Miss Marone

**Miss Marone** is the national beauty pageant of Marone, held annually in December. The competition was first established in 1920, and has been organized continually since 1935, making it the longest continuously-running beauty pageant in the world. Since 1966, the competition has been broadcast on TM1.

Miss Marone was first organized in 1920 under the name *La plus belle femme de Marone* (Ditrovian: *The most beautiful woman of Marone*) as a nationwide survey, allowing Maronan filmgoers to vote for their favorite contestant through a secret ballot prior to the start of their film. The competition was organized in this method the following year, before being placed on hiatus until its revival in 1935, as an in-person beauty pageant. The pageant was purchased by Maronan businessman Emeric Gatos in 1950, and was inherited by his wife Évelynne von Kupp upon his death in 1964. Von Kupp later developed Miss Marone into a media phenomenon, and is credited with popularizing Miss Marone as a Maronan cultural tradition. Von Kupp served as President of the Miss Marone Organization until 2009, when she resigned from the organization and was replaced by Élisabeth Desjardins.

Contestants of Miss Marone must meet a number of eligibility requirements and first win a regional title which qualifies them for the national competition, representing their region. The majority of these regions also organize departmental competitions which correspond with departments within the region, which must be won before a contestant can compete in the regional competition. The winner of Miss Marone resides in Delmas for the year of her reign in a rent-free apartment while embarking on a number of events and media appearances throughout Marone and abroad, in addition to winning tens of thousands of dollars in prizes and sponsorship deals while receiving a monthly salary as an employee of the Miss Marone Organization. The winner typically also is chosen to represent Marone at the Miss Parth international beauty pageant.

The format of Miss Marone has proven exceptionally popular, continuously reaching over 10 million viewers in France yearly. The format has been exported to various other countries since the 1940s, with Miss Frankenland, Miss Lüngard, Miss Regia, Miss Spañola, and Miss Zatrańska all being developed as spin-offs of Miss Marone.

## History

### 1920–1921: *La plus belle femme de Marone*

The Miss Marone pageant is considered to have been founded in 1920, by film producers Théodore Gilson and Mathieu Lemaître, who were the cofounders of the production studio Legilson Productions. The pageant was thought up as a publicity scheme, intending to launch the next great Maronan film starlet, using the name *La plus belle femme de Marone* ("The Most Beautiful Woman of Marone"). Gilson and Lemaître scoured the 22 regions of Marone, searching for contestants to take part in the competition. The 22 selected contestants, each representing one of Marone's 22 regions, traveled to Delmas for an official photoshoot. The photos were later distributed to filmgoers prior to the screening of every Legilson Productions film in Marone, with filmgoers being able to vote for their favorite photo through secret ballot. The survey was held throughout the summer of 1920, culminating in Gilson and Lemaître announcing Birjiñe Mañarieta as the inaugural winner.

As part of her winning prize, Mañarieta was signed to a five-year contract with Legilson Productions, and given the opportunity to begin a career as a silent film actress. Her six runners-up were also given the opportunity to sign one-year trial contracts with the company, with the potential of further contract extensions. Following the success of the inaugural edition of the competition, the competition returned in 1921, with Pia Allegra being chosen as the winner. Both Mañarieta and Allegra went on to have successful careers as silent film actresses in Marone, as did Dolorès Chapuy, who placed as the second runner-up at Miss Marone 1921. The competition was not renewed for a third consecutive year, as Gilson and Lemaître felt as if the novelty would have worn off, and the brand was abandoned for several years.

### 1934–1940: Revival and Pétresse era

In 1932, Maronan entertainment mogul Henri Pétresse was brainstorming new business ventures for his company Pétresse Enterprises, and was reminded of *La plus belle femme de Marone*, which he was a fan of. Pétresse decided to purchase the rights to *La plus belle femme de Marone* and rebrand the competition as Miss Marone, a traditional in-person beauty pageant. Pétresse saw the implementation of regional beauty pageant committees located throughout the regions of Marone, which each independently selected a representative from their region to compete in the national competition. In addition to the regions of Metropolitan Marone, Pétresse also arranged for the overseas colonies of Barraco, Fuadeloupe, Rubenia, and Tahare to compete, although the overseas regional pageants only allowed for Maronan women to compete, barring indigenous communities and ethnic minorities from participating. The first Miss Marone pageant was held in December 1934, culminating in Bérénice Brugière being selected as Miss Marone 1935 by a judging panel, after a competition consisting of swimwear, evening gown, and an onstage question.

The prize package for the winner was significant, with the winner being granted a rent-free apartment in Delmas to live in for the duration of her reign, in addition to unlimited access to Pétresse Enterprises products. The winner additionally spent her reign traveling to countries abroad as an ambassador of Marone, frequently appearing in international media while on tours of countries, and worked as a promotional model and representative for the products of Pétresse Enterprises and other pageant sponsors.

Pétresse continued to organize Miss Marone until his death in June 1940, during the preparation for Miss Marone 1941. Following his death, his son Jean-Louis Pétresse took over all of Pétresse Enterprises's business ventures, including Miss Marone. However, Jean-Louis was reportedly uninterested in continuing to organize Miss Marone and oversee the yearly reign of the titleholder, and sold the brand to cosmetics company Chérie Beauté in March 1941.

