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Still Vanna After All These Years

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By WALT BELCHER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 15, 2007

TAMPA - Here's a puzzle for those devoted fans known as "Wheel Watchers":

Clue: It's a song title.

ST_CK IN _ CL_S_T WITH V_NN_ WHIT_

Want to buy a few vowels?

In 1988, during the height of Vanna mania, Weird Al Yankovic's "Stuck in a Closet With Vanna White" paid tribute to the world's best-known game show hostess.

The 1980s were a heady time for White, who is celebrating her 25th year on "Wheel of Fortune." The show is also celebrating its history this month.

Shortly after the nighttime version of "Wheel" debuted in syndication in September 1983, the former model and aspiring actress from North Myrtle Beach, S.C., found herself the focus of a lot of media attention.

She was on the covers of numerous magazines. She was getting more than 300 fan letters a day. She was getting offers for guest roles on TV shows. NBC cast her in a movie of the week. And her autobiography, "Vanna Speaks," became a best seller.

In 1987, more than 2,000 fans crammed into a Tampa bookstore to get an autographed copy.

"It was crazy," White said in a recent telephone interview. "I don't know exactly how it happened or why, but I even got sick of Vanna mania. I really prefer the quiet life."

The origins of Vanna mania are unclear. In the 1970s and early 1980s, "Wheel" was just another daytime show on NBC. Host Pat Sajak joined it in 1981. White became the letter turner in 1982.

"It doesn't seem like 25 years," White says. "It seems like only yesterday that Pat and I were in the makeup chairs getting ready to do that first show." (The first letter Vanna turned was a T.)

"Wheel" was created by Merv Griffin as a variation on the children's game hangman.

A Pop Culture Icon
When "Wheel" began airing at 7 weeknights across the country, its popularity exploded. By 1984, more than 40 million viewers were watching every day, and White was listed as one of the most admired women in America.

She simultaneously became a pop culture icon and a punch line. Johnny Carson called her "America's favorite pet rock" because her job was to look beautiful in stunning outfits while turning letters on a game show.

On "Wheel," she was (and still is) always smiling and seldom speaks (thus the title of her book). That a letter turner on a game show could be admired along with the likes of other 1980s icons such as Nancy Reagan and Mother Teresa remains a mystery to some.

As Vanna mania continued through the late 1980s, former ABC News anchor Ted Koppel coined what he called the "Vanna Factor."

He used the term to describe how viewers will create their own impressions of a person merely by how that person looks on television. In White's case, all people knew about her was that she was attractive and appeared to be nice - that was enough to make her a star.

White was picked from more than 200 who auditioned for the part. She says Griffin told her she had a good rapport and chemistry with Sajak. She also looked good in the designer gowns featured on the show. And she was, by all accounts, an able letter turner. With modern technology, White no longer has to turn the letters. She simply touches the letters now.

She says that she once had aspirations to be an actress. In 1989, she starred in the NBC movie "Goddess of Love," but mostly she has played herself in guest roles on sitcoms and dramas.

"Now I just want to be a mother and work on 'Wheel,'" she says, noting that when she's not on camera, she dotes on Nicholas, 13, and Giovanna, 10, her children from her marriage to restaurateur George Santo Pietro. The couple are divorced.

In 1992, she was recognized as "Television's Most Frequent Clapper" in the Guinness Book of Records, now Guinness World Records. She averages 720 claps per episode.

White has always appeared to be unaffected by the attention or any slams about what she does for a living.

"It is what it is," she says. "We enjoy doing the show. I like what I do. And I'm under contract for three more years."

At age 50, she is a remarkable survivor in an industry that usually spits women out once they've passed 40. She has rolled with all the punches.

"Even though I've had problems and bad times, I've learned from my mistakes," she says. "I rarely get upset, don't have a temper, and I'm easygoing."

She doesn't party. She says she likes to wear jeans and curl up with an old movie such as "Imitation of Life."

She Began As A Hand Model

She grew up in a small beach town and was a cheerleader in high school. Like many South Carolinians, she listened to beach music and danced the shag.

"I'm teaching it to my children," she says. "We go to Myrtle Beach every summer for vacation, and I go back every fall for a reunion with my friends."

White was raised by her mother and stepfather, Joan and Herbert White. Her late father, Miguel Rosich, was a retired jewelry salesman and elevator operator. He lived in Oldsmar during the last years of his life.

White attended the Atlanta School of Fashion Design and began working as a model during her late teens. It was her hands that first got her noticed: She started out as a hand model, holding and displaying various products. She moved to Los Angeles after she finished school, and within two years, she had landed the "Wheel" job.

White says she works out every day and has to watch her weight. She's a fan of mashed potatoes and banana pudding. She has not had plastic surgery but wouldn't rule it out.

"People do what they have to do," she says.

She likes to crochet. "I started getting serious about it about five years ago when I noticed my hairdresser was making a baby blanket," she says.

White has published books of crochet patterns and is the spokeswoman for Lion Brand Yarn, which produces the "Vanna's Choice" line of yarn in 23 colors.

She says that when her "Wheel" days are over, she might try acting again or go into real estate. But that might be a while; "Wheel" continues to dominate the ratings and White's followers - "Vannafans" - take great interest in what she wears. The "Wheel" Web site features the "Vanna Style" section to showcase the gowns she wears.

"I lost count of how many I have worn," she says, noting that it is well over 5,000. The most memorable was a yellow frock with a lot of flowers.

"It stands out in my mind because Pat said I looked like Big Bird," she says.

Reporter Walt Belcher can be reached at (813 259-7654 or wbelcher@tampatrib.com.

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