1954-?, NBC, ?, Peacock
THE MISS AMERICAN BEAUTY PAGEANT
MAD # 107, December 1966
w: Dick DeBartolo
a: Mort Drucker
Believe it or not, at one time Miss America was actually considered a big deal. At its height, the beauty pageant was on prime time TV like the Oscars. Knowing who Miss America was was somewhat common knowledge. Judges were people you've heard of. It was kind of the equivalent of the Presidency back when the idea of a woman in politics was considered like a unicorn. It was started a hundred years ago and has always been on the boardwalk in Atlantic City. While he was still alive, Bert Parks was the emcee. I have no idea who is now. It may have been televised in the last few years but I don't know where. Maybe late night syndication where they have infomercials. It's streaming now. It started losing legitimacy in the past fifty years as feminism started gaining traction. The final nail in the coffin may have been in 1984 when that year's Miss America did a Penthouse pictorial, it caused a big scandal, and then everybody realized they're basically the same thing when it comes down to it. Or maybe it was when imitations like Miss USA and Miss Teen USA started popping up.
Co-hostess is Bess Myerson, one-time Miss America, disgraced mayoral aide, and childhood friend of founding MAD artist Bill Elder. Announcer is John Cameron Swayze. I don't think the chairman of BVD is based on a real person, but Otto Preminger is caricatured. He's the director of films such as Anatomy of a Murder and The Man with the Golden Arm but probably best known as Mr. Freeze on Batman. Woody Allen's in the audience and regardless of where you stand on his innocence, we know for a fact he likes them young.
MAD #127, June 1969
w: Earle Doud
a: Jack Rickard
The judges here are the head of Boeing aircraft, Dick Gregory, and Otto Preminger. Woody Allen is in the same place in the audience again. It doesn't look like this panel was swiped from the panel in the previous strip though.
w: Frank Jacobs
a: Jack Rickard
Bobby Riggs was a tennis player who declared any man could beat any woman at the game, and staged a Battle of the Sexes game against pro Billie Jean King to prove it, which he lost.
MISS AMERICA CONTEST
Cracked #90. January 1971
a: John Severin
In the first panel of the presidential race story, there are a few Republicans who don't appear elsewhere. The first guy, next to Bert Parks, is George Romney. The second is Barry Goldwater and the fourth is John Lindsay, neither of whom actually ran for president that year. I'm not sure about the third man, but it might just be Rockefeller again.
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