The Maid of Cotton Pageant

Continuing our intermittent look at oddball beauty pageants.

The Maid of Cotton pageant began in 1939. The annual pageant was sponsored by the National Cotton Council (NCC), Memphis Cotton Carnival, and the Cotton Exchanges of Memphis, New York, and New Orleans. The pageant was held in Memphis, Tennessee, in conjunction with the Carnival until the 1980s.

In mid-December every year the NCC released a list of contestants. Contestants were required to have been born in one of the cotton-producing states: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, North and South Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas or Virginia. They might have also been born in the cotton-producing counties of Alexander, Jefferson, Massac, Pulaski, Williamson or Madison, Illinois or in Clark or Nye counties of Nevada. There were usually twenty contestants each year.

Contestants were judged on personality, good manners, intelligence, and family background as well as beauty and an ability to model. A Top Ten were chosen and then a Top Five, and finally second and first runners up and a winner. Winners served as goodwill and fashion ambassadors of the cotton industry in a five-month, all-expense tour of American cities. In the mid-1950s the tour expanded globally. In the late 1950s a Little Miss Cotton pageant was begun but lasted only until 1963 before being discontinued. In the mid-1980s Dallas,Texas took over the pageant, in conjunction with the NCC and its overseas division, Cotton Council International. In 1986, to bolster interest and participation, the NCC eliminated the rule requiring contestants to be born in a cotton-producing state. The pageant was discontinued in 1993, one of the reasons being that Cotton Inc. stopped contributing scholarship money as well as waning public interest and changing marketing strategies.

More details here.

And also here.

The 1952 winner.

Source.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Jul 21, 2017 - Comments (3)
Category: Beauty, Ugliness and Other Aesthetic Issues, Contests, Races and Other Competitions, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s

Brick:  “Summer Heat”

"That summer heat makes me want to get down! The moonlight's making it easier for me to see/That it's time for love--or Mother Nature's playing tricks on me!""

Wikipedia page here.

Posted By: Paul - Sun May 28, 2017 - Comments (1)
Category: Music, 1980s, Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults

Gregg Peters:  Elvis Impersonator

Let me know when you bail...

Posted By: Paul - Fri May 26, 2017 - Comments (7)
Category: Celebrities, Disguises, Impersonations, Mimics and Forgeries, Music, 1980s, Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults

The Shabby Millionaire

1989: John Barrier of Spokane, Washington went into Old National Bank to cash a $100 check. Then he asked to have his 60-cent parking ticket validated. The cashier refused, saying that merely cashing a check didn't entitle him to free parking. Barrier had a manager called, who also refused to validate the ticket. Barrier suspected that they were refusing because he was dressed in shabby clothes like he had just gotten off a construction job. So he withdrew the entire $2 million he had deposited there and took his money to another bank, Seafirst Bank of Spokane.

The tale of the shabby millionaire eventually ended up being told in Seafirst's company newsletter. From there it made its way to a local newspaper column, and then leapt to the front page of USA Today and national headlines.

Both banks confirmed the basic details of what happened, although a representative for Old National Bank later insisted that they had, eventually, validated Barrier's parking ticket.

Detroit Free Press - Feb 21, 1989

The Akron Beacon Journal - Mar 29, 1989

Posted By: Alex - Sat May 13, 2017 - Comments (4)
Category: Money, Pranks and Revenge, 1980s

Thrashin’

Wikipedia entry here.

Posted By: Paul - Mon May 08, 2017 - Comments (2)
Category: Antisocial Activites, Contests, Races and Other Competitions, Ineptness, Crudity, Talentlessness, Kitsch, and Bad Art, Movies, Sports, 1980s

Chipmunk Punk

Posted By: Paul - Thu Apr 06, 2017 - Comments (5)
Category: Animals, Anthropomorphism, Music, Cartoons, 1980s, Cacophony, Dissonance, White Noise and Other Sonic Assaults

Inmate Escape Pod

1980: Fred Caddedu escaped from Millhaven penitentiary in Kingston, Ontario by concealing himself inside an "escape pod" made out of a hollowed-out stack of dirty food trays.

The food trays were loaded onto a truck and taken to the unguarded, off-site kitchen to be cleaned. Once there, Caddedu just walked away. He was caught and returned to prison several months later.

His escape pod later became an exhibit in the Correctional Service of Canada Museum.

Image source: Museopathy

The Ottawa Journal - July 14, 1980

Posted By: Alex - Sun Mar 26, 2017 - Comments (1)
Category: Prisons, 1980s

Eddie Harris:  That Is Why You’re Overweight

Although the tune is fine, the lyrics are the thing here, and they start around 2:20.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Feb 25, 2017 - Comments (1)
Category: Addictions, Food, Music, 1980s

Bathrooms walls as teaching tool

1980: At the annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, Alan Grogono reported on the results of an experiment to determine the efficacy of bathrooms walls as a teaching tool.

While teaching a class on CPR, he placed educational posters about CPR in the bathroom of one college dormitory, while placing no posters in the bathroom of another. Students housed in the dormitory with the bathroom posters subsequently scored significantly better on the CPR exam than those in the no-poster dormitory. In fact, students in the bathroom-poster dormitory who hadn't even taken the class scored as well as students in the no-poster dorm who had taken the class.

Grogono concluded that bathroom posters could be a useful supplement to CPR training. He also credited his "fascination with restroom communication" to his student days at London Hospital Medical College.

Philadelphia Inquirer - Nov 27, 1980

Chemical & Engineering News - Oct 27, 1980

Posted By: Alex - Tue Jan 24, 2017 - Comments (8)
Category: Bathrooms, Education, 1980s

St. Pancake Day

The Dutch cartoonist Jan Kruis, recently deceased, was responsible for proclaiming November 29th of every year to be the "Sint Pannekoek-feest," and getting the whole country to play along. The main tradition is to wear a pancake on your head.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Jan 21, 2017 - Comments (1)
Category: Eccentrics, Food, Comics, Performance Art, Foreign Customs, 1980s, Europe