Miss Marone 1945

**Miss Marone 1945** was the thirteenth edition of the Miss Marone pageant. The competition was held on 16 December 1944 at the Jinèsthe Théâtre in Carcatou, Côte Turquoise. Matthieu Compère presented the show.

Athéné Palamariades of Côte Turquoise crowned Geneviève Moulay, also of Côte Turquoise, as her successor at the end of the event.

The competition was marred in controversy, after the third consecutive woman representing Côte Turquoise was crowned the winner. Additionally, all three winners had been crowned Miss Carcatou and worked as models with the same modeling agency. After several members of the judging panel came forward as having not selected Moulay as the winner, multiple media outlets began to investigate the competition. In March 1945, *Le Républicain du Sud* published a report alleging a covert agreement between Miss Marone's organizing company Chérie Beauté, the Miss Carcatou and Miss Côte Turquoise pageants, and the Carcatou Models modeling agency, where the agency would recommend its models to compete in the pageants, whom would then each be elected Miss Carcatou, Miss Côte Turquoise, and Miss Marone in exchange for monetary compensation.

In the aftermath of the controversy, Chérie Beauté sold the pageant to businessman Marco Spagliatti, and later went bankrupt by 1949.

## Background

In September 1944, Chérie Beauté confirmed that the pageant would be held on 16 December 1944 at the Jinèsthe Théâtre in Carcatou, Côte Turquoise. Local pageants were held throughout the winter, spring, and summer of 1944, while regional pageants were later organized throughout the summer and autumn of 1944. The selected winners were invited to Carcatou in December 1944 for the pageant.

In order to compete in the pageant, contestants must have abided by the following rules:

* Contestants must be a resident of their designated region, and either a citizen or subject of Marone.
* Contestants must be between the ages of 16 and 20.
* Contestants must be unmarried, without children, and female.
* Contestants must have participated in a regional pageant no more than two times.
* Contestants must not engage in conduct potentially damaging to their reputation or the reputation of competition organizers.
	+ This rule prevented contestants from a variety of activities, including drinking alcohol, using drugs, smoking cigarettes, having sexual relations, dressing inappropriately, behaving inappropriately, or being in romantic relationships.

## Results

 **6th Runner-Up** |  **Moutarde** – Arlette Arcine

## Format

### Pageant

The pageant was held on 16 December 1944, at the Jinèsthe Théâtre in Carcatou. The event was only possible to be viewed live, with no radio broadcast.

The competition began with the 24 contestants being introduced by host Matthieu Compère. Following the introductions, the judges narrowed down the 24 contestants to seven finalists based on the beauty of the face. The seven finalists subsequently competed in the swimsuit competition, from which the judges selected the winner and her six runners-up. The results were announced by Compère and outgoing titleholder Athéné Palamariades.

### Judges

* Nicolas Argaut – businessman
* Thomas Blévisse – businessman
* Paulette Delagare – actress and comedian
* Lucie Quincarnon – Miss Marone 1941 from Carandie
* Paul Tempiste – radio presenter

## Controversy

Immediately following the conclusion of the competition, Lucie Quincarnon, who had served as a judge, expressed her confusion regarding the results to reporters covering the pageant, claiming that the judging panel had unanimously chosen Germaine Bâque, Miss Charlotte, as the winner; Bâque was instead announced as the first runner-up to Geneviève Moulay, who was crowned the winner. Following the publication of Quincarnon's comments in newspapers the following day, Paulette Delagare, who also served as a judge, seconded Quincarnon's comments, and added that she had not even selected Moulay to advance to the Top 7. In the following week, all three other judges made similar comments to the media.

In the aftermath of the comments made by the judging panel, numerous media outlets began reporting on the controversy, pointing out that Miss Côte Turquoise had now won the competition three times consecutively, with each titleholder hailing from Carcatou, having previously won the Miss Carcatou local pageant, and being a professional model signed with the Carcatou Models agency.

*Le Républicain du Sud* began an investigation into the pageant, and later published a report alleging a covert agreement between Miss Marone's organizing company Chérie Beauté, the Miss Carcatou and Miss Côte Turquoise pageants, and Carcatou Models, where the agency would recommend its models to compete in the pageants, each of whom would then each be elected Miss Carcatou, Miss Côte Turquoise, and Miss Marone in exchange for monetary compensation.

### Aftermath

Following the publication of the *Le Républicain du Sud* investigation, the Carcatou Models agency abruptly shut down. The organizers of Miss Marone, Miss Côte Turquoise, and Miss Carcatou defended themselves by pointing to a clause in the pageants' contracts that state pageant organizers are authorized to overturn the decisions of the judges, which created further controversy in the Maronan media.

In June 1945, Chérie Beauté sold the Miss Marone brand to businessman Marco Spagliatti. Chérie Beauté later filed for bankruptcy in 1949. Despite requests, Spagliatti announced that he would not dethrone Moulay, as he stated that she was guilty of no wrongdoing and should not be punished. Bâque also opposed taking away Moulay's crown in several media interviews, claiming that Moulay was a "sweet girl" and "close friend," and that she would decline any offers from Spagliatti to be crowned the new Miss Marone following Moulay's hypothetical dethronement. Bâque was awarded a film contract amidst the controversy and went on to have a successful career as an actress.