Oprah_ A Biography - Kitty Kelley [38]
The night of March 10, 1972, there was not an empty seat at the Black Elks lodge on Jefferson Street. “I had managed to get fifteen contestants, and they were judged on beauty in evening gown and swimsuit competitions, plus talent,” said El Greco Brown. “Oprah gave an average showing in the [beauty] competitions but when her talent turn came she did a dramatic reading and sang—and she knocked the audience off their feet. She was so good; it moved her into the top five.
“There was only one girl who out-excelled Oprah in talent. Her name was Maude Mobley and she later worked as a backup singer at the Grand Ole Opry. Not only was Maude talented, she had a beautiful figure and scored top marks in the swimsuit and evening gown competitions. Everyone picked her as the winner as soon as her foot hit the stage.”
The six judges tabulated their scores and the winners were announced from last to first: “I couldn’t believe it when [the MC] read out the name of the fourth runner-up: Maude Mobley. He continued to read the winners, pausing briefly before he called out: ‘The winner, and the first Miss Black Nashville, is Oprah Gail Winfrey.’ ”
Recalling a collective gasp of shock from the audience, the promoter said he was besieged by people who claimed the contest had been fixed. “I was confused myself. So I gathered up all the judges’ scorecards and tallied up the votes. I couldn’t believe what I discovered: the number four runner-up and the winner’s scores had been switched. I’m convinced the scoring switch was an error. The judges were honest men and women.”
The promoter said he went to the Winfreys’ house the next day to explain the mix-up. “I asked Oprah if she would consider giving the crown to … the rightful winner. Oprah stood up and said angrily, ‘No, it’s mine! My name was called and I am Miss Black Nashville.’
“I tried to reason with her. ‘How would you feel if you had been in Maude’s shoes?’
“ ‘I don’t care,’ she said.”
The next week Oprah’s picture appeared in the Nashville newspapers as the winner. Her photograph, with a press release mentioning Patrice Patton as the first runner-up, was sent to black newspapers across the country. There was no mention of Maude Mobley.
“Everyone at TSU talked about the Miss Black Nashville contest,” said Sheryl Atkinson. “We discussed it among ourselves, because Oprah seemed least likely to win. She certainly wasn’t the prettiest, but I’m sure she was the most vocal.”
“I think she got it because she was well known from her radio show,” said Barbara Wright. “She couldn’t have gotten it any other way.”
The confusion over tabulating the scores did not become public until Oprah became famous. Then Gordon El Greco Brown wanted to publish a book of photographs. “I had hundreds of pictures of Oprah from those pageants and wrote her to say that I’d like to publish something. Her lawyer Jeff Jacobs wrote me back and said they’d like to see all the pictures. When I saw that he was a lawyer, I said I’d come to Chicago with my lawyer so we could make a deal. But Jacobs said no, I couldn’t bring a lawyer. I had to meet with him and Oprah alone. They flew me to Chicago, put me up in a hotel, and sent a limousine to bring me to the Harpo studios. Oprah met me, hugged me, and was my best friend. Then she handed me off to her lawyer, who really roughed me up.
“ ‘We just want to see what you’ve got,’ said Jacobs. So I showed him all my pictures. I said I had spent three years promoting Oprah [for free] and would now like to do a book.
“Jacobs said, ‘No book. No job. No nothing. We’ll put some money on the table and the pictures stay with us. Take it or leave it.’ I said