Final Jeopardy: Historic Irony (4-11-14)
The Final Jeopardy question (4/11/2014), in the category “Historic Irony” was:
Theodor Herzl was inspired to begin the work that’s the foundation for modern Zionism by an opera by this composer.
2-day champ Sandie Baker has won $44,900 so far. In the last game of the week, she faces these two challengers: Monique Aldred, originally from San Diego, CA; and Rebecca Baird, from Thousand Oaks, CA.
Round 1: Sandie found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Shakespeare with Spoiler Alerts” under the $600 clue, the third clue chosen in the round. She had $600 and Rebecca had $200 so far. She bet the $1,000 allowance and drew a blank so she was WRONG.
King Lear has 3 daughters: (Spoiler Alert) This youngest one lasts the longest but is finally hanged. show
Rebecca finished in the lead with $4,200, after Sandie took a couple of bad guesses on the last two clues. Sandie was second with $3,800 and Monique was last with minus $1,000.
Round 2: Rebecca found the first Daily Double in “Historic Battles” under the $2,000 clue. She was in the lead with $9,800, $3,600 ahead of Sandie in second place. She bet $2,000 and thought it was Iwo Jima. That was WRONG.
The U.S. Marines’ 6-month battle for this island in the Solomons helped secure American air superiority in the Pacific. show
Monique found the last Daily Double in “Women of Chinese Descent” under the $1,600 clue. In third place with $5,000, she had $6,000 less than Rebecca’s lead. She bet $2,500 and she was RIGHT.
One of Vogue’s youngest fashion editors, she was inspired by her own marriage to design wedding gowns. show
Sandie finished in the lead with $13,400. Rebecca was next with $11,800 and Monique was in third place with $6,700.
TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
Leah Garrett, Loti Smorgon Research Professor of Contemporary Jewish Life and Culture at Monash University, discusses in her book “A Knight at the Opera” how the founder of Zionism, Theodor Herzl, was so inspired by Wagner’s 1845 opera Tannhäuser that “he wrote The Jewish State while attending performances of it, and he even had the Second Zionist Congress open to the music of Tannhäuser’s overture.” The book uses Wagner’s opera “to examine the changing relationship between Jews and the broader world during the advent of the modern era, and to question if any art, even that of a prominent anti-Semite [Wagner], should be considered taboo.” (Perdue Univ. Press)
Monique thought it was Mozart. She bet and lost it all.
Rebecca got it right. She doubled her money and finished with $23,600.
Sandie also got it right. She bet $10,300 so she won her third match with $23,700. Her 3-day total is $68,600. Way to go, Sandie!
2 years ago:: TWO of the players got this FJ in “Shakespeare’s Plays”.
The only 2 plays whose titles repeat a word, excluding articles & prepositions are “Measure for Measure” & this. show
We may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases made from Amazon.com links at no cost to our visitors. Learn more: Affiliate Disclosure.
one more irony: the other prominent wedding march, not just in america, was written by felix mendelssohn bartholdy, born into a prominent jewish family at hamburg, a contemporary of liszt, wagner etc…
so the wedding march by a nazi or a jew are heard at every formal wedding in the u.s….i wonder, if people have any idea? not that it matters or SHOULD matter. we must set racism aside, everywhere.
i learned that lesson – again- in hawaii, where all the ethnic groups not only live together in peace but inter-marry again and again until somebody has a dozen ancestors of different ethnicity…hawaii IS a microcosmos, literally in the middle of nowhere. so i guess the natural instinct takes over to love each other rather than to kill each other!?
well, we end the week on a winning note. we shall see what sandie can do next week, if she can “crack” the ToC list….
ironic though. wagner married eventually f liszt’s daughter, cosima, had 3 illegitimate children with her BEFORE they married, while cosima was still married to hans von buelow, a german conductor,pianist and composer. cosima was herself illegitimate: she was liszt’s daughter alright, but her mother – comtesse marie d’agoult- was never married to liszt.
I just wanted to say that last year I read “Liszt” by Derek Watson, and he said Liszt was appalled by his son-in-law’s antisemitism. You said Liszt had the same antisemitic convictions.
The sad fact is no one can know for sure; different books say different things.
I somehow think this FJ was in bad taste. Sometimes it’s just embarrassing to be a human being. As Mark Twain said, we can’t do worse. Give me a nice cat or dog any day of the week.