Final Jeopardy: Playwrights (3-11-19)
Today’s Final Jeopardy question (3/11/2019) in the category “Playwrights” was:
Before his death in 2018 at age 91, he received 4 Tony Awards, a Pulitzer Prize & was nominated for 4 Oscars
New champ Conor Murphy, a grad student from Thorofare, NJ, won $9,600 on Friday. In his second game, his opponents are: Elaine Wilson, a layout artist from Manassas, VA; and Scott Semproni, an engineer from Portland, OR.
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Round 1 Categories: Movie Pictures – Food & Drink – Yiddish Words – A Colonel of Truth – Nonfiction – “Ll” Animals
Conor found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Nonfiction” under the $800 clue, with 7 clues still to go after it. He was in third place with $1,800, $3,200 less than Scott’s lead. He bet $1,200 and took a shot with Mars. That was WRONG.
A book about this body is subtitled “The Rise & Fall of America’s Favorite Planet. show
Elaine and Scott finished in a tie for the lead with $5,400. Conor was next with $1,600.
Round 2 Categories: Norman Lear, the First 96 Years – 1870s America – The Hero – Y Is the Only Vowel – Art & Artists – Channel Surfing
Conor found the first Daily Double in “Channel Surfing” under the $1,200 clue on the 18th pick. He was in third place with $4,400 at this point, $5,800 less than Elaine’s lead. He bet $3,000 and he was RIGHT.
Dusky dolphins surf this South American channel named for a 19th century science ship. show
4 clues later, Scott landed on the last Daily Double in “Art & Artists” under the $1,600 clue. He and Elaine were tied for the lead at $10,200, $2,000 more than Conor. He bet $2,000 and did not know so he was WRONG.
Born on Crete, Domenikos Theotokopoulos moved to Spain, where he became better known by this name. show
Scott finished in the lead with $11,400. Elaine was next with $10,200 and Conor was in third place with $8,600.
Only ONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
Prolific playwright Neil Simon passed away on August 26, 2018. His contributions to the Great White Way were such that on 8/27/2018, Broadway went dark at 6:45 pm (ET) for one minute in his honor. The awards named in the clue are just a sampling of the many that he earned during his long career as the USA’s leading comedic dramatist. Three of his Tony Awards were for “The Odd Couple”, “Biloxi Blues” and “Lost in Yonkers.” His 4th Tony was for his overall contribution to American theater. Simon’s 1991 Pulitzer Drama Prize was for “Lost in Yonkers” and his Oscar nominations were for: “The Odd Couple”, “The Sunshine Boys”, “The Goodbye Girl” and “California Suite.” His New York Times obituary says: “Mr. Simon ruled Broadway when Broadway was worth ruling.”
From 2003: ACTORS ON BROADWAY ($1000) When the Neil Simon Theater got its name in ’83, this young actor was starring there in Simon’s “Brighton Beach Memoirs”
Conor wrote down Eugene O’Neill (d. 1953). He lost his $5,400 bet and had $3,200 left.
Elaine got it right. She bet $4,900, bringing her up to $15,100.
Scott went with Arthur Miller (d. 2005). That cost him $10,000. He landed in third place with $1,400 and Elaine Wilson became the new Jeopardy! champ.
A triple stumper from each round:
NONFICTION ($600) The actual 1948 kidnapping of 11-year-old Sally Horner is the subject of “The Real” this fictional girl
THE HERO ($1600) …born Edmond Dantes, of this 1840s novel
2 years ago: ALL of the players got this FJ in “Biblical Who’s Who”
Among the places he visited on his second missionary journey were Galatia & Corinth. show
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It was not a strong group tonight. Coincidentally, I had a conversation with a friend Friday night and told him that most players under 35 would not know the show ‘Maude’. The show hasn’t stood the test of time and is not a classic. I’m 51 and I remember the show. The show was never all that good.
I got the Final because I am studying for the April online test and it is good to know all the famous people who died in the last 3 years. The online test likes to ask about celebs, and especially writers, who died in the last 2 or 3 years. Just my observation.
I got 4 clues right.
1. Alligator
2. Wallaby
3. Rita Moreno. The only movie that I have ever seen her in is ”Nicky Deuce”, the 1st of 3 Nickelodeon Original Movies to air in 2013, and it’s a good movie.
4. California
Also, I’m happy to see more of this pink haired lady tomorrow. I think the last time that we had a female champion who dyed her hair red, or blue, or purple, or pink, or any other color was Kiana Nakamura, a blue haired lady, who won her 1st game by luck & also, misfortune by 1 of her opponents named Wilbur Farley. In her 2nd game, she scored a runaway, and easily won that game, but she could have won her 3rd game had she wagered everything, and got Final Jeopardy! right, because the player who won that game named Jesse Parks, got it right, but didn’t wager enough to cover Kiana if she doubled up, and I’m glad that Jesse went down the next day.
@Rhonda, did you see the chat where Elaine said she’s really a Jersey girl and has the same birthday as the Boss?
I sure did, VJ! So fun!
$10,800 in Triple Stumper clues here, including the DD. 52/61 and 29/30 in DJ! (only missed the God of War/Kratos clue”
Yep. As John said, Elaine’s FJ wager is rather unusual, yet she came up with the correct response because the two thought of O’Neill and Miller and as Alex said, “if you’re thinking about drama, you’re in the wrong track”.
I enjoyed watching this game. With the lead swinging back and forth between Elaine and Scott, it was tough for Conor to get a buzz in edgewise but he did his best to catch up and came back with a fighting chance on the second DD he got. I love that… Never give up!
@JP, I agree that the results weren’t surprising. This one hinged on having seen and remembering the obituary, rather than on knowing his plays, imo. Sometimes even when we see obituary headlines, they just don’t register for various reasons. Btw, Simon’s obituaries note that having a theater named after him when he was alive was a rare distinction of his.
LINK: 10 more clues from the match, including the Movie Pictures category which was my favorite today
I’m not terribly surprised at the results of final Jeopardy. I think that plays and musicals continue to be a niche interest for most Americans (myself included), although not as niche as opera or ballet. Most people’s exposure to plays and musicals comes through their adaptions into film, and they may never even know they were originally Broadway productions or who wrote the original works. The same goes for literature too, I guess – most people are unaware that most television and film is adapted from literature. The difference is you can get direct access to an actual book by shipping it to your home in two days for under $10, (or instantly, and for free for old books if you go the Kindle route) whereas getting direct access to actual musical or play requires spending a lot more money and actually travelling.
I’m guessing most players prepare for the show by memorizing which famous playwrights wrote which famous plays. Of course, that knowledge doesn’t tell you anything about when they were born or died, so today’s question will trip up those players. I went with Albee – I had completely forgot about Simon’s death. O’Neill crossed my mind, but I knew that he has a NY theater named in his honor, so I figured he died much earlier, even though I couldn’t tell you with any degree of confidence his approximate dates of birth or death.
Today’s performance by the guys isn’t what I would call stellar. But seriously, Eugene O Neill? What was conor thinking putting him down? That guy was long gone and wrote drama plays like Anna Christie and Desire Under the Elms.
Congratulations to Elaine and so the clock resets. I really hope that Elaine can build on her win. Either this is a generation thing or the guys never heard of The Odd Couple.