Page 23                                             Winter 1995 - 96

The Passing Zone Crowns Miss America With Clubs

By Bill Giduz, Editor

 

Perspective is everything. A few million people who called 900 numbers last September 16 thought they were casting votes on whether the 1995 Miss America Pageant should include a swimsuit competition.

 

Owen Morse and Jon Wee know better. From their perspective, callers were voting on whether they wanted to see 3-1/2 minutes of juggling! If the nationwide audience had voted against the swimsuit parade, pageant organizers planned to fill that time

with more juggling from The Passing Zone.

 

But as it turned out, Morse and Wee, who have performed together as The Passing Zone since 1988, were absolutely rejected by the public, which voted overwhelmingly to see the beautiful contestants stroll around the stage in bathing suits.

 

The Passing Zone guys didn't care, however. They still juggled flawlessly for almost five minutes on a prime-time live televi­sion show watched by almost 100 million people worldwide!

 

.We figure more people saw us that evening than ever before in all our appearances everywhere combined, including twice on Carson," said Morse.

 

Wee added, "Its actually a good thing the audience didn't vote against the swimsuit competition. We were totally unprepared to present anything more than we did!"

 

As it was, The Passing Zone was featured in a boardwalk­themed musical ensemble number. They led off with a leapfrog steal of three clubs, passed six and seven back to back, and did some passing tricks as the dancers gathered 'round them. They stayed on stage to pass an arch of clubs (triple-spin every others with six clubs) that continued for 3-1/2 minutes as the 10 semifinalists paraded underneath it in their swimsuits. Morse and Wee were again featured in a shoulder stand juggling clubs, then the semifinalists came out as a group for a final ensemble pose.

 

"We kept our smiles pasted on the whole time... they were very pasted!" Wee said. "It was a lot of fun, but very nerve-wracking! We were surprised we could keep any clubs going with 50 of the most beautiful women in America walking around in swim suits."

 

The Passing Zone worked on their routine with the show's choreographer all week long, and presented it in non-televised preliminary competitions several times before the live finals. They went to Atlantic City assuming they would be a minor part of a big production number, and were pleasantly surprised as the number began to focus more and more on them. Morse explained, "When we got there we had no clue what we were doing. There was a lot of discussion about what we could do versus what would look good on camera. Mostly it was us saying what we thought and them saying, 'OK, that looks good.' It came together well, I'd say! It was huge exposure for us."

 

But it wasn't quite satisfying because it wasn't what The Passing Zone really does. "We were there just for visual effect," said Wee. "Its wasn't as satisfying as getting five minutes to do our comedy act on The Tonight Show or performing for Prince Charles."

 

It also did not result in a flood of performance offers, though they spent time with entertainer Johnny Mathis and hope to work out a tour with that famed singer. Morse and Wee also feel like the chance they had to work with the Margolis Group, which produced the Miss America show, may lead to other opportunities with that organization, which also produces other big television extravaganzas like the Oscars and the MTV Awards show.

 

True to their nature as comics, they also added the appearance to their resume in clever fashion, and are now introduced to audiences as "the team that was seen in the swimsuit competition of the Miss America pageant!"

 

The Miss America Pageant appearance was a big moment in the history of a juggling team that began quietly enough. Wee and Morse found their kindred spirits at the lJA's 1986 festival in San Jose, where they spent hours a day working on nine club passing. They went their separate ways during the next year, but hooked up again at the Akron festival in 1987. Both were still in college, and neither had definite plans for a career thereafter. They had been paying for their education with solo summer juggling jobs, and decided it might be fun to see how far they could go as a team.

The Passing Zone

The Passing Zone

Wee (l) and Morse meet the 1994-95 Miss America, heather Whitestone, backstage at this year's event.

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