Miss University' Contest A Fiasco

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31359, 3 May 1967, Page 2

Miss University ' Contest A Fiasco

The “Miss University Contest” which was held yesterday as part of the programme for graduation week could only be described as a fiasco. With the confusion and excitement that built up in the hour before the contest, the girls’ appearance, through no fault of their own, was a decided anticlimax. Confusion resulted from the contradictory starting times advertised for the contest. Some sources said 2 p.m. others, 3 pm. Seating was reserved for the public, and this did not include students. As the contest received most of its support from the student population, the student audience were packed “about 12 deep” while the seating remained unoccupied. A self appointed (or possibly popularly elected) Mao Tse-tung, wearing a paisley shirt, wide tie and a corduroy jacket, was erected shoulder

high above his companions, and entertained his sector, the eastern section, with quotations from his “little red book.”

When 2.30 p.m. arrived and still no contests, the students sincerely believed they were being kept waiting through the incompetence of the organisers and they were aroused. Trumpets sounded, booing and hooting and an enthusiastic version of “Why are we waiting” to the strains of “Adeste Fidelis.” At 3 p.m. when the contest was due to start, the organisers discovered the sound system was not working. Electricians called on to restore it were booed, jeered, hooted and cheered by different sections of the audience. Meanwhile the Mao sector of the crowd provided a diversion as they chanted “Mao for Pope. Mao for Pope.” It was discovered that the system which had been in good working order, had been disconnected by the vast throngs who had unwittingly seated themselves upon the key parts of the mechanism. The conscientious efforts of the electricians and the or-

ganisers failed to restore the sound system to working order and the contest had tc continue without it When the first contestant appeared, the noise continued, and the compere, Miss Marjorie Simm, had to abandon her script and even in the front row it was impossible to hear the contestants’ names. . The constant booing and jeering did nothing to aid the nine very nervous contestants—some of whom were obviously distraught and close to tears. Dr. G. V. Orange pleaded for co-operation. “Many of you making that noise would not have the guts to enter the contest yourselves. Your behaviour is barbarous, stupid and ill-mannered,” he said. There was some more confusion on the part of the compere as to whether or not, the three male models, who appeared on stage, were actually part of the programme or part of another “big stunt.” Results were not announced after the contest, and members of the public must have felt they had braved the whole ordeal for nothing.