Oct. 30, 1947: Annie Rhone, a 60-year-old great-grandmother, was chosen as the Sentinel’s “Sepia Cinderella” in a contest judged by Eddie “Rochester” Anderson and held at West Coast premiere of the film. “Sepia Cinderella” was directed by Arthur H. Leonard and starred Sheila Guyse, Billy Daniels and Tondaleyo, and many musical acts..
“The Lord was with me,” Rhone said as she looked at the prizes she won, including a fur coat and a wristwatch. A niece and nephew convinced her to enter the contest against more than 50 women. “The Lord kept hunching me, so I came,” she said.
Rhone, a widow with 13 children, 12, grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, said it was first time in her life she had owned a wristwatch.
One man in the audience said: “If she had the nerve to enter at her age, we couldn’t let her down.”