Bert Parks

Bert Parks (1914-1992) was an announcer and host on radio and then television, best remembered as host of the Miss America pageant for over two decades. In addition to emceeing, he crooned "There She Is" to the winner.
Parks' radio career included The Eddie Cantor Show (as announcer and straightman) and stints on other New York radio series, from soap operas to variety shows. His biggest assignment was hosting the quiz show Stop the Music, and he helmed other game shows on television (sometimes the same as the radio versions). By 1955, he was an established personality and name sufficient to emcee the Miss America pageant, continuing until 1979. In 1991, he was brought back not as full host but to sing "There She Is" one last time.
Parks took sporadic acting roles after establishing himself as a celebrity, playing the even more obnoxious father of Herb Tarlek on an episode of WKRP in Cincinnati, a radio actor on Ellery Queen (having announced the radio version for a time), a judge in a dream episode of Roseanne, and most on the nose, a beauty pageant emcee on The Bionic Woman. There were also cameos as himself, notably in the 1990 film The Freshman (with Marlon Brando and Paul Benedict), where he serenades a komodo dragon with a variation of "There She Is."
==References==
* Guy Smiley, as master of ceremonies for the Letter of the Day Pageant, slips into Bert Parks mode, down to singing a variation of "There She Is."
* The Anything Muppet host of the "Best Cat on Sesame Street" contest in Sesame Street Episode 2993 is specified in the script as a "Bert Parks type" and serenades winner Chicago with "Here he is/the best cat on Sesame Street."
* The monster emcee who crowns Maria "Pretend Monster for a Day" in Episode 4024 is similarly designated in the script as "a distant relative of Bert Parks."
2993 Bert Parks Muppet.jpg|The Bert Parks Muppet in 2993
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Category:Celebrity References