Final Jeopardy: Women Playwrights (7-24-20)

Today’s Final Jeopardy question (7/24/2020) in the category “Women Playwrights” was:

1 of 3 women who won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in the 1980s

Today we’re watching a rerun of the final match of 1993 10th Anniversary Tournament, that originally aired on 12/3/1993. The finalists were: Frank Spangenberg, a transit cop from Douglaston, NY; Tom Nosek, an engineer from Torrance, CA; and Leslie Frates, a Spanish teacher from Hayway, CA.

In the first half of the finals, Tom finished with $13,600. Frank had $600 and Leslie had $100.

Round 1 Categories: Science – Sports – Highways & Byways – 1500 – Annual Events – Starts With “Wh”

Leslie found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “1500” under the $400 clue on the 8th pick of the round. With $300, she was the only one with any money. She bet the $500 minimum and she was RIGHT.

This most famous morality play dates to around 1500. show

Frank finished in the lead with $2,900. Leslie was second with $2,100 and Tom was last with $1,600.

Round 2 Categories: UN Secretaries General – Fashion – Philosophy – Literary Characters – World Facts – Word Origins

Tom found the first Daily Double in “UN Secretaries General” under the $1,000 clue on the very first pick. The scores were the same as above. He bet $1,000 and he was RIGHT.

He headed Norway’s delegation to the 1945 UN conference in San Francisco before becoming secretary general. show

Leslie got the last Daily Double in “World Facts” under the $600 clue, with 3 clues left after it. In the lead with $10,300, she had $2,800 more than Frank in second place. She bet $2,700 and she was RIGHT.

The imposing ruins of Angkor Tom temple complex, built around 1200, are in this country. show

Leslie finished in the lead with $13,000. Frank was next with $8,100 and Tom was in third place with $4,000.

Only ONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.

WHO IS BETH HENLEY, MARSHA NORMAN or WENDY WASSERSTEIN?

Beth Henley won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1981 for her play “Crimes of the Heart.” Marsha Norman won in 1983 for “‘night, Mother” and Wendy Wasserstein won in 1989 for “The Heidi Chronicles”. See all the Pulitzer Drama winners here (including finalists).

Beth Henley wrote the screenplay for the 1986 film version of “Crimes of the Heart”, starring Diane Keaton, Jessica Lange and Sissy Spacek. Marsha Norman wrote the screenplay for the 1986 film version of “night, Mother” starring Sissy Spacek and Anne Bancroft. Wendy Wasserman wrote the teleplay for the 1995 TV movie “The Heidi Chronicles”, starring Jamie Lee Curtis.



Tom went with Lillian Hellman. He bet the whole $4,000 so he had nothing to add to the previous day’s score. $13,600 was his final score.

Frank got it right with Wendy Wasserstein. He bet it all and doubled today’s score to $16,200. Adding in his $600 upped his score to $16,800.

Wendy had trouble with her pen when writing Abramowitz, although she realized it was a character’s name. She lost her $8,601 bet, leaving her $4,399. She had $100 to add to finish with $4,499.

As Alex mentioned, Frank got a $25,000 bonus so he won the Tournament with $41,800. Tom exceeded his $10K guarantee so he won $13,600. Leslie won the $7,500 guarantee for third place.

Final Jeopardy (7/24/2020) Frank Spangenberg, Leslie Frates, Tom Nosek

A triple stumper from each round:

SPORTS ($400) In 1993, this Seattle center fielder tied a Major League record by hitting home runs in eight straight games

LITERARY CHARACTERS ($600) In “Go Tell It on the Mountain”, John Grimes represents this author of the novel

More clues on Page 2

2 years ago: NONE of the players got this FJ in “American History”

The last survivor of this battle that started a war died in 1854 & more men marched at his funeral than fought with him show

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.

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6 Responses

  1. Albert says:

    Does Alex have a different voice from 30 to 35 years ago? Alex sounds normal now, but 30 to 35 years ago Alex seemed to be speaking more quickly and in a mild carnival barker tone. Am I imagining things? This is not a joke, but a serious question.

    • VJ says:

      Albert, I don’t think you were imagining it. Esp in the first two games that were aired, he was reading the clues at a faster clip and saying “the answer is” before reading each clue. Maybe that was a way of reminding the players to answer in the form of a question, but it surely must have added a lot to the boards not being finished. Also, to me it seemed that he was reading almost all of them in what is now his Daily Double reveal voice!

  2. Lou says:

    Well glad Frank won this match and the tournament. But still though, this is a pretty challenging final jeopardy as I have never heard of these ladies before VJ. Although I really hope there are some dvd versions of the films listed here.

    • VJ says:

      It’s very likely that you did, Lou, as they’ve had a bunch of clues about Frank’s response, and you just don’t remember….

      Kinda like they had a clue about the Marciano brothers in the game we saw yesterday that Frank won in 1985, but he didn’t remember that in this game when Georges Marciano came up. So funny! I was watching it with my daughter. I got it right away and she looked at me so surprised. I said, “they just had a clue about that yesterday!”

      • Richard Corliss says:

        Steve Rogitz, Lionel Goldbart, Doug Molitor, Roy Holliday, Mark McDermott, Leslie Frates, & Robert Slaven were picked by regular contestants after winning their appearance, while Tom Nosek won the 1993 Tournament of Champions.