Ah, but money (or the lack thereof) changes everything, and a cleaned-up version of The Pageant was revived in 1933 to help jump-start AC's floundering, depression-starved economy. Operating by a strict set of rules, Miss America was now much more appealing to the glamour-hungry, royalty-deprived American public than ever before.

Live radio and (later) television broadcasts also helped convert The Pageant from a local publicity stunt to a National Event, thus changing the concept of The Girl Next Door becoming an Overnight "Star" from fantasy into a reality. Would-be Cinderellas (and Cinder-fellahs) everywhere were now hopelessly fascinated by The Miss America Pageant.

What exactly qualifies someone to BECOME "Miss America" has always been a cause for endless debate, however. Since the audience for the pageant is almost entirely female, the organizers are constantly guessing at — as well as pandering to — what the Average American Woman thinks are the most important attributes a young woman ought to exhibit. Beauty AND brains have always been prerequisites, but how one WEIGHS the two is what gets everyone all in a tizzy. As a result, publicizing the contestants' measurements is now OUT, while publicizing her grade point average is IN (while the TV ratings continue to go DOWN... Zzzzzzz...).