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Stupid Pat-tricks

Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 3:48 am
by Sage on the Hudson
TenPoundHammer wrote:Home Alone was surprisingly an 0-fer. Cathedrals also seemed pretty rough — what's so special about St. Patrick's Cathedral that I should instantly recognize it as NY?
It's the largest (and arguably most important) Roman Catholic cathedral in the U.S. It's on 5th Avenue, right across the street from Rockefeller Center and next to the Trump Tower. If you don't know St Patrick's, you probably don't know any other Catholic cathedral, either.

TenPoundHammer wrote:No guess on FJ! NHO Mary Pickford, honestly.
Trivia: The real name of Pickford, and the 1940's Warner Bros. contract actress Alexis Smith, was Gladys Smith.

Paucle wrote:Knew'em both but said Lucy as an homage to Star Trek. Truth be told, without her, Trek probably never happens.
Lucy was, indeed, the one who gave the final, and most critical, "green light" to Gene Roddenberry to film Star Trek's first pilot, The Cage. She didn't really "get" Star Trek's concept, but her gut said "yes." The rest is 23rd Century history.

More trivia: Laurence Luckinbill, who played Mr Spock's brother, Cybok, in what's probably the worst Star Trek film ever, the William Shatner-directed Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, owes -- indirectly -- his paycheck for the movie to his mother-in-law: Lucille Ball.

Leah wrote:
alamble wrote:Co-founded with her husband, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Interesting to note that unlike Oprah, neither of the women referenced were solo proprietors of their studios.
And Charlie Chaplin, and DW Griffith. Those were the artists who were united-- possible first invocation (by other studio heads) of lunatics running the asylum.

But how many men were owners running their own studios? Hal Roach is one; there's an argument to be made for Zukor in the early Paramount years; Selznick at Selznick International. Maybe others. But even though there were heads of production (Zanuck at Fox, Thalberg at MGM etc.) who were the last word on greenlighting productions (and subsequently tinkering with them), those weren't "their" studios in the sense of ownership. But Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz actually bought her old movie studio (RKO) and transformed it into Desilu.
For a studio to be considered to be "his" or "hers" (whoever the mogul in question might be), that person would have to have a controlling financial interest in the company. By that strict standard, Lucille Ball did have her own studio (Desilu, after ex-husband and partner Desi Arnaz sold her his share), but Pickford, no, since she was only one of four original partners (one of whom was her then-husband, Douglas Fairbanks); Sam Goldwyn later became UA's fifth partner. The controlling partner in David O. Selznick's studio (in several incarnations) was actually financier John Hay Whitney (whose sister, Joan Whitney Payson, would later found the New York Mets baseball team); Thalberg, and even Louis B. Mayer, were salaried employees answerable to Nicholas Schenck, chairman of parent company Loew's, Inc. (a publicly-traded company). They did hold equity stakes in the company but, as Mayer's 1951 ouster from the company he co-founded demonstrated, he, like Darryl Zanuck at Fox, served at the pleasure of others,

Re: Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 6:34 am
by Bamaman
alamble wrote: Co-founded with her husband, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Interesting to note that unlike Oprah, neither of the women referenced were solo proprietors of their studios.
I knew both of them, but was a little worried since both were co-owners, although I think Lucy got Desilu in the divorce.

Re: Stupid Pat-tricks

Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 9:28 am
by econgator
Sage on the Hudson wrote:More trivia: Laurence Luckinbill, who played Mr Spock's brother, Cybok, in what's probably the worst Star Trek film ever, the William Shatner-directed Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, owes -- indirectly -- his paycheck for the movie to his mother-in-law: Lucille Ball.
His performance in it, though, was rather good -- and it's Sybok. He's a Vulcan, not a cyborg.

Re: Stupid Pat-tricks

Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 9:37 am
by Vanya
Sage on the Hudson wrote:
TenPoundHammer wrote:Home Alone was surprisingly an 0-fer. Cathedrals also seemed pretty rough — what's so special about St. Patrick's Cathedral that I should instantly recognize it as NY?
It's the largest (and arguably most important) Roman Catholic cathedral in the U.S. It's on 5th Avenue, right across the street from Rockefeller Center and next to the Trump Tower. If you don't know St Patrick's, you probably don't know any other Catholic cathedral, either.
I'll wager that even TPH has heard of Notre Dame.

Re: Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 10:08 am
by alietr
NO SPOILERS IN THE THREAD!!!

Re: Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 10:18 am
by Paucle
alietr wrote:NO SPOILERS IN THE THREAD!!!
I assume you mean "of other than 6/5/2012" variety?

Re: Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 10:45 am
by alietr
Yes, exactly.

Re: Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 10:59 am
by legendneverdies
alietr wrote:Yes, exactly.
Ray Bradbury croaked today. Fahrenheit 451 is a favorite of the writers. We'll see if it or he gets a cameo on today's episode :)

Re: Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 11:12 am
by Bamaman
I thought Cathedrals was pretty easy. The Alamo? Old North Church?

Re: Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 1:11 pm
by CAPS LOCK
jeff6286 wrote:Someone at the Sony board has brought up that on the final clue of the game, the response of "litter" may have been just as acceptable as "sedan" for the following clue: VEHICULAR NAME FOR AN ENCLOSED PORTABLE CHAIR BORNE ON POLES & CARRIED BY 2 PEOPLE.

