To the grotesque, puritan reality of communist Poland, the Miss election fit like a cow's saddle. No wonder that either they didn't take place at all or the competition turned into a farce.
The election of the most beautiful Polish woman was not lucky from the very beginning, i.e. from the times of the Second Polish Republic. The first edition in 1929 was still quite successful - just eight years after the pioneering American competition. Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński, who was on the jury, came up with a neat title of Miss Polonia and the winning bank clerk quickly married a wealthy lawyer, which she praised a lot.
A year later, however, there was a real scandal. Miss Polonia 1930 was Zofia Batycka, a brunette with a diabolical gaze, the chosen one of Jan Kiepura's heart, radiant with a daring performance in the film "On the trail of shame" (in which she played the role of an involuntary prostitute).
Soon after this success, she left for the United States ... taking the crown with her and refusing to hand it over to her successor . She simply decided that the title of the most beautiful should be her life. The competition's rank dropped dramatically. Until the outbreak of the war, only three editions were carried out, organized by the French Polonia.
The first two Miss Polonia:Władysława Kostakówna (left) and Zofia Batycka (right) (source:public domain).
Polish women drop their kufajki and valonki
The atmosphere of the first post-war years was definitely not conducive to the election of the most beautiful Polish woman. The women were dressed in working dungarees and promoted to tractor, crane and welders . In such conditions, it was not easy to achieve aesthetic excitement.
The avalanche of changes only started with the October "thaw" in 1956. Although it was hard to suspect the costly, extremely puritan Władysław Gomułka of a special sensitivity to female charms, to everyone's surprise, he agreed to organize the first post-war edition of the competition.
To eliminate the disastrous propaganda effect of women parading in skimpy costumes bathing in front of a herd of unhealthy excited men (which was associated with reactionary, capitalist objectification) the elections were organized in a clearly socialist space - in one of the Gdańsk shipyard halls.
The title of the most beautiful was unanimously awarded to a student of the Krakow theater school - Alicja Bobrowska which, apart from beauty, captivated the jurors with its knowledge. The main prize was rather modest - Batory's cruise to Copenhagen.
The first Miss Polonia after more than a quarter of a century, however, did not intend to stop at the country's successes and entered the competition for the American Miss Universe. The manager decided to cover the costs of the trip, in return for which Bobrowska promised him to donate all the money earned in the United States.
"Batory" cruise, a luxury in the style of the Polish People's Republic (source:public domain).
She did quite well in the competition - she won the title of fourth runner-up and a special award for the best Polish speech in the United States, until the famous Lech Wałęsa's "We, The People" in 1989 (our Miss allowed herself an equally impressive opening: "God bless America and Poland too" ).
The $ 1,600 prize did not satisfy her impresario's financial appetite, , however who began to drive Bobrowska around as a mascot around the clusters of Polonus, forcing her to dance and recite, keeping all the income from this. Desperate Miss Polonia 1957 finally fled back home.
Miss Polonia applies for political asylum in the USA
The next edition ended with a gigantic scandal and behavior straight from football stands. The twenty thousand (!) Audience gathered in Warsaw's Torwar, surprisingly, supported another Kraków girl - saleswoman Krystyna Żyła . For several days, however, there were a hundred rumors circulating around the capital that the competition was set up in front of a Warsaw girl, a dancer Zuzanna Cembrowska of quite exalted beauty.
So when it was announced that Miss Polonia 1958 was the latter, there were regular riots in the stands of the hall and leftover food flew towards the winner. The real cataclysm, however, was yet to come. Just like the year before, Miss Polonia traveled to the United States to take part in several international beauty contests, and there chose freedom by choosing not to return to the country .
For the communist authorities it was an image blow. The Miss Polonia competition for the next 25 years was cursed. Interestingly, Edward Gierek did not decide to return to the organization of elections in the 1970s, despite the fact that it was a decade of clear loosening of morals.
Kuse bathing suits instead of bread
Quite unexpectedly, the idea of the Miss Polonia competition was resumed only right after the abolition of martial law - in 1983. As rightly noted by Andrzej Klim in his book Jak w kabaretcie. Pictures from the life of the People's Republic of Poland ": The authorities decided to give the people games, because they could not cope with giving bread at all.
In order to give the beauty contest the proper rank, the awards, for those times, were really impressive - Fiat 126p for the winning girl and a number of other attractive prizes for the next winners (for example, the first Polish color TV set Jupiter).
