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Photo of Heather Leighton
Vintage photos of the International Pageant of PulchritudeMiss Chicago who represented the 'Windy City' at the International Pageant of Pulchritude. The title of 'Miss Universe' went to the Austrian representative, Lisl Goldarbeiter. The first time that a foreign beauty won the competition. Galveston, Texas. Photograph. 1929. Getty Images
Heather Leighton May 15, 2017 Updated: May 15, 2017 4:22 p.m.
The International Pageant of Pulchritude, also known as the Bathing Girl Revue, was held at the Texas island from 1920 to 1932. Beautiful contestants from all over the world came to the island to compete for the crown.
The first pageant was held in 1920 signaled the beginning of the summer tourist season in Galveston. Young ladies from all around the globe posed for pictures in their swimsuits before attending a beachside luncheon, according to Texas Archive.
The pageant was first started to strengthen Galveston's tourism industry following the devastating Hurricane of 1900. In 1920, local promoter C.E. Barfield began the annual Splash Day event, in which the Bathing Girl Revue was the main attraction. By 1926, the revue blossomed to the international beauty pageant called the Pageant of Pulchritude.
At its peak of success, the pageant attracted so many spectators that it tripled the island's population during the weekend of the event.
Regrettably, in 1931, Galveston stopped hosting the pageant as a result of the Great Depression. The final "Miss Universe" went to a black-haired Belgian girl, Netta Duchanteau, 17, in 1931, according to an old newspaper archive from The Evening Independent. Her bravery in flying planes by herself (she obtained her own pilot's license) was among the reasons she was selected as the winner.
The video below from the Texas Archive shows the beauty posing for the cameras following her win.
Although the pageant ended in 1931, the memory still lives on in Galveston with the modern beauty pageant Galveston Island Beach Revue. This weekend, pageant girls will show off their bathing bodies during the revue hosted at Hotel Galvez. In the spirit of past beauty queens of the 1930s, contestants dress up in vintage clothing to represent the original revue's beauty.
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