THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 3, 1995 TAG: 9505030034
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY BONKO, TELEVISION WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines
WHEN THE REHEARSALS begin on the rather large set of ``Wheel of Fortune,'' it is Debbie McGee and not Vanna White who stands before the puzzle board, turning letters, clapping, rooting for the contestants.
White is a perfect size 4. So is her stand-in, McGee.
The contestants do not see White until announcer Charlie O'Donnell introduces her. The taping begins moments after viewers hear that famous chant.
``WHEEL-OF-FORTUNE.''
He reads the introduction from cue cards prepared by Gerald O'Neil.
The contestants have been groomed to play the game on camera by Gary O'Brien and Scott Page, who rehearse with them as McGee stands by, flipping the letters every bit as gracefully as White. The wheel on ``Wheel of Fortune'' turns clockwise, O'Brien tells the contestants.
You would be surprised how many people don't know that, he said as final rehearsals took place in Norfolk earlier this week aboard the supercarrier Dwight D. Eisenhower. They have packed up and gone now, all these ``Wheelies'' from Los Angeles, after taping 10 shows to be seen in syndication starting on May 15.
Producer Harry Friedman invited Eisenhower crewmen to do the ``Wheel of Fortune'' chant, which they did with gusto. It may be the best chant ever. Later, as tapings began, the sailors cheered on three shipmates (David Cooper Jr., Janice Hamby and Yvonne A. Dunn) who were contestants.
What you will not see on any of the shows taped in Norfolk is what happens backstage before the tape rolls. Let me be your guide.
Ever wonder who prepares the contestants' name tags? It's Renee Hoss-Johnson, assistant to art director Dick Stiles. He's the one who did the murals of the great seal of Norfolk and the carrier slicing through the seas that decorated the set aboard the Eisenhower.
Look for them on camera.
While McGee is standing in for White in the rehearsals, White pulls herself together with the help of her makeup person (Cheri Whitaker) and her hair person (Cynthia Romo). Romo swears that White never appears on camera in a hairpiece.
You can twist it, curl it, put a hot iron to it, blow-dry it or whatever, and Vanna's hair looks great, said Romo, a striking redhead whose hair looks pretty great, too. They taped five shows aboard the Ike on Monday, and it took Romo about 20 minutes between tapings to change White's 'do.
The hair on the head of Pat Sajak, White's co-host, needs less looking after. Ten minutes max, said Romo.
Bet you never knew that White and Sajak suggest puzzles to research coordinators Cheryl Jacobs and Anne Morea. They do. And often. Jacobs and Morea have six puzzles prepared for each taping.
The show's creator and executive producer, Merv Griffin, approves them all. When he was in Norfolk for the tapings, Griffin recalled meeting Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, for whom the carrier is named.
He was sent to visit Eisenhower at Gettysburg, Pa., in 1969 by his bosses at Westinghouse television, who wanted Ike to take part in a Civil War documentary. Offer him $7,000, Griffin was told.
Eisenhower asked for $30,000, and got it.
But he died before the cameras rolled.
Griffin's team on the ``Wheel of Fortune'' is a little army of its own, doing things by the book, never making mistakes, pulling off the tapings without a hitch. When the audience is in its seats, it falls to announcer O'Donnell to whip them into shape.
There are rules.
Do not yell out the answers to the puzzles. ``Do it, and I'll slap you silly,'' said O'Donnell in the warm-up.
More rules. ``Do not pick your noses.''
The cameras roam freely during the tapings. One camera, operated by remote control, soars over the audience like some Triassic flying beast.
O'Donnell, who has been an announcer on radio and TV starting in 1952, wins over almost any audience immediately when he says to them, ``Hello, good-looking.''
His job, said O'Donnell in a backstage interview, is to ``bring up the energy of the crowd.'' He gets the people in the seats to participate in the show and support the contestants.
``We expect them to do an awful lot,'' he said. And when they are ready, stage manager Bobby Cisneros brings Sajak and White on stage. They are in makeup by Whitaker, hair by Romo.
White has beautiful skin, said Romo.
The show is directed from some distance away by Dick Carson, who in Norfolk called the shots while working in a trailer on Pier 10 next to where the Eisenhower is tied up. Carson has a brother named Johnny who once did a talk show on NBC opposite Griffin on CBS.
Wonder what ever happened to him? ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
MOTOYA NAKAMURA/Staff
Did you know the game show's wheel spins clockwise?
by CNB