When a bevy of beauties descended on Hong Kong for the 1976 Miss Universe contest
The judging panel included Roman Polanski and Aldo Gucci and the winner was Miss Israel Rina Messinger, a controversial choice at the time
“Wow …” ran the headline in the South China Morning Post on July 4, 1976.
“Hongkong had is first good look at all the 1976 Miss Universe hopefuls last night with the pageant’s opening ceremony at Lee Theatre. The almost-capacity audience cheered as the 73 international beauties paraded on stage in their national costumes,” the story said.
Two days later, with the preliminaries under way, the strain was beginning to show. “As the 1976 Miss Universe Pageant wears on, the combination of an intensive schedule, sweltering weather and unfamiliar diets are proving too much for some of the contestants,” the Post reported on July 6. “More than half a dozen beauties have already succumbed to various forms of malaise as ‘pageant tension’ gradually builds up to fever pitch.”
