THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 7, 1996 TAG: 9607070078
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY BONKO TELEVISION WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: 94 lines
She had been the 34th child to audition on Friday. Then, on Saturday, 9-year-old Annalee Miller was the 57th to face the camera when she sang that jingle about the luncheon meat with two names.
``My bologna has a first name. It's O-s-c-a-r. My bologna has a second name. It's M-a-y-e-r. Oh, I love to eat it every day, and if you ask me why, I'll say, 'Cause Oscar Mayer has a way with b-o-l-o-g-n-a.''
Annalee, accompanied by her mom, Sandy, was participating in Oscar Mayer Talent Search II with 149 other children in Norfolk on Friday when she belted out the wiener jingle:
``Oh, I wish I were an Oscar Mayer wiener. . . ''
The Millers, of Chesapeake, decided that Annalee could do better. ``She didn't smile enough,'' said Mom - and so they signed her up again. Saturday, under a hot sun on dark asphalt in the parking lot of a shopping center on East Indian River Road in Chesapeake, she auditioned in another group of 150 children between the ages of 3 and 12.
This time, Annalee chose the bologna jingle, which has been around for 22 years.
``For variety,'' said Mom.
Her daughter has been hyped up for days, said Sandy Miller. ``She wants to grow up to be an actress.''
Part publicity stunt, part competition, Talent Search II will likely corral on tape between 50,000 and 70,000 youngsters in 90 cities while seeking at least one child to appear in a national Oscar Mayer TV commercial.
Last year, lightning struck for Trent South of Sherman, Texas, the national winner among 50,000 children who were auditioned on 116 miles of videotape by 30 talent scouts (called Hotdoggers), who visited 32 states in 10 Wienermobiles.
The long odds of landing on national TV singing about b-o-l-o-g-n-a did not deter hundreds of families from nudging their children toward the cameras during three days of taping in Hampton Roads.
The Harrisons brought all the kids to the Chesapeake audition - Shawn, 8, Malika, 9, and Krystall, 10.
The Springs - Timothy and Pamela - drove from Hampton to Norfolk for the 9 a.m.-to-noon auditions on East Little Creek Road. When the 150 audition slots filled before they arrived, the determined Springs followed the 23-foot-long Wienermobile down I-64 to Chesapeake.
There they signed up daughter Bethany, 7, to face the camera operated by Hotdogger Andrea Nicholson, a Howard University graduate.
In Chesapeake, anthropology major Becci Menghini, out of Dickinson College, was the talent coordinator, and Dee Anna Smith the director. She has a degree in international affairs from George Washington University.
Smart Hotdoggers.
While acknowledging that the odds are high to crack an Oscar Mayer commercial and earn the residuals that it brings, Menghini said the basic idea behind Talent Search II is to give the kids a chance to have fun. ``When they go back to school in the fall, and are asked to complete an essay on what they did this summer, they'll really have something to write about,'' she said.
And so they came by the dozens to the Wienermobile in Chesapeake to sing those sappy little jingles. The I-wish-I-were-an-Oscar-Mayer-wiener song first aired on radio in 1963.
There was 9-year-old Erika Karras of Chesapeake, who sings in the church choir at Congregational Pentecostal Freewill Baptist. There was 4-year-old Christine Hallenbeck of Norfolk, looking spiffy in a sun dress and hat with many colors.
And there were 148 others, who no doubt shared Erika Karras' wish.
``I hope this leads to something,'' said the girl, who was the 50th child to audition in Chesapeake.
Her tape, and the thousands of others collected by the Hotdoggers - who are visiting 90 cities in 10 Wienermobiles - will eventually be seen by the people at the J. Walter Thompson agency in Chicago. They will choose 20 national prize winners, and from that group will come four grand prize semi-finalists and the grand prize winner.
He or she will likely be seen munching on a bologna sandwich and singing the bologna song in a commercial that will appear at halftime during the Super Bowl telecast.
Oscar Mayer is also awarding karaoke music machines to 90 local winners. And every child who auditioned came away with some goodies - a bumper sticker, certificate and coupons.
But no wiener whistle. The noise messes up the auditions, Menghini said.
Menghini will be driving the Wienermobile to Philadelphia soon. But not before auditions continue today at the K mart Superstore in Tabb, from 9 a.m. to noon, and at the Food Lion at 7525 Tidewater Drive in Norfolk, from 2 to 5 p.m.
To enter by mail, send a VHS tape of your child auditioning to Oscar Mayer Talent Search II Contest, 1548 Front Street, Blair, Neb. 68008.
Somebody has to be top dog, Menghini said.
It could be Erika, Bethany, Shawn, Christine - or none of the above. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by GARY C. KNAPP photos
Kim and Toni Scalla, age 4, sing the ``Oscar Mayer wiener'' song for
Becci Menghini, talent coordinator, on Saturday.
At a shopping center on East Indian River Road in Chesapeake, the
site of Saturday's auditions, waiting contestants study others who
are auditioning. by CNB