Miss'd America Returns to Atlantic City - For a Second Encore

She's back! Just when you thought it was safe to walk down the Atlantic City Boardwalk, Miss'd America is returning to Atlantic City's historic Boardwalk Hall on Sunday, the 16th of January, 2011.

For almost fifteen years, Miss'd America lampooned the annual Miss America telecast in Atlantic City, packing them in at Studio Six, one of Atlantic City's more popular clubs, for one of the more raucous AIDS fundraisers on the East Coast.

That is, until Miss America packed up her bags and headed to Vegas in 2004. That was the end of Miss'd America - until last year, when the newly-formed Greater Atlantic City GLBT Alliance ended the hiatus and brought back all the glamour, chutzpah, and cajones to a sold-out Boardwalk Hall that had the audience on its feet, cheering for the return of the much-loved pageant.

With Carson Kressley as last year's M.C., and Michael Musto as one of the judges, and with seven chicks with dicks stalking and strolling the stage, the Miss'd America 2010 pageant had a kind of larger-than-suburban-life feel of a film by John Waters.

"Boardwalk Empress"

And now there's a sequel called "Boardwalk Empress"! Riffing on the hit HBO series "Boardwalk Empire," this year's 1920s-themed pageant promises to be even more "inappropriate," thanks to "Totally Inappropriate" lesbian comedian Suzanne Westenhoefer who takes over as Miss'd America M.C. For nearly twenty years, Westenhoefer, star of HBO, Bravo, and LOGO Television, has been performing stand-up, appearing on "The Late Show with David Letterman" and numerous other shows. The woman has chops - but then so do this year's contestants, which, this year, include Kitty Hiccup, Victoria Venom, Dallas Dubois, Gusty Winds, ShiQueetaLee, among others, hailing from such world-class locales as Hollywood, Philadelphia, Newark, Weehawken, and Millsville.

Last year's Miss'd America winner, Michelle Dupree (sometimes known as Scott Cooper) wowed the audience with a full-length, white-feather cape (stolen from Dame Shirley Bassey) before breaking into a routine that had her scatting like Ella while shimmying like Tina Turner in a performance with the velocity and force of a Cat 5 hurricane. After that, there was no question who was the newly-crowned Miss'd America.

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force as Beneficiary

What makes all this glamazon glamour even more pardonable and palpable is that last year's pageant raised more than $30,000 for charity. "With the success of last year's pageant," said Richard Helfant, president of the Greater Atlantic City GLBT Alliance, "we are extremely excited to bring Miss'd America back with lavish sets, incredible production numbers featuring the lovely and talented Erika Schiff, along with the Miss'd America dancers, and even more contestants."

Apart from the Schultz-Hill Scholarship Foundation, this year's beneficiaries include the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force - while the pageant's presenting sponsor is Resorts Casino Hotel, which is also the host of the official post-party at Boogie Nights. "The Miss'd America pageant is a great way to kick-off the 2011 calendar, and we are honored to come on board as the presenting sponsor," said Dennis C. Gomes, president and C.E.O. of Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City. "The team at the Atlantic City GLBT Alliance is truly a remarkable group and this event showcases their talents in a way that is unique to Atlantic City. We look forward to developing a lasting partnership."

Miss’d America: Ready for Her National Close-Up

Last year's entire weekend of pre-parties, press conferences, and post-parties was a testament to the dedicated and civic-proud Greater AC GLBT Alliance, all of whom worked tirelessly (with corporate sponsor support) to make one thing perfectly clear: Miss'd America was ready for her national close-up.

This year, Miss'd America's back again - and bigger than ever.

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