I was wondering if gloriaclemente or anyone else here who attended this week's tapings might have noticed if there was any discussion by the judges of the possible acceptability of this response during the pre-FJ commercial break. Fran answered "what is a litter" on the final $1600 clue and was ruled incorrect, so if that response had been accepted she would have had the lead going into FJ, which may very well have made her the winner. (assuming she had a better understanding of how to wager from the lead than she did from a tie for 2nd ;))
I was there - I don't recall there being a discussion around this answer. "Litter" was the word on the tip of my tongue as well, but Fran beat me to it. I also thought of "palanquin", but the vehicular name never occurred to me.

Re: Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 2:09 pm
by Volante
Bamaman wrote:I thought Cathedrals was pretty easy. The Alamo? Old North Church?
To be honest, when the first clue was revealed (St. Patrick's) I thought "Dublin...?" (But, you might say, it was Altared States, not Altared Cities!! Well, how much of the category is applicable and how much is tongue-in-cheek?)

And Wiki-ing it, looks like there's one in Melbourne, in the state of Victoria, Australia. Would've been a nice smart alec response...

Re: Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 2:22 pm
by gloriaclemente
CAPS LOCK wrote: I was there
So, CAPS, by process of elimination, are you Ed? If so, hi! from Kathy (who didn't get to play until Wednesday.) Do you know if anyone else from our tapings is on these boards?

Re: Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 2:59 pm
by TenPoundHammer
Sage on the Hudson wrote:
TenPoundHammer wrote:Home Alone was surprisingly an 0-fer. Cathedrals also seemed pretty rough — what's so special about St. Patrick's Cathedral that I should instantly recognize it as NY?
It's the largest (and arguably most important) Roman Catholic cathedral in the U.S.
You'd think if it were the largest, their Wikipedia article would say that. And that I'd be able to find something other than tourism websites to verify that.

Re: Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 3:09 pm
by CAPS LOCK
gloriaclemente wrote:
CAPS LOCK wrote: I was there
So, CAPS, by process of elimination, are you Ed? If so, hi! from Kathy (who didn't get to play until Wednesday.) Do you know if anyone else from our tapings is on these boards?
No, I meant that I was sitting up in the audience with you, thinking of answers but not saying them aloud. :) Hi Kathy! I haven't seen anyone else here - I myself usually just pop in to check on the discussion of strange questions, bad bets, etc. and don't post. My show airs on Friday and I'll be happy to give any insight or answer any questions about it.

Re: Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 3:22 pm
by gloriaclemente
Ooh, mysterious! I have a hunch but I will not spoil anything! I see that you registered for the board in February, nice restraint not to post until now. I, on the other hand, couldn't stop myself. It's been fun watching this week, though.

Re: Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 5:48 pm
by alamble
Leah wrote: But how many men were owners running their own studios? Hal Roach is one; there's an argument to be made for Zukor in the early Paramount years; Selznick at Selznick International. Maybe others. But even though there were heads of production (Zanuck at Fox, Thalberg at MGM etc.) who were the last word on greenlighting productions (and subsequently tinkering with them), those weren't "their" studios in the sense of ownership. But Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz actually bought her old movie studio (RKO) and transformed it into Desilu.
Actually, Lucy and Desi founded Desilu in 1950; they bought RKO seven years later. Additionally, the clue asked for the first two women to own (or co-own, as the case happens) studios, so MTM wouldn't even qualify anyway.

Re: Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 7:38 pm
by Magna
When I saw that perfusion pump, I thought they were showing us some other kind of medical pump (the kind mentioned in a couple of Austin Powers movies) and I thought "Surely they can't be showing us this."

Re: Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 11:35 am
by Sherm
Bamaman wrote:I thought Cathedrals was pretty easy. The Alamo? Old North Church?
I thought is was possibly the easiest category up there, but I only got 4/5 missing "New York". I pre-thought the clues would have to do with changing the spelling of a state to make a word. The clue just went against everything I was ready for and I completely froze on the first one.

Re: Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 11:37 am
by Sherm
Magna wrote:When I saw that perfusion pump, I thought they were showing us some other kind of medical pump (the kind mentioned in a couple of Austin Powers movies) and I thought "Surely they can't be showing us this."
Makes you wonder what Charles Lindbergh was really going after. :mrgreen:

Re: Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Game Recap & Discussion (SPOILERS)

Posted: Thu Jun 07, 2012 12:19 pm
by Rex Kramer
TenPoundHammer wrote:
Sage on the Hudson wrote:
TenPoundHammer wrote:Home Alone was surprisingly an 0-fer. Cathedrals also seemed pretty rough — what's so special about St. Patrick's Cathedral that I should instantly recognize it as NY?
It's the largest (and arguably most important) Roman Catholic cathedral in the U.S.
You'd think if it were the largest, their Wikipedia article would say that. . . . .
But if Wikipedia said that, then that would conflict with their "List of Largest list of largest church buildings in the world", which states that the largest Roman Catholic cathedral in the U.S. is the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception here in D.C.

(It's still possible for both this and SotH to be right, if SotH was using "cathedral" in the narrow sense of "building that is the seat of a bishop" -- which the Basilica is not. I don't know if St. Pat's is the largest under this stricter definition, but it could be.)

In any case, TPH, St. Patrick's is special because it is big and spectacular and directly across the street from Rockefeller Center and its "Atlas" statue.

Rex