Final Jeopardy: Children’s Books (9-11-19)
Today’s Final Jeopardy question (9/11/2019) in the category “Children’s Books” was:
The original title of this 1900 classic included a gem; another working title mentioned a Plains state
8x champ Jason Zuffranieri, a math teacher from Albuquerque, NM, has now won $192,100. In Game 9, his opponents are: Carolyn Oliver, a poet & writer from Worcester, MA; and Frank Augello, a biomedical engineer from Cedar Knolls, NJ.
Alex Trebek opened the game by thanking Jason for getting the season off to a great start. He said the last season belonged to Jeopardy James Holzhauer and wondered how many more games it will take before fans start referring to the current champ as Jeopardy Jason.
Round 1 Categories: A Prince of a Guy – 4-letter Words – Hobbies & Pastimes – Numeric Lit – Thank You – Next
Jason found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Numeric Lit” under the $600 clue on the 10th pick of the round. He was in the lead with $5,400. No one else had any money. He bet it all (triggering another Jeopardy James reference from Alex), and he was RIGHT.
The cover of the first edition of this 1961 military novel included a dancing figure & a little airplane. show
Jason finished in the lead with $16,800. Frank was second with $1,600 and Carolyn was last, at negative $1,000.
Round 2 Categories: It is Rocket Science – Hotels – Name-Letter People – Classical Dance – Proverbs & Expressions – That Place Used to Be Called…
Jason found the first Daily Double in “Classical Dance” under the $1,600 clue on the 14th pick. He was in the lead with $26,000 at this point, $23,600 more than Frank in second place. Alex made yet another Jeopardy James reference about finding the DDs. Referring to his bet, Jason said “this is not like James used to do.” He bet $3,000 and took a guess with petit-fours. That was WRONG.
Jean-Baptiste Lully pioneered music for this dance whose name, from the Latin for “small”, comes from its small, dainty steps. show
6 clues later, Jason found the last Daily Double in “That Place Used to be Called” under the $1,200 clue. In the lead with $27,000, he had $24,600 more than Frank in second place. He bet $6,000 this time and he was RIGHT.
St. Petersburg was once called Leningrad; similarly, Volgograd was once called by this name. show
Jason finished in the lead with a runaway $35,000. Carolyn was next with $4,600 and Frank was in third place with $2,400.
TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
On 10/9/1899, L. Frank Baum finished the manuscript for what we commonly know as “The Wizard of Oz” but what he called “The Emerald City.” He and W.W. Denslow, who did the artwork, made a deal with Hill Publishing Company whereby Baum and Denslow would split 12% of the royalties (or 9 cents each for each copy sold). Hill Publishing was not happy with the “Emerald City” title, however, so it was changed to “From Kansas to Fairyland.” That was changed to “The Land of Oz” and it finally published in April 1900 as “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.” More details are on this preview of “L. Frank Baum” by Dennis Abrams (2010).
From 1/23/2018: CHARACTERS’ FULL NAMES ($600) The full name of this Baum title guy is Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs
Frank got it right. He bet $2,395, bringing him up to $4,795.
Carolyn thought it was “Peter Pan.” She lost her $201 bet, finishing with $4,399.
Jason also got it right. He bet $6,143 and won the match with $41,143. His 9-day total is $233,243.
A triple stumper from each round:
THANK YOU ($1000) David Finkel’s acclaimed follow-up to “The Good Soldiers”, about those soldiers returning home, has this 5-word title
THAT PLACE USED TO BE CALLED… ($2000) Until 1855 this Western Hemisphere capital was known as Bytown
2 years ago: ALL of the players got this FJ in “Ancient History”
Battles at Trebbia & Trasimene were among the victories of this man who was born in Africa & died near the Black Sea. 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.
We may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases made from Amazon.com links at no cost to our visitors. Learn more: Affiliate Disclosure.
I meant to post this yesterday.
It’s so good to start a new season with a chipper and healthy-looking Mr. Trebek. He gives the show all he has and that’s considerable. I don’t think there would even be a Jeopardy! without Trebek.
I thought the FJ was amazingly easy (also today’s), but of course it fits my era. As far as Elvis Presley is concerned, he first appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show on Sept. 9, 1956, Sunday night on CBS ( the 1st of his 3 appearances on that program). Of course Ed Sullivan was not there, as he was still recovering from a horrendous automobile accident in early August. Presley was introduced by Charles Laughton that night. Before appearing on Sullivan, Presley had already appeared on the Dorsey Brothers’ Stage Show going back to Jan. 28, 1956 (of a total of 6 times). He also appeared previously a couple of times on the Milton Berle Show (once on the deck of an aircraft carrier in San Diego), and I believe even once on Steve Allen’s show in July. There were also some TV interviews, but I don’t know if these have been preserved.
I always liked Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. Their Stage Show was produced by Jackie Gleason and served as an intro to his “Honeymooners”. Everyone knew that the Stage Show just wasn’t their style, particularly Jimmy. They had come down in the world and not many wanted their music anymore, they didn’t want to introduce acts, they wanted to be the acts, and they had been quite wonderful in their day. Obviously Mr. Gleason liked them and wanted them to be remembered. Gleason did a lot of favors for many other people besides the Dorseys, it could fill a small volume. Today, how many people even remember “The Great One.”
Anyway, the Stage Show was over by September 1956, due to the falling ratings caused by Perry Como (a personal friend of Gleason’s, by the way) over on NBC. Tommy died in Nov. and Jimmy’s life was over by the following June. Sic transit gloria.
Oh, by the way, I meant to mention that I can see why they ix-nayed “The Land of Oz” title — sounds too much like The Land of Nod, where Cain was exiled to in the Bible.
“The Land of Nod” is also the title of a Robert Louis Stevenson poem, although that is about sleeping and dreaming
Another big win for Jason. It won’t be long now before we call him Jason the streaker. I’m still happy that two contestants got this right although I just wish we had a triple solve.
Do you or your kids have a favorite scene in from the Wizard of Oz, VJ?
@Lou, I particularly like the scene where Dorothy, the Tin Man and the Scarecrow meet the Cowardly Lion. “Put ’em up! Put ’em up!” LOL! The Lion is my favorite.
LINK: 10 more clues from the game
VJ, what an awesome clip you posted for the George V Hotel, such a great surprise!!! However do you do it?
Merci beaucoup!
ha ha, Rhonda, Surprise! I knew you would love that!!
That was such a great surprise, thanks again, VJ! You’re such a sweetie!
Congrats to Jason, a 9 day champion with $233,243. He is coming back to play again tomorrow.
Jason has blazing speed, just like Blaze and the Monster Machines.