I hope you will indulge a response to your critique of beauty pageants in general and Miss America in particular. I have found your posts to be thought-provoking and welcoming of criticism, so you will forgive me for feeling the need to dispute your characterization of Miss America, but one might say you asked for it with your kindness.
I spent the better part of a year accompanying a Miss America local title holder (someone who is eligible to compete for a state title but does not win) as she made presentations and attended events throughout a major metro
area (I am purposely being vague so as not to appear as though I am writing to inflate my own importance or promote one local pageant over another). While the ribbon cuttings and celebrity events were a great time, the other
75% of the appearances were visits to hospitals and schools where children and adults would light up when they interacted with the title holder. I will never forget many of the reactions and expressions of gratitude for acts as small as singing a song or reading a children's book. Particularly poignant in a time where much celebrity is based on a sex tape or topless photoshoot, the Miss America program offers hundreds of girls the chance to go out into their communities and make a difference (albeit limited) in other people's lives.
It's true that many of these girls fail to realize the value of truly interactive appearances and instead book only the ribbon-cuttings and other celeb events. Fortunately, the majority choose to spend their time making other people happy, and having seen what I've seen and met so many of these truly exceptional women, I will happily defend the Miss America program against any charges of obsolescence or shallowness.
Please note, I have no experience with Miss USA (the Trump pageant system), and do not wish my comments to reflect on that organization in a positive or negative light. Thank you for your time and your blog.
You know, I'm glad you sent that, David. It's easy to forget that some folks are genuinely thrilled to meet Miss America or Miss North Dakota or Miss Lansing, Michigan or whatever. It's also easy to forget that some of those crownings represent golden moments in some woman's life and great joy for their families and friends. I wouldn't dismiss any of that.
I do think however that Miss America and similar pageants aren't as meaningful as they once were...and you can look at the low ratings and see proof of that. Perhaps that didn't have to happen if the pageant operators had allowed their contests to evolve with time. Or perhaps it was inevitable in a time when females are taken a lot more seriously for reasons other than their looks. But hey, where and when it still makes people happy, that's great.
Personally, I never liked those contests. It always struck me as cruel in a way that at the Miss America pageant, one stunning woman was going to be almost arbitrarily crowned and 49 stunning women were going to go home as "losers." Later, when I was writing a lot of variety shows on TV, I was asked twice to write beauty pageants (neither time, the Miss America one) and met with their producers. Both times, the show they wanted didn't sound like something I wanted to do so I passed. Both sets of producers made it clear they were out to promote a product — a temporary celebrity they could "own" for a year and rent out to christen the new Olive Garden at the mall or something. But you're right that within the context of that job, a lady could do a fair amount of good. Thanks for reminding me of that.
The other day here, in a kind of negative defense of the Miss California who came out against gay marriage, I said "Carrie Prejean may be a right-wing bigot." I was basing that as much on some of her recent interviews as what she said at the pageant. Apparently now, she's telling interviewers that when she was asked about the topic at the beauty contest, that was Satan tempting her.
In the last twenty-four hours, I've received a dozen nearly-identical messages. In fact, five were verbatim, including the same typo, and were apparently cut-and-pasted from the same source. Here, from Gary Sobel, is one of the messages that at least put the argument slightly into his own words...
You called Carrie Prejean a "right-wing bigot" for her statement in the beauty pageant that said, "In my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised."
The President you voted for said, "I'm a Christian. And so, although I try not to have my religious beliefs dominate or determine my political views on this issue…my religious beliefs say that marriage is something sanctified between a man and a woman."
So in your view, is Barack Obama a right-wing bigot?
Obviously not...since just about everything about him seems to enrage people even you'd agree were right-wing bigots. But no, I don't think just opposing gay marriage makes someone a right-wing bigot.
I was disappointed in Obama when he said that, even though his phrasing left a fair amount of wiggle room. I was disappointed because I don't think he believes that...though in an encouraging sign, I saw an awful lot of Conservative pundits (here's one) try to argue that he was lying about his position or "flip-flopping" to get votes. So one difference between Ms. Prejean and Mr. Obama is that the latter does have some history of supporting gay rights, opposing Proposition 8 and pledging to repeal "Don't ask, don't tell." And of course, that means a lot coming from him since unlike Miss California, he's in a position to actually change laws and policies. Barack Obama might do a lot for those folks, in spite of that statement. Miss California won't.
