Meredith Howard Harless (born Florence Meredith Howard; September 6, 1909 – June 19, 1996) was a performer,

Miss America Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 18 and 28. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is judged on competition segments with scoring percentages: ''Priva ...

contestant, writer, and broadcaster.

Early years

The daughter of Samuel J. and Florence Howard, Harless was born in

Bartlesville, Oklahoma Bartlesville is a city mostly in Washington County and Osage County, Oklahoma. The population was 37,290 at the 2020 census. Bartlesville is north of Tulsa and south of the Kansas border. It is the county seat of Washington County. The Cane ...

. She had three siblings: William,

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

, and her twin sister, Virginia. She and Virginia tied for first place at the 1927 Miss Tulsa beauty pageant. Meredith was chosen by a coin toss to advance to the 1928

pageant, where she was a runner-up. Harless spent the next five years as a performer with the

Ziegfeld Follies The ''Ziegfeld Follies'' were a series of elaborate theatrical revue productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 to 1931, with renewals in 1934, 1936, 1943, and 1957. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as '' The Ziegfeld Foll ...

Career

In 1935, Harless joined

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

Hollywood, California Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood and district in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles County, California, within the city of Los Angeles. ...

, working both as a model and in the public relations department. From 1937 to 1941, Harless took a job with Crowell-Collier publishing in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

in their advertising department. In addition to her work in advertising, Harless wrote the syndicated columns ''Selective Tuning'' (under the name pen name Jean Abbey) and ''At Random'' on the Washington, D.C. social scene and women's fashion. Harless joined the Hecht Broadcasting Company at the start of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and broadcast the

third inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt The third inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt as president of the United States was held on Monday, January 20, 1941, at the East Portico of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. This was the 39th inauguration and marked the commencemen ...

in 1940. She also had a radio program called ''News and Personalities in the News''. She married Arizona Congressman Richard F. Harless on November 28, 1948, and moved to Arizona, where she helped with his campaign for governor and worded at KTAR radio. In 1949 she was the producer and a commentator on the show ''A Look Behind the News'' for CBS Radio in Phoenix. She also appeared on various local radio and television programs, including ''Arizona Close-Ups'' for NBC and ''Arizona Caravan'' for ABC. In 1950, she resigned from her position as public relations director for

KPHO-TV KPHO-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Gray Media alongside independent stations KTVK (channel 3) and KPHE-LD (channel 44), a group known together as "Arizona's Family ...

in Phoenix to help her husband with his campaign to be the Democratic nominee for governor. In 1949, Harless and Ellsworth M. Statler bought a 504-acre thoroughbred horse ranch from

Louis B. Mayer Louis Burt Mayer (; born Lazar Meir; July 12, 1884Mayer maintained that he was born in Minsk on July 4, 1885. According to Scott Eyman, the reasons may have been: * Mayer's father gave different dates for his birthplace at different times, so ...

for $1 million.

Charitable work

During World War II, Harless helped sell war bonds and worked with the Civilian Defense Home Hospitality Committee,

Russian War Relief Russian War Relief (RWR) (also known as the Russian War Relief Fund and The American Committee for Russian War Relief) was the largest American agency for foreign war relief. It had the "express and exclusive purpose of giving succor to the Russian ...

Committee, and the Stage-Door Canteen. In addition to her wartime charitable work, she was a co-founder of the United Nations Club in December 1941. She later served as national vice president of the

Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...

and worked with several other charitable organizations and local community efforts until her death on June 19, 1996, at the age of 86.

Awards

* 1951: Arizona's Outstanding Woman

Personal life

In 1928, she married Albert Spurlock, a coach, in a union that was later annulled. A 1933 newspaper item reported that the marriage "lasted only a half hour." In 1934, she married Albert Russell Erskine Jr. (son of the former

Studebaker Studebaker was an American wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana, with a building at 1600 Broadway, Times Square, Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 as the Studebaker Brothers Man ...

president). She divorced him in 1937. She married Rep. Richard Harless November 28, 1948, in Alexandria, Virginia.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harless, Meredith Howard 1909 births 1996 deaths People from Bartlesville, Oklahoma Miss America 1920s delegates Actresses from Oklahoma American beauty pageant winners 20th-century American actresses