### 1941–1944: Chérie Beauté and results rigging controversy

Following the purchase of the Miss Marone brand by Chérie Beauté, the company immediately took over preparations for Miss Marone 1942, and began overseeing the reign of incumbent titleholder Lucie Quincarnon. Chérie Beauté slightly tweaked the pageant's format and the prize package of the winner. A newfound emphasis on facial beauty was enacted, with the judging panel selecting the seven finalists based on purely facial beauty. Additionally, the evening gown and onstage question were removed from the competition, with the winner being selected among the seven finalists based on solely her swimsuit performance. The winner no longer resided in Delmas during her reign, with the pageant relocating to Carcatou, where the winner received access to a rent-free apartment for the year of her reign. International travel was also reduced, with the winner now primarily being utilized as the face of Chérie Beauté products in advertising campaigns and promotional events for the duration of her reign. The first edition of the pageant organized by Chérie Beauté was held in December 1941, which saw Clothilde Sauvignien being crowned Miss Marone 1942.

The following year, Chérie Beauté introduced local pageants into the Miss Marone system, with regional pageant committees being able to organize local and departmental pageants in order to select contestants for their regional pageants. Over the ensuing three years, Jeanne Souvère, Athéné Palamariades, and Geneviève Moulay were crowned Miss Marone, each having previously been crowned Miss Carcatou and Miss Côte Turquoise, and working as professional models with the Carcatou Models agency. Following the victory of Moulay at Miss Marone 1945, Quincarnon, who had served as a judge, expressed her confusion to the media regarding Moulay's win, as the judging panel had unanimously selected Germaine Bâque, representing Charlotte, as the pageant's winner; the other judges later backed up Quincarnon's claims. This led to an investigation by *Le Républicain du Sud*, which found evidence of a covert agreement between Chérie Beauté, the organizers of Miss Carcatou and Miss Côte Turquoise, and Carcatou Models, where Carcatou Models paid money to Chérie Beauté and the local and regional pageant organizers so that their models were crowned the winners of the pageants, creating a public backlash against Chérie Beauté and Miss Marone. Chérie Beauté defended themselves against the accusations by pointing to a clause in the pageant's contract that stated pageant organizers had the right to overturn the judges' choices and select their own winner, which led to further backlash.

Amidst the results rigging controversy, Chérie Beauté later sold the Miss Marone brand to businessman Marco Spagliatti in June 1945, and later went bankrupt in 1949.

### 1945–1949: Spagliatti era

Following the purchase of the Miss Marone brand by Marco Spagliatti, Spagliatti pledged to usher in an era of fairness and transparency in regards to the competition's results, disavowing the practices of Chérie Beauté and promising to move the brand past the results rigging controversy. Among Spagliatti's initial reforms included having the winner be selected by the audience attending the pageant, using a secret ballot. This system was implemented for Miss Marone 1946, which saw the victory of Gisèle Lafontaine. The following year, the secret ballot was used again and led to the election of Simone de Cavretou as Miss Marone 1947. Despite intending to introduce fairness into the competition, the secret ballot proved to be controversial in the aftermath of Cavretou's win, as she represented Île-de-Marone, where the competition took place. Critics alleged that a significant portion of the audience came from Île-de-Marone, as the competition was held there, leading to Cavretou receiving an undeserved inflated share of the public vote and winning the competition. Cavretou further ignited the controversy by stating in interviews that critics were "jealous" of her victory and her family background within the Maronan nobility. For Miss Marone 1948, Spagliatti altered the voting system so that both the audience and the judges voted for the winner, and the combination of their votes went on to determine the results, intending for this new system to minimize regional biases of the audience members.

Spagliatti's era of Miss Marone saw a departure from previous eras, as its winners no longer became the face of a specific company or brand during their reign, and instead began working primarily with a range of various sponsors in different industries, something that would continue throughout the remainder of Miss Marone's history. Spagliatti later sold the Miss Marone brand to Maronan businessman Emeric Gatos in March 1950. In interviews, Spagliatti has stated that he enjoyed owning Miss Marone and did not have plans to sell the pageant, but he "could not refuse" the offer that Gatos had given him.

## Contestants

Each year, contestants are chosen through a series of regional pageants held throughout metropolitan and overseas Marone in the summer and autumn before the national competition. Many regions also hold departmental pageants in the months prior to the regional pageant, in order to select the regional pageant's contestants.

The following 30 regional pageants exist for Miss Marone:

* Miss Carandie
* Miss Charlotte
* Miss Châtillon-Rèches
* Miss Côte Turquoise
* Miss Ditrone
* Miss Fuadeloupe
* Miss Grône-Fares
* Miss Hautes-Robinelles
* Miss Île-de-Marone
* Miss Languedoie
* Miss Lauterne
* Miss Lousain
* Miss Moutarde
* Miss Namou-Rentes
* Miss New Malonia
* Miss Nord
* Miss Pays-du-Verne
* Miss Pays-Libre
* Miss Pitaine
* Miss Puyane
* Miss Sainte-Edwige
* Miss Tahare
* Miss Tartinique
* Miss Terre Chasque
* Miss Val-du-Verne
* Miss Vetica
* Miss Wahiti

Each regional pageant is organized by a regional committee, which receives a license from the Miss Marone Organization. All regional committees are composed of volunteers, and do not pay licensing fees. If the Miss Marone Organization is unhappy with a regional committee, however, they may remove the committee's license.

### Rules and eligibility

In order to compete in Miss Marone, contestants must meet the following eligibility requirements:

Contestants must:

* Be legally and medically recognized as female and of Maronan nationality through either birth or naturalization.
* Be between ages 18 and 24 on 1 December of the year of the national competition.
* Be at least 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) tall.
* Have a clean criminal record.

Contestants must not:

* Be married, divorced, or widowed, or be the biological or adoptive parent of a child.
* Have received elective cosmetic surgery, or use appearance-altering products such as wigs or colored contact lenses.
* Associate themselves with religious or political propaganda during their reign as a regional titleholder or as Miss Marone.
* Have competed in a regional pageant for Miss Marone more than three times.

## Recent titleholders

*Main article: List of Miss Marone titleholders*