Miss'd America Pageant Sashays Down Fabled Atlantic City Runway

There are beauty pageants and there are beauty pageants. Atlantic City has long been associated with the Miss America Pageant. But there is another pageant, held at the historic Boardwalk Hall, that for several years has effectively sent up that "other" pageant with not-so-real girls.

As with awards' telecasts, beauty pageants can be a long slog through stage patter, swimsuit malfunctions, broken heels, and fire baton twirling And yet, if an audience is lucky, there is sometimes one talent number that galvanizes the crowd into a spontaneous eruption of wild cheers and fanatical applause.

Such was the case on the night of Sunday, Jan. 31, at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, where the Miss'd America Pageant took place. There, contestant Michelle Dupree took the stage and delivered a knock-em-dead, 11 o'clock number channeling the spirits of Ethel, Ella, Judy, and Josephine that had the audience immediately on its feet. The near-universal consensus was that this was the night's most electrifying performance and ultimate winner.

For nearly fifteen years, Miss'd America was a much-loved, AIDS fundraiser at local gay nightclub, Studio Six, that lovingly lampooned Atlantic City's nationally-televised pageant. But when Miss America took off for Vegas in 2004--after 84 years on the Boardwalk!--Miss'd America was left bereft on the beach.

That is, until the recently formed Greater Atlantic City GLBT Alliance joined forces with Trump Entertainment Resorts and Harrah's Entertainment to bring back the glamour, chutzpah, and cajones (real and hidden) that have long been the hallmarks of the Miss'd America pageant.

Stepping up its game, this year's glamazon parade dumped the outdoor deck of Studio Six for the legendary, 1929-dedicated Boardwalk Hall. In the process, the pageant managed to snare the very same 42-foot long runway trod by Vanessa Williams and her stilletto'd sisterhood.

Carson Kressley, the acerbically witty M.C.

Who needed Burt Park warbling "Here she comes, Miss America" when you have the acerbic wit Carson Kressley as M.C. The style guru, resplendent in a sequined, satin tux, kept the audience far more entertained than Sr. Parks ever did. A bevy of celebrity judges included gossip god Michael Musto of New York's Village Voice, and a former (though still amply-endowed) Playboy bunny.

More than 1,200 attendees--themselves bedecked in sequins, boas, fur, and glitter, filled the hall's auditorium. The Miss'd America pageant of 2010, with its cast of Divines and Mink Stoles, combined the larger-than-suburban-life feel of a film shot by John Waters with the glamour of Hollywood royalty.

The seven contestants competed in evening gown and talent, as well as a non-judged swimsuit promenade. Seven chicks with dicks stalked and strolled and booty-shook while caterwauling to an audience that cheered and hollered for local favorites.

The talent ranged from a hyper-energetic salsa number to a remarkably well-sung live rendition of "I Am Changing." Then Michelle Dupree took the stage.

In real life Scott Cooper, this part-time dragger is a busy bee: a registered nurse, he recently adopted a son as a single father. When this poster guy/girl for the new all-American gay family took the stage in a full-length, white-feathered cape coat that she'd obviously stolen from Dame Shirley Bassey, the entire Miss'd America pageant got kicked up a notch into serious glam.

Shedding the outerware to reveal a blue-feathered, flapper dress, Ms. Dupree, a former winner of Miss Continental in Chicago, then proceeded to scat along the runway to a faster-than-a-Concorde Ella Fitzgerald song. She shimmied her tailfeathers like Tina Turner caught in a Cat. 5 hurricane.

Michelle Dupree delivered a knock-em-dead, eleven o’clock number

This wasn't some semi-drunk drag queen haranguing an audience in a smoky bar. This was a real, live, honest-to-peter performance. The audience caught the fever, stomping and whistling. It rose in a standing ovation that raised the rafters of Boardwalk Hall.

Take that, Miss America; this is how we do it in Atlantic City.

The entire weekend of pre-parties and cocktail receptions, press conferences and post-parties, was a labor of love (and a ton of work) from a dedicated and civic-proud bunch of Atlantic City cheerleaders, including the Greater AC GLBT Alliance, and the Atlantic City Convention and Visitors Authority. Corporate sponsors included the Trump Organization, Harrah's, and Grey Goose . (What's a gay event without a truckload of vodka?).

Trump hosted the pre-pageant VIP cocktail party, while Harrah's provided support throughout the pageant's trajectory. Thanks to them and a small army of volunteers, all of the proceeds benefited five LGBT groups, such as Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS; the William Way Center of Philadelphia; and Miss'd America's original beneficiary, the South Jersey AIDS Alliance.

By the end of the weekend, after dinners at nationally acclaimed restaurants such as Buddakan and Mia, and shopping at the high-end retail establishments of Pier Shops at Caesars, one thing was perfectly clear: Miss'd America was ready for her national close-up.

Asked what Miss'd America meant to her, the newly-crowned Miss'd America Michelle Dupree replied, "America." As a newly minted parent, she explained, it's her duty to make the country a better place, and that the Miss'd America pageant represents what our nation has the capacity to become.

Articulate and beautiful: how about that for LGBT beauty queen progress? Carrie Who?

Start stockpiling those wigs right now, girls, for Miss'd America 2011. Atlantic City has once again shown how to do the runway thing the right way. Let that "other" pageant have its day--Miss'd America rules the Boardwalk!

Steve Weinstein, EDGE editor-in-chief, contributed to this story.

RELATED LINK
Miss'd America Pageant Photo-Album