On Thursday, May 12, it is almost painfully bright in front of the State of Illinois Center at the kickoff ceremony for Illinois Tourism Week. Once in a while, a breeze starts a string of balloons or a flag swinging lazily.
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While they’re making their way toward the stage, Weiman introduces Greg, “Don Pardo,” who is in charge of playing the Jeopardy theme music that will fill the brief empty spaces in the program. He also introduces the “lovely Roberta”–he calls her “Vanna White”–who is wearing a long black dress, and the “lovely Jeannie,” who’s wearing a long red dress. They will keep score by flipping through large pads of numbers.
Greg announces the first-round prizes: tickets for two to Nunsense, tickets for two to the Omnimax film at the Museum of Science and Industry, two passes for a Wendella sight-seeing cruise, two tickets to the gospel festival, and a T-shirt. By the time he finishes, the contestants are onstage: two young women in suits, both wearing dark glasses. Terry is from Chicago; Leslie, from Oak Park.
Terry whips through the answers to a couple more questions: what river forms the western boundary of Illinois (the Mississippi) and did Lou Boudreau play basketball for the University of Illinois (he did). She’s building a lead over Leslie, who is slow to activate her green flashing light.
“Picasso! Yes, you got it.”
The next round begins about half an hour later. Weiman picks Robert, the tall man who had been blurting out answers. The little guy has taken his leather jacket off and is hopping around trying to get Weiman’s attention. Weiman ignores him. He picks a bearded black man in a suit as the second contestant. Kenny says he works for the state. Weiman wonders aloud if this makes him ineligible, but decides to let him stay.
Weiman looks out over the audience. “Now remember, audience, if you know the answers, don’t say them. We’re gonna give you a chance in a little while, because these guys gotta do it fair. I gotta tell you, this guy here knew all the answers from when we did it last time. He’s a sharp guy. He knew all the answers. We’re gonna see if he can do it again.”
