Final Jeopardy: 19th Century America (1-17-24)

The Final Jeopardy question (1/17/2024) in the category “19th Century America” was:

An 1884 article calls this newly completed structure “the highest work of man” & disagrees with those who call it “a great chimney”

Today’s Champions Wild Card contestants are: Devin Lohman, an architectural designer & masters student from Peachtree City, GA; Juveria Zaheer, a psychiatrist from Whitby, Ontario; and Patti Palmer, a retired teacher & bookseller from Tulsa, OK.

Round 1 Categories: The Fist & the Furious Movies – Around the Globe – Born on Jan. 17 – U.S. Stamps – Politics as Unusual – Inconvenient Words

Juveria found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “U.S. Stamps” under the $800 clue on the 7th pick of the round. She was in second place with $1,600, $200 less than Devin’s lead. Juveria bet $1,600 and she was RIGHT.

A 1989 stamp drew criticism from paleontologists for labeling a dinosaur not apatosaurus but this show

WHAT IS BRONTOSAURUS?

Juveria finished in the lead with $5,600. Patti was in second place with $3,800. Devin was last with $1,600. All clues were shown.

Round 2 Categories: Not to Be Confused – Alliterative Terms – Find the Fish – If Food Be the Love of Music – Frailty, Thy Name Is Man – Summer of Our Discontent

Juveria found the first Daily Double in “Frailty, Thy Name is Man” under the $2,000 clue on the 15th pick of the round. She was in the lead with $11,600, $5,000 more than Patti in second place. Juveria bet $11,600 and she was RIGHT.

In a Robert Graves novel, this emperor introduces himself with some of his nicknames, like “the Idiot” show

WHO IS CLAUDIUS?

5 clues later, Juveria landed on the last Daily Double in “Summer of Our Discontent” under the $800 clue. She was in the lead with $27,200, $20,600 more than Patti in second place. Juveria bet $3,200 and she was RIGHT.

In August 1957 Strom Thurmond filibustered for over 24 hours railing against this, signed into law the next month show

WHAT IS THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT?

Juveria finished in the lead with a runaway of $32,800. Patti was in second place with $7,000. Devin was last with $6,400. All clues were shown.

Only ONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.

WHAT IS THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT?

Plans to build a monument to George Washington were bandied about as far back as 1783 before they began to take shape in the 19th century. Even so, construction did not begin on what became the Washington Monument until 1848. Work on the project was suspended from 1854 to 1877 for various reasons, one being the Civil War. (The site was used as a cow pasture during the war.) I found this Mark Twain quote from 1868: “The ungainly old chimney that goes by that name [Washington] is of no earthly use to anybody else… It is just the general size and shape, and possesses about the dignity, of a sugar-mill chimney.” I don’t know if this was the first time the monument was called a chimney but it certainly seems plausible that many would echo Mark Twain.

The stone structure was completed in 1884, which is the date of the article referred to in today’s clue. In it, the writer thinks the Washington Monument is “a work of massive, symmetrical, and wonderful immensity….” and disagrees with the chimney thing. The title of the article is “The Highest Work of Man In the World by Forty-three Feet.” and it can be read on Newspaper.com in the McCook Tribune if you have a subscription.

The Washington Monument was the world’s tallest structure from 1884 until the Eiffel Tower graced the Parisian skyline in 1889. However, the D.C. obelisk had only been open to the public for a year. Learn more and see some photos on National Geographic.

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Devin thought it might be the Brooklyn Bridge. He lost $601 and finished with $5,799.

Patti went with the Eiffel Tower. She bet and lost her whole $7,000.

Juveria got it right. She bet $8,000 and won the game with $40,800.

2 triple stumpers from the last round:

FIND THE FISH ($800) When I saw the crocodile coming toward me in the swamp I ran harder

IF FOOD BE THE LOVE OF MUSIC ($1200) On “Check Mr. Popeye”, seminal Jersey rocker Southside Johnny asks, is this “running low”

More clues on Page 2

2 years ago: Only ONE of the players got this FJ in “Historic Americans”

In 1838 he took a new last name, of a family in Walter Scott’s “The Lady of the Lake”; for distinction he added a 2nd “S” to the end show

WHO IS FREDERICK DOUGLASS?

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