Robbin Bain, winner of the pageant and ‘Today Girl’, has died at the age of 87

Robbin Mele Gaudieri, who as Robbin Bain embodied the traditional female role as the winner of a beauty pageant intended to promote beer in 1959 and later as the “Today Girl,” handling fashion and beauty segments, on the popular NBC-TV morning show , died October 21 in Southampton, NY, on Long Island. She was 87.

Her daughter Lara McLanahan said the cause was breast cancer.

In 1959, she was voted Miss Rheingold, which was the most popular beer in the New York area at the time and was also sold in Pennsylvania and throughout New England. She beat five other finalists in an election that attracted 24 million votes, according to the brewer.

As Miss Rheingold, she was paid $50,000 (about $530,000 in today’s dollars) and spent a year performing in the United States and Europe. She also starred in newspaper advertisements in which she could be seen in a kitchen during a party, outside at a barbecue and in front of a Christmas tree.

An advertisement that appeared early in her reign stated, “You will soon see Robbin Bain almost everywhere you look, such an attractive reminder of the popular beer she represents: Rheingold Extra Dry!”

In 2000, she recalled the qualities that were looked for in a Miss Rheingold.

“It was nothing physical,” she told The Daily News from New York. “Personality and health were very important. You had to appear very approachable to the guys who were sitting at the bar or going to the supermarket.”

Barbara Jane Bain was born on August 10, 1936 in Flushing, Queens, and grew up in Bronxville, NY, in Westchester County. Her father, James, was an executive at Mack Trucks. Her mother, Margaret (Davison) Bain, was a homemaker.

Barbara pursued a career as a model, appearing in advertisements for Helena Rubinstein and Revlon. She was also one of four women, called “Portrettes,” who introduced Jackie Gleason on his television variety show “The Jackie Gleason Show” in 1956 and 1957. The following year she graduated with an associate degree from Bradford Junior College (which later Bradford College) in Haverhill, Massachusetts, where she studied psychology, art and theater.

Early in her career, she changed her first name to Robbin to avoid confusion with actress Barbara Bain.

Ms. Bain was famous enough to serve as a panelist in 1961 “To tell the truth,” a game show whose goal was to find out which of the three people claiming to be the same person was the real one. In one episode, she was so good at it in every segment that another panelist, Betty White, playfully said, “I think Robbin is disgusting.” In response, Ms. Bain lightly punched Ms. White on the shoulder.

In late August 1961, Ms. Bain joined NBC as the “Today Girl,” along with anchor John Chancellor and news anchor Frank Blair. It was a stereotypical female role previously played by actresses Estelle Parsons, Lee Meriwether and Florence Henderson; Robert Bendicat the time the producer of the “Today” show, it was sketched in 1959.

“A girl is essential to the show,” he told The Associated Press. “You need a woman’s face to brighten things up. And you also need a woman for certain functions: fashion, beauty and talking to certain guests.”

Before Barbara Walters became a major player in television news, she was a “Today Girl.” In her autobiography “Audition: A Memoir” (2008), she compared the role to pouring tea and wrote that it was “Neanderthal” that women were entrusted with covering “films tailored to women.”

But Ms Bain said she loved it. “I was the only woman on set except for the makeup woman.” she said during a “Today Girls” reunion on “Today” in 2012. And Ms. McLanahan noted, “The role transitioned to co-host. She always felt like she was groundbreaking in that sense.”

Ms. Bain left “Today” after just two months; the press speculated that she did not like the hours, but in fact she was pregnant with her first daughter, Dina.

“I ruined her career,” her daughter, now known as Dina Nemeth, joked in a telephone interview.

Mrs. Bain later became an interior designer.

In addition to her daughters, Mrs. Bain is survived by her husband, Alexander Guadieri; a stepson, Alexandre Guadieri; and six grandchildren. Her marriage to Arno Schefler ended in divorce. Her second husband, Edward Mele, died in 2003.