Beauty Contestants Find It Hard to Smile as Pageant Goes Broke

The mayor of this City of Brotherly Love tried to prove that motto Friday by assisting contestants in a beauty pageant that never went on because it apparently went broke.

Mayor Edward Rendell arranged for a buffet lunch of donated food in his City Hall reception room, and for free lodging, courtesy tours and meals until the remaining contestants return home this weekend.

“I figured these young ladies from all over the country would have nothing but bad thoughts and would always remember their awful experience in Philadelphia, which was humiliating and tragic, and I didn’t want that to happen,” Rendell said.

The pageant, scheduled for Saturday, was canceled when promoter Gerson Antonelli, 31, of Philadelphia apparently ran out of money to stage the first Miss International U.S. Pageant. Antonelli could not be reached for comment Friday.

The pageant was supposed to have prizes totaling $50,000, including $10,000, a car and a cruise for the winner. She would then have been eligible for an international pageant next year in Brazil.

The 28 contestants were notified Thursday by hotel officials that Antonelli had stopped paying for their rooms. One of the pageant’s judges, Lisa Lyerly, said she called police and told them Antonelli had already spent nearly $30,000 of the entrance fees.

Police questioned Antonelli on Thursday but released him after determining it was a civil matter and that no crime had occurred. The mayor, on his way home, said he witnessed a wild scene outside the hotel when Antonelli was picked up.