2. Culling the Herd
It started with a scrolling message at the bottom of the screen, at the end of the ABC nightly news in May 1992. All it said was “Jeopardy! auditions—Resorts Casino Hotel, Atlantic City—Call to register,” and a toll-free number. We weren’t really paying attention. “Did that say something about Jeopardy! try-outs?” Lynn asked.
That first night when the message scrolled past, Lynn jumped up and raced around the living room like a pinball, scrounging for pen and paper. We waited and waited for the message to scroll again, but it only scrolled that one time. The next night, the message scrolled again—just once, but we were ready. She called the number and got a busy signal each time she tried, but she eventually got through to a recorded message: “Thank you for calling. Please try again at 7:00 PM Eastern tomorrow.” I remember she used a string of hockey terms usually screamed at the referee or the opposing team. It took three nights of ever-increasing hockey terms to get through to a human, but she was finally able to register.
A week later, we drove over the bridge to Resorts Casino Hotel. (Merv Griffin
owned Jeopardy! and Resorts at that time.) It was Lynn’s first time in a casino. We
were directed to the Carousel Cabaret (Lynn’s first time in
a cabaret), where we sat at a long bar (Lynn’s first time
sitting at a bar) and took a ten-question test designed to
cull possible contestants from “the herd.” After a quick
“Oh, come on!” from Lynn, I took the test too, solidifying
my position within said herd. I remember none of the
questions, but Lynn remembered one. See if you know it
without peeking: “Name the Canadian province to the left
of Saskatchewan.Ӽ
The herd of hopefuls was directed to the casino floor; we were told that our name would be called if we passed the test. After 50 or so names, Lynn’s name was called—well, sort of. “Lynn Looper?” “It’s Loper,” she muttered. Apparently, there was another error too, because my name wasn’t called. We were led upstairs and down a very long, wide hallway. At a set of double doors, we were met by a Jeopardy! contestant coordinator who explained that only those whose names had been called could go into the conference room. I gave Lynn a kiss for luck and took twenty dollars and myself down to the casino floor. I figured I’d play for as long as I had money. I was back upstairs in less than five minutes, sitting on the floor outside the closed and locked conference room doors. Fifteen minutes after that, a large group of people came out—but not Lynn. Half an hour later, a smaller group came out, but still no Lynn.
Half an hour after that, the doors opened—and stayed open. A few came out, but I didn’t see Lynn. I thought, Oh no! She was let out while I was still in the casino and I missed her! She’s probably wandering around downstairs looking for me. I heard some voices coming from the conference room, so I anxiously looked in. To my instant relief, Lynn and a small group of people were gathered around the contestant coordinator. As I got closer, I heard the coordinator saying that they’d all be added to the contestant pool in Hollywood (my mind is screaming, She made it!!!), and their names would be drawn at random from a card file. “Even though you’ve all passed the audition, it’s not a guarantee that you’ll be called. If you don’t get a phone call within the next month or two, it means we had enough contestants to round out the season, and you’ll have to wait for another contestant search. So thank you all and good luck!”
Lynn was stunned. On the ride home, she told me about the audition: a fifty question written test (the number of clues in a game), a mock game, a second mock game, and finally, a “stand up in front of the room and talk to us about anything” ordeal. Lynn kept telling me, “I made it. I made it!” Then, with her typical “optimism,” she said, “They’ll never call. I don’t care. I just wanted to see if I could pass the test to get on.”
Two weeks later, Lynn got a call at work. “Lynn Loper? This is Kelly? (Lynn said she like, you know, totally ended every sentence with a question mark?) I’m calling from Hollywood? Can you come out and play Jeopardy! with us?”