Web Page No 2584

25th May 2019

1st Picture. Georgiana Seymour, Duchess of Somerset being crowned the 'Queen of Beauty'

2nd Picture. 1922 Beauty Contest

3rd Picture. Eric Morley

4th Picture. The girl from Poole being crowned Miss World, Ann Sidney

Beauty Contests

For many years’ beauty competitions were very popular in the holiday camps and seaside resorts and even the Miss World competition was Saturday night prime time viewing. The contests traditionally focused ranking the physical attributes of the contestants, although most contests evolved to incorporate personality traits, intelligence, talent, and answers to judges' questions.

The organizers of each contest could determine their own rules, including the age range of contestants. Some required the contestants to be unmarried, and be "virtuous", "amateur", and available for promotions, and also set the clothing standards in which contestants will be judged, including the type of swimsuit.

Beauty competitions were multi-tiered, with local competitions feeding into the larger competitions. The possible awards of beauty contests included titles, tiaras or crowns, sashes, , savings bonds and cash prizes.

But what is the history of these contests?  Georgiana Seymour, Duchess of Somerset was crowned the 'Queen of Beauty' at the Eglinton Tournament of 1839, the first known beauty pageant.

Entrepreneur Phineas Taylor Barnum staged the first American pageant in 1854, but his beauty contest was closed down after public protest.

Beauty contests became more popular in the 1880s. In 1888, the title of 'beauty queen' was awarded to an 18-year-old Creole contestant at a pageant in Spa, Belgium. All participants had to supply a photograph and a short description of themselves to be eligible to enter and a final selection of 21 was judged by a formal panel. Such events were not regarded as respectable. Beauty contests came to be considered more respectable with the first modern "Miss America" contest held in 1921.

The oldest pageant still in operation today is the Miss America pageant, which was organized in 1921 by a local businessman as a means to entice tourists to Atlantic City, New Jersey.  Sixteen-year-old Margaret Gorman of Washington, D.C. was crowned Miss America 1921, having won both the popularity and beauty contests, and was awarded $100.

The popularity of the Miss America pageant prompted other organizations to establish similar contests in the 1950s and beyond. Some were significant while others were trivial, such as the National Donut Queen contest. The Miss World contest started in 1951, Miss Universe started in 1952 as did Miss USA. Miss International started in 1960. Miss Asia Pacific International started in 1968. The Miss Black America contest started in 1968 in response to the exclusion of African American women from the Miss America pageant. The Miss Universe Organization started the Miss Teen USA in 1983 for the 14-19 age group. Miss Earth started in 2001, which channels the beauty pageant entertainment industry as an effective tool to actively promote the preservation of the environment. These contests continue to this day.

The requirement for contestants to wear a swimsuit was a controversial aspect of the various competitions. The controversy was heightened with the increasing popularity of the bikini after its introduction in 1946. The bikini was banned for the Miss America contest in 1947 because of Roman Catholic protesters. When the Miss World contest started in 1951, there was an outcry when the winner was crowned in a bikini. Pope Pius XII condemned the crowning as sinful and countries with religious traditions threatened to withdraw delegates. The bikini was banned for future and other contests. It was not until the late 1990s that they became permitted again, but still generated controversy when finals were held in countries where bikinis (or swimsuits in general) were socially disapproved. For example, in 2003, Vida Samadzai from Afghanistan caused an uproar in her native country when she participated in the Miss Earth contest in a bikini. In 2013, the swimsuit round of the Miss World contest was dropped because of Islamist protests in Bali (Indonesia), where the contest took place. In 2014, the Miss World contest eliminated the swimsuit competition from its pageant.

In 2017, Carousel Productions was criticized of objectifying women during the Miss Earth 2017 competition. For the first time in the history of international pageants, delegates wore swimsuits during the event with their faces concealed by a veil in the Beauty of Figure and Form, a segment first introduced in the Miss Philippines Earth 2017 pageant. It was one of the three preliminary judging segments of the pageant that include Poise and Beauty of Face and Environmental and Intelligence Competition. The organizers defended the "beauty of figure and form" segment and released a statement that the said round was intended to promote strict impartiality during pre-judging by focusing on the contestants' curves and not beautiful face.

In England the Beauty contest was always associated with Eric and later Julie Morley. Eric Morley had already bought Come Dancing to the TV screens when he took on the beauty world. In 1968, his wife, Julia, took over the day-to-day running of Miss World and became chairman of the pageant.

On 9^th November 2000, the day after the contestants first paraded at the Millennium Dome in preparation for the 2000 Miss World finals, Eric Morley had a heart attack and died in the Princess Grace Hospital, West London. A service of thanksgiving was held in the Guards Chapel, Wellington Barracks, (he was an ex-officer) with the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh being represented. He left an estate valued at £10.6 million, and is buried in West Norwood Cemetery, London.

Peter

gsseditor@gmail.com

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On this day 25^th May 1960-1965

On 25/05/1960 the number one single was Cathy's Clown - Everly Brothers and the number one album was South Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Wagon Train (ITV) and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and Burnley were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 25/05/1961 the number one single was You're Driving Me Crazy - The Temperance Seven and the number one album was GI Blues - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Bootsie & Snudge (Granada) and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 25/05/1962 the number one single was Good Luck Charm - Elvis Presley and the number one album was Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions. The big news story of the day was Panic on Wall Street.

On 25/05/1963 the number one single was From Me To You - The Beatles and the number one album was Please Please Me - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Conservative Party Political Broadcast (all channels) and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 25/05/1964 the number one single was Juliet - Four Pennies and the number one album was Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.

On 25/05/1965 the number one single was Where Are You Now (My Love) - Jackie Trent and the number one album was Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street (Granada) and the box office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69 and Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.