Before I get to today’s quadruple-stumper, don’t forget, I’ll be interviewing 5-time champ and ToC finalist Stefan Goodreau soon. Leave a comment with your questions for him!
I was stumped and intrigued by this clue from Friday, December 23rd, in Stop That Racket!: “On stage, the noise of this from the audience prompted John Barrymore to throw them a fish and say, ‘Here, you walruses!'” A contestant guessed “booing,” and another one guessed “applause.” The correct response was “What is coughing?”
I didn’t know much about John Barrymore, but apparently he had a reputation. Mr. Trebek said when revealing the correct response that Barrymore had “a great sense of humor” as well as a “certain streak of meanness.” One of my books describes him (Barrymore, not Trebek) as “tempestuous.” Greg Mank, co-author of the book Hollywood’s Hellfire Club: The Misadventures of John Barrymore, W.C. Fields, Errol Flynn and the Bundy Drive Boys, tells me that Barrymore was “quite temperamental in his young years.”
Barrymore was born in 1882. He is Drew Barrymore’s grandfather. The Turner Classic Movies website says, in the 1920s, “Barrymore was the most celebrated Shakespearean actor in the world.” Curiously, he survived the 1906 San Francisco fire! Because of his good looks, he’s known as “The Great Profile” (something you might need to know if you’re preparing for Jeopardy!, as it’s come up before). Late in his career, he also appeared in a movie with that title. It played on his reputation as an alcoholic. He eventually had a hard time remembering his lines, for example. His career had taken a turn for the worse when Warner Brothers did not renew his contract, and he joined Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. He took a $25,000 pay cut, deepening his debt. Barrymore collapsed in a rehearsal and died days later, in 1942.
A profile of “The Great Profile”
