Santa Cruz Sojourn, 1955

[Music] ladies and gentlemen this is Santa Cruz City just 70 M South of San Francisco photographer in here today on emo important I might say enjoyable and intriguing asign going to take pictures of the Miss California contest to determine who will represent the Golden State in the Miss America contest at Atlantic City please notice that the architecture in Santa Cruz Bears out the Spanish motive established by the Pirates and here's where the arch student League presents the tourist must attraction The Last Supper Now's the Time to get a few Beach this is indeed a vacationist paradise a very fairy land of fun Frolic Sport and frivolity here's a welcome distraction for almost everyone everything is here for everybody including the tired businessman and I don't mean boating I don't mean bathing for him I mean this well they they told me to get some pictures of all the curves down here today so I might as well try a few of these curves see if I can get around them full as I am of pink lemonade hot dogs and a few packs of peanuts I came down for some excitement here it is boy what a ride here's cassad Del Ray hotel and here's where the contestants will check in report for the contest going to see if we can get these girls together now for a walk-in shot into the hotel because at the entrance the reception committee is on hand to greet them with the keys to the city they're going to see to it that these lovelies have a pleasant three days whether they become individually speaking of course Miss California or not the hotel staff is on hand with smiles indeed for these pretties and and I presume that the clerks are always happy when it's time for the Miss California contest notice the fans on hand to get an advanced peak of all these lovely girls and to try to get an idea if they can who's going to win it contest I mean now these ladies are in charge of the various arrangements and the honored guest today is Miss Joanne marwe here she is she was Miss America of 195 before and being a California girl the judges and the people of Santa Cruz are in hopes that again California girl will go on to become Miss America as the result of this contest which is in its first stages right now here's me getting my first cheesecake shot this was used for advanced publicity and now here's the first event on the schedule of three different events to determine who will be come Miss California this ladies and gentlemen is the bathing suit parade and here's captivation for you here's glamour here's glory and here's Miss Eureka first contestant to step up on the platform turn about so that us photographers can get the necessary camera angles because this is a field day for us and that is for sure here's Miss Sacramento from the capital City and right behind her right in our lens every once in a while we get a little cute peek from Miss Santa Barbara the brunette lovely Miss Fresno the epitome of loveliness but then when you start using adjectives about any one of these girls then you perer got to apply them to them all because they're all just as sweet as they can be and the judges H what a job they're going to have to decide this one miss San Jose for instance there's a girl for you they all have what it takes and California certainly is well represented in The Beauty Department and this the first stage of the game judges what are you deciding are you comparing notes it's a good thing for this contest that I'm not one of the judges because I'll be very Frank to admit that any one of these girls could bried me including Miss H who is now in our lens every once in a while miss Santa Barber gives us a little cute koi peek here's Hollywood from the Celluloid City yes she's been around on the rostrom before she did very well in the contest which is to follow this one which we'll talk more about in a moment here's Miss San Francisco typifying the city of health wealth and happiness hello Miss Oakland curvaceous koi cute a brunette lovely perfect in every proportion yes indeed now we want to get a fairwell shot of you girls turn around Miss Modesto please miss Modesto thank you I'll count three and you girls turn around and wave 1 2 3 wave that's fine now in just a moment one of my colleagues will get one of the most beautiful photographs of all of the girls you see him down there in the lower right hand corner of the picture and he's shooting up to get this contrasting study in Beauty a study in black and white with the Perfection of femininity to photograph well girls goodbye wave goodbye goodbye girls goodbye now this is the Civic Auditorium where we go into the second stage of the three event contest girls have discarded their bathing suits da their loveliest evening frocks and tonight they're to be judged not particularly from a beauty standpoint but they'll be judged on their Poise their personality their talent their dramatic ability many of the girls that says here could sing could dance could recite and otherwise entertain Well everybody's so anxious awaiting the Thrills of tomorrow and to discover who will be Miss California that for now we'll just say well good night girls and we'll be waiting with baited breath and great Great Expectations to discover on the tomorrow at the beach who Miss California will be now before the finals begin let's everybody sit down please thank you now we can all see everything and certainly nobody wants to miss even one miss today what wonderful Beach weather for the final saunter the climax the last word from the judges the suspense is terrific have you you decided who you think is the winner and the new Miss California there are 30,000 people on hand today and this is an enthusiastic throng which leads me to observe that we must never underestimate the power of a woman especially when she's in a bathing suit these are bathing suits we uh shudder clickers we were given the preferred position in the enclosure behind the walkway and we were able to capture on film of course every angle every curve and speaking of Curves well there were plenty of them my colleague Gerald got right into the thick of the glamour posing the girls with Reckless abandon determined that his movie should bring gas of appreciation forever shown has your blood pressure mounted is the tension building this will be a tough one for the judges these girls are all good sports and I doubt that an old-fashioned hair pulling bee will result when the decision is announced still you never can tell a woman is a woman all the misses are favorites today all have their friends and admirers and all are getting cheered whistles and Applause speaking of whistles Miss Oakland said she detected a wolfish note but she also said every woman secretly appreciates this definite sign of admiration and approval folks came from all over the state to witness this parade of femininity many came to root for their favorites and many came just to observe you know let the best girl win all of the contestant since we're in rare form relaxed happy all bosoms beat in anticipation as each girl asked herself will it be me will I be the new Miss California will everybody please sit down hey bud Sit down you're blocking me view as each Beauty took her turn around the semicir circular walkway the tension mounted will miss Sacramento be the winner Miss San Francisco or will it be Miss Hollywood will she win the title every girl made a lovely picture and the Candid Camera fans clicked away from all Vantage points the press and News Real photographers ground out thousands of feet of film as radio commentators described the march of beauty hasn't Miss Watsonville lovely [Music] [Applause] [Music] eyes the contest will end with dramatic suddenness the field is narrowed down to five three finalists will be selected third second and the winner in just a moment we'll be back to the judge's stand and the reports will be in that's right give all the girls a big hand and the first winner number three is Miss San Jose who will play second [Music] why it's Miss Oakland she's in the second place and now for the big moment who will be the Titleist who is it it's Miss Watsonville I was never so happy in my life she sobbs through tears of joy Mrs Bud Westmore Miss California for 1952 will do the honors and the winner Miss Barbara Harris she's 20 years old weighs 120 lb she's 5' 6 in tall bust 34 1/2 in Waist 23 1/2 in and the hips 34 1/2 in she's a secretary by profession and a certainly A fitting entry in the Miss America contest representing California she has no romantic attachments and does not go steady so chance boys there's a [Music] chance Miss Mesto did her part right up to the very end buy nothing hadle next year here so let's sit down and relax see you in Santa Cruz in June