Oprah Winfrey

Dance Theater celebrates its 50th anniversary with a gala performance at City Center on Wednesday, Dec. 3, the company dancers will have plenty to jeté about. For one, Oprah is hosting!

Then there are the fabulous outfits they’re wearing to the after-party, to be held at the Metropolitan Ballroom. Each of the 14 female performances will be specially outfitted in animal-printed Badgley Mischka (some dresses have feathers, too); male dancers are being dressed by Sean John.  read more »

The modern-dance company has celebrated many anniversaries before, but none as big and grand as this one. The occasion has inspired two books, a calendar, a special Movado watch and a series of Hallmark greeting cards—two of which feature Linda Celeste Sims, a 13-year Ailey veteran (though she looks as if she just joined yesterday).

Since at least the mid-90s, Oprah Winfrey has been credited with reigniting the publishing industry with her Oprah's Book Club. More recently, she's done her best to boost sales of Amazon's Kindle. But can the most powerful woman in media save daily newspapers? (Please.)

The Chicago Sun-Times' Mark Bieganski sure hopes so. In a blog post on his paper's Oprah blog, Mr. Bieganski does a little victory dance over Ms. Winfrey's endorsement of... The Chicago Sun-Times. (This link comes via Jim Romenesko.)

Writes Mr. Bieganski:

For the third time in two weeks, Oprah Winfrey showed a little love for the Sun-Times.  read more »

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Last night, Oprah Winfrey made her much-hyped guest appearance on NBC's 30 Rock, playing herself. At one point, 30 Rock's Liz Lemon (played by star and showrunner Tina Fey), high on a tranquilizer, says to Ms. Winfrey, "I didn't get my September issue of O Magazine. Do you have the number for subscriptions?"

If Ms. Lemon had a subscription to O's companion magazine, O at Home, she'll have to wait a long time. Portfolio's Mixed Media blogger Jeff Bercovici is reporting that Hearst has folded the magazine. As Mr. Bercovici points out, this comes less than a month after the company also shuttered CosmoGirl! in October.

In other Hearst news, Gawker's Hamilton Nolan is also reporting that Esquire is quietly laying off four editorial employees.

Bravely disregarding their own safety, travelers at Kennedy Airport booed temperamental model Naomi Campbell as she cut in front of around 200 people to go to the front of the passport checking line. Ms. Campbell's lawyer says the special treatment was for "security reasons." [R&M]

Sam Perry, the random campaign worker whose shoulder Oprah Winfrey was photographed crying on during Barack Obama's acceptance speech, will appear on her show today. [US Weekly]

More to look forward to in the new administration: Designer Elie Tahari said "[Barack Obama] could be a male model...I think the fashion industry will have a ball with him. They will have so much fun because he is built so well. They all love to dress him and I’d love to dress him too." [WWD via The Cut]  read more »

Oprah Winfrey, Brad Pitt, Will.I.Am, and Star Jones were among the celebrities who attended Barack Obama's victory rally in Chicago's Grant Park last night. Ms. Winfrey called the win "the greatest experience of [her] lifetime." [US Weekly] 

An indignant Tim Robbins spent five hours attempting to vote yesterday after a registration mix-up that eventually required the attention of two police officers and the Board of Elections. [R&M]  read more »

The red and black dress Michelle Obama wore at last night's acceptance speech was from Narciso Rodriguez's Spring 2009 ready-to-wear collection. [Mrs. O via Racked] 

Chicago—Exclusive! Oprah Winfrey’s dreams have come true.

Asked how she felt tonight as she walked into a V.I.P. tent here at Grant Park, Winfrey answered, “There are no words. It’s sort of like the culmination of a world of dreams. It’s everybody’s dream. It’s everybody who has come before me and before him and everybody who will benefit from his hopefulness. It’s amazing.”

