UNTOLD MISS UNIVERSE STORIES
by Boy Abunda
MANILA, JUNE 13, 2007 (STAR) We always look forward to Miss Universe pageant. After Gloria Diaz and Margie Moran won it in 1969 and 1973, we remain hopeful that each year we are going to win it again. And we will.
With Charlene Gonzalez, I hosted the pre-pageant special for this year’s Miss Universe with Ana Teresa Licaros as our representative. She got the Miss Photogenic Award. Our hopes were high because Ana is not only beautiful but smart as well — having graduated Summa Cum Laude at the University of the Philippines and currently a law student at the same university.
Our guests for the pre-pageant special were Gloria Diaz, Chiqui Brosas, Jo-Anne Quintas, Karen Loren Agustin and Nina Ricci-Alagao. Beauty experts Felix Manuel and Gerry Yumping were our resource persons. In the audience were friends, classmates and family of Ana Teresa Licaros.
Some fascinating untold stories that came up during the show are:
Jo-Anne Quintas revealed that during her time, Miss Venezuela intimated to her that she was four months pregnant while Miss Malaysia didn’t shampoo her hair for three and a half weeks. The one and only Gloria Diaz remembered how the girls were taught how to annihilate bellicose pimples, the art of shaving underarms, and the importance of birth control pills.
Before flying to Miami for the Miss Universe, Gloria was told that she was going to win the title in a local Buddhist temple. She will not forget the endless fittings and briefings before pageant night. According to Glory, a former Miss Universe from France married a Mexican president’s son.
The girl made a movie titled Adam and Eve that by its title alone must have required her to show some amount of nudity. The President of Mexico bought the reels and all the tapes of the movie to escape controversy and embarrassment.
One time, Gloria told me nothing is lonelier than the night one bequeaths her crown when everyone is fussing over the new winner while the immediate past winner is literally shoved to one lonely corner of the stage, not knowing how to get back to the hotel!
Chiqui Brosas, one of my favorite beauty queens, is still as beautiful as when she won fourth runner-up in the 1975 Miss Universe. This lady has panache. I remember her thick black hair that crowned a ravishing beautiful face and the way she glided on stage. Today, Chiqui still sparkles with class. She remembers that when she came home from Colombia where the Miss Universe Pageant was held, customs authorities had to scrutinize her trophy for fear (perhaps) that drugs were surreptitiously hidden inside it.
Nina-Ricci Alagao had no expectations. She went to the contest, did her best she could and came home happy and whole even without the crown.
Karen Loren Agustin, the youngest in the group, recalled the beauty contest training she got in Colombia where winning a beauty contest is a much-coveted career. She even showed us how it is to walk like a beauty queen. Charlene and I had a ball doing it. Of course, Charlene looked great while I must have looked like a dry sea urchin being swept by the strong winds.
Well, Miss Japan, resplendent in her Bvlgari jewels, won the Miss Universe 2007 crown, while we will look forward to the next one. Who knows we might just win this time? We have always been ready for the third Filipina Miss Universe. Always!
PRIDE & PULCHRITUDE 