AUSTRALIA hosted the Miss Universe pageant for the first time in 1979, seven years after the country's very own Kerry Ann Wells won the crown. A few days before the telecast, the U.S. space station Skylab had crushed into the South Pacific Ocean and remnants washed off the Australian shore. In the beginning of the telecast, we hear the official theme song of the pageant - a tribute to the host country - "We're Going Way Down Under." Bob Barker shows the T.V. audience a big chunk of the Skylab on the stage.

      The Australian marching band plays "Waltzing Matilda" during the Parade of Nations while the contestants - all 75 of them - sing the song. A background voice introduces hostess Helen O'Connell, entertainer Donny Osmond, co-hostess Jayne Kennedy, current titleholder Margaret Gardiner, and then host Bob Barker. Australian children - dressed up in various national costumes - lead the parade; this time, the song switches to "It's A Small World After All."

      Surprisingly, all the candidates greet the audience in English. A few new countries say hello: Bophuthatswana, Fiji, St. Kitts, St. Vincent and Transkei. After the parade, Helen and Jayne greet the audience. Helen explains a new feature - electronic scoring from 1 to 9.99 points. This is followed by the swimsuit segment in which the candidates are introduced in pairs. Note the not-so-high scores during this year - between 6.50s and 7.50s. We hear Bob's voice in the background advising that Miss Nicaragua withdrew from the pageant before the preliminaries (for reason unknown). Just to give you an idea of how the judges scored the candidates during the preliminaries, here are the swimsuit scores of selected participants:

Wales	7.79	Peru	7.402
Belize	7.936	Venezuela	8.673
Bermuda	7.445	England	8.382
Switzerland	7.40	Australia	7.582
Transkei	5.591	Brazil	7.773
Panama	5.727	South Africa	8.218

      Helen O'Connell belts out a tune, and then introduces Kerry Ann Wells who takes us on a tour of Western Australia. The average composite scores (interview/swimsuit/gown) of the semifinalists are displayed:

Wales	7.345	Bermuda	7.578
Brazil	7.715	South Africa	8.103
Belize	7.654	Argentina	7.515
England	8.227	Germany	7.542
Scotland	7.609	Venezuela	8.461
USA	7.676	Sweden	7.800

      Bob Barker interviews the semi-finalists, followed by the swimsuit competition. Donny Osmond introduces the judges:

• Anne Pohtamo, Miss Universe 1975
• Dan Galloway, U.S. actor
• Lana Cantrell, Australian singer
• Yves Courvoisier (?), French artist
• Ida Betroll (?), Australian publisher
• Robin Moore, U.S. producer
• Rosana Podesta, Italian actress
• Apasra Hongsakula, Miss Universe 1965
• Julio Iglesias, Spanish singer
• Constance Towers, U.S. actress
• Tony Martin, U.S. singer

      Bob calls out the names of the five finalists with their average composite scores:

Venezuela	9.305
Sweden	8.279
Bermuda	9.000
England	8.2733
Brazil	8.697

      During the interview segment, Bob reminds the viewers that the finalists will be judged based on "charm and personality, not the content of our chat." Compare this criteria with today's - it seems that external attributes are still more important than internal ones!

      Donnie Osmond serenades the five finalists. Margaret Gardiner gives her final walk. Bob announces the official placements, with the help of Corinna Tsopie (Miss Universe 1964) and Sylvia Hitchcock (Miss Universe 1967): Sweden (4th runner-up), Brazil (3rd runner-up), England (2nd runner-up), Bermuda (1st runner-up) and Venezuela is crowned Miss Universe of 1979.

Photo courtesy of the Miss Universe Organization

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