The Jeopardy! Experience
3. Getting There
In the second week of August 1992, my right hand began to hurt. I wasn’t a brilliant Jeopardy! contestant on my way to California, but despite that, I quickly figured out that Lynn had been tightly clutching my hand in fear for the past hour; and we hadn’t even gotten off the runway. It’s not like she’d never flown before. She flew to Europe on a high school trip, although she was unconscious both ways from the meds they’d given her to keep her calm. She took a short ride in my brother-in-law’s Cessna once, which she liked, but as I remember, it was a little single-engine prop plane, not a commercial jet. We were on U.S. Air to LAX. Lynn called them U.S. Scare. Maybe that had something to do with the pain in my hand.
We were cash-poor then. We’d just signed a sales agreement on our first house but were still waiting for the mortgage to be approved. Any money we spend would impact our chances of getting the mortgage. We had to be in Hollywood by Tuesday morning, August 11th, at 10:30 to begin filming (does that sound cool, or what!?!), but flying out on a Monday was too expensive, so we got a discounted rate by flying out on Saturday.
Lynn was very excited when we got to LAX
because, well—we got to LAX.
We rented an economy car (I drive a Chevy Chevette at home. This was a Mustang!) and, steering with my one good hand, headed to the Best Western Canoga Park Motor Inn way out north of LA in Topanga Canyon because the Beverly Hilton (also owned by Merv Griffin) where Jeopardy! suggested we stay in Hollywood? Not in these shoes! Jeopardy! doesn’t pay for anything for their contestants except parking at the studio and lunch for one. Keep that in mind when you see someone from the East Coast come in second on Jeopardy!. They had to pay their way out to Hollywood, pay for their accommodations, and, to receive the second-place prizes, pay the taxes on the cash value of the prize package before receiving it.
We followed the signs to the 405 north, then the 101 out of L.A., and finally up to our motel in like—oh-ma-gaud!—the Valley, I’m shur! Totally. Lynn kept seeing all these signs with place names that she (until now) had only read about: Inglewood, Fox Hills, Brentwood, The Getty, Bel Air, Sherman Oaks, Encino, Tarzana, Reseda.
I even have a note she jotted down of a sign we passed on the 101: “Litter removal next 2 miles. Bette Midler Adopt a Highway.” We checked in at the motel, treated ourselves to a nearby Sizzler for dinner, then waited in the tiny motel room for Tuesday. When I suggested we explore the sights tomorrow, Lynn said, “No. I’m here for Jeopardy!. I want to stay focused on that.” We fell asleep watching the weather channel.
Of course, by Sunday afternoon, we were stir-crazy and anxious about the drive into Hollywood during rush hour on Tuesday morning. Getting there on time was the most important thing now— after all, they had a card file. I bought a map, planned the route, and we took a test run to the studio in Monday morning traffic. Lynn felt better after that.
When we finally got to the studio on Tuesday, I was a nervous wreck—and I was just the driver! I wouldn’t be filming a TV show. Lynn was tense, anxious, and scared.
I parked the car, and we walked down Seward Avenue to Eleanor Avenue. I glanced behind us at the mountains. We don’t have mountains in Delaware. Delaware’s highest point is 448 feet above sea level. I stopped at what I saw and turned Lynn around so she could see, too. There was the Hollywood sign on a hill off in the distance. My hand began hurting again as her grip tightened. We turned down Eleanor Avenue, which wasn’t an avenue at all but a back alley behind the studio. We came to a gate and another sign. When Lynn saw that sign, her hand suddenly relaxed: “JEOPARDY CONTESTANT WATING AREA.” In that instant, Lynn told me much later, all the tension and nervousness melted away. She was now relaxed, confident, and ready to play Jeopardy!. Before I took a picture—she hated having her
picture taken—we hugged, and she said, “I’m really here. I’m really on Jeopardy!”
"The Green Room"