Heyday of the Girlie Galas

Summer is the time for reruns -- intentional or otherwise. Last week, NBC presented "the most unusual and exciting competitive pageant in America," but alas, it still looked like all those other un-unusual and unexciting pageants that parade across the screen this time of the year. There again was the line of dimpled sweet young things, gowns aglitter with sequins, hair piled high and smiles frozen in place from hours of practice before the mirror. There was the usual Congeniality Award and the inevitable quiz to test "poise, conciseness, speech and intelligence" (Host Mike Douglas: "Suzanne, what do you think of the way TV covers the news?" Suzanne: "I think it's fabulous"). And finally, of course, there was the big-moment-all-America-is-waiting-for when, amid squeals and swoons, the winner was announced.

The show was called the National College Queen Pageant, which is not to be confused with NBC's Junior Miss Pageant or CBS's Miss Teen-age America Pageant or ABC's Miss Teen International Pageant. This season, with ten girlie galas scheduled by the networks and dozens more by local stations, the College Queen Pageant might possibly be remembered for two slight distinctions. First, the new queen, Valerie Dickerson, 21, from San Jose State College in California, was the only Negro among the 50 contestants. Second, the show is sponsored by the Best Foods Division of Corn Products Inc., which is stunningly appropriate.

In the usual dreary effort to show that the program was meant to stress brains over bustlines, film clips showed "panels of experts" testing the girls in some of the eleven criteria of the "complete, modern, intelligent young lady." These include such crucial skills as cake decorating, highway-safety practices and color coordination.

Royal Saleslady. Like all network pageant winners, College Queen Dickerson will spend the next year posing for magazine ads and giving testimonials on behalf of the sponsor. In addition to such prizes as a new convertible, a trip to Europe and ten shares of Corn Products stock (worth $390 as of last week), she will also earn $100 for each day that she performs as a royal saleslady. The current Miss America, Kansas' Debra Dene Barnes, will pick up $100,000 this year for presiding at the opening of a Pepsi-Cola bottling plant or perching on the fender of a new Oldsmobile. Through similar promotions, the 49 other state finalists in the Miss America contest will reap about $20,000 each.

The real beauty of the beauties on parade is that everyone is a winner. The sponsors get a curvy queen who boosts the sales curve. The networks get the talent for free, and thus can produce the spectaculars for about half the cost of a variety show. And the pageant promoters get added revenue from selling the rights to run preliminary contests at local and regional levels. If a city balks at the price, there are always other takers waiting in line. Eight years ago, the Miss Universe Pageant moved to Miami when Long Beach, Calif., refused to pay $100,000 for the honor of playing host to the contest. Not to be outdone, Long Beach started up its own International Beauty Pageant on ABC. Another variation: sponsors offer a free package show to stations on a syndicated basis; in return, the sponsors are allowed to title the contest with the name of their products. Thus last year viewers in 76 cities saw 20 girls competing to be Miss Wool of America (the title Miss Virgin Wool apparently did not have the right ring to it).

Simple Joys. Beauty pageants are one of the few surefire hits in TV programming. Last year such hey-look-me-overs as Miss USA, Miss Universe and a newer entry called Model of the Year ranked among the 20 highest-rated specials for the entire season. For men, the appeal is the simple joys of girl watching; for women, it is the Cinderella mystique. "There's a kind of primitive fascination in watching all the flesh parade around," explains one network executive. "Besides, everybody likes the feeling of ordinary, nonfamous people suddenly being catapulted into wealth and good fortune. Rags to riches --it's part of the national mythology."

If that is not inspiration enough, girl watchers can contemplate the fact that the beauty pageants are growing bigger, if not better, in more ways than one. Back in 1921, the bust measurement of Margaret Gorman, the first Miss America, was 30 inches. That's one inch less than Twiggy's and 61 less than the current titleholder's.

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