THE FIRST Latin American to win the Universal crown represented Peru in the 1957 contest. Twenty-five years later, Gladys Zender was sitting on the judges' panel for the 1982 pageant held in Lima, Peru. The background scenery for most of this year's production was a quaint Peruvian village. During the opening number and Parade of Nations, the village was bathed in moonlight. We get to see the village in "daytime" during the interview segment which followed the announcement of the twelve semi-finalists.

      Miss Canada Karen Baldwin reminded everyone Canada placed second in the 1981 pageant, Miss Brazil was disarmingly charming in the manner she handled the interview in English, Miss Italy [who did not speak English] glared at Miss Brazil with pure jealousy, Miss South Africa shared a farm with a ton of animals, Miss Finland's dog's name was Jane (no Tarzan!), and Miss Peru told Bob Barker he was a handsome man while she winked at the audience. Miss Guam informed us she had been born in Korea, Miss USA received a gold spittoon from her state pageant in Arkansas, Miss Germany had never heard of the LA Dodgers, Miss Greece spoke no Greek (but German), Miss England disappointed a theater full of Latin men by her preference for Englishmen, and Miss Uruguay soothed a lot of ruffled feathers by reassuring all the South Americans in the audience how "hermoso" (beautiful) they really were.

      The swimsuit competition featured the Top Twelve in apple-red Catalina swimsuits with Peruvian versions of Mexican 'serapes' draped over their shoulders. The audio effect for this segment was this "dated" women's department store music. Imagine how much more exotic the scene would have been with the hauntingly melodious indigenous pipe and flute music of the Andes and Carnaval-esque festival dancers donning colorful costumes and throwing confetti and tossing streamers. What about a pre-Columbian Inca ceremony? Dusk fell on the Peruvian 'village' for the evening gown event in which the semi-finalists modeled gowns of their own choice while being serenaded by 'Latin lover' Jose Luis Rodriguez [El Puma] who sang in, what else?, Spanish.

      Irene Saez Conde resembled a goddess as she literally extended her hand in friendship to the entire Universe at the conclusion of her final walk. The Miss Universe banner was placed over Miss Canada's banner as Karen Diane Baldwin was nudged by Bob Barker cue-ing her to take the victory walk.

by Juan Prado

The 12 Semi-finalists

• KAREN BALDWIN, Canada
• PATTY KERKOS, Guam
• CINZIA FIORDIPONTI, Italy
• TINA ROSSOU, Greece
• TERRI UTLEY, USA
• CELICE DA SILVA, Brazil
• DELLA DOLAN, England
• SARI ASPHOLM, Finland
• KERSTIN PAESERACK, Germany
• MARIA FRANCESCA ZAZA REINOSO, Peru
• ODETTE SCROOBY, South Africa
• SILVIA ABAVIAN, Uruguay

Photo courtesy of the Miss Universe Organization

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2006 CRITICAL BEAUTY. All rights reserved.