The Great Jewish Entertainers: Bert Parks - "There She is...Miss America"

We were vacationing in Atlantic City, New Jersey a couple of weeks ago, and couldn't help noticing a bronze statue at the entrance to the Sheraton Convention Center Hotel. The statue, on a pedestal, showed a man in a tuxedo holding an outstretched crown. 

Of course, it could only be Bert Parks, who was synonymous with Atlantic City for 24 years when he hosted the annual Miss America Pageant each September.

Parks was born Bertram Jacobson in Atlanta, Georgia in 1914 to Aaron Jacobson, a Jewish merchant who had immigrated to the United States in 1900 from Latvia and his wife Hattie (Spiegel) Jacobson, the daughter of immigrants from Austria-Hungary.

Bess Myerson was the first and only Jewish-American and the first Miss New York to win the Miss America Pageant as Miss America 1945. This year the 97th Miss America Competition will return to Atlantic City's historic Boardwalk Hall on Sunday, September 10 from 9:00 PM - 11:00 PM on the ABC Television Network. 

Parks, who died in 1992, hosted his last Miss America Pageant in 1979. He was fired and replaced by a succession of 17 other hosts because the pageant organizers wanted to appeal to a younger audience. But he will always be associated with the pageant and remembered for his song There She is, Miss America, that he sang each year as the newly crowned beauty queen walked down the runway. Here is a video from the 1977 pageant to bring back memories of his performances.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO IS NOT VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.