Final Jeopardy: Famous Phrases (11-11-19)

Today’s Final Jeopardy question (11/11/2019) in the category “Famous Phrases” was:

In the title of a groundbreaking 1890 exposé of poverty in New York City slums, these 3 words follow “How the”

The first semi-final game of the 2019 Tournament of Champions features: Emma Boetcher, (QF #4); Dhruv Gaur, (QF #2); and Kyles Jones, (QF #1/Wild Card).

Round 1 Categories: Round 1 Categories: Real Names on the Marquis – Government & Politics – What’s Her Sport? – Flags – The King James Bible Sayeth… – Words That Use All 5 Vowels

Kyle found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Flags” under the $600 clue on the 4th pick of the round. He was in the lead with $1,800, $1,000 more than Emma in second place. He bet it all and guessed West Virginia. That was WRONG.

The diamond shape on its flag references the fact that it was the only diamond-producing U.S. state. show

WHAT IS ARKANSAS?

Kyle finished in the lead with $4,600. Emma was second with $3,200 and Dhruv was last, at zero.

Round 2 Categories: Non Compose Mentis – Math Guys – A Generic Title – Expressions & Idioms – True Story – “D.M.” Me

Dhruv found the first Daily Double in “Math Guys” under the $1,600 clue on the very first pick. The scores were the same as above. He bet the $2,000 allowance and took a guess with Friedman. That was WRONG.

The subject of a 2001 film, this mathematician won a 1994 Nobel Prize in Economics. show

WHO IS JOHN NASH?

Kyle found the last Daily Double in “A Generic Title” under the $800 clue, with 13 clues left after it. In second place with $6,200, he had half of Emma’s leading score. He bet it all and he was RIGHT.

It’s a sequence, it’s a genre, it’s a podcast hosted by Sarah Koenig. show

WHAT IS SERIAL?

Emma finished in the lead with $19,200. Kyle was next with $14,800 and Dhruv was in third place with $2,000.

TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.

WHAT IS “OTHER HALF LIVES”?

Danish immigrant Jacob Riis grew up in abject poverty in the New York City slums. In his 30’s, he sought to shine a spotlight on the appalling conditions immigrants were forced to live and work in through pictures. Armed with his and other photographs, he began delivering lectures in 1888. “Riis received his first break when two Scribner’s Magazine editors attended his ‘Other Half’ lecture and invited him to publish it as an article. The resulting piece featured twenty wood engravings based on Riis’s photographs and was the highlight of the magazine’s 1889 Christmas issue…. Riis was paid $150 for the article, equivalent to a month’s newspaper salary. … A year after the illustrated article appeared in Scribner’s Magazine (December 1889), Scribner’s published Riis’s work in book form, How the Other Half Lives, Studies Among the Tenements of New York (1890).” Learn more at the Library of Congress.

Poet James Russell Lowell admired Riis’ work and allowed him to use several verses of his poem “A Parable” as the book’s epigraph. Lowell passed away at age 72 the year after the book was published.

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Dhruv wrote down “We love you, Alex,” and that was one shoutout that almost brought Alex to tears. Dhruv lost everything but $5.

Kyle got it right. He bet $4,401 and finished with $19,201.

Emma got it, too. She bet $10,401 and won the first finalist spot with $29,601.

A triple stumper from each round:

A GENERIC TITLE ($1600) In this movie Robert de Niro kidnaps Jerry Lewis

TRUE STORY ($800) A gopher is on the cover of the book titled this comedy film: “The Making of a Hollywood Cinderella Story”

More clues on page 2

2 years ago: TWO of the players got this FJ in “Vice Presidents”

A biography of this 19th century VP traces his family to a German town made famous in a folk tale about children. show

WHO IS HANNIBAL HAMLIN?

Click here to leave well wishes and prayers for Alex Trebek for continuing success in his battle against cancer. There’s also a link to where you can make a donation to pancreatic cancer research in his honor.