History Recap / TheSimpsonsS4E4LisaTheBeautyQueen

* SpecialGuest: Lona Williams (a staff member on the show who actually worked the beauty pageant circuit when she was a child) as Amber Dempsey.

* DarkReprise: Homer sings his own version of TheSixties pop song "Georgy Girl", "Blimpy Boy", to celebrate winning the raffle. When Marge tells Lisa that he gave up the ticket to enter her in the pageant, there's a cut to the kitchen, where he's tearfully reprising it with a pickle as a prop.

* SpecialGuest: Lona Williams as Amber Dempsey.

* CheapHeat: BobHope makes sure to ask what sport Mayor Quimby's into before hitting the stage so he can get laughs with a joke about how much Quimby stinks at it. It works.

!!This episode contains examples of:

* EditedForSyndication: Two scenes from the beginning school carnival sequence were cut when the episode went into syndication. The scenes have since been restored when the episode was put on DVD:
** One scene where Otto operates a rocket ride and Bart tells him to crank up the speed. Otto does so, and one of the cars on the ride crashes into the side of the school. Otto then runs off to Mexico as an angry mob chases him down. Worth noting because, without that scene, viewers (who have never seen the uncut version of the episode before) won't know why there's a smoking hole in the side of the school.
** A short scene of Milhouse going inside a shack labeled a "Spook House," which is little more than school bullies/resident thugs Dolph, Jimbo, and Kearney standing under a bare bulb and beating up any kid who comes inside. When Milhouse comes out, Bart goes inside and gets the same treatment.

* SpecialGuest: Lona Williams as Amber Dempsey

[[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment T is for her tooth-filled mouth]]...''
* ShoutOut: When Barney crashes the Duff Blimp Kent Brockman shouts, "Oh, the humanity!" The same line was said when the Hindenburg crashed.
** The scene of Lisa being sworn in as the new Little Miss Springfield parodies UsefulNotes/LyndonJohnson being sworn in after UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy's assassination.

** The scene of Lisa being sworn in as the new Little Miss Springfield parodies LyndonJohnson being sworn in after JohnFKennedy's assassination.

** One scene where Otto operates a rocket ride and Bart tells him to crank up the speed. Otto does so, and one of the cars on the ride crashes into the side of the school. Otto then runs off to Mexico as an angry mob chases him down. Worth nothing because, without that scene, viewers (who have never seen the uncut version of the episode before) won't know why there's a smoking hole in the side of the school.

* AsHimself: Creator/BobHope (He hosts a local [=USO=] show and presents Lisa to the crowd. They aren't happy because they were expecting an ''adult'' pageant queen, and proceed to riot in a spoof of ''ApocalypseNow''.)

** Also, Laramie Cigarettes sponsoring the pageant to circumvent the laws against advertising cigarettes on TV and Amber Dempsey's eyelash implant not being ilegal in Paraguay.

T is for her tooth-filled mouth...''

* SpecialGuest: BobHope hosts a local [=USO=] show and presents Lisa to the crowd. They aren't happy because they were expecting an ''adult'' pageant queen, and proceed to riot in a spoof of ''ApocalypseNow''.

At the Springfield Elementary School carnival, Homer wins a ticket for a ride on the fabled Duff Blimp at a raffle. Meanwhile, a caricaturist draws Lisa's portrait and she's deeply upset by the exaggerated result, believing that this is how everyone sees her. Homer and Marge prove unable to comfort her. Later at Moe's, Homer catches an ad for the upcoming Little Miss Springfield pageant and realizes Lisa is eligible to participate, provided he can pony up a pricey entrance fee. He reluctantly offers Barney his Duff Blimp ticket in exchange for the money, and Barney (who has been earning extra cash as a subject for scientific experiments) agrees.

Lisa is initially aghast at finding out she's been entered in the pageant, fearing further humiliation, but when Marge tells her that Homer gave up his blimp ticket for it she decides to go through with it for his sake. Bart coaches her on the aesthetics of presenting herself to judges, Marge accompanies her to the beauty shop for a flattering new harido, etc. At the pageant, Lisa holds her own with a lively routine set to a medley of "America the Beautiful" and "Proud Mary" and promises to make Springfield a better place if she wins, but comes in second behind Amber Frey, a professional beauty pageant contestant.

At a grocery store opening shortly afterward, not only does Barney manage to crash the Duff Blimp, but owing to her metal scepter Amber is struck by lightning while christening the parking lot's severe tire damage spikes. While she goes on to add another title to her reputation ("Little Miss Intensive Care Unit"), Lisa is sworn in as Little Miss Springfield.

