13 November 2018 - THE FIRST ‘MISS SOVIET UNION' BEAUTY PAGEANT

THE FIRST ‘MISS SOVIET

UNION' BEAUTY PAGEANT

G'day folks,

Ever wondered how the Soviet Union became involved in world beauty pageants? I certainly hadn't but here is some background.

The year was 1988, the iron curtain was falling and the final leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, was patching up foreign relations with America after a schmoozy dinner with Ronald and Nancy Reagan in Washington. The country was ushering in a new era of social freedom and a flood of information about the lives of people abroad had triggered a catch-up period of imitation for the USSR.

The Puritan ways of the Soviet Union had previously repressed the frivolity of show business, celebration of beauty and the female form or sexy fashion. So when the 30 year ban on beauty pageants was lifted and the first ever official government-approved beauty contest in the Soviet Union was announced, it was a pretty huge deal.

Not to throw all their communist values out the window at once, women of all ages, status, size and shape were invited to enter the contest. “Every ordinary person, every beautiful woman or one that feels beautiful, come and show themselves”.

Tryouts were held at Gorky park and queues stretched to a couple kilometers long. It was an event compared by the press to Garagin’s flight to space.

After many months of monokini mishaps and hairspray overdoses, a sixteen year-old Maria Kalinina was crowned Miss USSR. She was sent to travel around the world, and reportedly won the hearts of presidents, ministers, and a no doubt a few inappropriate propositions from wealthy suitors. She later moved to Hollywood where she pursued a career as an actress, changing her name to Maria Kalin. 

She now teaches Kundalini yoga in her studio in Los Angeles.

 

Clancy's comment: I'm sure you were dying to know this. Mm ... The beauty pageant business would involve millions of dollars today.

I'm ...

16 November 2016 - MARILYN MONROE

MARILYN MONROE

G'day folks,

Marilyn Monroe was an American actress and model. Famous for playing "dumb blonde" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s, emblematic of the era's attitudes towards sexuality.

“I am good, but not an angel. I do sin, but I am not the devil. I am just a small girl in a big world trying to find someone to love.”
Marilyn Monroe

Monroe was born, Norma Jeane Mortenson, in June 1926. Her father was unknown and she was baptised as Norma Jeane Baker; she spent many years in foster homes because of her family situation.

Monroe married Jimmy Dougherty, in 1942. When he left to the South Pacific to fight in the Second world War, she joined a local munitions factory in Burbank, California. It was here that Marilyn got her first big break. 

Photographer David Conover, was covering the munitions factory to show women at work. He was struck by the beauty and photogenic nature of Norma, and he used her in many of her shots. This enabled her to start a career as a model and she was soon featured on the front of many magazine covers.

1946 was a pivotal year for Marilyn, she divorced her young husband and changed her name from the boring Norma Baker to the more glamorous Marilyn Monroe (after her grandma). She took drama lessons and got her first movie contract with Twentieth Century Fox. Her first few films were low key, but, it gained her more prominent roles in films such as All About Eve, Niagara and later Gentleman Prefer Blondes and How To Marry A Millionaire.

By now these film roles had thrust her into the global limelight. She was an iconic figure of Hollywood glamour and fashion. She was an epitome of sensuality, beauty and effervescence and was naturally photogenic. She often found the trappings of fame difficult to deal with.

 When you’re famous you kind of run into human nature in a raw kind of way. It stirs up envy, fame does. People you run into feel that, well, who does she think she is, Marilyn Monroe? They feel fame gives them some kind of privilege to walk up to you and say anything to you, of any kind of nature — and it won’t hurt your feelings — like it’s happening to your clothes not you.
– Marilyn Monroe (A Life of the Actress, 1993)

In 1954, she married baseball star Joe DiMaggio, a friend of over two years. They were later to divorce, but they remained close friends.

In her later career, she tried to move beyond the ‘blonde bombshell’ typecasting and set up her own movie production. She was awarded a golden globe award for her role in ‘Some Like It Hot‘

Tragically, she died early from an overdose of barbiturates in 1962 aged just 36.

Clancy's comment: Mm ... Another young woman who died too early. 

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