South Africa at Miss Universe 1953- Miss Golden JubileeIngrid Rita Mills (De Haast)02: Una de Beer (East London)
03:
Catherine Higgins (Johannesburg) (Represented South Africa at Miss Universe 1952)
FINALISTS
Ingrid Sonnenberg (Durban)
Joy Williams (Port Elizabeth)
Louise van Jaarsveld (Pretoria)
? (Bloemfontein)
? (Bulawayo)
? (Cape Town)
? (Kimberley)
She was later in her life a successful glass Artist in Somerset West, Western Cape, South Africa, but is now living in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa, where she is still working (Here latest blog enty, as to date, is 21 September 2016. She also had a role in a Hollywood film. She was crowned in May 1953. Her runner-up was Una de Beer (Miss East London). Ingrid participated as Miss Salisbury, but she was born in East London, South Africa.
She was in the Top 16 at Miss Universe 1953. South Africa has not send any contestants during the period 1954-1959.From her own blog:
http://glassbeads.co.za/2013/blog/The year was 1953 – not in my wildest imagination did I have any idea of what the year would bring me. Going to England to see the Coronation, going to New York and staying at the Waldorf Astoria, then being whisked off to Long Beach, California where the Miss Universe competition was held.
When it was announced that I was accorded the title of Miss SA (as Ingrid Mills) it wasn’t in a hall or I wasn’t crowned or had any type of audience. In my day the African Consolidated Theatres were the owner of the Miss Universe/Miss South Africa programme.
Let me start at the beginning.
I lived in Salisbury, Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe) and I was taking a modeling course. There were two schools in Salisbury at the time. However I was persuaded by the school to enter the competition. I did not have any aspirations in that way, but I thought it was good fun.
I duly did my parading on the stage holding my No. 6.
In the middle of the heats, I had to go down to Cape Town for my sister’s wedding. My father had an Austin and we duly drove down, taking a few days in which to do it in. Mr. Moffat the manager of the theatre at the time, was not pleased to see me go off in the middle of the heats, however he said as long as I returned in time for the finals it would be ok.
There was I in Cape Town, with hardly any spare money, except for some money that my boyfriend at the time (it was at the time of the Mau Mau emergency and the young guys came down to Salisbury to train) had given me air fare to fly to Kenya, as he was hoping that I would join him there soon. I had to use that money and promised myself that I would repay it as soon as I could.
The plane was a DC prop job. It took all day to fly back to Salisbury – I had to be on the stage that night for the finals.
Nothing daunted I did my parading and guess what? I was announced the winner, being awarded the sash of Miss Salisbury. Rhodesia was too small to have their own beauty competition, so we were incorporated into South Africa at the time. There was a Miss Bulawayo too.
I was feted by everyone, having my photograph taken with all the big wigs at the time. My only problem was I did not have too many clothes for the festivities that I was told that would be organized in Johannesburg. The head of the modelling school was so pleased that one of her girls had won, that she was only too delighted to lend me some of her outfits.
In Johannesburg the judging was held at Killarney Studios – we were made to stand and talk in front of cameras to see if we had “histrionic promise” and we had various teas where various judges sounded us out as to how we behaved in public, to see if we could hold a reasonable conversation and generally to see if we were “ladies”! We attended rugby games – where we were introduced to all the players, we drove to all the other towns on the reef, and all this was done by being driven about in Morris Minors!
We had a week of this and on Sunday when we were due to fly back to our various centres, I was told that my plane seat was given to an urgent case, I was very disappointed at the time, but my chaperon whispered that she thought I was going to be announced as Miss South Africa. Where was all the fanfare?
Monday morning I duly presented myself to Mr. Stodel the manager of the ACT and he calmly said, “Congratulations you are Miss South Africa.” I just did not feel anything as it seemed such a let down, with no one else around to hear the news.
However after that everything happened.
I was taken to the dentist (nothing needed to be done) to check to see whether my teeth were straight. Nothing like a crooked mouth full of teeth to spoil a good smile. Then to the hairdresser where I was minutely checked out, fortunately they did not cut my hair! I was given a facial, manicure etc.
My next biggest visit was to the courturier who was making my Miss South Africa dress! I must say that the work they did on the dress was beautiful, hand-sewn pearls designed in the form of proteas etc. The dress weighed 20 lbs, as I had to have a heavy petticoat to keep the designs getting covered by the folds of the satin [pic below]. I also had to have a big ostrich feather fan!
For my prizes I was given various items like small tables, rugs, jewelry boxes, shoes and a wardrobe of clothes. In those days – no cars were presented!
My big prize was a trip to London to see the Coronation from the balcony of the Dorchester which included lunch and tea!
While in London I had to do my Miss South Africa bit by distributing Outspan oranges to children in various schools in the East End of London! Other visits I made were to various film studios where I was photographed with film stars like David Niven, Gregory Peck, Jimmy Edwards and so on. I also attended fashion shows where wool was being used in the garments paraded for us [pics].
