LEONA GAGE: THE INDEPENDENT OBITUARY

My obituary of Leona Gage, the Miss USA winner stripped of her title the next day, is in today's Independent, you can link to it here. Pregnant at 13, married twice at 14, two children by 16, divorced twice and dating Frank Sinatra at 19: it's a story that cries out to be dramatized, in a better way than, say, Bettie Page. Her brief career with Roger Corman might be worth a story too. Like Page, Gage's later life revolved around religion, and an ex-spouse who apparently continued to pay her rent. Although the Indy miscounted in their summary, Gage wound up being married six times, and after her first annulment, the others all ended in divorce.

Gage was disqualified from the Miss Universe contest when she was stripped of the Miss USA title...Miss Universe, of course, is a misnomer, since all the contestants come from only one planet.