#The biggest controversies from 100 years of the Miss America Pageant

Miss America looks pretty good considering her age. Though the sash and crown have temporarily been put on ice until 2021 because of COVID-19, the pageant has persevered and evolved over the past century. “There are a lot of surprises in this tradition that seems to be one-dimensional at first glance,” Margot Mifflin, the author of “Looking for Miss America: A Pageants 100 Year Quest to Define Womanhood” (Counterpoint) — one of two new books about the contest — told The Post. “Even if it might be perceived as a superficial beauty pageant, it is intertwined with so much of our popular, ­political and social.” Here are some of the most important milestones in the pageant’s first century.

1921: After a 1920 revue, the first Miss America is crowned

Women got the right to vote in 1920, and the chance to be a “queen.” That’s when Atlantic City — desperate to extend its summer tourism season — put on the first Fall Frolic: a parade of comely young women rolling along the boardwalk in wheeled chairs. It was such a hit, the next year they turned it into a popularity contest. The winner was 16-year-old Margaret Gorman from Washington, DC. “It didn’t have the regal trappings that it would acquire over the years. Margaret wore a flimsy-looking mock Lady Liberty Crown,” said Mifflin. “It wasn’t called Miss America until 1922.”

1937: The reigning queen disappears

Shy Bette Cooper landed in the Miss America pageant on a dare, and she didn’t expect to find love with her assigned chauffeur and local ­escort for the week, Louis Off.

“She didn’t really want to win. The winner at the time was expected to go into vaudeville, and she was seeing this contest as pretty seedy,” said Mifflin. Also, Off promised he’d dump her if she won, saying “I don’t want to be known as Mr. Miss America.” Although a long shot, Cooper was announced as the queen — then failed to show up to her first official appearance the next morning. Off had helped her sneak out of her hotel in the middle of the night and escape by motorboat to his home. “It resulted in the weirdest photo in Miss America history. There was an empty throne flanked by the runners-up smiling like Bette was there,” said Mifflin.

But the romance didn’t last, and Bette was forced by pageant organizers to make a few halfhearted public appearances. When her reign was up, she disappeared again — to Connecticut to raise a family — and never had anything to do with Miss America again.

1945: The only Jewish winner

Over the past century, there has only been one Jewish Miss America: Bronx native Bess Myerson. “She . . . was celebrated but there was negativity as well. She didn’t have as many bookings as previous Miss Americas,” said Hilary Levey Friedman, author of “Here She is: The Complicated Reign of the Beauty Pageant in America” (Beacon Press), out Tuesday. “There was an appearance at a country club that she couldn’t attend [because she was Jewish].” Lenora Slaughter, the executive director of pageant from 1941 to 1967, urged Myerson to change her last name to sound less Semitic. “[Slaughter] pretended she was helping her to get a better stage name,” said Mifflin. “But Bess refused, saying ‘I’m proud of my name.’ ”

1951: Swimsuit shake-up inspired Miss USA contest

Yolande Betbeze, a conservative Catholic from Alabama, was, according to Mifflin, “The most bad­ass Miss America.” The opera singer shook things up after being crowned, by refusing to make appearances in a swimsuit. The move had the backing of Slaughter, who “wanted this to be for ‘respectable women,’ ” said Mifflin. “She wanted to get away from the bathing-suit focus.” But it angered swimsuit brand Catalina, a pageant sponsor — so its owners launched a competing pageant, Miss USA. “Miss America has talent and tuition [for education], and Miss USA has always been about how you look,” said Levey Friedman. “There’s never been any confusion.”

1954: The ‘ugly cry’ hits TV

Some 27 million Americans tuned in to see Lee Meriweather crowned in the first televised pageant. “In the 1970s and ’80s, [ratings] went up to about 70 or 80 million viewers, But it has really dropped in the last few years,” said Mifflin. Last year, 3.6 million people tuned in — down from 4.3 million in 2018.

1984: Nude scandal

It wasn’t until 1950 that the pageant’s Rule Seven — “contestants must be of good health and of the white race” — was abolished. It took another 34 years for the first black woman to win. “Vanessa Williams was objectively the most beautiful and the most talented. There was no doubt she was going to win,” says Levey Friedman. But Williams stepped down (the only winner to do so) after Penthouse purchased and published unauthorized nude photos she had posed for years earlier. Still, she went on to become a recording star and an Emmy- and Tony-nominated actress. “Unlike other titleholders, she became a star in spite of Miss America,” said Mifflin.

2017: Weight shaming

In 2017, the pageant had a #MeToo reckoning after shocking emails were leaked, revealing CEO Sam Haskell’s disparaging comments about contestants. Mallory Hagan, Miss America 2013, was a frequent target, with Haskell speculating on her sex life and mocking her weight. “I felt validated,” Hagan told The Post of Haskell’s subsequent resignation.

2018: The swimsuit era is over

After Haskell left, former Fox anchor and Miss America 1989 Gretchen Carlson stepped in and gave the contest a rebrand, ditching the swimsuits. But her reign set off a civil war within the organization, with rivals accusing Carlson of illegally seizing power, mean-girl behavior and shaking things up too much. “[The swimsuit change] really divided people. One group wanted to preserve tradition. But some contestants told me how utterly mortifying [wearing a bathing suit onstage] was,” said Mifflin. Hagan applauded the move: “As Miss America, I lobbied Congress to reinstate $14 million funding for child-advocacy centers. Nothing I did that year required me to be in a swimsuit.”

2019: A whole new Miss America

Carlson stepped down in June of last year, and former Miss South ­Dakota Shantel Krebs took over the leadership role — and told The Post that the talent competition was going to be like “Shark Tank” or a “TED talk.” That year’s winner, biochemist Camille Schrier, conducted a science experiment, tossing liquid into flasks of hydrogen peroxide and explaining the resulting reactions as colorful bursts of foam flew into the air. “That was a pretty big change,” said Mifflin, who noted that contestants have traditionally had talents such as music, singing and dancing.

Added Mifflin: “It started a transition when Camille won and didn’t have an entertainment talent.”

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