THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 16, 1995 TAG: 9509150051
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DENISE WATSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
IS THE Miss America pageant's swimsuit competition sexually exploitive? Or is it just good, clean fun?
After enduring years of criticism from feminists, pageant officials tonight will give the public a chance to make its judgment. During the pageant's live telecast on NBC, viewers will be invited to call a 900 number to vote on whether this year's contestants should keep all their clothes on.
If the vote goes against swimsuits, they'll be out - at least for this year - and another segment will be substituted in the evening's program.
``This is our 75th anniversary, and (the swimsuit competition) has probably been one of the biggest thorns in our sides,'' said Jayne Bray, chair of the board of the Miss America Pageant. ``So in honor of our 75th, we're putting it to the public. . . . We are prepared to honor the decision.''
Calls will cost 50 cents each, and proceeds will go to charity.
Through it all, the pageant's smiling and waving will continue, as it has through many an earlier controversy.
In 1937, America lost its newest Miss, Bette Cooper, when she ran away with her chauffeur the night she was crowned. The pageant tiara was tarnished again when the 1984 Miss America's smile appeared in Penthouse magazine. Last year, advocates for the hearing-impaired chastised Miss America Heather Whitestone, who's deaf, for choosing to speak rather than sign.
The swimsuit competition has been a consistent sore spot, even though the pageant evolved from a 1921 Atlantic City, N.J., bathing-suit parade.
Atlantic City merchants were trying to attract more Labor Day revenue when they developed a contest for beautiful women clad in swimsuits. The event would become a highlight in Atlantic City's annual Rolling Chair Parade, for which people decorated rolling chairs and pushed them along the boardwalk.
Other cities held competitions, and winners were sent to Atlantic City. The 1921 Miss America title went to 16-year-old Margaret Gorman, who won wearing a swimsuit that fell millimeters above her knees - and dark socks pulled up just below them. Along with the title, Gorman won a statuette valued at $5,000.
The pageant was held annually, except during 1927 and 1933, when pageant officials gave in to those who thought the display of young women to be immoral.
In 1938, the pageant added a talent segment to the competition, and in 1945, it began awarding scholarships.
In 1950, pageant officials changed the format and gave the winner the 1951 title, reasoning that most of her reign would occur in that year. Thus, for those who've been adding, the pageant is technically in its 74th year, even though the pageant is celebrating its 75th anniversary.
Over the years, the Miss America pageant has received plenty of letters and calls condemning the swimsuit competition. During one pageant, protesters outside the hall flapped raw meat, charging that the swimsuit segment was a ``meat market.''
Pageant officials have fended off complaints by claiming that the segment displays physical fitness. When this year's contestants were polled, 42 of 50 favored retaining the swimsuit competition in the name of tradition. The seven who voted to eliminate it said that physical fitness could be judged through other means. One contestant abstained.
No matter how tonight's voting goes, Bray is doubtful that the pageant will permanently drop the swimsuit competition. Plans for next year's event have yet to be decided.
``Miss America started out as a bathing-suit contest, and we've always had it,'' Bray said. ``We go through this controversy every year.'' by CNB