By Bruce Klauber
While I was writing the Shore Local piece about Jersey Shore songs, the name Bert Parks kept popping up. Those of a certain age may recall that Parks hosted the Miss America Pageant, when the pageant was held in Atlantic City, from 1955 to 1979, and that he sang, after the winner was crowned, “There She Is, Miss America.”
Parks had a unique career before and after his association with the pageant. And the pageant itself had hosts before and after Parks.
Bob Russell was named the official host of the pageant in 1940. He hosted through 1946, and from 1948 to 1950, and again in 1954.
Russell, all but forgotten today, had quite a career. He appeared several times on Broadway during the 1920s, and had some success in the 1930s when he sang frequently at Philadelphia’s old Hotel Adelphia. He later helped create the Miss Universe Pageant, which he hosted from 1952 through 1967. He also hosted several television game shows in the 1950s, including “Name That Tune.”
In 1954, Russell was the host when the Miss America Pageant was first broadcast on television. However, he refused to sing “There She Is, Miss America” in favor of a song of his own and now long forgotten. Bert Parks got the job as host the following year, based on Russell’s recommendation, and for the next 25 years, Parks was happy to sing “There She Is.” It became his signature song.
Some people were under the mistaken impression during those years that Parks only worked one day a year. On the contrary, Parks was an important figure in radio and early television as the host of various quiz shows including “Stop the Music,” “Break the Bank,” “Double or Nothing,” “Balance Your Budget,” “Two in Love,” “Hold That Note,” “Bid ‘n’ Buy,” “County Fair,” “Masquerade Party” and “The Big Payoff.”
Most of these programs were broadcast during the 1950s, but by 1965, Parks was still in the quiz show business, as he hosted “Yours for a Song,” and the pilot for “Hollywood Squares.” In the mid-1960s, in one of his few projects outside of television, he replaced Robert Preston in Broadway’s “The Music Man.”
In 1979, Parks reached the retirement age of 65. After the Miss America broadcast that year, Parks was fired, as those running the pageant were looking to appeal to a younger audience. Parks, who learned of his termination by reading it in the newspaper, left without even being given a gold watch.
Johnny Carson, then hosting “The Tonight Show,” was incensed, and led an on-air campaign to get Parks rehired. Some 20,000 people sent letters to pageant officials in support of keeping Parks onboard. It didn’t work. Ron Ely, then television’s Tarzan, was pegged to be the new host.
In 1980, pageant director Albert Marks Jr., finally stepped forward to explain why Parks was canned.
“We wanted to appeal to a younger generation unfamiliar with Parks or his rendition of the Miss America theme song,” said Marks. Parks’ rebuttal was that the firing was the best thing to happen to his career.
In the years following, Parks was as busy as he wanted to be. He guest starred on the cit-coms “WKRP in Cincinnati” and “Night Court,” “The Bionic Woman,” and other television series. In 1990, he parodied his role as beauty pageant host in the film, “The Freshman.”
Some 10 years after he was let go as Miss America Pageant host, Parks began negotiating with pageant management to return to the program as a special guest. “I can confirm we are talking to people on behalf of Parks and to Parks himself,” pageant director Leonard Horn said at the time.
In the end all parties agreed. Gary Collins and Phyllis George remained as co-hosts. Parks appeared in several bits during the show, and then sang “There She Is” to 25 contestants gathered on stage.
Collins sang the song while the pageant winner walked down the runway. Also part of the deal was that Parks would serve as grand marshal of the Miss America Parade, held a few days before the pageant’s telecast. The 75-year-old veteran was happy to be on hand saying, “I feel like this could be a vindication.”
Though Parks’ nostalgic return to the pageant was certainly a poignant television moment, the reviews were not great. “Although he received a standing ovation, the program was marred by gaffes and he was not asked to return,” according to a PBS news report.
I vividly remember viewing that telecast. I was curious to see what Parks would be given to do and how he would fare. Overall his segments were filled with flubs and miscues, and I recall one bit where Parks tried to plug his favorite Atlantic City restaurants, including Tony’s Baltimore Grill. For that alone I thought, you’ve got to love the guy. Parks died two years later at the age of 77.
He was once asked by a reporter about the secret to his appeal to television viewers after so many years. “It’s because I’m utterly charming,” was his reply.
In tribute to the genial host who was, in his own unique way, the television face of Atlantic City for almost 25 years, a bronze statue of Bert Parks holding a Miss America crown stands in front of the Sheraton Atlantic City Convention Center. If you stand under the crown, a recording of Parks’ signature version of “There She is Miss America” plays.
Where will the Miss America Pageant go? This year it will be held at the Walt Disney Theatre in Orlando, Fla.
Atlantic City will always have Bert Parks.
Bruce Klauber is the author of four books, an award-winning music journalist, concert and record producer and publicist, producer of the Warner Brothers and Hudson Music “Jazz Legends” film series, and performs both as a drummer and vocalist.
