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Invitation to the 1971 Miss General Idea Pageant Event, October 1, 1971
Created	1971
Present location	Art Gallery of Ontario
Identification	AGO.100194

The Invitation to the 1971 Miss General Idea Pageant Event, October 1, 1971 is in the collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This is part of the documentation for the performance piece by General Idea The 1971 Miss General Idea Pageant which took place on October 1st, 1971 at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Description

We wanted to be famous; we wanted to be glamorous; we wanted to be rich. That is to say, we wanted to be artists … We knew that if we were famous, if we were glamorous, we could say we were artists, and we would be. We did and we are. We are famous, glamorous artists. — General Idea, excerpt from “Glamour,” FILE Megazine, vol. 3, no. 1, fall 1975

On October 1st, 1971, the Canadian art group General Idea (A.A. Bronson, Felix Partz, and Jorge Zontal) undertook the organization and execution of a major exhibition titled The 1971 Miss General Idea Pageant, held at the Art Gallery of Ontario. The Pageant was a manifestation of General Idea’s on-going glamour/art world dialogue. Through the medium of the Pageant – a classic example of glitz, glam, and extravagance – General Idea critiqued the art system’s ironic taboo on the word “glamour”, a system based heavily on money, notoriety, and publicity, all of which inevitably leads to glamour and fame. The Pageant was a concrete model for the abstract art world and, to put it one way, its vices. “It was in extremely bad taste to talk about glamour. It was the last subject in the world that anybody would mention. And the same with money and fame. … It would have meant the end of their careers probably, if [artists] were demonstrably any of those things. Although secretly, of course, they wanted all three.”

The Pageant derived its name from Miss General Idea, the identity created by General Idea for their artistic muse, in 1968. The Pageant framed the concept of the glamourous art world but was also a part of that world. Of the 1975 Pageant General Idea stated, “The 1984 Miss General Idea Pageant is basically this: a framing device we have framed for our own devices to contain our frame-ups. The Search for the Spirit of Miss General idea is the ritualized pageant of creation, production, selection, presentation, competition, manipulation, and revelation of that which is suitable for framing. (Showcard 2-001, The 1984 Miss General Idea Pageant, 1975). The Pageant demonstrated the workings of the art world through each part of the machine: the artists – sixteen participants from across Canada; the public art institution – the AGO; the art authorities (or judges) – the influential art consultant Dorothy Cameron, David Silcox, (former Dean of Fine Arts at York University), and “General Idea’s Glamour Consultant” Daniel Freedman (Canadian actor); and of course the art audience – the public. As part of their performance the museum itself was subverted from the authoritative house of art into a mere backdrop – a set for a theatrical production.

Art’s central myth continually renews itself with the apotheosis of a star, artist, or research group in whom the community of the art world, from the critic to the collector, projects and transfers consumerism in the art community… In this manner the cycle of myth-making continues and perpetuates itself in waiting for the new ‘star’. — Germano Celant, Italian curator, on General Idea’s early work

The Preparation

The Pageant’s “finalists” – sixteen pre-selected artists from across Canada – were each sent an "Entry Kit" – a box silkscreened with the Pageant logo (a tropical island vista with sunset and swaying palm trees) – by insured mail, containing:

• The Miss General Idea Gown – a dark brown-coloured dress with a specially printed letterpress tag (one of sixteen left over from Betty’s [1970])
• A silkscreened card folder containing a typed letter of invitation signed by Granada Gazella, Miss General Idea 1969
• A General Idea business card
• A black-and-white photograph of the Artist’s Conception: Miss General Idea 1971
• A black-and-white photograph of the reworked Globe and Mail article (about Betty’s) featuring The Miss General Idea Gown
• A black-and-white photograph, signed, of Miss Honey, Miss General Idea 1970
• The 1970 Miss General Idea Pageant Programme
• The Pageant entry form and rules
• A folded acceptance card with pre-addressed return envelope
• An application form requesting name of the contestant (or of the “stand-in” of his/her choice) and the name of the photographer
  

