Queens for a Day, and Still Reigning : The youngest members are sixtysomething, the oldest in her 90s. Their slogan is ‘Queenly Forever.’

If you want to know the truth, Queen Helen confided, there was a time when she used to giggle at the program.

“I didn’t realize I had a pitiful tale,” she said, “until I went on the show.”

In the annals of radio and television, “Queen for a Day” was unique. Contestants didn’t play word games and weren’t tested for knowledge. They didn’t guess the price of merchandise or wear funny costumes. Instead, they told of their humble dreams and, very often, their hardships. The studio audience, by applause, would pick the lucky gal.

Back then, Helen Carroll was a nurse at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital who had recently become separated from her husband. One day she went out shopping with her sister and decided to drop in on the “Queen for a Day” show, then broadcast on radio. Many women filled out cards in hopes of becoming contestants.

Helen wrote: “Need washing machine. Have two children, pregnant with third. No husband.” She was stunned when her name was called.

Jack Bailey, the regular emcee, was visiting Europe. The guest host milked Helen’s story for all it was worth, avoiding the delicate matter of “no husband.” This was 1951, after all.

By the time he was through, even Helen’s rivals joined in the applause to help her win.

Never before had I been in the presence of so much royalty. It was an honor to meet Queen Helen one recent day at George’s Buffet in Van Nuys. It was also an honor to meet Queens Emily and Emma, Rose and Rosaleen, Elle and Alvina, Leahnora and Lucille, and Claribel. This was the monthly meeting of the Queen for a Day Club. Just for the fun of it, they address each other in regal terms. Husbands in attendance included King Tom, King George, King Bill and King Hank.

The youngest members are sixtysomething, the oldest in her 90s. Their slogan is “Queenly Forever.”

Queenliness, in and of itself, is not necessarily a virtue. In the old days, one queen said “Let them eat cake” and no doubt regretted it at the guillotine. But rest assured that these women are good queens, even All-American queens, who were chosen by democratic applause.

Queen Lucille Helwig of Van Nuys, club president, tapped her gavel gently on the table. It was time to get down to business of this semi-secret society. A drawing was held and the delighted winner, Rose Kraus, was crowned as the queen of this particular meeting.

Queen Lucille tapped the gavel again. Next on the agenda were fund-raising efforts, such as the Bake-less Bake Sale. (Rather than actually bake cakes, they all contribute a few dollars from time to time.) Last year, the queens donated $1,500 to Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

Not too shabby, Queen Lucille pointed out, for such a small group.

Amazingly, the club has outlived the “Queen for a Day” program by 28 years. The show ran on radio from 1945 to 1955, then on TV until 1965, crowning about 5,000 women along the way. The club, founded in 1946, once had a membership of 250. Now the vagaries of life and the inevitability of death have winnowed their numbers to 24. Even so, it has done nothing to dull the anticipation of club’s 50th anniversary, just three years away.

Queen Claribel Anderson, who served as president 17 years, came all the way from Las Vegas for this meeting, bringing along a scrap book filled with old photos and newspaper clippings.

She told of her unsuccessful efforts to organize a Las Vegas chapter. There were four queens in the area, and Queen Claribel thought it would be nifty if they met at the Four Queens Hotel and Casino. It never happened because two Vegas queens recently passed away. Her tone is matter-of-fact, her mood nothing but cheerful.

Queen Helen believes the women share an uncommon friendliness. Her daughter, Princess Monica, theorizes that their positive attitudes helped persuade the studio audiences to make them queens. Perhaps they succeeded by conveying a spirit of generosity, not an attitude of woe-is-me.

Queen Alvina Brass asked for an artificial leg for a daughter. Queen Leahnora Martin wished for a “desert air lamp”--an air-drying device to enable her asthmatic son to leave his grandparents’ home in Utah and rejoin his parents in West Los Angeles. Queen Emma Sundelius wanted those newfangled manual automobile controls to allow her 18-year-old daughter Doreen, stricken with polio at age 5, to lead a more normal life.

In that age of modest expectations, such gifts meant a great deal. Queen Emma can’t overstate how much it meant for Doreen to drive the car. “It just brightened her life. She could do things just like the other kids could do.”

In May, Queen Emma proudly attended the wedding of Doreen’s own daughter, Tracy. “It was a gorgeous thing.”

People often forget that contestants didn’t only tell hard luck stories. One contestant asked for her husband to be stretched a half-inch so he could apply to the LAPD. Queen Lucille’s dream was to sing with a big band. She did so, performing with the Lawrence Welk Orchestra in the Santa Monica Ballroom.

The queens’ wish today is that the show would make a comeback.

“When you get that crown, and those roses, and that robe--oh, what a feeling!” Queen Emily Anderson recalled of a day now 45 years past. Medical bills had ruined the family finances; Emily’s wish was for a new suit for her husband.

“It made so many people happy--and granted so many wishes for people that really needed it. . . . It was the most wonderful thing that ever happened to me.”

It was such a blessing, they agree. Still is. After so many years, who would have thought that “Queen for a Day” could still be giving?

The queens have seen to that.