Beauty Show at Folkestone.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIII, Issue 16, 20 October 1909, Page 10

Beauty Show at Folkestone.

Since the days of Paris, who judged the first beauty show, there have never been such scenes of palpitating excitement as those which took place at Folkestone, when the following were declared the winners of the great international Beauty Show:— Queen of Queens: Mdlle. Augustine Orlhac, the Paris “ Queen of Queens.” Second: Miss Carpenter, of Folkestone. Third: Miss Louie Ellis, of Tunbridge Wells. Multiply a bank holiday rush by three, add to that the struggle' for a seat in a Paris omnibus on a rainy day and theh fight at a bargain sale, and you will have, a faint shadow of an idea of the scramble that took place outside the turnstile when thousands of men and women flocked to see beauty. Men flung half-sovereigns to the attendants and cried: “Let us in.” Others wrung their hands in despair, or smote their foreheads because there was no room for them; but the attendants were inexorable, and when the turnstile had registered 4,000, nothing but a beautiful face could pass you in. It has been one gigantic heart-throb in Folkestone from morn till night. When the Boulogne boat brought its bevy f beauties from France the jetty was lined with people. Never had Channel boat a fairer cargo. As a foil to their beauty there were three male delegates from each town, bearded and stout councillors, with coloured sashes across their chests. The sight was gladdening. The queens blew kisses to the cheering crowds, and the venerable white-bearded interpreter mixed up all his languages in the flurry of the moment. When the curtain went up the assembled thousands saw a rare sight. Beauty rose tier upon tier and smiled at them. In the centre, on a dais, sat the Paris Queen of Queens, looking gloriously beautiful in a robe of white and gold, with a gold ornament representing the civic tower of the Paris coat-of-arms in her dark hair, and rows of pearls about her slender neck. All the other beautiful queens, with their maids of honour, surrounded 'her, and on the left, were portly French municipal councillors with sashes across their white expanse of starched shirts. The Normandy Queen wore brilliant scarlet robes, trimmed with white lapin fur, and a sparkling diadem. Her maids of honour also wore robes of crimson and diadems. The Queen of Lille was in cardinal red, and her maids of honour were in purple velvet. When the names of the winners were announced the cheering was deafening. The Mayor of Folkestone kissed the Queen of Queeens, and the evening ended with the “ Marseillaise.”