Barack Obama did some last minute strategizing in a Monday morning conference call that included Oprah Winfrey and Sean "Diddy" Combs (also Donna Brazile, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, and Rev. Joseph Lowery). [R&M]

Lindsay Lohan is once again harnessing the power of Myspace to remind fans to vote. [People] 

Justin Long, who previously dated Kirsten Dunst and Drew Barrymore, was spotted making out with, uh, Tila Tequila. [P6]  read more »

Irina Aleksander called around to find out the costumes prominent New Yorkers are wearing this Halloween. Celerie Kemble's going to need a lot of hairspray!

Ms. Aleksander also moseyed down to Diane von Furstenberg's meatpacking district store, where the fashion empress was throwing a party for Paper mag's Kim Hastreiter's new book about Geoffrey Beene.

And Spencer Morgan rang his old friend Chris Wilson to find out the real story behind his scandalous tale of sexual deviancy on board an American Airlines flight. It's, uh, not what you think!

Looks like Esquire has finally forgiven Dave Eggers.

In 2001, writing in The New York Times 'Style' section, Anna Holmes offered a rundown of words and phrases banned by various publications. Among the offerings:

David Granger, the editor in chief of Esquire, forbids ''Dubya,'' ''at risk'' and ''Eggers,'' the last because he had a falling-out with the novelist David Eggers, who worked at Esquire before he was famous.

In its mammoth 75th Anniversary issue, the magazine lists Mr. Eggers as one of its "75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century." According to the text accompanying his photo, Mr. Eggers was selected "Because he's inspiring a generation of readers and writers."  read more »

According to a statement released to TMZ, Oprah Winfrey will not be inviting Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin onto her show.

Ms. Winfrey's statement was made on the heels of a Drudge Report report that "Oprah's staff is sharply divided on the merits of booking Sarah Palin..."

Here's what Ms. Winfrey told TMZ:

The item in today's Drudge Report is categorically untrue. There has been absolutely no discussion about having Sarah Palin on my show. At the beginning of this Presidential campaign when I decided that I was going to take my first public stance in support of a candidate, I made the decision not to use my show as a platform for any of the candidates. I agree that Sarah Palin would be a fantastic interview, and I would love to have her on after the campaign is over.

When a television comedy gets overloaded with stunt casting, it usually means the show is just not funny and thus has to over-compensate by dangling shiny objects in front of viewers' faces. Think Will & Grace. "Look there's Matt Damon! And that's Demi Moore! Oh, I love Michael Douglas!"

With 30 Rock, it's the opposite. It's pretty much the funniest show on television, hands down. [Though we also love Samantha Who?. And Gavin and Stacey!--ed. note] But 30 Rock's overabundance of guest stars (last year  alone featured Elaine Stritch, Edie Falco, Rip Torn, Steve Buscemi, Buck Henry, Andy Richter and Jerry Seinfeld) is more used tomake up for a sheer lack of viewers.  read more »

While we're waiting to find out whether this can possibly be true...
Here's what it looked like for the Obama (and Oprah) fans in the box behind section 103 at Invesco Field.

Uma Thurman is reportedly engaged to financier Arpad Busson. [NY Daily News]

Those awkward photos of Sean Avery standing shirtless in a fashion closet at Men's Vogue mysteriously disappeared from the magazine's Web site. [Radar]

Graydon Carter, Jann Wenner, Tom Wolfe, Jimmy Buffet, Gay Talese and others gathered at the Waverly Inn on Wednesday to celebrate Gonzo, a Carter-produced documentary about the life and work of Hunter S. Thompson. [WWD]

Raffaello Follieri's friends reportedly want Anne Hathaway to come get the chocolate lab the couple bought together.  read more »

When Oprah Winfrey endorsed Barack Obama, she probably didn't expect him to snag her personal chef once he went off to the White House.