While in London I was on the “Tonite” show where I met such luminaries like Elizabeth Arden, Laurence Olivier etc! While in England I went to various hairdressers, and unfortunately they cut my hair. (Big mistake) as I learned later!
At last I was due to fly to New York to stay at the Waldorf Astoria where I was introduced to all the European Misses, e.g. Turkey, Switzerland. Sweden, Norway etc. We appeared on various tv shows “Ed Murrow show” the biggest talking show at the time! We stayed for about 4 days at the Waldorf Astoria before flying off to Long Beach where the contest was being held.
When we arrived in Long Beach we had to wear our national costumes and all we had on the plane to change into our clothes was the tiny toilet room. Remember my dress weighed 20 lbs.
We all took turns to stand at the top of the stairs to pose for a picture, and we had to appear alphabetically [pic]. Miss Sweden always tried to get in front of me?!!!
We were whisked off to the hotel where more photographs were taken. At last we had a chance to relax and we were allowed to take a rest at the hotel! My first thought was to make a booking for a trip to West Virginia where my aunt and uncle lived, as after the competition I was going to spend some time with them.
We had to practice going up and down the ramp with our swim suit costumes and Evening Ball gowns and then our National costumes. We also had to make a small speech about our countries! I was in a quandary as although I came from Rhodesia I was representing South Africa! I cant remember what I said at the time, but eventually it was all over and Miss France (Christiane Martel) won the title.
So I thought that was that, so I went along to the airline booking office to confirm my flight and while I was there Jeff Chandler -one of the judges came up to me and said “I wouldn’t be in too much of a hurry if I were you” he said he couldn’t say much at this stage, but asked me to delay my flight.
When all the prizes were read out, the five winners were awarded week to week contracts, but I was awarded a 3 month contract by Universal studios – I was taken aback, but I thought here was another adventure!
We were taken to the Studio Club in Hollywood where all the starlets of the different studios stayed. I shared a room with Miss Australia. We had to be ready at 5 am to be driven to the studios to make a short film with two stars, we were costumed in Hawaiian outfits. Every morning when we were not filming we had to be at the studios where we were taught dancing, acting and we also had to take riding lessons.
After awhile we were told we were going to take part in a big film with Jeff Chandler and Rhonda Fleming. Our costumes were the Harem girls! We were kitted out in our gowns and of course numerous photographs were taken on the lots (out door sets) The film was called
“Yankee Pasha“. [pics]
We didn’t spend all our time at the studios, we were also invited to parties where we would meet all the other stars. Some of the stars we met were Peter Lawford, James Mason, Tony Curtis, Shelly Winters, Rock Hudson and a few more whom I cannot remember at this time.
Miss Australia (Maxine Morgan) and I went around together when we were not at the studios. We wanted to drive down (Maxine bought an old studebaker) to Tijuana but the studio would not allow us to go as they were responsible for us! We did the usual shopping, and visited all the usual places where the stars were, but on the whole we were kept rather busy at the studios. If it wasn’t dancing classes, it was acting and keeping fit as well.
A lot of the time we were posing for photographs, and then again we used to go riding! I had never really been on a horse until I went to Hollywood but I soon seemed to pick it up. All new starlets at Universal had to be available at all times, as they used us to test out new film-making ideas, and this of course got us used to being behind the camera. I thought I would enjoy all this, but the waiting around between takes was so boring. When one is a big star you get your own space, but we had to just sit around and await our turn to be called.
I enjoyed staying at the studio club because there were so many different girls from all over the world staying there. But as time went by, I realized this was not the sort of life I wanted to live. I missed the people back home in Salisbury and decided after 2 months in Hollywood to give it up and return to Rhodesia.
One regret I have is that I had not given it enough time to develop my talents, but I guess that is all water under the bridge.
PS: completely unrelated, but I found this funny piece of 1953 trivia: Sean Connery, 3rd place in Mr Universe 1953
When I was awarded the Miss South Africa title in 1953, I was not given a crown like the Miss World winners are awarded these days. I was in the Miss Universe group, there was no Miss World in those days in South Africa.
However today at a recreation of that time, I had been given a special crown through a recollection of those memories by a very special photographer Angie Lazaro.
We got together in a photo studio down town Cape Town where Angie had created the whole scene, made the crown, made the proteas, and created the Zulu shield, all the fronds of the ostrich feather fan which I had carried off the plane in those far-off days and set the whole scene. (photos in due course) come back again to my blog.
Of course I am in the middle of packing up and sorting out all my worldly goods to move up to Kwa-Zulu Natal. Separating the different glass rods into their own families, is quite exhausting, but of course it has to be done. However I do not know when I will be able to settle down to my torch again. I can only study my various work books and hope to keep a fresh outlook for the day when I can sit in front of my torch again.
I had a appointment with a friend who was coming into my studio this afternoon. I had left the photo shoot in plenty of time, BUT would you believe it, there was such a hold up on the freeway on the way home. We were nose to tail most of the way, The minutes were ticking by, and would you believe it, I got home a few minutes after our arranged time. I had mislaid her cell number so I could not apologise, however maybe tomorrow will sort this out.
