SHORT TAKES : Pageant Boycott Threat Ignored

The show will go on with or without Carole Gist, the reigning Miss USA, officials say of the beauty queen’s possible boycott of the 1991 pageant.

A former Miss Kansas-USA and others are filling in for Gist, 21, of Detroit, during those segments of the Feb. 22 pageant finals that are prerecorded. Videotaping began this week in Wichita.

“Carole thought we wouldn’t have a show without her. She’s sadly mistaken,” said Denise Kurtzman, a spokeswoman for Madison Square Garden Productions, the Los Angeles-based producer for the pageant. “The show is about the new Miss USA, not the old one.”

Gist reportedly is upset that she hasn’t received some of the $144,000 worth of prizes she won in last year’s pageant. Her lawyer also claims that a contractual clause prohibiting Gist from using her title in commercial endorsements for two years is unenforceable.