Each “finalist” was asked to take eight photographs of themselves modelling The Miss General Idea Gown, and to submit these with the application form and the box with the packing materials it came in (brown paper wrapping, stamps, etc.). Twelve artists responded to the call. One artist declined participation, Janis Campbell, New Brunswick, and three artists did respond at all – Ray Johnson, cleric Father Malachi, and artist Robert Fones. One photograph from each submission was selected by General Idea to be enlarged and presented at the 1971 Miss General Idea Documentation, displayed at A Space the week before the Pageant, along with the silkscreen brown latex rubber print of the Artist’s Conception: Miss General Idea 1971. The judges were invited to see the work and select the 3 finalists and the winner, to be announced at the Pageant.

The Pageant Night

On October 1st the Pageant unrolled with the grandeur and glamour of any televised awards ceremony. Camera crews captured the entire event: the arrival of the guests by limousines greeted by doormen (members of the AGO staff in white hats and gloves), the mingling of the audience, the judges, and the contestants, the MC (A.A. Bronson himself) and the entertainment, and the dramatic “May I have the envelope please” moment. Everything was elaborately coordinated from the speeches to timed standing ovations.

The public arrived, Beauty without Cruelty tickets ($2.50) in hand, at 7:45 p.m. The “guests” arrived in red carpet-style, roving searchlight outside the gallery lighting their way. Visitors were greeted by a videotape welcome by Miss Honey (Miss General Idea 1970). The Miss General Idea Documentation and Artist’s Conception were set up along the walls of Walker Court for viewing and ballots were given to the public for them to cast their vote for “Miss Generality” (the people’s choice). The centre of the Court was taken up by the stage and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prize-stands. Three mannequins wearing the Miss General Idea Gown were hung from the ceiling above the stage. The stage was decorated with four large wrought-iron candleholders, two by the piano and two by the bar, which served Japanese wafers, and coffee for free. Four urns were placed around the stage containing long, elegant pheasant feathers. At 7:50 p.m. dry ice was loaded into the Walker Court fountain, enveloping the visitors in an enigmatic mist.

The programme began with a performance by Pascal, the “General Idea’s Chanteuse”, of the General Idea theme song, “We Get Ideas”, lit by a spotlight and backed by projections of palm trees. A.A. Bronson, as MC, introduced the guests to the audience and presented the various gifts that would be awarded that evening, including the Miss General Idea Trophy – a found 1950s porcelain figurine of a scantily clad sea spirit seated atop a large stripped fish. The concept of the Pageant was explained through a slide show. Next the previous year’s Pageant winners – Mimi (Miss General Idea 1968), Granada (Miss General Idea 1969), and Miss Honey (Miss General Idea 1970) – presented one another and reminisced briefly on their experiences as Miss General Idea. After Miss Honey’s video presentation, “Miss Honey Movie”, Pascal dedicated the song “Black Coffee” to her reign. The sixteen participating artists were introduced by A.A. Bronson and Miss Honey through a series of slides, and the three finalists were announced.

After a short intermission, during which the ballots for “Miss Generality” were counted, Pascal performed “Whatever Lola Wants”. The winner of “Miss Generality” was Margaret Coleman, who was presented with a tape of the audience’s applause at the announcement of her win. Miss Honey gave her farewell speech, Pascal sang “I’ve Got You Under My Skin”, and then the three finalists were once again invited up on stage. The winner was announced: Marcel Dot, who was showered with flower petals that dropped from the ceiling, and presented with the latex rubber print of the Artist’s Conception, the pearl necklace, and a bouquet of flowers, and was taken to view the Miss General idea Trophy. The Pageant closed with the theme song “I Get Ideas.” Marcel Dot changed his name to Marcel Idea in honour of the occasion.

Artist

Main article: General Idea