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Behold the National Pork Queen! Vintage photos of bizarre beauty contests & queens
10.13.2015
08:21 am
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Elmira Humphries, Miss Radio Queen - 1939
Elmira Humphries, Miss Radio Queen - 1939
 
From “Miss Beautiful Ape” to “The Diaper Queen” of Chicago in 1947, there there are a seemingly endless variety of strange beauty contests that have been crowning queens since early 1900s.
 
Miss Beautiful Ape contest, Century City, California - 1972
Miss Beautiful Ape contest, Century City, California - 1972
 
Take for instance the “Miss Beautiful Ape” contest that was held in Los Angeles back in the early 70s. Put on by disc jockey and television personality Gary Owens (whose golden pipes announced the comedy variety show Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In) in Century City, the contest was a promotion vehicle for the Planet of the Apes film franchise. The winner of the contest, Dominique Green (contestant number two on the far right) was awarded a role in the fifth (and final) Planet of the Apes film, 1973’s Battle for the Planet of the Apes.

Naturally, all of these “contests” were means for some sort of revenue generating scheme, and not so much the prestige associated with being crowned “Miss Diaper Queen” (contestants were required to wear cloth diapers), “Miss Lube Job” for the local auto repair shop or “Miss NRA” for which contestants sported a huge fake “tattoo” of the National Rifle Association blue eagle emblem on their back. In some cases, NRA contestants placed a stencil of the emblem on their backs while sunbathing so the logo could be displayed by way of their tan lines. Wow.
 
Miss NRA contestants being judged in Miami, 1930
Miss NRA contestants being judged in Miami, 1930
 
Contestants in the Miss NRA contest in Miami, 1930s
Miss NRA contestants with blue eagle NRA logo tan lines, 1930
 
More images from bizarre beauty contests of the past, after the jump…

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Posted by Cherrybomb
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10.13.2015
08:21 am
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