Gael Greene is reporting on her Insatiable Critic blog that the Chicago-based chef Art Smith, employed by Oprah as her personal chef for a decade, may become Sen. Obama's personal chef if he gets elected.  read more »

Robert McCrum, literary editor of the UK Sunday paper The Observer, stepped down this month after a decade on the job. Yesterday he deployed a parting shot both wistful and sober-minded. "When I joined The Observer in 1996, the world of books was in limbo between hot metal and cool word processing, " he writes, with a nostalgia that comes off not a little anachronistic, considering we're talking about 1996 here and not 1958. "Everything smelled of the lamp. It was a world of ink and paper; of cigarettes, coffee and strong drink. Our distinguished critic George Steiner used to submit his copy in annotated typescript."

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The Associated Press reports that The Justice Department has approved Sirius Satellite Radio's plan to buy its rival, XM Satellite Radio, for $5 billion.

Sirius, which is home to Howard Stern, Martha Stewart, Judith Regan, The Rolling Stones, and others, will incorporate XM's programming which includes Oprah Winfrey, E!, and Fox News.  read more »

In January, the Post reported that Oprah Winfrey's best friend, Gayle King, had bought a penthouse at the Place 57 condo on East 57th Street for "approximately $7.4 million."

The deed for the deal just surfaced in city records, and it turns out that the three-bedroom, two-fireplace apartment was bought in the name of SOPHIE'S PENTHOUSE LLC, which seems to refer to Oprah's famous cocker spaniel Sophie.  read more »

Kirstie Alley is trading Jenny for Oprah. Ms. Alley has inked a TV development deal with Oprah's Harpo Productions, with a daily talk show under consideration, according to Variety. The deal comes after a series of high-profile appearances on Oprah's show (remember when she wore a bikini after reaching her goal weight with Jenny Craig?). Ms. Alley told Variety that she's hoping to come up with "something totally fresh" with Harpo. "I'm very open with what I've been through in my own personal life, and nothing -- I mean nothing -- is off-limits for me to talk about," she said. "Nothing shocks me."

LOS ANGELES—This could be big.

Maria Shriver, the first lady of California (wife of Republican governor Arnold Schwarzenegger) just endorsed Barack Obama on a stage here at an event at UCLA with Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama and her cousin Caroline Kennedy.

Shriver, the daughter of Eunice Kennedy, John F. Kennedy's sister, said that above her computer in her office she keeps a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt that said “Do one thing every day that scares you."  read more »

While Oprah was "breaking new ground" with her "boldest" Book Club choice yet: A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose by Eckhart Tolle, American sculptor Daniel Edwards was revealing a new King-Tut like Bronze statue of the media queen. Mr. Edwards is that guy who made that weirdo sculpture of Britney giving birth a couple years ago (remember that?). "Monument to Pro-Life: The Birth of Sean Preston" was considered Pro-Life's first monument to the "act of giving birth" and was placed in a Williamsburg gallery. He also made "Presidential Bust of Hillary Rodham Clinton," "Suri's Bronzed Baby Poop" and "Paris Hilton's Autopsy," among others. Mr. Edwards' latest work "The Oprah Sarcophagus" pays homage to the closest thing America has to a living deity, according to the artist. But we thought Oprah didn't want to be a mummy!

Oprah Winfrey continues her quest to take over the world! The media queen is partnering with Discovery Channel to start "OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network." Ms. Winfrey is already running her own TV show, production company, magazine and Web site, and will be the chairman of OWN, set to start airing programming in 2009.  read more »

False rumors that Tommy Hilfiger voiced regret over his clothing’s popularity in the African-American community dogged him for years. It took nothing short of a blessing from Oprah Winfrey to make them go away. Except, it seems, they didn’t go away at all.

Clothing label Frank Fuller Classic, apparently a sort of wannabe prep outfitter with a CK Bradley style sense, took out an advertisement recently in a magazine that reads: “Frank Fuller Clothing CO Is Not Racist Like Tommy Hilfiger.”

