COUNTYWIDE / O.C. FAIR : Ex-Queens Give Rein to Memories

Their titles were as varied as their lives. There were the Pirate Queens, the Aloha Queens and a smattering of Country Girls.

Some of them went on to be movie stars. Others went to college or started families, and a few drifted into obscurity, never to be heard from again.

The differences are many, but bonding them all is a sash, a diamond crown and a memorable stint of reigning over the Orange County Fair as its queen.

“It felt like being Cinderella,” said Susie Bruderlin, Miss Aloha Queen 1966. “It was a lot of fun.”

As part of this year’s Centennial Celebration of the fair, this special fraternity of women will don sashes once more to be honored again as the fairest of the fair. For the 40 or so former fair queens, it is a trip down memory lane that most don’t mind taking.

Bruderlin, sifting through a scrapbook stuffed with newspaper clippings, old photographs and a ticket to charm school, sat earlier this week with former queens Mary Wiley, Miss 1931, and Joanne Nichols, Miss 1953, to reminisce about their reigns.

At 20, Bruderlin, now an Irvine resident, entered the Orange County Fair pageant by accident when a friend put in her name. She took the title and, along with it, the duties of cuddling up with pigs for photographs and greeting visitors as they drove in. At that time, all fair queens were required to stay overnight in the fairgrounds’ former Army barracks.

After being crowned Miss Aloha--the fair had a Hawaiian theme through much of the ‘60s--Bruderlin, now the mother of twins, said she got hooked on pageants. Like a prizefighter, she proudly gives her record of 32 wins out of 35 pageants.

From Orange County, she went on to become Miss California, only to miss her shot at the Miss America title when her plane was six hours late for the pageant. “It was a very long plane ride home,” she said.

For Joanne Nichols, Miss Pirate Queen 1953, one of the most memorable things about her stint was “that feather.”

“Everywhere we went we had to wear that hat with that feather in it,” she said, laughing and pointing to a picture of herself and her court, clad in pirate garb complete with a tricorn hat with a huge feather sticking out of the middle.

After taking the crown, Nichols, only 15 at the time, signed with the Hollywood Studio Club, moving to the talent studio’s boarding home in Hollywood with the likes of Kim Novak and Rita Moreno. Then came a modeling career, a few movies and even a date with John Wayne before settling down and having kids.

“My experience at the fair opened up a whole new world to me,” said Nichols, 54, a real estate agent who now resides in Laguna Hills.

For 76-year-old Mary Wiley, Miss Valencia Orange Queen of 1931, there were no more beauty pageants. In fact, a lone newspaper clipping is her sole reminder of the event. The article tells how she won by garnering 14,000 mail-in votes through a local newspaper contest. At the time, the fair was held in Anaheim and there was a different queen each night.

“My star flared brilliantly, but briefly,” said Wiley, who lives in Corona del Mar.

Wiley, Bruderlin, Nichols and fair queens from as long ago as 1923 will gather Thursday, the night before the fair opens, for a VIP party. For many, it will be a wistful reminder of their moments in the spotlight.

“Sure, I would do it again,” Bruderlin said. “Sometimes I regret the age I am. I would like to compete again.”