5. Juneau Voices: Stuart Sliter
It’s 1958. One minute, Stuart’s putting in a regular day in her downtown office. The next minute, she’s on a cross-country adventure as the Last Frontier’s first-ever Miss Alaska.
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More about this story
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Juneau Voices #5 is located at Front Street and Franklin Street.
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The 32nd Miss America pageant was held at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 6, 1958, four months before Alaska became a state on January 3, 1959.
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To spend more time with Stuart Sliter, please visit: https://www.aanyatxu.org/stuart-sliter
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The narrators for Juneau Voices are David Katzeek, Kingeisti, an Eagle, and Erin Tripp, Xáalnook, a Raven.
STUART SLITER
NARRATOR 2:
Here we are on Front Street and Franklin Street. This is Juneau Voices Number 5.
NARRATOR 1:
And there’s Raven– Yéil— perched on top of the clock on the corner.
NARRATOR 2:
Front Street used to be the shoreline, before the city filled the tidelands with mine tailings.
STUART:
And Front Street is the main thoroughfare of the 4th of July Parade.
NARRATOR 1:
This is Stuart Johnson Sliter.
SOUND: Raven’s call and a musical phrase send us back in time.
NARRATOR 2:
1958.
NARRATOR 1:
1958.
STUART:
It’s summer. A woman breezes into the office where I’m working. Her name is Bea Albertson. She owns a clothing shop right here on Front Street.
NARRATOR 2 (as Bea Albertson):
Stuart! I’m so glad I found you.
STUART:
Bea says, “I need you to come to my shop by 5 o’clock in a bathing suit.”
NARRATOR 2 (as Bea Albertson):
It’s for a beauty contest. Can you be there?
STUART:
“Welllll, I live in Douglas. I’d have to go home first.” …Then my coworker says:
NARRATOR 2 (as the coworker):
You can come over to my house in town! I’ll loan you a bathing suit and a pair of high heels!
STUART:
So that’s what I do!
SOUND: High heels on the floor of the shop. Nervous chatter and laughter.
STUART:
There are 5 other girls here. There are 4 men judging us. A few hours later, I’m Miss Alaska. I go straight home to Douglas and tell my brother, “I want you to know that I am now Miss Alaska, and on Monday, I’m going to New York City, and to the Miss America pageant, in Atlantic City.” And my brother says—
NARRATOR 1 (as Stuart’s brother):
What? You?? You’ve gotta be kidding.
SOUND: A jet plane, giving way to the traffic of New York City.
STUART:
It’s my first trip to the East Coast! I have a suite in the St. Moritz Hotel, overlooking Central Park. The press knows that Alaska is about to become a state, so I’m getting all kinds of extra attention:
NARRATOR 2:
The Jack Paar Show!
NARRATOR 1:
The Today Show!
NARRATOR 2:
Dick Clark’s American Bandstand!
NARRATOR 1:
The Ed Sullivan Show!
STUART:
And Life Magazine follows me around for a day!
SOUND: The crack of baseball against a bat; cheering in a stadium.
NARRATOR 2:
Yankee Stadium!
STUART:
I meet Mickey Mantle! He signs the back of my 3-foot totem pole.
NARRATOR 2:
The Copacabana!
SOUND: A big band plays.
STUART:
The drinking age in New York is 19, and I’m a 19-year-old girl in a New York City nightclub! I have a rented wardrobe, and I wear something new every single day.
In the pageant, I wear gowns and a swimsuit. I perform the Alaska Flag Song on the piano… And I answer questions about the mystique of the Last Frontier!
NARRATORS 1 & 2, as paparazzi:
MISS ALASKA!
MISS ALASKA?!
OH MISS ALASKA!
EXCUSE ME, MISS ALASKA?!
MISS ALASKA! LOOK OVER HERE!
MISS ALASKA?! CAN I HAVE YOUR AUTOGRAPH?
STUART:
It’s a Cinderella story. I give back all those rented clothes. I don’t win the pageant… but I do get to keep the kid gloves they gave me for tea.
NARRATOR 1:
July 1958.
NARRATOR 2:
July 1958.
STUART:
I’m invited to be in Juneau’s 4th of July parade. Instead, I have to appear at a horse race in Yonkers, New York. They want to be the first in the nation to raise the new 49-star flag. I miss out on my own state’s parade.
NARRATOR 1:
NARRATOR 2:
2009.
NARRATOR 1:
The 50th anniversary of Alaska’s statehood.
STUART:
50 years have passed. I’m invited once again to be in the Juneau parade. This time, I can do it! I’m wearing my Miss Alaska sash, riding on a float that looks like the state flag. I am the north star. I pass right here along this street. And I’m the grand marshal for the Douglas parade, too. My grandsons ride in the car with me: Cody and Tyler Weldon. We’re celebrating this community and this state.
SOUND: Raven’s call and a musical phrase bring us back to the present.
NARRATOR 2:
We’re going to walk onward down Front Street, in the direction of that tall parking garage, to Juneau Voices Number 6. Look, Yéil is hopping over there. We’ll meet at the next intersection, at Front and Seward Streets. Juneau Voices Number 6.