Attorneys for the 56-year-old Americana macher responded immediately, sending the magazine and the clothing company cease and desist letters. Mr. Hilfiger’s rep also offered TMZ.com a statement, saying: “This is nothing more than a hoax concocted months after Oprah and Tommy put to rest the tired, baseless yet intolerable rumor, declaring it a ‘big, fat lie.’”  read more »

The top Democratic presidential candidates brought out some of their more powerful symbolic stumpers this weekend. To counter Barack Obama’s breathlessly awaited Oprah event in Iowa, Hillary Clinton campaigned with both her generally press-shy daughter Chelsea and her mother, Dorothy Rodham.

Clinton also sent her husband, who arguably has as much star power as Oprah, to South Carolina. In New Hampshire, the Clinton team dispatched the former secretary of the Navy to deliver a speech in Portsmouth.

The New York Times Magazine published a long profile exploring Hillary’s sometimes opaque emotional landscape, while the Washington Post considered her early life.

In a column this morning, Dan Balz wrote of the Clinton candidacy, "all talk of inevitability is gone," and added that no one knows this better than the candidate herself.  read more »

DES MOINES, Iowa, Dec. 9—Oprah Winfrey made her long-awaited debut on the campaign trail with Barack Obama yesterday, pulling a crowd estimated by the Obama campaign at around 20,000 to downtown Des Moines despite driving sleet and fierce cold.

Echoing a line of argument regularly used by Mr. Obama to contrast his candidacy with Hillary Clinton’s, Ms. Winfrey said “I’m so tired of politics as usual” and added, “That’s why you seldom see politicians on my show—I only have an hour.”

“We the people,” Ms. Winfrey continued, “recognize that the amount of time you’ve spent in Washington means nothing unless you are accountable for the judgments you make. We need good judgment. We need Barack Obama.”

That sounded, in a campaign setting, very much like a jab at Mrs. Clinton for her 2002 vote authorizing the use of force in Iraq. Moments later, in a rare indication of her own feelings about the war, Ms. Winfrey added that, “Long before it was the popular thing to do, he [Mr. Obama] stood with courage and conviction against this war in Iraq.”

Specific policy questions aside, Ms. Winfrey also waxed lyrical about Mr. Obama, referring to him at one point as “a politician who has an ear for eloquence and a tongue dipped in the unvarnished truth.” She suggested his candidacy makes it possible “to dream America anew again.”  read more »

Kate S., 27, a slim, attractive event planner who lives in Chinatown, was recently getting dressed for a high-profile party. “I always wear a black pinstriped suit,” she said. “I give away my womanly rights to wear stilettos and a low-cut shirt, so I have do something, you know? I knew there would be men around. You don’t want to look like a corporate person; you want your hiney to look cute.”  read more »

Barbra Streisand just put a rain cloud over Barack Obama’s parade, offering her endorsement, for what it’s worth, to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Having donated to Mr. Obama as well as to his fellow Democratic hopeful, John Edwards, in the recent past, Ms. Streisand settled any lingering speculation today. The 65-year-old entertainer—as was just reported on our sister blog, The Politicker—shared her somewhat dramatic sentiments with Ms. Clinton’s campaign, which then made them public.

“Madame President of the United States...it's an extraordinary thought. We truly are in a momentous time, where a woman's potential has no limitations," Ms. Streisand says in the statement. "Hillary Clinton has already proven to a generation of women that there are no limits for success." Considering her allegiance to the Senator’s husband, Bill Clinton, the declaration of support is sure to solidify Ms. Streisand’s F.O.B. status. (As pointed out by the AP, her endorsement comes just one day after Oprah Winfrey put all her—arguably more valuable--chips on Mr. Obama.)  read more »

It has been a tough day for Oprah Winfrey in the press, but things might be looking up for the supposed subject of a new biting exposé. Ms. Winfrey made a “secret visit” yesterday to Henley-on-Klip, near Johannesburg in South Africa, where she visited her recently scandalized Leadership Academy Girls School. (Last month, a 12-year-old student’s allegations of sexual abuse at the hands of a school employee were made public.) During her brief trip, Ms. Winfrey met with the alleged victim and her parents. After the meeting, the girl’s father gave People some details about the get-together. “The meeting went well. It took about two hours, and I appreciate that Oprah took the time to listen,” he told the celebrity gossip magazine, later saying that his family finally has “closure” and his daughter would be returning to the school to complete the eighth grade. The father was apparently also struck by the Chicago-based media mogul’s megawatt appearance and winning demeanor, adding, “Oprah looked beautiful and was so easy to talk to. It went very smoothly.”

