Mother, Daughter Attend Second-, Third-To-Last 'Oprah' Tapings In Chicago
Mother, Daughter Attend Second-, Third-To-Last 'Oprah' Tapings In Chicago
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Jennifer Peryam-jperyam@timesuniononline.com
Mother, Daughter Attend Second-, Third-To-Last 'Oprah' Tapings In ChicagoRene Williams and her mother, Judy Ballman, were two of 13,000 people to witness the second- and third-to-last tapings of the “Oprah Winfrey Show” in Chicago. Williams, 51, Silver Lake, and Ballman, 68, Fort Wayne, won two tickets to attend the tapings last Tuesday at the United Center in Chicago. The show was dubbed “Surprise Oprah! A Farewell Spectacular” and will air tonight and Tuesday. Winfrey ends her talk show Wednesday after announcing in November 2009 that it would end after 25 years. Ballman saw an ad in a Fort Wayne newspaper about Oprah’s final show and how to apply for tickets online. Since Ballman doesn’t have Internet access, she asked her friend, Marlene Martin, Indianapolis, to apply for the tickets. Martin applied for two sets of tickets with two of her e-mail accounts on April 29. She received an e-mail from the Oprah network May 1 informing her she had won two free tickets. Martin was two of 13,000 people to receive free tickets. There were 154,000 people who applied. Martin called Ballman to inform her she had won two free tickets for Ballman and Williams. It was the second time Martin had applied for tickets to the “Oprah Show” for her friends. Martin and Ballman drove May 15 to Chicago, and stayed at a hotel in downtown Chicago. Martin’s friend, Judy Rush, Pierceton, allowed the women to cook food at her son’s condo, who lived two blocks from where they were staying. Martin and Ballman went to the Oprah store Tuesday morning, and Williams saw Gayle King, Oprah’s friend, being interviewed by AJ Calloway from “Extra”. Williams took photos of Calloway interviewing King. While King was being interviewed, she received a phone call from Oprah and put it on speaker phone for all to hear. Oprah said on the phone she did not know who her guests would be that evening on the show. Ballman was waiting outside the Oprah store in the vehicle when NBA basketball star LeBron James walked by and she called him over to her car, and she shook his hand. Ballman and Williams were waiting Tuesday night to get into the auditorium. People were cheering for Oprah, and streets were blocked off. There were seven buses with men who came to the Oprah show. No one knew who they were until the show when they were introduced as graduates of Morehouse College. Oprah had paid for their education. The shows tapings went from 7:30 to 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, and audience members were advised to wear bright colors. Ballman sat next to a 93-year-old woman from Chicago who had never missed a show. Ballman and Williams also met people from Australia, England, Canada and Illinois. The host for the first show was actor Tom Hanks. He came on stage and introduced Oprah, and said the night was about love, and asked her if she could feel the love. The audience began screaming. “My favorite thing was when Stedman (Graham) spoke about Oprah, and how proud of her he was for the person she had become and told her he loved her,” Williams said. “Every other seat had a Kleenex box under it, and mom and I used them.” Actor Tom Cruise escorted Oprah down the stage and steps to her seat to watch the show. There were large screens in the auditorium where the audience could watch the guests talk during the show about how Oprah had impacted their lives. All the audience members received a free special edition Oprah magazine. During the first show taping, Josh Groban performed “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” with Patti LaBelle. Madonna gave a speech about the children in Malawi, and talked about how Oprah starting a school in Africa gave her the inspiration to start her own girls school in Malawi. Singer Beyonce gave a performance of her song “Run The World (Girls)”. The audience saw the song performed two times because Beyonce did not like the first performance. ABC News anchor Diana Sawyer gave a speech about how Oprah loves reading under oak trees at her home so 25,000 trees were donated in Oprah’s name to be planted at schools in the U.S. Actresses Queen Latifah, Halle Berry and Katie Holmes gave speeches. Berry spoke about how Oprah had paved the way for African-American women and women in general. Country music group Rascal Flatts performed. During the taping of the second show, actor Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith served as hosts. Retired NBA basketball star Michael Jordan gave a speech. Musicians Jamie Foxx and Stevie Wonder sang “Isn’t She Lovely.” Comedian Jerry Seinfield did a comedy act. Music producer Simon Cowell spoke about Oprah. Comedian and actress Rosie O’Donnell did a song and dance number with talk show host Dr. Phil McGraw, interior designer Nate Berkus and Dr. Mehmet Oz. Maria Shriver and Gayle King talked about what Oprah meant to them. Shriver said she always admired that Oprah always told the truth. Tony award-winning actress Kristin Chenowerth sang, and Alicia Keys played the piano. Aretha Franklin sang, and Dr. Maya Angelou read a poem to Oprah. Stedman spoke about Oprah. Williams and Ballman said they plan on watching the shows. “You couldn’t pay $5,000 and go to Vegas and see Oprah and the number of celebrities we saw,” Ballman said. Williams said although she and her mother live an hour away from each other, Oprah has given then something to talk about.
