2010-11-30, 12:39 AM
Page 666 Wrote:Don really cares about these kids." But after reading the Life art-
cle, Horn quickly changed his tune. He ordered Texas pageant
officials to investigate Magness, then threatened to keep the next
Miss Texas out of the Miss America pageant unless Magness
resigned.
YOLANDE BETBEZE, Miss America 1951
Scandal: The day after her coronation, Betbeze announced at a
breakfast meeting that she would not pose in swimsuits during her
reign. An earlier Miss America had taken the same stand and
gotten away with it, but this time the Catalina Swimsuit
Company was sponsoring the pageant, and had already booked
Betbeze on a nationwide swimsuit tour.
What Happened: "The coffee cups rattled, let me tell you,"
Betbeze recalled years later. "The man from Catalina bathing suits
stood up and fumed. He was furious. He looked at me and said,
'I'll run you off the news pages. I'll start my own contest. You'll
see.'"
"I said, 'That's splendid. Good luck to you.' Anyway, he did,
indeed, start the Miss USA and Miss Universe Pageants. So
people can thank me--or blame me--for that."
BESS MYERSON, Miss America 1945
Scandal: [B][/B]In 1987, Myerson, then New York City's Commissioner
of Cultural Affairs, was indicted for conspiracy, bribery, and fraud
after she allegedly helped her boyfriend, a millionaire sewer
contractor with reputed mob ties, lower his alimony payments by
giving a judge's daughter a $19,000-a-year job in city government.
That was only the beginning of Myerson's legal troubles: In
May 1988, she was arrested for shoplifting after she walked out of
a New York department store without paying for the six bottles of
nail polish, five pairs of earrings, one pair of shoes, and the flash-
light batteries she'd stuffed into her purse and shopping bag. "I was
leaving the store to lock my care and come back and pay for the
merchandise," she explained to reporters after her arrest. Total
value of the merchandise: $44.07. (Myerson was carrying $160 in
cash.)
What Happened: Myerson was eventually acquitted on the
alimony fixing charges, but she pled guilty to shoplifting and paid a
$100 fine, plus court costs.
[SIZE="1"]There are more people of Irish descent in Boston and surrounding New England than in Ireland.[/SIZE]