 

 

Oprah launched her own YouTube channel here. You can watch exclusive (and ridiculously cheesy) videos of Oprah's production staff presenting a skateboarding bulldog and P.Diddy announcing his search for a new assistant. His special requirements: "You gotta know how to read, you gotta know how to write."

According to Broadcasting & Cable:  read more »

As predicted, Oprah's 59th book club pick is Gabriel Garcia Marquez's 1988 novel Love in the Time of Cholera, according to a press release just sent out from Vintage.

"Cholera” is the second Marquez book Oprah has chosen for her club (the first was 100 Years of Solitude back in 2004). The timing is good: New Line/Stone Village Pictures will release a film adaptation of the book next month.

Industry types first speculated that Love in the Time of Cholera was Oprah's pick last week, when it was revealed by way of an Amazon listing that the mystery book would be a $14.95 Vintage paperback 368 pages long. With those coordinates, as noted by the publishing blog GalleyCat, the pick had to be either “Cholera” or Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates.

The pick suggests Oprah is once again interested in classics, as she was for two years from 2004 until 2006. Her last three picks—Jeffrey Eugenides’ Middlesex, Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, and Sidney Poitier’s The Measure of a Man--have been contemporary works.

 

Back in August The Observer wondered whether Oprah Winfrey could convince people to vote for her favorite presidential candidate as effectively as she could get them to read her favorite book. Asked whether the endorsement would have any effect on the election, most commentators told The Observer it would, as it’d give Obama all kinds of crucial votes from the millions of impressionable, middle-aged ladies who watch Oprah’s show.

Now we've got some data.  

 

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Oprah-stomped, ersatz autobiographer James Frey stuns publishing, selling his new novel to HarperCollins.  read more »

She’s sold Middle America on everyone from Anna Karenina to Jonathan Franzen to Elie Wiesel; now, she’s trying her hand at politics—but can Obama’s girl sell her guy?  read more »

“When the dress arrived, I said, ‘I’m going to have to name her,’” Oprah Winfrey told the crowd at the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s annual awards at the New York Public Library on Monday, June 4, speaking of the ankle-length pink wrap ball gown that designer Ralph Lauren had created specifically for Ms. Winfrey to present him with the American Fashion Legend Award.  read more »

In the wake of the Don Imus “nappy-headed hos” scandal, fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger wants to get something straight.

“There’s a rumor about me being a racist,” Mr.  read more »

It’s hard to imagine two people whose combined influence could get more important people off their couches and over to the Waldorf-Astoria on a Sunday night (May 20) than Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel and talk-show hostess Oprah Winfrey, who was being honored by Mr. Wiesel’s foundation.  read more »

In the fall of 2002, during the run up to the war in Iraq, Oprah Winfrey devoted a portion of one of her shows to answering a pressing international question. Do the Iraqi people want America to liberate them from Saddam Hussein?

Ms. Winfrey posed the question to Entifadh Qanbar, a spokesperson for the Iraqi National Congress—an erstwhile group of Iraqi exiles led by Ahmed Chalabi that, at the time, was busy lobbying the American government to overthrow Saddam Hussein. “Absolutely,” responded Mr. Qanbar.

Later, Ms. Winfrey called on an audience member. “I hope this doesn’t offend you,” said the young woman. “I just don’t know what to believe with the media and…” Ms. Winfrey cut her off. “We’re not trying to show you propaganda,” Ms. Winfrey explained. “We’re just showing you what is.”

