My third installment of 'Hidden Columbia' aired tonight. It was about the Miss Venus pageant, put on by Sigma Chi back in the late 1940s through the early '70s. It was finally canceled because by the '70s, the women's liberation movement simply was not ok with women strutting in front of a bunch of frat boys with high heels, short shorts, tight shirts, and BAGS OVER THEIR HEADS. Yup, it simply was too good to pass up. Other than the catch phrase 'bags over their heads' and the accompanying pictures from the yearbooks, there really is nothing much more to it. Unfortunately, I never got a former winner to talk with me, so it left a huge hole in the story overall, not having that perspective. I would love to have done the story without any narration from me--all coming from the former winner and the USC archivist.
But I can honestly say in my short two months at WOLO, I worked harder on trying to get a former winner than i have on any other story. I went through all the yearbooks and wrote down all the winners, then cross-referenced them against the alumni directory. That gave me about five hits. Two had moved out of state, one was in Summerville and never answered the phone, one was in Barnwell and told me she wasn't Miss Venus, but Miss Aphrodite (I have no idea where the bag was placed in that pageant). Finally found someone still in Columbia. She answered the phone and agreed to an interview. She never answered the phone again, nor did she return my messages. I hope she watched tonight and wishes she had participated. Anyway, I won't say who she was, that would be unfair. But I'll give a hint--Miss Venus 1958.
If you want to watch, you no longer have to go to our website and type 'hidden columbia' in the search engine, because now, I have my own SECTION of the website. Go to the main website, www.abccolumbia.com, then click 'local news' at the top. A pull down menu will appear, one of the options being "Hidden Columbia." I'm becoming big-time......Good times.
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