Posted 1:10 am Monday, August 01, 2011
East Texas Tales: Former Miss America Recalled As ‘Texas Tornado'
By EMILY GUEVARA
Staff Writer
Every step of the way, Jo-Carroll Dennison resisted the idea of competing in a pageant. But ultimately, her supporters won and so did she when she handily took the crown in the 1942 Miss America pageant, becoming the first winner from Texas.
Staff Writer
Every step of the way, Jo-Carroll Dennison resisted the idea of competing in a pageant. But ultimately, her supporters won and so did she when she handily took the crown in the 1942 Miss America pageant, becoming the first winner from Texas.
Dubbed the “Texas Tornado” by the national press, the Tyler resident, who was 18 at the time, won the swimsuit and talent portions of the contest. She performed a boogie-woogie tap routine and a crowd-pleasing rendition of “Deep in the Heart of Texas,” according to an Associated Press story.
Ms. Dennison was born and raised on the Medicine Show circuit by parents who headed a Vaudeville troupe, according to an article published this year in the California-based Press Enterprise newspaper. She started singing and dancing at age 2, but left the show at 17 to start a career in Tyler, the article reads.
Here, she attended business school at the Federal Institute and worked as a secretary for Sen. Earle Mayfield's law firm in the summer of 1942, according to the Tyler Morning Telegraph archives.
Although Ms. Dennison was well known for her beauty, she never considered entering a beauty pageant. That was until the vice president of Citizens First National Bank asked her to represent the bank in the Tyler Water Carnival in May 1942, the article reads.
The Tyler Junior Chamber of Commerce put on the Miss Tyler Pageant at the season's opening of the municipal swimming pool.
Although she was against the idea at first, she decided to participate because the vice president told her she could buy a new swimsuit at Schwartzberg Department Store.
“Since I didn't have one, I agreed,” she told the The Press-Enterprise.
Ms. Dennison beat 40 other Tyler and East Texas girls at the local competition and reluctantly agreed to compete in the Miss Texas Pageant.
Held at Austin Stadium, the audience primarily was soldiers from Camp Swift, one of the largest Army camps in Texas at the time.
Eight girls representing the compass points of Texas competed and Ms. Dennison won the competition, according to the Miss America website.
She had no interest in going to Atlantic City, N.J., but with the encouragement of Tyler residents and other Texans, she decided to go on the trip. She, her mother, Carroll Dennison, and Alfred Gilliam, who accompanied her on the song and dance numbers, traveled to New Jersey by train.
Ms. Dennison swept the competition. The judges declared her the most charming of 10 swimsuit contestants who appeared one night, according to an Associated Press story at the time.
They also declared her the most talented in her group and she received a defense bond after performing her boogie-woogie tap routine and singing “Deep in the Heart of Texas,” according to the article.
She was the only contestant to receive two awards, one for talent and one for the swimsuit, another Associated Press story read. Judges did not give out an award for modeling an evening gown, which she did do.
The year she won the competition represented a shift in the nature of the queen's reign.
“Up until my (reigning) year, winners would get a car, money and a contract to a movie studio – it was more show-business oriented,” she told the Press Enterprise. “In 1944, they decided it should be education oriented, and I think that was a huge benefit.”
During her reign, Ms. Dennison visited defense plants, hospitals and service camps and sold war bonds, according to the pageant website.
She was made an honorary Marine sergeant because of her efforts, a previous Tyler Morning Telegraph article reports.
After her reign, she modeled in Paris and signed a contract with Twentieth Century-Fox.
She appeared in several films including “Winged Victory” and “The Jolson Story,” the latter of which was an Oscar-winner.
She married comedian Phil Silvers and divorced five years later. She then married CBS producer Russell Stoneham, with whom she had two sons, according to Tyler Morning Telegraph archives. She also wrote a book about her pageant entitled “Miss America – 1942.”
As of March of this year, she lived in California, according to the Press-Enterprise article.
“I had a fantastic life and met so many interesting, talented people,” she told the Press Enterprise.
She told the paper that after that she felt like she should give back so she worked at a hospice agency during the 1980s and 1990s.
“I feel it was truly the most purposeful, rewarding work I ever did,” she said, according to the Press-Enterprise. “Working with the terminally ill, you learn so much about life.”
Ms. Dennison is one of only three Texans to win the Miss America title in its 90 years of existence. The other two were from Denton: Phyllis George in 1971 and Shirley Cothran in 1975.
Although she was against the idea at first, she decided to participate because the vice president told her she could buy a new swimsuit at Schwartzberg Department Store.
“Since I didn't have one, I agreed,” she told the The Press-Enterprise.
Ms. Dennison beat 40 other Tyler and East Texas girls at the local competition and reluctantly agreed to compete in the Miss Texas Pageant.
Held at Austin Stadium, the audience primarily was soldiers from Camp Swift, one of the largest Army camps in Texas at the time.
Eight girls representing the compass points of Texas competed and Ms. Dennison won the competition, according to the Miss America website.
She had no interest in going to Atlantic City, N.J., but with the encouragement of Tyler residents and other Texans, she decided to go on the trip. She, her mother, Carroll Dennison, and Alfred Gilliam, who accompanied her on the song and dance numbers, traveled to New Jersey by train.
Ms. Dennison swept the competition. The judges declared her the most charming of 10 swimsuit contestants who appeared one night, according to an Associated Press story at the time.
They also declared her the most talented in her group and she received a defense bond after performing her boogie-woogie tap routine and singing “Deep in the Heart of Texas,” according to the article.
She was the only contestant to receive two awards, one for talent and one for the swimsuit, another Associated Press story read. Judges did not give out an award for modeling an evening gown, which she did do.
The year she won the competition represented a shift in the nature of the queen's reign.
“Up until my (reigning) year, winners would get a car, money and a contract to a movie studio – it was more show-business oriented,” she told the Press Enterprise. “In 1944, they decided it should be education oriented, and I think that was a huge benefit.”
During her reign, Ms. Dennison visited defense plants, hospitals and service camps and sold war bonds, according to the pageant website.
She was made an honorary Marine sergeant because of her efforts, a previous Tyler Morning Telegraph article reports.
After her reign, she modeled in Paris and signed a contract with Twentieth Century-Fox.
She appeared in several films including “Winged Victory” and “The Jolson Story,” the latter of which was an Oscar-winner.
She married comedian Phil Silvers and divorced five years later. She then married CBS producer Russell Stoneham, with whom she had two sons, according to Tyler Morning Telegraph archives. She also wrote a book about her pageant entitled “Miss America – 1942.”
As of March of this year, she lived in California, according to the Press-Enterprise article.
“I had a fantastic life and met so many interesting, talented people,” she told the Press Enterprise.
She told the paper that after that she felt like she should give back so she worked at a hospice agency during the 1980s and 1990s.
“I feel it was truly the most purposeful, rewarding work I ever did,” she said, according to the Press-Enterprise. “Working with the terminally ill, you learn so much about life.”
Ms. Dennison is one of only three Texans to win the Miss America title in its 90 years of existence. The other two were from Denton: Phyllis George in 1971 and Shirley Cothran in 1975.
