Lisl Goldarbeiter (23 March 1909 – 14 December 1997) was an

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

model and actress, who in 1929, became the first and only Austrian to win the

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by a United States and Thailand based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stre ...

title. She also participated in the

Miss Europe Miss Europe is a beauty pageant for European women from all over Europe. It was established in February 1927 by Fanamet, the European distributor of Paramount, as a one-off event where the winner was to star in a film directed by Friedrich W ...

competition in 1929.

Life

Goldarbeiter was born on 23 March 1909, in

Vienna, Austria en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. She was born in a middle-class

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family. She was the daughter of Izidor Goldarbeiter (b.1877), a fashion dealer from

Szeged, Hungary Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...

, and, Aloisia

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Schimek (1884–1967). On 11 June 1929, Goldarbeiter became the first-ever non-American to win the Miss Universe beauty pageant, which was held in

Galveston, Texas Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galvesto ...

. Lisl was voted Miss Universe 1929 in a unanimous decision by the jurors.

Miss America Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 17 and 25. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is now judged on competitors' talent performances and interviews. As ...

took the second place and the third, fourth and fifth places were also taken by Americans representing

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

and

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. Of the 34 contestants, 27 were from

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. In the same year of 1929, she finished second at the Miss Europe beauty contest in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. In the summer of 1930 Goldarbeiter married Fritz Spielmann, who came from a

Viennese Viennese may refer to: * Vienna, the capital of Austria * Viennese people, List of people from Vienna * Viennese German, the German dialect spoken in Vienna * Music of Vienna, musical styles in the city * Viennese Waltz, genre of ballroom dance * V ...

industrialist family and whom she had met in Paris. They divorced in 1937. During WWII, because her mother was Protestant, she did not suffer Nazi persecution. She married her second cousin Marczell "Marci" Tenczer in 1949. Marci and Goldarbeiter grew up together in Vienna, and he continued to live in Goldarbeiter's house after she married Spielmann. Marci was an amateur filmmaker. Goldarbeiter's modeling talent was discovered by Marci during the early 1920s. He used to take photographs of her when he moved to Vienna from

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...

in the late 1920s. Lisl Goldarbeiter died on 14 December 1997 in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

. She is buried in the

Farkasréti Cemetery Farkasréti Cemetery or Farkasrét Cemetery ( hu, Farkasréti temető) is one of the most famous cemeteries in Budapest. It opened in 1894 and is noted for its extensive views of the city (several people wanted it more to be a resort area than a c ...

In popular culture

Films

Miss Universe 1929 – Lisl Goldarbeiter. A Queen in Wien
(2006, Documentary).

Literature

* Reuveni, Gideon; Roemer, Nils (2010).
Longing, Belonging, and the Making of Jewish Consumer Culture
'.

Brill Publishers Brill Academic Publishers (known as E. J. Brill, Koninklijke Brill, Brill ()) is a Dutch international academic publisher founded in 1683 in Leiden, Netherlands. With offices in Leiden, Boston, Paderborn and Singapore, Brill today publishes 27 ...

ISBN The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier that is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency. An ISBN is assigned to each separate edition and ...

978-9004186033. *Greenspoon, Leonard (2013).
Fashioning Jews: Clothing, Culture, and Commerce
'.

Purdue University Press Purdue University Press, founded in 1960, is a university press that is part of Purdue University. It is a unit of Purdue University Libraries. History An administrative unit of Purdue University Libraries, Purdue University Press has its roots ...

978-1557536570. *

Notes and references

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldarbeiter, Lisl 1909 births 1997 deaths Models from Vienna Actors from Vienna Miss Europe 20th-century Austrian actresses Austrian female models Miss Universe Burials at Farkasréti Cemetery People of Hungarian-Jewish descent People of Austrian-Jewish descent