Sadly perhaps, I am cynical enough about politics to not believe everything said or promised by any politician, including the ones for whom I wind up voting. The only possible exceptions are guys who are never going to get within twenty furlongs of getting elected...like, I suppose Alan Keyes believes every word he utters. The fact that he has about the same shot at the presidency as I do may suggest why we don't have more candid candidates. You can't get elected that way. I wish you could.
Yes, I know there's at least one other record that had as its B side, the same song from its A side played backwards. It's "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha Ha," a modest but splendid hit by a gent named Jerry Samuels who went under the name of Napoleon XIV. And there may be others.
And Michael Frank informs me that the video of the Cathy Rigby Peter Pan is available as a streaming video (not a DVD rental) from Netflix. If you have a kid who needs to be introduced to musical theater, I can't think of a better way, apart from taking them to see this in person.
Broadway will soon see an Addams Family musical based on...well, they'll probably make a big deal of it being based on the classic cartoons of Charles Addams. But when you call it The Addams Family and you have characters named Gomez and Morticia and Uncle Fester, as they will, you're really doing the TV show based on the classic cartoons of Charles Addams. I dunno if the proprietors have merged them but a few years ago, those were two separate properties. You could buy the rights to the work of Mr. Addams, as some did for some project, only to discover you couldn't use all the characters and situations and running gags invented for teevee. The folks doing this musical seem to have the whole package to draw upon.
And they have a great cast, starting with Nathan Lane as Gomez and Bebe Neuwirth as Morticia. Can't do better than that...though one wonders if the legs and dance skills of Ms. Neuwirth will be going to waste since Morticia just isn't that kind of girl. The most interesting casting to me is hearing that Jackie Hoffman, the funniest woman I've ever seen on a Broadway stage, will be playing Grandmama.
You can find out more about it at the show's website. Right now, they're planning on previewing in Chicago in November, moving to New York the following March and opening on Broadway on April 8. I'm going to keep an eye on this one because it sounds like a good idea with good people.
The late night wars are about to flare up again. Jay Leno is nearing the end of his Tonight Show run and Conan is about to take over. David Letterman is nearing the end of his current contract and it's about time for CBS to either negotiate a new deal with him or begin looking for a replacement.
At the moment, Jimmy Fallon's in an odd position. His ratings are slipping...though they're still higher than his competition on CBS, Craig Ferguson. His ratings are also higher than Conan O'Brien's were in the same time slot at the same time last year but all of this may just be because tune-in of Leno is up. Presumably, Conan will have a splashy debut and then things will settle down...and NBC has to be worried that if O'Brien's long-term numbers don't match Leno's (the thinking is they won't) the network could be in trouble on two fronts. Then the anxiety will start all over again in fall when Jay starts his 10 PM show and we find out how, if at all, that will impact late night programming.
So what'll happen with Letterman? Rumor has it that he doesn't want a long contract; that he wants one of those deals like Johnny had his last decade or so, where each year he tells the network if he feels like doing another year. CBS may not be willing to give him that. It may be more like, "Hey, commit to staying through 2013 or let us start looking for the guy who will." At a time of belt-tightening, there may also be a problem with Dave's huge salary. He'll probably get what he wants but it may take a little jello-wrestling to get there.
Right now, all eyes are on Leno and what he's going to do at 10 PM five nights a week. NBC has assembled a little video which seems to have been mainly made to sell affiliates on the idea that the new show's a good idea and that someone there has some notion of what it's going to involve. Notice the assurance of a big comedy bit to close the program each night...a way of assuring local stations that their local news won't be following a song by some musical group no one's ever heard of. Notice also that apart from that and the announcement that Jay's going to have a new studio, there really isn't any news there...though it is good to hear that Jay will be bring his Jaywalking segments to prime time. You can never get enough of laughing at really, really stupid people.
May 11, 2009