Four-and-a-half years later, with American troops embroiled in a seemingly intractable civil war in Iraq, and the reputation of Iraqi National Congress in tatters, the question of what exactly Ms. Winfrey and the rest of her colleagues in the media were showing to millions of American viewers on the eve of invasion begs a second look.

Tonight at 9:00 p.m., PBS will be airing a special episode of Bill Moyers Journal, entitled, “Buying the War,” which takes a long, hard look at the American media’s performance in the months leading up to the start of the war. The result is a detailed portrait of media groupthink gone horribly awry.

Throughout the 90 minute program, a large number of print and broadcast journalists--from Oprah, to Judith Miller, to George Will, to the Sunday morning talk show pundits, to Roger Ailes’ legions at Fox, to William Kristol, to the reporters on the evening network news, to Vanity Fair’s David Rose—are shown passing along hyperbolic stories about Iraq’s biological and nuclear weapons capacity.

As it turns out, many of those overblown stories relied almost exclusively on the false claims of hawkish administration officials and dodgy Iraqi defectors. Claims that often went unchecked by some of the best minds in the business.

There were exceptions, and throughout “Buying the War,” Mr. Moyers gives plenty of airtime to the reporters who got the story right, particularly to John Walcott, Jonathan Landay, and Warren Strobel of the erstwhile Knight Ridder news service.

The show also features captivating interviews with 60 Minutes’ Bob Simon, the Washington Post’s Walter Pincus, and an apologetic Dan Rather.

“Especially right after 9/11, especially when the war in Afghanistan is going on, there was a real sense that you don’t get that critical of a government that’s leading us in war time,” Walter Isaacson, the former chairman and CEO of CNN tells Mr. Moyers. “Big people in corporations were calling up and saying, ‘You’re being anti-American here.’”

Reached by phone on Monday, Kathleen Hughes, the producer of “Buying the War,” said that the documentary has been a year in the making. “Bill has called this a historical documentary except the history is only four years ago,” said Ms. Hughes.

“By and large most of us in the media accepted the administration’s point of view,” said Ms. Hughes. “I think that had to do with what some of our reporters say in the show--that there seemed to be an almost bipartisan belief that Saddam Hussein was keeping a big arsenal and that we had to be worried about him. But when you look at the Knight Ridder reporting you begin to understand that there was plenty of detailed, accurate information available in real time. That was the biggest surprise.”

Did the largely unflattering portrayal of the press leave Ms. Hughes feeling depressed about her profession?

“No,” said Ms. Hughes. “I still have a tremendous amount of respect for journalists. We all have our good work and our not so good work. I still think it’s a noble profession. Just look at the Knight Ridder guys. In this case, they’re my heroes.”

“She killed it!” excitedly exclaimed a male audience member, filing out of the Loews theater on  read more »

Are you feeling lucky, Nicholas Kristof?  read more »

• How do you get Mayor Bloomberg, S.I. Newhouse, Arthur Sulzberger, and Ms. Oprah Winfrey in one room together? Cathy Black has the answer--tonight she's hosting the grand opening gala for the new Norman Foster-designed Hearst Tower. These days, $500 million buys you a rainwater waterfall (there's also "The Wave"), and rainwater buys you a "green" certificate. (See below...) (NY Post)
• After his hippy Tribeca rock club closed down, Peter Shapiro formed a environmental consultancy firm named GreenOrder with his brother Andrew. It's been six small years, but their group has helped 7 World Trade Center become New York's first "gold" office building, and now the Shapiros are working with GE's $47.5 billion real estate holdings. Up next: A $2.6 billion environmentally friendly mall in upstate New York. Green greed is good! (NY Times)
• New York's Young Architects' Forum isn't so young anymore. The YAF club--for cool kids like Steven Holl, Neil Denari, and Billie Tsien--is turning 25. Hurrah! Yet this year the group's theme is "instability," which proves that Crash Anxiety has finally spilled over from the brokers and bankers to the architects.