Programs: Heyday of the Girlie Galas

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Summer is the time for reruns — intentional or otherwise. Last week, NBC presented "the most unusual and exciting competitive pageant in America," but alas, it still looked like all those other un-unusual and unexciting pageants that parade across the screen this time of the year. There again was the line of dimpled sweet young things, gowns aglitter with sequins, hair piled high and smiles frozen in place from hours of practice before the mirror. There was the usual Congeniality Award and the inevitable quiz to test "poise, conciseness, speech and intelligence" (Host Mike Douglas: "Suzanne, what do you think of the way TV covers the news?" Suzanne: "I think it's fabulous"). And finally, of course, there was the big-moment-all-America-is-waiting-for when, amid squeals and swoons, the winner was announced.

The show was called the National College Queen Pageant, which is not to be confused with NBC's Junior Miss Pageant or CBS's Miss Teen-age America Pageant or ABC's Miss Teen International Pageant. This season, with ten girlie galas scheduled by the networks and dozens more by local stations, the College Queen Pageant might possibly be remembered for two slight distinctions. First, the new queen, Valerie Dickerson, 21, from San Jose State College in California, was the only Negro among the 50 contestants. Second, the show is sponsored by the Best Foods Division of Corn Products Inc., which is stunningly appropriate.

In the usual dreary effort to show that the program was meant to stress brains over bustlines, film clips showed "panels of experts" testing the girls in some of the eleven criteria of the "complete, modern, intelligent young lady." These include such crucial skills as cake decorating, highway-safety practices and color coordination.

Royal Saleslady. Like all network pageant winners, College Queen Dickerson will spend the next year posing for magazine ads and giving testimonials on behalf of the sponsor. In addition to such prizes as a new convertible, a trip to Europe and ten shares of Corn Products stock (worth $390 as of last week), she will also earn $100 for each day that she performs as a royal saleslady. The current Miss America, Kansas' Debra Dene Barnes, will pick up $100,000 this year for presiding at the opening of a Pepsi-Cola bottling plant or perching on the fender of a new Oldsmobile. Through similar promotions, the 49 other state finalists in the Miss America contest will reap about $20,000 each.