The $1.98 Beauty Show (1978–1980)

A parody of traditional beauty contests hosted by oddball comedian Rip Taylor. Mock pageant contestants would be put through a series of bizarre and embarrassing routines until one emerged ... See full summary »

Stars:

Anne Lockhart, Lou Mulford, Rip Taylor

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Anne Lockhart		(1 episode, 1979)
Lou Mulford	...	Mary Lou Mulberry (1 episode, 1979)

Storyline

A parody of traditional beauty contests hosted by oddball comedian Rip Taylor. Mock pageant contestants would be put through a series of bizarre and embarrassing routines until one emerged as the winner. After a brief fanfare the winner was presented with her prize, worth $1.98.

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Plot Keywords:

beauty contest | dollar sign in title | spoof | money in title | non fiction | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Family | Game-Show

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 September 1978 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Chuck Barris Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sandra Bernhard and Kitten Natividad were both contestants on the show.

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Connections

Featured in The 50 Greatest Game Shows of All Time (2006)

User Reviews

The best anti-disestablishment against Miss America that ever was!

This was one of the funniest variety programs of my childhood. It was silly, unfortunate, degrading - but it was real ... before reality shows took hold.

Here you had a bunch of women who, for all intents and purposes, wouldn't be on the prestigious pageant circuit but felt they could be a Beauty Queen for a moment nonetheless. So in comes the brilliant show mind of Chuck Barris to give them their fleeting dream.

Some of the women were the absolute worst, but a few actually were undiscovered gems who obviously deserved more that the $1.98 grand prize and a truck stop restaurant dinner certificate. And for those women, they got exposure. For others, the prizes awarded were perfect.

This is an interesting piece of pop culture to "look back upon" - especially today with reality shows and a lot of false modesty and overblown egos the norm of reality programming - and "beauty" shows.

If Chuck Barris is still around and not doing any overt missions, he might want to revise this as a show for aspiring models. Have them compete for the illustrious weekly prize of: $25.00, a gift certificate to the '99 cents only' -- and then bring the winners all back for a grand prize, all expensive trip competition to Bayone, New Jersey with a 4 night stay at a Super 8 Motel and a two page photo spread in The Pennysaver...and I'd watch it.

Sometimes, ya just need to be silly and Chuck Barris was good at it.