Sunday, January 31, 2010
Life, In this Issue...

Beautiful girls

Mother and daughter team up for “Perfect” title

By H.M. Cauley

Ever wonder what really goes on behind the scenes of a TV beauty pageant? Honestly, most of us probably haven’t. Taylor Morris was in that group when her mom Marie suggested she try out for the  Little Miss Perfect  reality TV show, airing on WE tv. The show is overseen by pageant guru Michael Galanes, whose exploits were the inspiration for the hit film  Little Miss Sunshine.
Taylor, who lives with her mom, dad and baby sister in Griffin, Ga., had some experience in  natural  pageants—ones where the contests are judged on looks alone. But the concept of dressing up, making up and showing off was new to the 8-year-old.

 My mom explained the whole thing to me,  says the articulate third grader.  The big thing was having a camera crew come in and film for a week, and that it would be everywhere. She told me I couldn’t get mad at anything. But I was really excited. To be on TV is big!

Taylor is featured in the show’s fourth episode, airing Tuesday, Feb. 2, at 10 p.m. Now in its second season,  Little Miss Perfect  focuses on the junior pageant world, and the angst that accompanies it. (It must have been considerable for Taylor’s competition, a 7-year-old named Trinity and her mom Kelly from Hampton, Ga., both of whom have disappeared off the show’s PR radar.)

For a week, cameras trailed Taylor as she prepped for the contest.

 They followed me everywhere, and I mean every step,  says Taylor.  That was sometimes hard because it was right there every time I turned around. The only place it didn’t follow me was school because we did it before school started last August. It was fun, but it was hard. We had to repeat a lot. They’d say, ‘Can you do this again, but turn to the right?’ One time, we were packing up my shoes and we had to do it about six times.

Marie Morris, a substitute teacher and volunteer at her daughter’s school, says the whole thing happened so quickly, the family didn’t have time to get worked up.

 It was dumped in our laps when a friend of mine, a local pageant director, called to say the show’s casting director had been in touch. The show was featuring girls in this age group and had one back out, so they wanted someone to do this at the drop of a hat. We found out on a Monday that they’d be coming on Tuesday and they were at our house until Saturday night.
Somehow, Taylor managed to keep her cool. In fact, she sounds almost philosophical about the entire experience.

 I just couldn’t get the whole glitz thing—the short dress, the makeup,  she says.  I told my mom that I do like it sometimes, but we’re into doing natural pageants with maybe lip gloss, a little bit of blush and a long casual dress. It’s the complete opposite of glitz.

For the  Wow Wear  part of competition, when the girls are decked out in themed garb, Taylor made her own karate outfit. She’s been studying the sport for a year and takes classes a few times a week.  I like when they teach you how to get out of different kinds of holds. It’s real cool,  she says.

 We wanted her to be different, so we added beads and trim to the uniform,  says Marie.  Taylor broke boards during her routine—it was definitely not what other people were doing. Most of other outfits were girly, cutesy. But Taylor’s outfit made the point that she’s involved with things other than pageants.

Taylor has been in Griffin-area natural pageants since she was 3, says Marie. She has won several, including, most recently, the title of Miss Heart of Georgia. The natural contests usually don’t include a talent requirement, so when her daughter didn’t go for the glitz, that was fine with Marie, who has never been in a pageant herself.

 We are not die-hard, cutthroat pageant people,  she says.  My daughter enjoys it and is good at it. When we have the money, we do it; if we don’t, we don’t. If she wins, she does; if she doesn’t, she doesn’t. I really wanted to do this, too, so people will see that there are level-headed people who participate in pageants.

Taylor, who lists arts, music, math and phys. ed. among her favorite subjects, is also philosophical about her future on the pageant circuit.

“I’m glad I did it; it was fun,” she says. “I might do it again. At least I went through the whole thing without thinking, ‘I don’t ever want to do it anymore.’” SP