or behind the scenes. Phyllis George passed away in 2020 from a rare form of blood cancer it’s in Wiki and Google . She was in her early 70’s. 😢❤

[@CPR2839]

I came here for Delta Burke

[@bufb]

Me too

[@albertowen1025]

Yes, Delta (Burke) was very, very pretty back in 1975. Still is today. Her childhood home was very close to where I lived in Orlando. Never saw her back then, but she definitely had humble beginnings. I would have loved to have known her back then. She is 10 years older than me, but to me she definitely defines sexy and confident. Gerald McRaney is very lucky.

[@richardjackson8736]

Rebecca looked beautiful giving up her crown

[@SoutherbBelle]

Speaking of Texas, In 1974 Richard Guy and Rex Holt (GuyRex) were local pageant coordinators for the Miss Texas pageant. After multiple disagreements with Bob Magness and the pageant board they left and took over the Miss Texas USA pageant franchise in 1975. The rest is history. GuyRex put Texas on the map at the Miss USA pageant from 1975 to 1991. Along with Gail Clark and The Crystal Group, Texas holds the most placements at Miss USA with 53.

[@mrjjgroff]

Miss Alabama 1974 Pamela Long who go to write numerous daytime dramas in the 80’s and 90’s. She also acted as well. I think she was on the short lived NBC daytime drama Texas.

[@ValleyoftheRogue]

Michelle Marshall, Miss Missouri, is a fairly well-known blogger, writer, and political analyst based out of D.C. and goes by the handle "Taylor Marsh."

[@baconbap]

She played Ashley on Texas. My favorite character.

[@mrjjgroff]

Looking back, California should have been selected Miss America. Still can’t figure out Miss Texas. I didn’t have Miss Texas even in the top five. She must have done well in the interview.

[@vernskid]

You know her Miss America Sisters were there to greet Phyllis George as she entered the pearly gates. May she rest with god.

[@johnsax1445]

The winner had such an old-fashioned old lady hairdo.

[@malcolmmarshall5946]

Miss Arkansas had "frosted" hair. My mom used to frost her hair in the 70s.

[@loganw1232]

You can hear the state and regional accents in this ladies.

[@user-ms7ms3mt3j]

mmm I can smell the hairspray. What a wonderful pageant and year.

[@timothywelch4387]

Miss Utah -Kathleen - married Wayne Osmond not long after this was broadcast.

[@malcolmmarshall5946]

Miss New Mexico competed at Miss USA in 1972, where she also made the semifinals.

[@VTMCompany]

She was calm just like the previous winner who crowned her. She actually insulted Bert upon winning by saying, "I don't know how you can ask me questions at a time like this."

[@gregtanner168]

Becky king looks absolutely radiant

[@sayimjustadreamer]

She was definitely #hairgoals that night.

[@micesuhenderson2342]

California was a successful model for many years and was one of those people who were on the verge of making it big but came up short. She had a small part in trading places.

[@lilytsui3015]

California is beautiful!! She should’ve won! Texas is so... matron looking

[@malcolmmarshall5946]

Texas quickly grew even more matronly looking in the late 70s and 80s

[@californiagold3857]

I disagree. I wanted Miss California to win too, but Shirley Cothran had a Scarlette O'Hara look. In person absolutely stunning.

[@malcolmmarshall5946]

@@californiagold3857 Her victory in the 74 Miss Texas Pageant is now on KZbin. Now, there she was absolutely gorgeous.

[@deanomarshall2926]

1:49:19 Becky King looks absolutely stunning in her final walk.🥰

[@brockreynolds870]

Miss Washington bears a striking resemblance to Jo Ann Pflug.

[@malcolmmarshall5946]

Miss Maine is a dead ringer for Barbara Peterson, Miss USA of 1976.

[@lilytsui3015]

Pity that the tape went blurry during the crowning

[@brockreynolds870]

Kansas held their pageant in PRATT? A town of 5,000 people out in the middle of nowhere?

[@malcolmmarshall5946]

Like Minnesota holding their state pageant in the little Hormel meat slaughtering town of Austin. Or the Miss Colorado pageant in the tiny prairie town of Sterling. I'm surprised Miss Wyoming didn't say " Hi!! Our state pageant is held in Bumfuck!!"

[@baconbap]

Tell me. I spent a week there one night.

[@RachelDavisMatthews]

Calif and Texas were classy and beautiful

[@duanegunn611]

I was just 1 month old

[@ronnieconner5908]

I thought California was way more beautiful than the other runner-ups and winner!

[@MsSilentsiren]

A lot of sequins...ALOT of lime green. I want Delta's hair!!!!

[@notnek202]

Where is her robe & sash?

[@SoutherbBelle]

The stop using the sash after the 1973 pageant and the robe was stopped after the 1974 pageant. However, the sash was brought back in 2006, and the robe was used at the 2023 pageant.

[@archangelmusic13]

who heck are the judges that didnt even vote delta burke in the finals? she should have won that year

[@Joaquin1962]

Confidentially, this is the year four of the top ten were removed to ensure a Texas win & replaced with ranks eleven through fourteen. The displaced four were downgraded to nonfinalist talent. (Even though Delta Burke received one of seven nonfinalist talent awards she was not among those in the original top ten.)

[@RachelDavisMatthews]

How do you know this?

[@Joaquin1962]

@@RachelDavisMatthews This information was posted on a pageant message board (www.voy.com/229344/. Pageant-related scoop posted there is usually reliable.

[@ValleyoftheRogue]

@@Joaquin1962 The link doesn't work.

[@Joaquin1962]

@@ValleyoftheRogue It should now. The information re: the September 1974 pageant might still be in the message board's archives.

[@charlesfranklinlambeth3944]

I think this is just a rumor.

[@brockreynolds870]

Miss Texas' gown at the beginning was down right ugly. Anyone notice only TWO girls wore gowns that had more than one color on them? Kind of bizarre.

[@renegaderunner332]

Miss Wyoming in1975 was Black! WOW!

[@smith4496]

Miss Wyoming 1974, Cheryl Johnson was not the original winner. She was the first runner-up to Miss Wyoming 1974. The original winner resigned. Cheryl Johnson won the Dr. David B. Allman Medical Scholarship and was on the 1975 Miss America USO Troops. She was in the 1976 Miss America Pageant singing and dancing with the USO Troops on stage.

[@renegaderunner332]

Thanks for info. That was still siginificant!

[@malcolmmarshall5946]

Miss Washington, Kathleen Beth Moore, was forced to give up her state title a few months after this pageant. State pageant officials decided she was too heavy.

[@WinstonCathedral]

I thought she was the most beautiful of the final 10 at that time. I wasn't a fan of Texas at all.

[@malcolmmarshall5946]

@@WinstonCathedral I liked Miss Washington too

[@Laura-zy5jp]

I’m noticing more sequins and beading on evening gowns here and this is September 1974 !! Big shoulder pads and heavy sequined gowns were the thing in the 80’s but in 1974 who would of thought

[@WinstonCathedral]

Penny Tichnor was so cute.

[@codyjoewhite2563]

Penny Tichenor was Miss America that evening and today all around this small Indiana town!

[@bubb5225]

Don Rickles at 16:08.

[@DouglasGreenough-lc3rx]

🎰📻🎶.

[@Engelbird]

California can barely keep her teeth contained

[@notnek202]

😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂

[@deanomarshall2926]

This winner's pretty enough...just not a fan of the dress & old lady hairstyle. 🤔

[@yuliasazon76]

1:21:58 miss washington thinks she can sing (C6-F6)