Final Jeopardy: American Playwrights (10-11-19)
Today’s Final Jeopardy question (10/11/2019) in the category “American Playwrights” was:
In 1963 the Pulitzer Advisory Board vetoed his controversial play & gave no award; he would go on to win 3 Pulitzers
New champ Geoff Duncan, a programmer and musician from Seattle, WA, won $33,399 yesterday. In Game 2, his opponents are: Susan White, a bookseller from Norwich, VT; and Lindsey Berns, an international school administrator, from Vancouver, B.C.
Round 1 Categories: Kurt Vonnegut – Breakfast of Champions – Player’s Piano – Welcome to the Monkey House – The Sirens of Titian – “Ho”cus “Po”cus
Lindsey found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Kurt Vonnegut” under the $800 clue on the 9th pick of the round. She was in the lead with $2,800, $1,800 more than Susan in second place. She bet it all and she was RIGHT.
Sci-Fi author Theodore Sturgeon was the inspiration for this recurring Vonnegut character who also had a fishy name. show
Lindsey finished in the lead with $10,400. Susan was second with $3,600 and Geoff was last, at negative $2,600. Before DJ! began, Geoff got a $2K credit on a reversal (see below).
Round 2 Categories: Southern Politician/Author – Med. Abbrev. – Mongol Rulers – It Takes a Villain – National Parks – One-Word Rhymes
Susan found the first Daily Double in “Southern Politicians” under the $1,200 clue, with 7 clues left after it. She was in second place with $10,800 at this point, $3,600 less than Lindsey’s lead. She bet $2,000 and she was RIGHT.
The first novel ever published by a U.S. President was “The Hornet’s Nest”, his saga of the Revolutionary War in the south. show
2 clues later, Lindsey found the last Daily Double in “National Parks” under the $1,600 clue. In the lead with $16,000, she had $3,200 more than Susan in second place. She bet $3,000 and guessed the Snake, without phrasing it properly. That was WRONG anyway.
Big Bend National Park is named for a big bend on this river. show
Lindsey finished in the lead with $16,200. Susan was next with $12,800 and Geoff was in third place with $3,400.
NONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
Edward Albee’s 1962 play “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” did not win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1963 when it was decided that the play’s raw look at a miserable and mutually abusive marriage did not conform with the last phrase of the prize standard: “For the American play, preferably original in its source and dealing with American life, which shall represent in marked fashion the educational value and power of the stage.”
On Pulitzer.org, “A snub of Edward Albee” goes into the controversy in great detail. One consequence was that, after 1964, they dropped that last phrase from the prize standard. You can see that on the 1967 Pulitzer Prize for Drama page when Albee’s play “A Delicate Balance” won. Ironically, it also features a dysfunctional family. The other 2 Albee plays that won Pulitzers are on my 20th Century Pulitzer Prize Winning Playwrights post in the ’70s.
Geoff went with Arthur Miller. He bet and lost it all.
Susan thought it was Tennessee Williams. That cost her $4,100 and left her with $8,700.
Lindsey had Williams, too. She lost $9,401, dropping her down to $6,799. That made Susan White the new Jeopardy! champ.
Reversal: WELCOME TO THE MONKEY HOUSE ($1000) Spider monkeys lack the grasping adaptation known by this 2-word term; it would get in the way as they hook fingers over branches — Geoff’s “prehensile thumb” response was deemed okay by the judges. (Susan gave the answer they wanted: “opposable thumb”)
A triple stumper from each round:
“HO”CUS “PO”CUS ($1000) Versifier James Whitcomb Riley from Greenfield, Indiana was known as this
IT TAKES A VILLAIN ($2000) He’s Dudley Do-Right’s dastardly mustachioed nemesis
2 years ago: Only ONE of the players got this FJ in “Flags of the World”
The flag of Laos shows the white circle of the moon over the blue band, representing this river. show
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Thought Lindsey had potential to be a TofC with her comfort in first time play. You could see major disappointment in her face after FJ.
We only have 1 Lindsey in the Tournament of Champions.
btw, Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe got a divorce in 1961. She died the following year, a few months before “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” made its debut
They got divorced because one of them had an affair.
From what I’ve read about it, it was Marilyn and Yves Montand, who did not get a divorce from his wife, Simone Signoret. When a reporter asked Simone about the affair, she said something like, if Marilyn is in love with my husband, it means she has good taste in men.
Wow.
We’re now at 28 consecutive games without a triple solve in Final Jeopardy!
Yep. As worse as the ALCS Part II, because they’re now having a rematch.
That’s way too much.
Lindsey would’ve probably won had she got the second DD right.
And so we end the week with a three time winner, no triple solves and a triple stumper. And here I thought the contestants knew about Virginia woolf if they have been brushing up on literature. I doubt Susan can build up a streak here but you might never know. Anyway, we need another five time winner and soon
We also end the week with no emptying the Jeopardy! board.
We need a triple solve during Final Jeopardy!
About that James Whitcomb Riley clue — believe it or not, I knew one of his poems “Little Orphant Annie” by heart when I was 5 years old (just the first verse). My mother used to trot me out to recite it for her company (LOL!)
I’ve got to run over to the dentist’s office for a quick checkup so here’s the
LINK: 9 more clues from the game