Priceless Memories - Bob Barker [69]
Dorothy Jo passed away on October 19, 1981. Interesting thing—Dorothy Jo was born on February 25, 1924. My mother died on February 26. My mother’s birthday was October 18, and Dorothy Jo died on October 19. We had been together since 1939, when we were fifteen years old. She really was the light of my life, and I have never thought about marrying again. She was responsible in so many ways for any success I may have had, and we were inseparable from the time we met. I have had many blessings in my life, but she was the greatest of them all.
11
The Beauty Pageants and the “Fur Flap”
There was a tremendous amount of overheated publicity surrounding my departure from the Miss USA and Miss Universe beauty pageants, but I consider my twenty-one-year association with the pageants to have been an extremely positive relationship, and hosting those events was definitely something I enjoyed immensely. In the end, because of the clash between the fur coats and my passion for animal rights, it was impossible for me to continue with the shows. However, I would not want that to cast a shadow over the many years of fun and success we all had working on those pageants.
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Both pageants were broadcast from Miami Beach for the first ten years, but later on we had invitations from cities all over the United States for Miss USA and from all over the world for Miss Universe. We went to El Salvador, Singapore, Australia, Puerto Rico, Hong Kong, Mexico, and other countries with Miss Universe, and we did Miss USA in New York, Buffalo, Miami, Biloxi, and other cities in the continental United States, as well as Puerto Rico.
Unfortunately, Dorothy Jo and I did not always have an opportunity to explore all of these fascinating places. John Christ and I (I’ll tell you more about John later) were frequently tied up with details of the pageants, and I was still doing The Price Is Right—and for a while, Truth or Consequences as well. Sometimes we just had to fly in and fly out after the show, but other times we were able to explore some memorable locations.
I’ll never forget the 1973 Miss Universe show we did in Greece at the majestic Odeon of Herodes Atticus, which stands at the foot of the Acropolis of Athens. It was a thrill to be there in the midst of all that history—the theater goes back to the days of Socrates. The show was live, like all of them, and in the evening under the stars. Many people thought it was the most beautiful show we ever did. They may be right. I’ll never forget it.
The Miss Universe pageants were, as you can imagine, truly international events. We had interpreters giving stage directions in several languages. We had to search high and low for people who could translate questions and answers for the contestants from all over the world. The language barriers were always challenges in producing the shows from these exotic locations.
There were other challenges as well. In 1972, we were doing the Miss USA pageant down in Puerto Rico. About thirty miles from San Juan, at the Hotel Cerromar near the town of Dorado, we were headquartered in this big vacation hotel with lovely facilities, a couple of pools, and a gorgeous golf course. There were many tourists vacationing at the hotel. However, there was also a group of anti-Americans protesting daily outside the hotel. They shouted, “Gringo, go home,” and other unprintable angry comments.
The night of the pageant, I was hosting the show live again, and we’re rolling along. I have forgotten exactly what part of the show I was in, but there was a huge explosion. The stage rocked and the audience was obviously disturbed, but I just ignored it and kept moving through the show. I didn’t know what the explosion was and naturally I was curious, but I finished the segment. When we