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Pageant Trivia: Queens' Life

When emcee Dick Clark announced Charlotte Lopez as winner of the 1993 Miss Teen USA Pageant, her sister, who was watching the telecast at home, began screaming so loudly that a frightened neighbor called the police. Officers raced to the scene to investigate the crowning "crime."

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In 1970, when the Miss America Pageant celebrated its 50th anniversary, officials ordered a specially-manufactured golden crown. During the telecast, Phyllis George, Miss Texas, was named that year's winner.

Unaware that the new winner was wearing a hairpiece, the retiring queen, Pamela Eldred, discovered that the crown's hairpins would not penetrate Phyllis' "hair." When producers urgently signaled her to rush the crowning, Pamela nudged Phyllis toward the runway for her victory walk.

Phyllis nodded toward the judges, sending the crown crashing to the floor, splattering rhinestones. Phyllis picked it up and carried it, making her the only winner to drop her crown on live television. "It would have to happen to me," she later exclaimed. "My big moment. I’ve won Miss America, and my crown is in my hand!"

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When Diane Sawyer competed in the America's Junior Miss Pageant, several judges considered her too serious and sophisticated to serve as a teen titleholder. Then, a silly stroke of luck changed their minds--and the course of the crown. During rehearsals, nearsighted Diane walked headfirst into a metal post in front of the judges and dissolved into girlish giggles.

Charmed by Sawyer's silly side, several judges changed their votes in her favor. That night she was named 1963 America's Junior Miss.

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Soviet Salute... During the Moscow Beauty '88 contest, celebrating Soviet reforms, Maria Kalinina was chosen as the first-ever Muscovite beauty queen. The communist stage crew --unaccustomed to parades of pulchritude-- couldn't take their eyes off the sexy winner.

As she was being crowned, one fellow in charge of lightly sprinkling the new queen with long-stemmed flowers from an overhead bin, was so distracted that he accidentally dumped the entire load of flowers on her, knocking the crown off her head and causing the poor girl to duck for cover.

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In 1967, Bert Parks got over-enthusiastic while singing There She is, Miss America to the new Miss America, Debra Barnes, of Kansas, and yanked out the microphone cord. Unaware of the mishap, the emcee continued to bellow into a dead microphone, giving the first "mime" rendition of the famous song.

When Parks got back to his hotel room that night, his wife, Annette, got a call from a southern fan. "Miz Parks," the lad asked, "How come your husband sang that song for the rest of the country but not for us folks down heah?"

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When Mrs. New Jersey heard her name announced as Mrs. America 1952, she passed out cold on-stage. It took panicked pageant officials several minutes to revive her.

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Sources: Atlantic City Magazine, Glamour, Miami Herald, Miss America Cookbook (Rutlege Hill Press), Miss America: In Pursuit of the Crown (MasterMedia), People, Press of Atlantic City, Union News, Tropic, TV Guide