Beauty #1: A. Helena
A. Helena’s parents met in Canada where they eventually got married. She was born on August 20 and was the third in a brood of four girls and one boy. As a young girl, she developed a passion for gymnastics and swimming. When she turned 17, she was prodded into joining a national beauty contest. Standing 5 feet, 5 inches and weighing 110 pounds, she handily won the national beauty contest. On the same year, she travelled to the United States to compete in an international beauty pageant which was being held for the first time.
On July 28, twelve days after arriving in the United States, the final day of the beauty contest was held. One of the judges was a Mexican Hollywood actor who would later star in a Famas-nominated Pinoy action film directed by a Pinoy director and featuring a supporting cast which included a martial arts-expert-cum-Pinoy action star and a former Binibining Pilipinas runner-up: Elizabeth Oropesa. Since the beauty contest was being held for the first time, there were only 30 contestants from various countries. Only one Asian made it to the top five.
A. Helena won the hearts of the panel of judges with her elegant beauty. She easily won the top prize. Since it was the first year of the beauty contest and there was no previous winner, she was crowned by an actress whose leading man in her first movie was a movie actor who later became president.
Part of A. Helena’s prize as the first ever winner of the beauty pageant was an appearance in a Universal Studio movie to be filmed in the United States where she would be paired with a popular comedy duo. However, there was a problem. She had no permit to work in the United States. In order to secure work permit for her, the pageant organizers tried to convince her to marry a famous Hollywood actor (who later married the star of a very famous Hollywood film with whom he had a daughter who later became an equally famous Hollywood actress). A. Helena refused to marry the famous actor and the movie was never made.
When she crowned the new Miss Philippines that year, she was escorted by a young man who would later become a feisty young senator. When she visited the Senate, a brilliant young senator was smitten by her. (But she was destined for someone else.) The brilliant young senator and the feisty young senator would later become bitter enemies and would make history in completely opposite ways.
On February 22 of the following year, A. Helena had a blind date with a wealthy Pinoy businessman who was also a very good dancer. She was instantly infatuated with this smart yet unassuming guy who graduated from New York’s only ivy league school: Columbia University. She agreed to marry him. To mark their engagement, he gave her a diamond ring. But there was a problem. Her reign as beauty pageant winner was not yet over. Her contract required her to finish her one-year term before she could get married. But she was madly in love with him. So she decided to give up her crown. But before a formal wedding could be held, the couple decided to get married in haste in Japan. His wedding gift to her was a brand-new car. Their love story was made into a movie which was shown that same year.
