The $10,000 check would equate to about $212,000 in 2023.
Long before television came along and game shows became popular starting in the late 1950s, there were radio and newspaper quizzes, contests and challenges for people to enter. This was in modern America and Europe of the early 20th century when most homes had newspapers delivered and radios to listen to. The contests lured people to enter by offering big prizes. Most often, one had to send in a label or several labels from a product with an entry. The contests were of varied forms. Some were for slogans for a product. Others were for jingles, tunes, or poetry. By the time of the television boom in the 1950s, there were contests for cooking and recipes, sewing, and just about any subject imaginable. The various challenges were open to everyone - men and women, except employees of the sponsoring company. But many contests targeted women audiences, as had the earlier newspaper and radio challenges. The bigger regional or national contests sometimes brought several finalists together for a final showdown.
The first Miss America Pageant was held in 1921, as a beauty contest in bathing suits. Over time it evolved into a slightly more substantial contest, judging women 18-28 also for talent, composure from interviews, and personality. It evolved from an Atlantic City, New Jersey, boardwalk business promotion, to a national competition of young women who won similar state contests.
The first Mrs. America pageant was held in 1938, as a beauty competition for married women. Over time, it evolved to include judging on several talents and aspects. Besides poise, personality, and family psychology, it included judging in household skills such as cooking, sewing, ironing, and party planning. The contest lapsed from 1968 to 1977 when it was resumed. It has been held in various cities. The most common and recent host city has been Las Vegas,, Nevada.
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