Pageant News Bureau - Miss Staten Island

Miss Staten Island

Photos by Joe Whiteko / PNB
-- except one notable exception, and that's by Stuart Williams

Elise Rooker, Miss Staten Island

"Make sure you talk to the Staten family," a PNB editor told famed photographer Joe Whiteko. "If they've got a whole island named for them, they'll certainly be at the pageant."

Whiteko started to explain that there is no such family, that the word "Staten" comes from the Dutch word for "states," because the Dutch colonized what is now New York in the 1600s. Then Whiteko realized that the editor was just playing dumb. PNB staffers never miss a chance for a corny joke.

But they're serious about their pageants. That's why they urged Whiteko to accept when he got the invitation to judge at Miss Staten Island. It would be an honor and a privilege, they told him. "At long as it's a pleasure," said Whiteko, known for his plain speaking.

With Jerry Ruggiero, president of the Miss Staten Island Pageant, and Bethlene Pancoast, Miss New York

With (from left) Jerry Ruggiero, president of the Miss Staten Island Pageant, and Bethlene Pancoast, Miss New York

With (from left) Melissa Robson, first runner-up, and Maria De Santis, Miss America's Outstanding Teen

With (from left) Melissa Robson and Maria De Santis, Miss America's Outstanding Teen, who is from Staten Island.

With Jim Smith, executive director of the Miss Staten Island Pageant

And indeed it was a pleasure, Whiteko reports, even though choosing from such an outstanding field was a challenge. The production was first-class, with the Star Struck Dance Company drawing raves and Miss New York, Bethlene Pancoast, tap-dancing like a star out of a Busby Berkeley movie.

In the end, dazzling 22-year-old blonde Elise Rooker was chosen to represent Staten Island in the Miss New York Pageant, a preliminary to Miss America.

Melissa Robson was first runner-up and won the talent award in an amazingly talented field.

And the entire staff of the pageant could not have been kinder. Their hospitality made the it one of the most memorable excursions in the recent history of PNB.

Or as Whiteko might say to that wisecracking staffer: "Yes, there really is a Staten family. The nicest family I've ever met."

We write about him, you love his pictures, but it's rare to catch PNB's own Joe Whiteko on this side of a camera.

Miss Staten Island

Photos by Joe Whiteko / PNB-- except one notable exception, and that's by Stuart Williams

Photos by Joe Whiteko / PNB
-- except one notable exception, and that's by Stuart Williams