Author:
Ang Mang-aawit
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Date Posted: 16:04:37 04/01/05 Fri
The year was 1973.
The place: Athens, Greece - the haven to great sculptors, architects, writers and thinkers of all time, the "cradle of Western civilization", the "home of the gods", and the birthplace of the Olympics. The venue: Herod Atticus Amphitheater, a 2,000-year old, round building with an open arena situated at the foot of a great rock called Acropolis that looked out over the city of Athens. On top of the “Odeon”, as Herod Atticus Amphitheater was aptly called, was the Parthenon, the ancient Doric temple of Athena which was sculpted and designed by Phidias and built in 5th Century B.C. The Odeon was surrounded by rising rows of seats where ancient Greeks sat and watched those immortal plays and tragic dramas written by Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles - the great and legendary Greek tragedians of all time.
The event: The 22nd Annual Miss Universe Pageant where sixty-one (61) beautiful ladies from all over the world competed for the most coveted title, “Miss Universe”. This was the first time in the history of the pageant where the program was brought to the European continent for a worldwide telecast.
Maria Margarita Roxas Moran, a 19-year old, full-time university student and a part-time Auggie Cordero/Patis Tesoro model from Mandaluyong, Metro Manila, represented the Philippines. Earlier in her Binibini stint, she was reluctant to join this local pageant but was forced to do so due to the persistent encouragements and constant nagging from her friends. As a matter of fact, her parents were even clueless when she won the Binibining Pilipinas-Universe title. Thus, the news of her winning became really quite a shock to her family members. She succeeded Armi Barbara Crespo, Bb. Pilipinas-Universe 1972, who was successful as a delegate in the Miss Universe edition in Dorado, Puerto Rico by placing as one of its semifinalists along with Kerry Wells, a “weather bird” from Australia, who eventually won the crown.
After Margie deplaned from her Olympic Airways flight to Athens, local photographers and press people swooned to her like “bees making wax on a honeycomb”. They admired Margie’s prominent forehead, flawless complexion, and her uniquely shaped square-jawed face. Margie’s poise and regal bearing were just too impossible to go unnoticed. Her graceful moves were natural, effortless and unrehearsed. Her feminine flair was refined, controlled, and yet, spontaneous. She wasn’t much of a “glib-talker” like Gloria Diaz, the first Philippine Miss Universe, but her sensibilities were forthcoming and her candidness was so forthright during interviews.
During the preliminaries, the early favorites were Amanda Jones (USA), Marcelle Herro (Lebanon), Limor Schreibman (Israel), Desiree Rolando (Venezuela), Vanessa Colon (Puerto Rico), Margie Moran (Philippines) and, of course, the host delegate, Sicta Vana Papadaki (Greece). Margie was every photographer’s delight that there were no questions asked when she won the Miss Photogenic Award. Meanwhile, Maria Martin Madrigal, the delegate from Spain, won the Best National Costume Award.
The Miss Universe pageant commenced with a welcoming statement from Corinna Tsopei, Miss Universe 1964 from Greece, that segued to an opening number by all 61 delegates parading in their national costumes. Margie wore an original Auggie Cordero creation – a white mestiza dress with huge circular and oval prints, which created a “twist” to its whole ensemble. She accessorized her dress with only three elements: a pair of simple, gold dangling earrings; a hair coiffed in a bun, and a beautiful face. She introduced herself in Tagalog: “Magandang gabi. Ako po’y si Margarita Moran, taga-Maynila!”
When Bob Barker announced the twelve semifinalists, Margie was the fourth one to be called. The other semifinalists that year were: India, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Greece, Japan, Lebanon, USA, Norway, Spain and Israel. During the interview, a lot of the semifinalists had a hard time understanding Bob as most of them could hardly speak or understand English, or perhaps, had only limited knowledge of the English language. Miss Argentina, Susana Romero, preceded Margie during the interview. When Bob asked Susana if she learned any English words during her weeks of the competition, she replied, “Father, mother, brother, sister, fraternity, one . . . two . . . three . . .four . . . ” for which Bob heartily laughed and readily said, “That’s enough, Miss Argentina. Thank you. That was sweet!”
Then it was Margie’s turn. Here was the exact account of her interview with Bob Barker:
BOB: “So here’s Miss Philippines who does know English.” (He was relating to the audience what had just transpired earlier in his interview with Miss Argentina who didn’t speak any English at all.) “Your name is?”
MARGIE: “Margarita Moran”.
BOB: “What would you like to do, Margarita?
MARGIE: “Later?” (Sounding a little bit perplexed about the question.)
BOB: “Yes, as a job?”
MARGIE: “Uh, I’d like to be a banker.” (The way she uttered the word, “banker” sounded like, “bunker”.)
BOB: “A banker? Why a banker?”
MARGIE: “Well, uh, first, I’d like to follow my father’s footsteps because he’s a banker (this time, she pronounced the word correctly) and, uh, besides that, I’m taking up a course in Business Administration which courses in banking and finance (the way she said “finance” was like “fee-nuns” but was still acceptable) and I like counting money.”
BOB: “You like counting money?”
MARGIE: (Smiled and nodded in agreement.)
BOB: “What will you do with the Ten Thousand Dollars if you win the Miss Universe Pageant?”
MARGIE: Uh, I’ll invest it . . . uh, probably I’ll build a hotel.”
BOB: “A hotel?”
MARGIE: “Yes and I’ll run the business and my sister will manage it because she’s taking up Business---uh, Hotel Management in school.”
