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| Miss New York Mallory Hytes Hagan reacts as she is crowned Miss America 2013 in Las Vegas. (AP/Isaac) |
“There she is, Miss America"... except this year’s winner won’t be hearing those words.
Due to a licensing dispute, Miss America 2013 will be crowned in September without the iconic “Miss America” song.
Miss America Organization vice president Sharon Pearce confirmed to the Press of Atlantic City that the familiar tune, played almost every year since 1955, will no longer be used at the pageant.
The dispute stems from a lawsuit filed by the late songwriter Bernie Wayne’s wife, who claimed the song was used without a proper license in 2011 and 2012.
For a few years in the 1980s, the “Miss America” song was silent during another contract dispute, and last year, the pageant played instrumental music instead for Laura Kaeppeler’s crowning. This year, organizers could also choose to use another tune like “Look at Her” and “Miss America the Beautiful.”
Wayne first wrote the song while sitting in a barber’s chair in 1955. In that year’s pageant, host Bert Parks sang it on the televised broadcast to winner Lee Meriwether. Before his death in 1993, Wayne also wrote the song “Blue Velvet,” as well as many other familiar jingles, commercial tunes, and television and movie songs.
