MANNERS & MORALS: Stairway to the Stars

MANNERS & MORALS

In staccato shots from the publicity mills last week came news dear to the hearts of the tabloids. In Long Beach, Calif., the commercially sponsored (e.g., Max Factor cosmetics, Catalina swimsuits) contest for Miss U.S.A.—presumably the prettiest unmarried woman in the country—was nearing its climax. Fifteen finalists stood out, having shown more good looks than their 29 sisters representing the beauty of their respective areas. Poured into white bathing suits, the girls swiveled decorously down a runway under the judges' fastened, clinical eyes. Then, with the pomp of a St. James's coronation, the winner was crowned: Leona Gage (Miss Maryland), 21, a dark-haired stunner (5 ft. 9½ in., 118 Ibs.; 36-23-36). The prizes: a $1,000 wardrobe, a $2,000 contract with a cosmetics firm, a house trailer, a European trip, and a chance to compete with 32 other girls for the job of Miss Universe.

Ingenuous newsmen rushed to tell the world Leona's hoked-up Cinderella story: she had scraped together $45 to buy a gown for the Maryland preliminaries, had come West on a one-way ticket, borrowed a gown for the Long Beach judging. When she won the big prize she was down to her last $2. "I'm not manstruck," she said. "I'm not marrying until I'm 26." And then the roof fell in on Leona Gage: the judges learned that she was married..

Lights & Lies. At first Leona tearfully denied all. but the tears got her nowhere: her husband, Air Force Staff Sergeant Gene Ennis, 28, stationed at Baltimore, confirmed it; so did Ennis' mother in nearby Crisfield, Md.; so did Leona's mother in Dallas. At length Leona turned in her crown (to Charlotte Sheffield, Miss Utah) and confessed that she had done it all because "we desperately needed money to buy clothes and shoes for our two small children [aged 3 and 2]. My husband makes only $300 a month, and we owe so many bills." Then that story, too, got caught in the wringer.

Mary Leona Ennis (her real name) is only 18. Even at 13, she was a lovely, ambitious doll. Handsome Airman Gene Ennis began dating her in 1952, married her in 1954. Though Gene was a well-liked, hard-working Air Forceman (monthly pay: $370.90) Mary Leona yearned as always for the excitement of bright lights, attention and luxury. She studied modeling, parceled the kids out to friends and relatives, then jumped at Maryland's beauty contest and the chance for Miss U.S.A. Husband Gene let her go.

Kiss & Dismay. At week's end Mary Leona went back to Baltimore. Gene gave her a dignified kiss and took her to a press conference. There, in response to a newsman's question, Mary admitted that she had been married once before—at 14, to another airman—but that the marriage was annulled after one day. Said she: "I'm through telling lies. Believe you me, it wasn't worth it."

But it was, in one manner of speaking. From Las Vegas came a $200-a-week nightclub offer; a Hollywood club wanted Mary Leona, and so did Movie Producer "Jungle Sam'' Katzman. Television's Dave Garroway and The $64,000 Question put in their bids. But cagey Ed Sullivan, who likes to be fastest with the most, did it again. Mary Leona Gage Ennis signed up for the Sullivan program, was on her way.