Miss 15 year old Lux Soap Beauty Contest of the West

Myrle, Camilla, Leona, Amy

I was 15 years old, so it would have been 1948. Your mom would have been 22. We had the picture taken as a gift for our parents. There were five copies. My sisters talked me into cutting mine up. They used the photo of me to enter me in the Miss 15 year old Lux Soap Beauty Contest of the West. Anyway, I have the original because I made my mom will her copy to me (she wrote on the back of the photo) I would'nt cut mine up if it meant I didn't have a copy. There wasn't any color photography then, so the large one we gave to our parents was hand painted in the studio. I won in my region (south SLC, Ut.) To win the title, people then had to buy Lux soap, sent the paper wrapper to Lux Soap and vote for their favorite. A girl from Laramie, Wyoming won. I guess the whole town bought a truck load of Lux soap. All was not lost, however as it launched my TV model career that lasted until I left for BYU at the ripe old age of 17. I did advertisements and modeled for KDYL/KSL TV back when TV first came out and the picture was about as big as a postage stamp. I had some funny experiences there. It surely seemed like it lasted more than 2 years. (Myrle)

I would love to see some of the TV photos. (Lark)

I wish I had some films of my TV days, but at that time what I did was all 'live'. I did a commercial for O.C.Tanner. They sold the first unbreakable dishes called 'Boonton Ware'. I came on with dishes stacked high and pretended to trip on the way in dropping all the dishes. My partner was 'aghast', I said,"Oh don't worry they aren't broken, they are Boonton Ware, you can buy them at the Jewelry Store, O.C. Tanners'. The camera quickly moved off the dishes and when it was over, we all broke down in laughter because one of the handles of one of the cups had broken off. Another time I was doing a swim suit/beach scene, with a U.of U. College male student. After it was over he asked if he could date me. I told him I was only 16, and he quickly left. FUN MEMORIES! I also modeled a fur coat once on TV, thank goodness there weren't any 'animal rights' activists at that time. (Myrle)