Photo Gord Cross-Gwen Spencer,Lloyd. Isabel Bryce, Nesbitt Helen Lyons. Blenkarn Joan Code, Hendry and Bev Hendry-1958
1956 Carleton Place
On January 26, 2019 we had the Carleton Place Winter Carnival and in January of 1956 the Ottawa Citizen reported that the ‘glamourous’ Miss Carole Mcintyre daughter of G. E. McIntyre of Lake Ave West won Miss Eastern Ontario at the Perth Winter Carnival. Some were worried there might be shenanigans afoot as yet another Carleton Place gal Joan Hendry was crowned Miss Eastern Ontario the next year in 1957. In 1960 the Carleton Place Chamber of Commerce, assisted by the Ladies Auxiliary, agreed to sponsor and select the town’s representative for the Eastern Ontario Snow Queen contest to be held in Perth on February 20,1960. It was noted that a Carleton Place girl did not win that year.
Nancy Hudson Head girl Joan Hendry [Code] still lives in Carleton Place as well as some others mentioned in the article – Joann VoyceJoAnn Waugh, Joan Hendry, Bev Hendry, Lillian Stanley, Donna Simpson. Back row Judith Ann Argue, Me, Gwen Lloyd, Teacher ? Dianne Haskins, Jean Burns, Dianne Barnett
Glamorous 16-year-old Miss Sandra Warner, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. C. W. Warner of Smiths Falls, a Smiths Falls and District Collegiate student, was chosen “Miss Eastern Ontario” at Perth’s seventh winter carnival held in the Perth Collegiate auditorium Saturday night Seven hundred spectators packed the auditorium and a large crowd was unable to get inside the hall. Despite a heavy downpour of rain and hazardous driving conditions, the surrounding towns and district were well represented.
This is the second occasion in which a Smiths Falls representative won the title. Miss Marilyn Allen was the 1958 winner. There were nine queens entered in the contest. They were auditioned in the Perth Collegiate on Saturday afternoon. Judges were: Renne D’Ornano, Jewell Graham, Pierre Belisle and Jim Terrell of the CBC, Ottawa. Crowns Winner Miss Warner was crowned by Miss Heather Black, Carleton Place winner of the title In 1960. The pretty young miss was presented with the Courier rose bow by N. K. H. Turner and s beautiful bouquet by Mrs. E. S. BurchelL A $200 bursary awarded by an Ottawa company was pre sented by John Spence of Ottawa.
Miss Heather Black of Carleton Place received a miniature trophy as the retiring Miss Eastern Ontario of 1960. Other contestants were: Beverly Walsh, Renfrew; Marilyn McCann, Westport; Jeanett Giroud, Amprior; Benice Campbell, Almonte; Janice McDowell, Carleton Place; Mary Ronson, South Mountain; Heather Crawford, Perth, and Sandra Tullis, Lanark. Each of the contestants received a cheque for $50 from John Dunn.
William Luxton, of Kingston, was master of ceremonies. Mayor E. S. Burchell welcomed the large crowd to Perth’s annual winter festival and particularly the many communities in Eastern Ontario who participated in the contest Trophies for winners of the local dog derby held in the afternoon, sponsored by the Jaycees, were presented by Mayor Burchell to Jim Malloy who won and to Joan Malloy who was the first girl to finish.
The talent contest was open to Eastern Ontario. The contest was divided into junior and senior sections. In the junior division, little Miss Normalyn McLellan, Perth, with her song and tap dancing was the winner. Margot Royce, Amprior, was second and Nancy Houston, Carleton Place, vocalist, was third. In the senior division, Sandra Doyle and Michael Mailey, Carleton Place, in a tap dance and piano solo, were winners. Don White and Don Eastman, Innisville, in their guitar number were second, and James P. Rae of Perth, vocal soloist and guitar accompaniment was third. Each of the winners received cash prizes. A tvro-day mixed curling bonspiel in the Perth curling rink was completed on Saturday night to bring to a climax a round of carnival events.
Every time the end of October rolls around I think of Jeanette Gallipeau Boldt and her husband Kevin and how their lives ended way too soon when they had a tragic accident while fishing. Of course when I do research in St. James Anglican Church’s Cemetery I pay my respects too. I will never forget her and wrote an hommage to her in Last Night I Saw Someone I Loved at the Halloween Parade.
I stopped writing and even thinking about beauty pageants the day Jeanette Gallipeau Boldt died. For years I have carried around a yellowed newspaper picture of her in my address book and finally put it to rest in a photo album a few years ago. But today I am posting photos of Beauty Queens gone by. I am sure these women are still beauties in their own right.
Miss Smiths Falls Delphine Graham in front of the Queen’s Hotel (Golden Nugget) late 70s
When was the first beauty pageant?
Entrepreneur Phineas Taylor Barnum staged the first modern 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.
Barnum’s beauty contest was protested widely, but Barnum wasn’t going to give up so easily. Instead of continuing to hold live pageants, Barnum advertised for women to submit daguerreotypes of themselves for judgement.
About 60 years after Barnum failed to have his live beauty contests take off, the modern American beauty pageant took off in earnest. The oh-so-eloquently named “Atlantic City’s Inter-City Beauty Contest” debuted in 1921 to attract more tourists to Atlantic City over the summer, and would later morph into the Miss America Pageant.
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