In 1983 the main prize was really impressive - the Fiat 126p.
The final in Sala Kongresowa was a typically Polish makeshift - the candidates had to try to get the right outfit, make-up or hairstyle themselves. People who assisted were forbidden to enter wardrobes, but some of the girls simply ignored this ban. So the victims were those who literally followed the rules. As one of them mentions:
In a cheap dress, with a hairstyle made up by yourself and an attempt at something that cannot be called makeup , we went on stage. A newspaper was issued for the public with pictures of the faces, and on that basis the audience had some orientation. Unfortunately the photos were terrible !!! Black and white, blurry (...)
Worse still, guests from abroad witnessed the disgrace, including Miss World 1982 herself, who was absolutely outraged that the Miss Polonia election had been reduced to a cheap, erotic show : These skimpy costumes, going downstairs, sensual way of moving are unacceptable. Poland was the only country in the world where two-piece costumes were required from candidates ...
In 1983, Miss Polonia was the only competition where a two-piece swimsuit was compulsory. Photo by Brigitte Bardot, 1953
Miss Polonia 1983 was finally Lidia Wasiak, who was nominated for the competition by a friend from Szczecin together with her own candidacy. The friendship of the two ladies, unfortunately, did not survive this test.
The rebellion of the candidates, topless sessions and scandalous verdicts
A year later, the male organizers of the contest tried again to slightly increase the sensual atmosphere of the elections . As Miss Polonia 1984 Magdalena Jaworska recalled:
The director made a proposal, or rather request to shorten all skirts and dresses well above the knee (...) But the girls themselves objected the most strongly (...) In the end, after long negotiations and disputes, the director and the set designer of the final concert resigned. Some of the candidates for the title have already cut their dresses and performed in mini or supermini.
The article was based, among others, on the book by Andrzej Klim entitled “Jak w kabaretcie. Pictures from the life of the People's Republic of Poland ”(Polish Scientific Publishers PWN 2016).
This time, the girls were allowed to use professional hairdressers, although it was held in a typically socialist manner - in order not to block normal customers' places, the candidates for the miss were herded into the hairdressing salon at four in the morning …
It is difficult to say who was actually Miss Polonia 1984, because the title of the originally chosen Joanna Karska was taken away from Magdalena Jaworska, recognizing post factum that a blonde will have a better chance in the Miss World competition.
The 1985 edition became famous for its cultural novelties (candidates in three played an acting scene between husband, wife and lover) and a gigantic scandal, when it turned out during the competition that the already selected Miss Foto had a topless session on her account. Taking into account the painstakingly built reputation of the Miss Photo competition, the competition was disqualified and no possibility of competing for other titles.
In this way, a clear signal was sent to the candidates that only girls of good reputation could participate in the competition. The effect was such that in the following years the candidates wrote to each other denunciations to the organizers accusing them of immoral conduct.
Polish woman the most beautiful woman in the world!
Although the competition itself professionalized very slowly, the participants were much more aware of the requirements facing Miss. It was not without significance that contact with the world from behind the Iron Curtain was getting easier. The breakthrough year of 1989 was coming.
This time, the jurors were given the possibility of individual contact with the candidates. Nina Terentiew recalls:
I remember best Aneta Kręglicka with unimaginably beautiful blue eyes. You could immerse yourself in them. There were those who believed that Aneta's eyes were too large or even protruding. I liked them very much. Added to this was an extraordinary grace and class.
A beautiful blonde, measuring 88-58-88 and a height of 174 centimeters, first won the Miss Polonia title, and a few months later she went to represent our country during the world competition in Hong Kong, from where on November 22 she brought the Miss World title .
The last Miss Poland elected in the People's Republic of Poland brought the first international success and a reason for national pride, which was being born in the pain of the Third Republic. And without undue exaggeration it can be said that the Miss World title for Aneta Kręglicka is still one of the symbols of the Polish transformation of 1989.
Bibliography:
- Jaworska Magdalena, To be or not to be Miss , Optima 1991.
- Klim Andrzej, Like in a cabaret. Pictures from the life of the People's Republic of Poland , PWN 2016.
- Niepokorna Miss, [access:27/06/2016].
- Website:Ewa Wojciechowska. At the end of the red carpet, [access:27/06/2016].
- Website:From the Miss Archives, [access:27/06/2016].
- Wojciechowska Ewa, Miss Polonia And yet it's worth it , Publicat 2007.