Pageant News Bureau - Tara Cahill

A Golden Age of beauty

For more than a century, people have been packing up their dreams and heading for Southern California. Some simply want a more prosperous, comfortable life. But many are drawn by the entertainment industry, which thrives in the California sun as it does nowhere else on earth, and which may become humanity's dominant enterprise in the 21st century.

You can be a supermodel on the beach at Malibu, or maybe a star in Hollywood. You can be a singer or a dancer. Or at least you can try. No wonder so many people still make the trip west.

But not all the beautiful people come TO Southern California. Some of them are FROM Southern California.

For 20 years, modeling agent Susan Lane (shown below in "War and Remembrance" with Mike Connors and Polly Bergen) has been introducing women of beauty and talent to the world. Her business is not limited to her Golden State base -- but some of her most memorable discoveries were made close to home. And many were made at beauty pageants.

What venue could be better for discovering potential models and actresses than a pageant? If you walk up to a woman in a restaurant and tell her she has a magnificent face, you may get a suspicious stare. If you walk up to a woman in a department store and tell her she has a perfect body, you may be introduced to a security guard. But if you see a woman in a crown and sash and tell her, "You really are pretty," it's the perfect icebreaker.

Ms. Lane, an actress and model herself, has guided many pageant competitors into careers as models and entertainers. A look at two of her California protégés shows how they were transformed from beautiful girls with high hopes into stunning women with exciting careers.

Shapely, athletic Shannon Cleye (left) is an actress, a sports host, a model who has worked across much of the Pacific Rim. But she got her start as Miss Orange County, representing a place with a reputation for conservatism. She had a conservative look in those days, but it got more glamorous as her career progressed. Even her beauty titles got more glamorous: Miss National Citrus Queen, Miss Black Velvet for California. She always turned heads. Now she has the power to freeze men's feet to the sidewalk.

Wanda Acuna (right and top) was once Miss County of San Bernardino. It's an area of wide-open spaces, where the moon and stars light the clear desert nights. It's the place where Ms. Acuna learned to ride horses with the skill of a 19th-century cowgirl. Now she's a 21st-century temptress who has appeared on "The Young and the Restless" and "Married, With Children," among others. As the eagle flies, San Bernardino is not really all that far from Hollywood, but Ms. Acuna has come a long way from the shy girl who saw her dreams begin to unfold on the pageant stage.

Naturally, Susan Lane wishes they all could be California girls. It would make life much simpler. But the stars of the new millennium are coming of age all over the globe, and Ms. Lane is scouting far beyond the West Coast for prospects.

So don't be surprised if you see her cross your path. And don't be offended if she says you may have what it takes for a glamorous career. And if you really are not interested in fame and fortune, just say "no" politely.

A Golden Age of beauty

Photos courtesy of Susan Lane Modeling & Talent AgencyWanda Acuna color photo by David DobsonWanda Acuna black and white photo by Richard Reinsdorf

Photos courtesy of Susan Lane Modeling & Talent Agency
Wanda Acuna color photo by David Dobson
Wanda Acuna black and white photo by Richard Reinsdorf