Lisa finds that fulfilling her duties isn't personally fulfilling, and to make matters worse, the pageant's corporate sponsor -- Laramie Cigarettes -- wants her to become their new spokesperson to better market their product to children. At a parade where her float features lackeys tossing boxes of cigarettes to the kids, she finally has enough and declares that she will speak out against smoking from now on.

Lisa speaks up for pro-social issues at subsequent public appearances and Laramie Cigarettes becomes desperate to reinstate Amber as Little Miss Springfield. Finally, they find grounds to disqualify Lisa -- Homer, when he filled out the entry form, came upon the instruction "Do not write in this space" and wrote "Okay" there. Homer apologizes to Lisa for costing her the title, but she bears no ill will towards him since his effort to make her feel better about herself by entering her in the pageant worked.

* BeautyContest: A full pageant example with a talent competition, Q&A, etc. No swimsuit competition, as they are little girls and that would just be creepy (though Bart did mention "taping your swimsuit to your butt" is one of the beauty contest tricks of the trade)

* EditedForSyndication: Two scenes from the beginning school carnival sequence was cut:
** One scene where Otto operates a rocket ride and Bart tells him to crank up the speed. Otto does so, and one of the cars on the ride crashes into the side of the school. Otto then runs off to Mexico as an angry mob chases him down. Worth nothing because, without that scene, viewers (who have never seen the uncut version of the episode before) won't know how or why there's a smoking hole in the side of the school.

* BeautyContest: A full pageant example with a talent competition, Q&A, etc.

* DeliberatelyCuteChild: Amber Frey.

* {{Expy}}: Menthol Moose for Joe Camel, the RealLife mascot for Camel Cigarettes; at the time this episode was made, the company was accused of using the mascot to subtly market cigarettes to children.

* CelebrityGuest: BobHope hosts a local [=USO=] show and presents Lisa to the crowd. They aren't happy because they were expecting an ''adult'' pageant queen, and proceed to riot in a spoof of ''ApocalypseNow''.

* SpellingSong: Krusty belts one out at the end of the pageant:

Lisa speaks up for pro-social issues at subsequent public appearances and Laramie Cigarettes becomes desperate to reinstate Amber as Little Miss Springfield. Finally, they find grounds to disqualify Lisa -- Homer, when he filled out the entry form, came upon the instruction "Do not write below this line" and wrote "Okay" beneath it. Homer apologizes to Lisa for costing her the title, but she bears no ill will towards him since his effort to make her feel better about herself by entering her in the pageant worked.

* LoopholeAbuse: Lisa is disqualified from being Little Miss Springfield because Homer wrote "Okay" in a box marked "Do not write in this box" on Lisa's application form.

** The scene of Lisa being sworn in as the new Little Miss Springfield parodies LyndonJohnson being sworn in after JohnFKennedy's assassination.

** The scene of Lisa being sworn in as the new Little Miss Springfield parodies LyndonBainesJohnson being sworn in after JohnFKennedy's assassination.

!!!This episode contains examples of:

At the Springfield Elementary School carnival, Homer wins a ticket for a ride on the fabled Duff Blimp at a raffle. Meanwhile, a caricaturist draws Lisa's portrait and she's deeply upset by the exaggerated result, believing that this is how everyone sees her. Homer and Marge is unable to comfort her and convince her she's pretty. Later at Moe's, Homer catches an ad for the upcoming Little Miss Springfield pageant and realizes Lisa is eligible to participate, provided he can pony up a pricey entrance fee. He reluctantly offers Barney his Duff Blimp ticket in exchange for the money, and Barney (who has been earning extra cash as a subject for scientific experiments) agrees.

Lisa finds that fulfilling her duties as Little Miss Springfield aren't as personally fulfilling as she hopes, and to make matters worse, the pageant's sponsor -- Laramie Cigarettes -- is pushing her to become their new spokesperson to better market their product to children. At a parade where her float features corporate lackeys tossing boxes of cigarettes to the kids, she finally has enough and declares that she will speak out against smoking from now on.

Lisa continues to speak up for pro-social issues at subsequent public appearances and Laramie Cigarettes becomes desperate to reinstate Amber as Little Miss Springfield. Finally, they find grounds to disqualify Lisa -- Homer, when he filled out the entry form, came upon the instruction "Do not write below this line" and wrote "Okay" beneath it. Homer apologizes to Lisa for costing her the title, but she bears no ill will towards him since his effort to make her feel better about herself by entering her in the pageant worked.

* DisneyOwnsThisTrope: The opening scene has Principal Skinner confronted by Disney lawyers over the carnival being advertised as "The Happiest Place on Earth" (a famous slogan for Disneyland). Being an ex-Green Beret, however, he dispatches them handily.