I got some great publicity in a community magazine called Get It recently…(2008).INGRID DE HAAST – SOMERSET WEST’S GOLDEN BEAUTY.
“True beauty is certainly more than skin deep. What’s inside you must be beautiful too.
You’ve got to be warm, enthusiastic, passionate about life.”
So says Ingrid de Haast of Somerset West, whose natural beauty made her one of the first Miss South Africa’s. She was crowned in 1953 and today, at the age of 74, she still has the beautiful skin, hair and figure that make her a contender for the Miss Universe title. But more importantly, she exudes a zest for life that radiates from within.
As a naïve 19 year old she won the Miss South Africa crown and with it a three month contract at Universal Studios in Hollywood. She appeared as an extra in two films and met many of the stars of that time, among them Gregory Peck, Tony Curtis and David Niven. “The Hollywood life was glamorous, but it was not for me,” says Ingrid, who was happy to return home to a year of modeling, public engagements and the second highlight of her reign – attending the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
In November 2007, 54 years later, Ingrid set aside her role of mother and grandmother and took on the mantle of beauty queen again. She led the parade of 33 former Miss South Africas at the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Miss South Africa pageant. She wore a perfectly-fitting turquoise gown created specially for her by Cape Town designer, Kobus Dippenaar. She and Bill, her husband of 53 years, spent a luxurious weekend at The Palace hotel, enjoying every part of the preparations and then the glittering pageant itself.
While her past experiences may have been glamorous and exciting, Ingrid is quick to point out that her life at present is even more exciting. What does she put this down to?
It’s my passion for glass,” says Ingrid. “I’m a member of the International society of Glass Bead Artists and one of a handful of South African glass artists. For me, it is one of the most creative and personally fulfilling art forms. I love colour and am inspired by the beauty of flowers and the combination of colours in Nature. To re-create that in glass is my purpose and my challenge.”
For over 20 years Ingrid made her name as a potter. For many of those years she longed to work in glass, but could not find a local teacher. Eventually she sold all her pottery equipment to fund a trip to Johannesburg to do her first course in glass beading. And a whole new world opened up for her.
Ingrid demonstrates the intricate process involved in creating the beautiful translucent beads. All the glass rods are imported from America and the names are as delightful as the colours – Caramel Lustre, Tequila Sunrise, Jupiter – and even Elvis, a deep-glowing red. She wears special glasses when working with the gas-fired torch, making the glass as soft as honey, deftly twisting the strands of colour together, adding layer upon layer.
Special tools are used to make decorative effects and before one’s very eyes the rods of glass become miniature gardens, delicate hearts, exotic leaves. The beads are placed in a kiln at a temperature of 590 degrees Celcius and then allowed to cool. Ingrid’s enthusiasm for her work is infectious. “I can’t wait to come into my studio every morning to open up the kiln to see each unique bead I made the day before.” They are then carefully cleaned and inspected for flaws and then assembled into beautiful necklaces and bracelets or made into letter openers, wine bottle stoppers or essential oil vessels.
“It’s all about heat and gravity,” explains Ingrid. “And also timing and patience. You cannot rush things – the glass takes its own time.” She also stresses the need for practice. “You cannot master these techniques in a day. But even if you make mistakes, nothing is wasted. You have learnt by it and the beads that are not perfect can be crushed into tiny pieces called frit, which are then be added to other beads to give variety and interest.”
The demands of working in glass provide Ingrid with constant stimulation. She travels to America every year to attend courses to advance her skills and regularly searches the Internet for inspiration from other glass bead artists. A Christmas gift of a portable DVD player means that she can follow the instructions from world class teachers while she works in her own studio. The opportunity to be learning, experimenting and mastering new techniques is what keeps Ingrid fascinated by this art form.
Apart from benefiting from thoroughly enjoying her work in the glass studio, Ingrid’s zest for life is a consequence of her disciplined and healthy habits. Three times a week at 6.30 am she sets off at a brisk pace to walk a 6 km route, including some uphill stretches.
She then eats a breakfast of homemade granola, packed full of omega-rich seeds, with yoghurt. Lunch is the main meal of the day and supper is always light. Ingrid’s enviably slim figure is proof that her eating and exercise plan is one that makes -and keeps – her fit and healthy.
She attributes her beautiful skin to good genes inherited from her grandmother, but has a disciplined skin care routine. “I never cleanse my face with water, only creams, but I do not use the most expensive products on the market. I use a Vitamin E cream every day on the eye area,” says Ingrid.
Inspiring, enthusiastic, patient, caring. These are all words that describe Ingrid de Haast. They make her more beautiful than her lovely features. It is, as she says, the beauty that comes from within that makes the difference.
INFORMATION ON INGRID
Favourite colours: pinks and amethyst
Most creative time of the day: the afternoons
Relaxes by: watching the soaps
Favourite movie star: Greer Garson
Favourite restaurant: 96 Winery Rd
What she’d order: Fish
Can’t live without: the Internet.
Beauty tip: remove all make up before you go to bed. And drink plenty of water.
in 20072013