The pageant was created to celebrate the continuous nuclear testing at Yucca Flat, Nevada, a mere 65 miles from Las Vegas.
Merlin, in a cotton mushroom cloud bikini, was the last and most famous Miss Atomic Bomb — who were all Vegas showgirls.
Via: retronaut.com
Above-ground nuclear testing was a major Las Vegas public attraction during the late 1950s, and hotels capitalized on the craze by hosting nuclear bomb watch parties.
A 1957 Yucca Flat nuclear blast.
July 5, 1957: The largest (at the time) US continental atmospheric nuclear test, over Yucca Flat — a closed desert drainage basin sixty-five miles northwest of Las Vegas. Referred to as “the most irradiated, nuclear-blasted spot on the face of the earth”, Yucca Flat was the testing ground – both in the air and under the surface of the flat, sandy soil – for 739 nuclear tests from October of 1951 to September of 1992.
Via 1957 Time Capsule.
