Beauty pageants are a tad passe, aren't they? Scratch that; they are very passe. Sounds like something from 100 years ago...

So let's go back not 100, but 95 years, and the Miss Universe pageant, held in the center of the universe: Galveston, Texas. Errr... here come the caveats.

What is now know as "Miss Universe" (not to be confused with Miss World, Miss Earth, or Miss International) was started in 1952 (and was won by a Jewish woman, Rina Messinger, in 1976). The contest we're talking about was officially called the "International Pageant of Pulchritude", but was also referred to as "Miss Universe". It lasted from 1926 to 1935 and is considered the forerunner of international beauty competitions. Oh, and as long as we're doing caveats, Galveston is NOT the center of the universe. Duh.

Here we're talking about the 1929 edition, which was won by a unanimous vote by Lisl Goldarbeiter of Austria... you guessed it, a Jew! Errr... here are some more caveats.

There were 34 contestants in the pageant, 27 of them Americans, so it wasn't exactly big on its supposed international representation. As for the Jewish part, Lisl's mother converted out, so some (not us) might not consider her exactly Jewish, hence the Borderline verdict. That being said, it helped keep her alive during World War II, so we'll let it be.

The first Jewish Miss Universe! Passe, caveats, and all.