Miss America Pageant: Memories from Kennett

Earlier this week, a new Miss America was crowned. Maybe not many of you were watching, but I guarantee you, if you were living in Kennett exactly 30 years ago, you were watching. That's because Miss Missouri, Anna Maria Schell, a 1976 graduate of Kennett High School, was competing.

In 1984, I was a young reporter at the DDD about to embark on the biggest assignment of my life. My boss, Jack Stapleton, gave me his blessing to travel to Atlantic City to cover the pageant from the preliminaries to the televised finals.

Times were different then, no e-mail, no digital cameras. We relied on overnight mail and phone calls. Each morning, I would check in with reporter Carol Goldsmith, give her the details and she would write it up for the afternoon paper. Elaine Garrison, also a reporter, developed and printed the photos. Our editor, Mark Geer, would shape the final layout of the articles.

I covered every aspect of Ann's experience. Getting interviews with her required me to go through the proper channels, her pageant sponsor and pageant officials. Getting interviews was not as simple as during the time Ann was competing for Miss Missouri. There was no one standing guard, and our close friendship made the interviews as simple as a conversation.

The Miss Missouri pageant was held in May 1984 in Columbia. She competed as Miss Springfield. A perfect performance of "Climb Every Mountain" blew the roof off the building, and when her name was announced as the winner, it was hard to believe that after all those years of hard work, her dream of making it to the Miss America pageant had finally come true.

Just getting to the national competition was the biggest challenge, Ann recalls. It all started when she was in high school, the cheerleader and "Paperdoll Queen" at Kennett High School, was approached by members of the local La Femme Club, looking to sponsor a Miss Missouri contestant. "At the time, someone came in and took me out of Mr. Nail's band class to talk to me about it," she remembers. "I was too young at the time. I waited until I graduated, because you have to be 18."

She was Miss Butler County and in the top ten, winning the talent competition on her first try. "I stayed out the next year, and then I was Miss St. Louis County, and next I was Miss Northeast Misssouri, both years finished as first runner-up." The next year, 1984, at age 25, she competed as Miss Springfield and won.

Miss America 1984 wasn't just any other Miss America pageant. This one was unique. Vanessa Williams, the retiring Miss America, had lost her crown after some photos of her were published in an adult magazine, unacceptable to the pageant organization. The first runner-up, Suzette Charles, was crowned Miss America during a press conference at the pageant, so she could in turn pass the crown on to Miss America 1985 later in the week.

It was a whirlwind week. Ann was in Atlantic City for eight days, doing rehearsals, the parade, photo shoots and interviews. "It was a very strenuous week," she said. "We were up at the crack of dawn, doing rehearsals and interviews and the pageant started on Wednesday night." The preliminaries included the swimsuit and the evening gown competition and the all-important talent competition that counted for 50 percent of the score. Though she did a beautiful performance of "Climb Every Mountain," something beyond Ann's control happened when the pageant musicians prepared the score for the orchestra. "You can record things and move that key a little bit; apparently someone had done that. It was a little higher key than I had been singing in," she recalls. "It was a little high, more soprano than mezzo soprano. It was still a decent performance. I remember a tear coming down the first note they played. There was nothing they could do at that point. It was all written out by hand. Now you have computer programs that make it easy to change that. I still have the score where the conductor had made the arrangement. It was still extremely exciting to sing with that quality of an orchestra. It was definitely the most exciting performance of my life."

My traveling companion was Ann's sister, Gail. She helped me with my cameras and notebooks and during down time, we were able to tour the boardwalk, casinos and shops together. We were not allowed to see Ann unless it was a scheduled interview, and her chaperone was always there to sit in on the interviews. There were daily press conferences to attend, which usually included pageant host Gary Collins, updating the press on the latest happenings and taking questions. I was likely from the smallest media outlet there. Others included the entertainment television shows, like A Current Affair; and the nation's major newspapers, like the Philadelphia Inquirer, who I sat next to on Press Row. I was a small fish in a big pond.

After a long week of preliminary competition, the big night arrived. Celebrities and contestants, lights and cameras, and Kennett's own Anna Maria Schell, all gathered for the crowning of Miss America.

I had a list of the top ten finalists ahead of time. It was a secret I had to keep. I had to use my best poker face as not to reveal my disappointment that Ann was not one of them. She would find out soon enough.

It was far from over after the pageant. Ann had a job to do as Miss Missouri. "I traveled constantly every week," she remembers. "You name it, I did it. Conventions in St. Louis, store openings, the Governor's Cup hydroplane event. I threw out the first pitch at a Cardinals game and spoke with Jack Buck. I emceed pageants, entertained at a lot of different civic clubs, fairs and different functions. The funniest thing I did was a convention in St. Louis where they had me stand in a grocery bag and two men held me up, showing the strength of the bag." She said the most rewarding part was meeting people from all walks of life.

"I was just thrilled to be there," Ann said. "It was something I had worked toward for many years. I did shed a couple of tears, but I was happy for everyone who made it. What's meant to be in life happens and if it doesn't, it's not our time. It's still just an incredible experience on many levels. And just the memory of having my best friend covering it, having my mother, my sister, a couple of aunts and cousins and friends there meant so much."

Perhaps the judges were being careful as could be -- it turned out Miss America 1985 was Miss Utah, a harp player whose hobby was making soap. Watching Miss Utah accept the crown from Suzette Charles, and to see her walk down the aisle under the hot lights of the television cameras was an unforgettable experience. "There she is..." crooned the pageant host. In my mind, I pictured how it would be if our hometown girl had won the crown. It was a dream worth dreaming.