Back in 1970 – a year after our very own Gloria Diaz was crowned Miss Universe in Miami Beach, Florida – a different kind of atmosphere pervaded inside the Royal Albert Hall in London during the interrupted finals of Miss World 1970 the reigning Eva Reuber-Staier of Austria crowned her successor Jennifer Hosten of Grenada.
Protestors against the pageant flooded the audience. Properly dressed in attires befitting the formal dress code of the event and blended amongst the many watchers, they created a commotion of sorts to air their opposition against the objectification of women in a pageant spectacle based solely on their physical beauty. This angered the feminist movement to no end. In the video below, Sally Alexander (one of the rattlers, so to speak) explained the group’s reasons behind the protest and how it stalled the proceedings (including the distraction on host Bob Hope). Watch now.
Interestingly, this issue against beauty pageants in general dragged for decades and was even included as part of the Q&A in many of them. Of course, we now know how both Miss World and Miss Universe have evolved. Causes and advocacies are now staple requirements, if you will. Regardless of whether pageant followers like us find it just a tad too much at times that some of the projects are questioned for their relative authenticity.
It is interesting to note that on the same year Leren Mae Bautista won the Miss Tourism Queen of the Year International title in Malaysia, Ann Lorraine Colis was crowned The Miss Globe at the Rose Theatre in Toronto, Canada – the international title that the former competed for last year in Albania as Bb. Pilipinas Globe where she grabbed 2nd Runner-Up honors.
It all started here – Miss Universe, that is. The very first pageant took place in June 28, 1952 when a beautiful Finnish beauty named Armi Helena Kuusela won the title in Long Beach, California. Her court included Elza Kananionapua Edsman of Hawaii, Daisi Mavraki of Greece, Judy Dan of Hong Kong and Renate Hoy of Germany. She was crowned by popular Hollywood actress Piper Laurie.
The very first Philippine representative was Teresita Torralba Sanchez (right photo). She may have not placed but I reckon that it was a good experience for her. After all, she was part of the inaugural batch of thirty (30) candidates who vied for the crown. But what was more interesting to note is the eventual Philippine connection of the very first Miss Universe when – as part of her prizes – she traveled around the world.
Armi was widowed last 1975, afterwhich she remarried an American – Albert Williams. Life brought her and the children to Barcelona in Spain and Izmir in Turkey before finally living in La Jolla, California where she was involved in several charity causes and even cancer research at the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (now Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute), also in La Jolla.
Ann Lorraine Colis was fated to win The Miss Globe 2015, mainly because she was appointed to be our representative that year in Toronto, Canada. It was a victory I would call half-unanticipated because we still did not have a clear idea yet of what the international pageant was looking and leaning into for a potential winner. But perhaps, being the official entry sent by Bb. Pilipinas and the launch of the Bb. Pilipinas Globe title, the recognition also augured well for the country’s bid.
It was Simone Renee Overman of Hawaii who managed to be consistent with the judges all throughout, though. She eventually sealed the deal in the Top 5 going into the final ranking of the winner and runners-up. The 17 year-old won. Now, she is Dr. Simone Overman-Starkman, a Clinical Psychologist based in Ewa Beach, Hawaii.
