There She Isn't

By Rebecca Winters

Baton-twirling fans, brace yourselves. Faced with dwindling ratings, the Miss America pageant has cut the talent competition from its telecast this year. Instead of the live performances that have set the pageant apart from other beauty contests since 1954, next month's broadcast will show a quickie taped montage of talent routines from earlier in the week. The move angered some former Miss Americas, including GRETCHEN CARLSON, who played the violin in 1989 and now is a host of CBS's Saturday Early Show. "It's like somebody training for the Olympics, putting in all that time and commitment, and finding out that their race doesn't exist anymore," Carlson says. On the upside, finalists can really study for the swimsuit competition.