Newspaper Page Text
Friday. May I, 19*4
THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
Pift Sevan
I
MEET A BEAUTY
By BEN G. FRANK
(Ben G. Frank, a newspaper re
porter, has covered several Miss
America contests.)
0 0 0
NEW YORK—A 21-year-old beauty
queen, now Mias Greater New York,
soon win walk onto a stage, graci
ously hft the sparkling crown from
her head and place it on a new Miss
Greater Gotham-town
The ceremony certainly will have
all the trappings of the end of a
modem beauty contest The bright
h^rts, the whistles and applause,
the popping dash bulbs, the quick
witted and inspiring master of oere-
monies, the eager reporters waiting
to pounce for breathless quotes and
the “there-she-is" ballad.
Occasionally, however, a queen,
who has a more-than-average story
to tell and a desire to fulfill, steps
into the spotlight
Miss Aliza Erber, Mias Greater
New York, 1963-64, survived World
War II when most European Jew
ish infants cbd not. And one of the
dramatic parts this native of Hol
land and resident of Israel in her
youth would like to perform is that
of Anne Prank in “Diary of A Young
Girl.”
Miss Erber was bom in 1943, the
year Nazi crematoriums were work
ing full-blast in what was to end
in the destruction of six million
Jews.
The Erbers, like the Dutch family
Frank, thought of one thing: sur
vival. The family had agreed to split
up Bert Erber, Miss Erber’s father,
bad escaped to Palestine and there
Joined the British Army. Desperate,
Mrs. Ekber hid her child with nuns
in a convent outside her home town
of Almelo, Holland. The mother was
taken in by friends.
In 1944, the Allied Armies moved
into Holland. Mrs. Erber, risking
death, made her way into the sec
tor of the Netherlands still occu
pied by the Germans and recover
ed her dau^iter After the war, the
whole family was reunited in Pal
estine.
Long before Mias Erber, now a
junior at Himter College, Bronx
campus, was chosen queen of 12
million Greater New Yorkers dur
ing the preliminaries for the Miss
Universe contest, she paid a visit
to the Amsterdam hideout of the
girl whose chary bus stirred mil
lions.
“I went there beoaise in a way
my family hid out also, though we
were fortunate,” said the dark
frown haired, green eyed Bronx
resident. She recalls after seeing the
dingy attic of the warehouse-office
building, her admiration for the
Dutch girt increased.
“It’s quite a tee anything like
this had to happen,” she declared.
“Coming out of the building, 1
was angry—angry tlkat this happen
ed. I detest wars," added the 5 foot,
4 inch. 111 pound student who is
majoring in speech therapy and
manuring in drama.
It was in Holon, Israel, that Miss
Erber began at age 11 what she
hoped eventually would blossom into
a stage career She was chosen for
the lead part in an Independence
Day biblical production. She soon
joined B'mateuu, the children's sec
tion of Habimah. When she was 15,
she became a finalist in an Israel
film company screening contest.
The aspiring actress said the most
embarrassing moment in her life
occurred in 1969 when she had to
tell the movie makers the family
was leaving Israel. The Erbers
were going to America.
“In Israel,” commented Miss
Erber, "it was very hard to make
a living.” Her father, a captain in
the Israel Army, was constantly in
the service and this worried Mrs.
Erber, according to Miss Erber.
The Latter added that her parents
could not afford to send her and
her sister to college in Israel.
How does a new arrival to Amer
ican shores get to be a queen?
in Mies Erber’s case, a boy she
was dating at the time mailed her
picture to the Miss Greater New
York queen-seekers At first, she
said, she was angry with her former
beau because she wanted to be an
actress and she dkl not want to
achieve this by “going around and
showing her figure ”
A beauty contest, of course, is
quite an experience for any girt
to go through, rtie pointed out. It
includes, "shivering in bathing
suits; going to bed at 10 p. m. dur
ing contest time.” and of course
remarks like, “ 'She may be beau
tiful, but she probably has nothing
in her head’.’’
Most of the girls in the contest
were models, she noted “It was dif
ficult to communicate with them,”
said the B-average student who add
ed when she saw these model-types
at the start of the pageant, she said
to hersetf: “Forget it!” But the con
test had its good side, she said. “I
met ait kinds of interesting peo
ple.'’
Crowned at New York’s famous
Latin Quarter, her year as queen
had been spent cutting ribbons at
sgiermarkets, waving to crowds
from atop the back seat of con
vertibles and presenting trophies to
victorious sportsmen.
However, to Mlss Erber, studying
is more important than handing
garlands of flowers or planting
kisses on car-race drivers She has
acted in a number of plays at Hun
ter and her theatre work there in
cludes make-up and stage managing
Aithoufdi she is now directing a play
at the college, she finds time to be
active in the school’s B’nai B’rith
Hillol Foundation, the Student Zion
ist Organization and the Israel Folk
Dance Clid).
Miss Erber also has her ideas on
the proper use of cosmetics. “Don’t
wear it ail the time,” she advises
American females. “Wear make-up
that fits and wear it in modera
tion,” prodaomB the queen. Thw
advice, moderation, also is handed
out for hair styles.
How has tbe reacted to Amer
ica? “It's a rich and friendly coun
try,” she declared. She said many
young people here “take things for
granted. Many can’t comprehend,”
she continued "doing physical
labor,” aithou^i she agrees there
are exceptions.
Her family is an acting family. A
oousin of her grandfathers is Hol
lywood composer, Max Steiner. Her
European relatives were on the
stage and in the opera
Looking forward to a career in
acting, she repeats what many be
fore her have said: “Acting is
rough, but exciting and rewarding.”
And already, she says, she knows
by heart that famous theater slogan
“There’s No Business Like Show
Business. ”
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