Ruby Keeler may have once gone out there a nobody but yesterday she came back a star as the Hasty Pudding Theatricals named her their 21st woman of the year, alongside such other show biz luminaries as Gertrude Lawrence, Katherine Hepburn, Mamie Eisenhower and Piper Laurie.

"I'm just so proud and so thrilled and so happy." Miss Keeler smiled in accepting the award while also enjoying a day off from her current run in the Broadway musical revival of "No, No, Nanette."

In presenting the award, Barry Harman '72, president of the Pudding, assured her that she was "one of the most vibrant and exciting personalities of 1972."

The ceremonies took place at noon as a handful of autograph hunters, a clubhouse full of Puddings, and two waylaid churchgoers attended a preview of the 124th running of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, a musical spoof of the American revolution entitled The Wrongway Inn, scheduled to hit the boards officially this Thursday night.

Miss Keeler, her hair silvery brown and wearing a brightly colored blue and green print dress--every bit the starry--eyed girl who put Centerville, Ill, on the map in such thirties movie musicals as Footlight Parade, '42 Street, and Golddiggers of '33--called the proceedings "a wonderful, wonderful honor."