BOB: “You know, I’ve made a discovery. (He was addressing the audience at this point.) This girl could be the Onassis of the Philippines before she’s through. Thank you very much, Miss Philippines!”
At this time, the audience gave Margie a big round of applause. Based on their individual interviews, I believed that she topped this portion of the competition because even if she had a very thick Filipino accent when she spoke her answers in English, she still managed to be direct, sensible and unrehearsed. She said what she meant and her answers came straight from the heart. Period.
During the swimsuit competition, Margie topped this event again because of her sexy figure and her smooth moves. She was only five-foot-six (5’6”) and yet she looked taller on screen than in person because of her lean, proportionate figure and regal stance.
The final event of the pageant was the evening gown competition. Here, Margie sported another Auggie Cordero number, which consisted of a white sleeveless V-neck gown with a “cabbage rose”, pinned to her left shoulder. The cut was so simple with no frills, slits or trails whatsoever but the drama was on the bottom-waist part of the gown which had some intricate, Filipiniana geometric designs that accentuated the “rose” on her shoulder. It was such a very simple gown that its construction and composition were quite a huge contrast from the evening gown that her predecessor, Armi Barbara Crespo, wore in the previous pageant. Margie gave justice to this ensemble by her unassumed fluidity, poise and effortless grace. Again, she topped this final event.
When Bob randomly announced the “final five” who would continue with the competition, Margie was called second. The rest of the finalists were Amanda Jones (USA), Aina Walle (Norway), Limor Schreibman (Israel), and Maria Martin Madrigal (Spain). The arena was filled with great tension at this time and the finalists were asked to pick a card from Bob’s hand which contained the nerve-wracking questions.
Miss Israel, who was sick and stricken with a common cold during the pageant, was asked the question, “If you had to stop being you and become somebody else, who would you want to be and why?” At first, she begged to answer the question in Hebrew so that Bob had to step her aside in the meantime while the gaffers and “runners” of the pageant had to search for a Hebrew interpreter. Bob went on his interview with the four other ladies before he came back to her. When the Hebrew Interpreter showed up and Bob reiterated the question to her for translation, Miss Israel suddenly grabbed the mic from Bob’s hand and said, “I understand now. Thank you,” while indirectly implying to the interpreter that help wasn’t needed at all. She gave away her answer in English with Bob’s expression looking a little bit pissed. At any rate, Bob still graciously thanked the Hebrew Interpreter for showing up. Thus, a Fourth Runner-up finish for Miss Israel.
Miss USA was asked this question, “You’ve been away from home for ten days. What is the first thing you’re going to do and why?” She said that the people of Greece had made her feel at home that she would “take them with her” when she heads back home to her folks.
Miss Norway’s question was: “You had a chance to see how the people of Athens lived. How did it differ from the way people lived in your hometown?” She started alright in her answer by saying that the people in Greece were warm and were not afraid to talk to strangers on the streets which most Norwegians were not accustomed to doing. She wanted to add something to her answer but somehow became fragmented in her train of thought. She apologized to Bob that she got “lost in translation”.
Miss Spain had an interpreter. Her question was, “If your little sister or a friend were to enter this pageant next year, what advice would you give them?” She answered that she would encourage her little sister or friend to participate in the pageant because it was an enriching experience when she joined it.
What about Miss Philippines? Well, here was the verbatim account of that final interview:
BOB: “Let’s make believe that all of a sudden . . . well, this is a perfect question for her! (addressing the audience) Let’s make believe that all of a sudden you had a million dollars. (The audience was laughing and reacting when Bob said this due to the parallel relation of Margie’s prior interview with him that dealt on the subject of “money management”.) What’s the first thing you would buy and why would you buy it?”
MARGIE: “A house and lot because it’s the most important thing and I can’t afford it. If I had a million bucks, I’d buy a house and lot and live by myself and other people, of course.” (At this point, she started to sound very nervous but still managed to maintain her composure.)
BOB: “Thank you, Miss Philippines!”
In conclusion, Margie walked away with the Miss Universe crown that night. Amanda Jones, Miss USA, was 1st Runner-up; Miss Norway, 2nd Runner-up; and, Miss Spain was 3rd Runner-up. It was another victorious moment for the Philippines! Weeks later, Margie’s face was on every cover of Women’s, MOD and Woman magazines. She was also featured on Expressweek where she posed in her bathing suit, crown and scepter. And true to her words, she became the dignified businesswoman that she aspired to become. Her dream of having her own hotel came true when she married Tony Boy Floirendo and resided in Davao. There, she managed a hotel/lodging-beach resort called “Pearl Farm” which was located in Samal Island. It became one of the tourist attractions during the “Islands Philippines” promotion in 1994.
Today, she ventures into doing another challenge in her life by getting into showbusiness as an executive producer of critically-acclaimed movies. I am certain that her business acumen will always be there when needed. To sum it up, Margarita Moran continues to define what being a true-blooded “Miss Universe” is all about. She remains a blessing to us, pageant fans, for proving that a Filipino can be a "Haley's comet” in the international arena. She will always continue to shine like the antiquities of ancient civilization --- timeless, elegant, and regal!
Thank you, Margie, for letting us taste your victory all these years. You're truly a "PEARL OF THE ORIENT" in the "HOME OF THE GODS"!
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Miss Asean, Studio 23, April 8, 10:30 pm
THIS GIRLS ROCKS!!!!!!
BAD SHOW, TERRIBLE GOWNS, HORRIFIC CROWNS, GREAT WINNERS
