Petals Over Olga

B -BRAZIL

Biggest news of the week to Rio de Janeiro editors was neither politics, crime nor disaster, but the arrival in the U. S. of Miss Olga Bergamini De Sa, "Miss Brazil," for an international beauty contest to be held June 8-12 in Galveston, Tex. Shouldering other matter from Rio's front pages were rapt descriptions of how Manhattan welcomed shapely Olga. Rio editors dissertated on the significance of the occasion.

The Correio de Manha said: "We recently had the honor of entertaining President Hoover, whom we applauded as representing the intelligence, culture and merit of the great American nation. Now we reciprocate by this visit.

"Olga not only represents the feminine beauty of our race but the charm of the Brazilian woman. . . . Each petal unfolding over Olga's young crowned head is for us like the stars sparkling in our flag."

The more conservative O Jornal said: "Miss Brazil's mission has grown to proportions that none expected. . . . Her smile brings the two republics closer than arduous diplomacy. We Brazilians are grateful to the Americans for the distinctions shown to our countrywomen. Public opinion is grateful to the great sister republic of the North which each day becomes more beloved by Brazilians."

Whether the Brazilian editors knew it or not, Miss Brazil was but one of many Manhattan arrivals from far lands for the Galveston contest. Her presence, like theirs, received nothing more than routine mention, even in the tabloid press where stories and pictures of female pulchritude are so standardized that it is scarcely necessary to change the names from day to day. Characteristic was an item in Variety, theatre weekly, which published an article on the hotel accommodations and diet of the Galveston contestants, entitled FOREIGN BEAUTS CRAVE HOT MEAT.