Final Jeopardy: Fictional Characters (12-20-21)
Today’s Final Jeopardy question (12/20/2021) in the category “Fictional Characters” was:
Introduced in 1938 & inspired by movie character Torchy Blane of the Morning Herald, she has since gone on to win a fictional Pulitzer
13x champ Amy Schneider, an engineering manager from Oakland, CA has now won $536,400. In Game 14, she takes on these two players: Erin Creed, a middle school teacher from Williams Bay, WI; and Do Park, a sportswriter from Minneapolis, MN.
Round 1 Categories: Angels We Have Heard on High – Silver & Gold – Joy to the World – O Holy Knight – We 5 “King”a – A Different Look at Christmas Songs
Erin found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Joy to the World” under the $800 clue on the 9th pick. She was in second place with $1,000, $2,200 less than Amy’s lead. Erin made it a true Daily Double and said Christkindlmarket. That was WRONG.
This annual festival began in 1810 when Prince Ludwig of Bavaria invited the people of Munich to join in celebrating his marriage. show
Amy finished in the lead with $9,400. Do was second with $3,200 and Erin was last with $2,000. No clues went uncovered.
Round 2 Categories: Skiing around the World – The Heroine’s Author – Sale of the Century – The Electoral College – 7-Letter Words – “B” Movies
Do found the first Daily Double in “The Electoral College” under the $1,600 clue on the 4th pick. In second place with $4,400, he had $5,800 less than Amy in first place. Do made it a true Daily Double and he was RIGHT.
The only men to garner more than 1,000 electoral votes in their political careers were FDR & these 2 Republicans. show
Amy got the last Daily Double in “Skiing Around the World” under the $2,000 clue with 9 clues left after it. In the lead with $19,000, she had $7,800 more than Do in second place. Amy bet $4,000 and she was RIGHT.
Soldeu, El Tarter & Pas De La Casa are part of a big ski resort in this tiny European nation. show
Amy finished in the lead with $23,800. Do was second with $17,200 and Erin was last with $3,600. No clues went uncovered.
TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
WHO IS LOIS LANE?
Jerry Siegel, the comic book writer who created Superman, created Lois Lane as well. Siegel said the character was inspired by Glenda Farrell’s portrayal of Torchy Blane. However, the name of Superman’s gal (and currently his wife) was co-opted from actress Lola Lane. Lola played Torchy Blane once. Jane Wyman also played her once and Glenda Farrell was Torchy 7 times. More on Lois Lane on Fandom.com.
Over the years, DC Comics stuck with the LL initials in creating many more alliterative characters, including Lana Lang, Superboy’s girlfriend; Linda Lee, Supergirl’s secret identity and Lex Luthor, Superman’s archenemy.
Erin got it right. She bet her whole $3,600 and finished with $7,200.
Do wrote down “Mrs. Marpole”. That cost him $3,999 and left him with $13,201.
Amy also got it right. She bet $11,000 and won the game with $34,800. Her 14-day total is $571,200.
2 triple stumpers in THE HEROINE’S AUTHOR
($1600) V.I. Warshawski
($2000) Ayla, of the “Earth’s Children” novels
2 years ago: TWO of the players got this FJ in “TV Theme Music”
A short piece for 2 guitars called “Strange No. 3” was the first part of the theme music for this drama series that debuted in 1959 show
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Rhonda, “Dondi, the Orphan”, yes! And, yes again, Basil St. John was her one eyed BF!
Thanks, Jason, wow, you have a great memory, Basil St. John, that’s it!! Glad you remember Dondi, too. Did you ever see the movie? I have a very vague memory of seeing it in the theater,can’t recall what else was showing with it, and a woman singing a “Dondi” song as the movie credits were shown.
True story: I record the “Saturday Matinee” on TCM every Saturday, and, like those of old, there is a cartoon, a two reeler, a travelogue, a serial, and the movie. They have shown movies of which there are several in a series, including Perry Mason, The Falcon, Dr Kildare, and many others. The most recent series to conclude were the “Torchy Blane” movies. Her given name was “Teresa”, but she was only referred to as that twice in the series. As the clue stated, she worked for the Morning Herald, but, in addition, her boyfriend, and later fiance’, was a police lieutenant. So, reporter + police = comedy. I don’t believe it to be coincidence that this clue was written at the same time as the films were being shown (then again, or might just be, and I’m all wet).
Regardless, I read too much into it, and said “Brenda Starr”, and was wrong!
And, being a VERY minor Milton scholar, I winced a bit when Erin missed that.
Still, another strong performance by the champ!
Jason, Brenda Starr was also the name that I came up with coincidentally. Are we revealing our age group? I doubt if any of today’s contestants would have heard of her though. I read her cartoons in the New York papers growing up. I recall one thing that was in one of her cartoons that stuck with me all of these years. “Why is it when you’re looking for something it’s the last thing you find? Because when you find it you stop looking.”
Btw, it hasn’t appeared in newspapers in years. I Just googled the cartoon name and discovered it ceased being printed about 10 years ago.
I also read her comic strip growing up (and Steve Canyon, Prince Valiant, Blondie and Dagwood, etc.) Comic strip characters just didn’t cross my mind this morning. J-Archive shows a Classic Comic Strips category from 2003 where a contestant gave Brenda Starr for an answer instead of Mary Worth.
That same year was the last time Brenda showed up in a clue: SEE YOU IN THE FUNNY PAPERS $800: Jill St. John & Brooke Shields have both “Starred” as this comic strip reporter
Jason and Jacob, I came up with Brenda Starr as well, I used to read her cartoons growing up. Did she have a boyfriend who wore a patch or am I confusing it with another comic strip? I also used to read Dondi, how many of today’s contestant would have heard of that one, they also made it into a movie, must have been in the early 60’s or so.
@Rhonda, I don’t remember that one but I remember this other 60s one — apt 3-G, there was a woman named Tommie in it
I don’t remember that one, VJ.
We could call that serendipity if those Torchy movies coming on TCM helped you get the final clue 😁
My favorite clue today was in WE 5 KINGS ($200) This nursery rhyme guy called for his pipe, his bowl & “his fiddlers three!” — one of my favorite cartoons is “Bold King Cole” with Felix the Cat 🤣
A good game by all the players and glad to see two people getting this right.
After Amy got the first 6 clues in Round 1, Erin and Do got the next 8 clues, except for one triple stumper.
4 years ago, I recapped Deadline at Dawn (1946), a film that Lola Lane was in and I mentioned the Lola/Lois connection in the cast notes.