Rachel Burack, 2002 Coal Queen, kisses Cole Bibb, 4-year-old pageant assistant, in "The Bituminous Coal Queens of Pennsylvania." Click photo for larger image.

Last August, Ronni Marie Kramer perspired in a hot high school auditorium, awaiting the next round of competition in Pennsylvania's Bituminous Coal Queen Pageant.

After stepping into an air-conditioned room for a personal interview, the 16-year-old contestant enthused about the cool blast of comfort and told pageant judges that moments earlier, her mother had been fanning her teen-age underarms with a panty hose box.

"They just started cracking up," said Miss Kramer, Pennsylvania's reigning coal queen. "My personality really came through. I wasn't shy at all."

Coal mining, a major industry for nearly a century in southwestern Pennsylvania, is saluted each year in the Greene County town of Carmichaels with a week's worth of festivities, including an exhibition of coal mining equipment and memorabilia, a car show, a golf outing, a cheerleading competition and beauty pageant. There are parades featuring bicycles, pets and a third procession that honors the newly crowned coal queen.

A new 90-minute documentary called "The Bituminous Coal Queens of Pennsylvania" captures this extra-large slice of Americana and showcases the contestants, each of whom performs on stage, models an evening gown and answers an impromptu question. The film, which has already won two film festival awards, was released last week exclusively through Netflix on DVD.

Inspiration for the documentary came from Sarah Rush, an actress and reigning coal queen of 1972. Rush, who looks and sounds remarkably like actress Sally Field and lives in Los Angeles, returned home in 2002 for the 50th anniversary of the coal show and a reunion of nearly all the former coal queens.

During the documentary, Mrs. Rush, who still has her crown, recalls the day in 1972 that her brother helped her borrow a bench from a public park right outside their home in Waynesburg and load it into a car.

A police officer asked the duo what they were doing with the bench. But once Rush explained that it was a key prop for her talent presentation in the coal queen pageant, the officer simply wished her luck. She dressed as Eliza Doolittle, sang "Wouldn't It Be Loverly" from the Broadway musical "My Fair Lady" and leaned against the borrowed bench.

Former coal queens sit on a Carmichaels parade float in 2003, the 50th anniversary of the pageant, in the movie "The Bituminous Coal Queens of Pennsylvania." Click photo for larger image.

In August 2003, director David Hunt and two film crews documented the festival for 10 days. Then, he edited 74 hours of footage into 90 minutes, which took a year. The movie budget was about $450,000.

"I try to show what the community's all about," said Mr. Hunt, who grew up in rural England and is married to Emmy-winning actress Patricia Heaton of "Everybody Loves Raymond."

"It's not about the pageant. It's about these people and their community. I literally fell in love with the place, and it did remind me of the little village where I grew up, at its best. What struck me from day one was this sense of community and home and what that really means. It's a can-do kind of spirit. ... It really became an homage to small-town America," he said.

Coal queens receive $1,500 in scholarship money, three pieces of luggage, a bracelet made especially for them and a year's worth of activities that turn them into a local celebrity, including a chance to meet the state's governor and address both legislative houses in Harrisburg.

Many coal queens had relatives who worked in the mines. Since the early 1990s, coal queens have gone underground. They trade their crown for a hard hat, tour a coal mine and operate the long wall machinery that cuts the coal.

Coal queens have pursued a variety of careers, according to William Groves, past president of the King Coal Association and a longtime master of ceremonies for the event.

One coal queen became a corrections officer and another was an auctioneer.

"Some of them are attorneys. Some are in management in business. Several of them have dancing schools. A good many of them are schoolteachers," Mr. Groves said.

Andrea Patrick, owner of the Patrick Talent Agency and the 1978 coal queen, appears in the film, as does her husband, Fabian Forte, the well-known entertainer.

Besides winning a high level of confidence, some coal queens have succeeded in capturing other crowns. Autumn Marisa, the 1997 coal queen, won the Miss Pennsylvania pageant in 2002.

Rachel Burack, 21, won a trifecta of local beauty pageants in the summer of 2002. Now a senior at California University of Pennsylvania, where she captains the dance team, Ms. Burack was Miss Summer Fest, Miss Rain Day and 49th Coal Queen.

As this year's reigning coal queen, Miss Kramer loves seeing her picture in the Waynesburg newspaper, addressing state legislators in Harrisburg and greeting 900 coal miners at a dinner and Jo Dee Messina concert.

For the 50th anniversary coal show, Linda and Brice Rush, who live in Carmichaels, were instrumental in finding and inviting back all of the 49 coal queens. They were thrilled that 42 of them returned that year.

Mr. Rush, who is not related to actress Sarah Rush, worked as a coal miner and foreman for 23 years and collects mine memorabilia. He's been involved with the annual celebration for years.

"They were all intelligent, well-mannered and had good senses of humor," Linda Rush said about the coal queens. "Miss America doesn't even get that kind of a turnout when they invite them back."

The Rushes compiled a hardbound, 308-page book called King Coal Golden Memories, which served as an invaluable road map for Mr. Hunt and his film crews.

In a telephone interview, Mr. Hunt said he hopes to start two charities -- a college scholarship fund for pageant contestants and another fund for victims of coal mining accidents and their families. This year has been particularly difficult; so far, 33 workers have been killed in coal mine accidents in the United States compared with 22 in all of 2005.

"We are meeting with Creative Artists Agency to discuss setting up these charities. The proceeds from the screening event that we have would all go to charity. We hope to attract sponsors," Mr. Hunt said. "Netflix has promised to make a major contribution to start us off."

The documentary will be shown on Aug. 18 to kick off the opening event of this year's 53rd annual coal show. A time and location for the screening will be announced later.

This year's pageant will be held at 7 p.m. on Aug. 20 in Carmichaels Area High School Auditorium.

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