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