Oprah_ A Biography - Kitty Kelley [59]
In anticipation of national exposure, Arleen Weiner hired an image consultant to help Oprah achieve a more sophisticated look. Up to that point she had been shopping at funky little stores such as The Bead Experience. “We were close to WJZ, a one-size-fits-all kind of store with gauzy, flowy tunics and caftans and palazzo pants,” said Susan Rome, who was sixteen years old when she helped Oprah. “I tried to get her away from always buying fat-lady clothes in dark colors because she really wasn’t fat—just a bit chunky and thick—but she was very uncomfortable with her size.”
When the paid image consultant arrived, she met Oprah at her apartment and tore through her closet. “I was hired to give her an easier, more comfortable fit, and a look that was more stylish but would still play in Peoria,” said Ellen Lightman. “There was a little trepidation on her part in the beginning, which is only natural for someone who has been directed to update her style and improve her image.… We retired all her beiges and camels, got her into jewel tones and clothes that fit better and were more flattering to her full figure.”
The show also began booking more celebrities, for a broader appeal, which gave Oprah the chance to meet and interview Muhammad Ali, Maya Angelou, Pearl Bailey, Dick Cavett, Uri Geller, Jesse Jackson, Erica Jong, Ted Koppel, Barry Levinson, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. People Are Talking also became a major stop for authors on book promotion tours. “I remember being interviewed by Oprah the day after Ronald Reagan was elected president,” said the writer Paul Dickson. “During a commercial break she talked about how awful Reagan was going to be for the country. She was very upset. ‘This man will not be good for my people,’ she said.” But she said nothing on air because she was prohibited by contract from publicly expressing any political opinions.
Within six months it became clear to the producers that syndication was not going to happen. At its peak, the show was aired by only seventeen stations. Despite Oprah’s great warmth on air, People Are Talking was simply too parochial to go national.
“The general manager after me was Art Kern, and he sold the show to half a dozen stations, but there was resistance within Westinghouse,” said William F. Baker, by then chairman of Group W. “The guy in Hollywood below me did not think Oprah would make it as a talk show host.… I told Baltimore we were not to lose Oprah because she was a massive asset, but Baltimore was our smallest station and so the one I paid least attention to.”
On Monday, September 7, 1981, the dreaded headline appeared in the TV and Radio section of The Baltimore Sun: “ ‘People Are Talking’ Flops as Syndicated Show.” Richard Sher was disappointed, but Oprah was devastated. This was her second big public failure in Baltimore. That evening she had another row with Tim Watts and he walked out on her, slamming the door on her hand.
“The problem with you, baby doll, is you think you’re special,” he said. As Oprah recalled, she was on the floor crying: “ ‘I’m not, please. I don’t think I’m special. I don’t, please come back.’ Then, as I went to pick myself up, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and I saw an image of my mother and I remembered her screaming one night when her boyfriend had left her. And I remembered my cousin, Alice, saying, ‘It’s all right. He’s coming back.’ That same cousin was in an abusive relationship.