Beauty--<i> and </i> Brains--Count in This Pageant

A pretty girl may be like a melody, but Mickey Stueck is more interested in intelligence and personality. Those are the qualities she, as pageant director, looks for in the girls and young women who compete in the Miss Moorpark/Miss Moorpark Teen Queen Pageant.

Free-lance writer Leo Smith spent several weeks with Stueck and the contestants of the pageant to write this week’s centerpiece story.

Besides brains and character, Smith found other qualities to admire in these young women: determination and versatility.

“They all had to balance schoolwork with the intensive three weeks of preparation,” he said. “And some had to throw in final exams, work and other extracurricular activities. Stephanie Sill was hoarse one night because she had spent a good portion of the day screaming at a pep rally. And one of the other contestants, Karen Blum, had to take off her softball cleats before going on stage to dance. She was always juggling the pageant responsibilities with her softball.”

And their energy, at least when Smith was around, never flagged.

“It was kind of amazing how dedicated the contestants were throughout,” Smith said.

A local pageant of this kind is a puny undertaking compared to a Miss USA or even a Miss California contest, nonetheless it takes a huge commitment.

“I know the general public tends to forget what goes into the making of any production--there’s the time and energy, and there’s also the pride,” he said. “The contestants and the volunteers involved really wanted it to be a quality show.”

So what about all the backstage intrigue--the false eyelash tuggings, the hair mousse tamperings, the bodice ripping that we all assume is part of a beauty pageant?

“What struck me in particular was the bond that most of the contestants had with one another. It really seemed like one extended family,” Smith said.

“There was a tremendous camaraderie, which is something pageant director Stueck emphasizes when discussing the pageant. The contestants really seemed to be more nervous for each other than they were for themselves. You’d see each of them at one time or another show a desire to win, but for the most part it seemed more like a show than a contest.”

If you think you are ready for a beauty pageant but feel you can’t take your thighs with you, fashion columnist Kathleen Williams writes about a new cream that seems to have flown off the shelves in local stores since it debuted in the spring. This cream contains an asthma medication that, proponents say, promises to smooth out the puckers and dimples and give you smoother, sleeker legs.

Now all you have to do is figure out how to get down the ramp in those stiletto heels.