Currently I'm a manufacturing planner in Corona, Cal by day (yawn) and by night and weekends the theater writer and reviewer for the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin in Ontario, Cal. I do interviews with local and nationally known theater people and reviews of shows in L.A., Orange, and San Bernardino counties. I live in Ontario with my wife and stepson. When available my wife and I write, direct, and perform in local theater productions.
Lord, no. I should've been thrown out after the first game. I screwed up my first charge blooper big time and my opponent had, what I thought was, an easy one at $500 but she missed it. I was at my best more as a blocker than a charger. Probably one of the biggest highs (outside of the big win) was coming back for the next day's taping as the returning champion. Also Tom calling it "The Howard Wilson Show".
I was never discouraged. Frustrated, perhaps. I was just enjoying the experience.
You were only with Tom when you were on. We didn't meet or see him before the taping began or during breaks. He was pleasant though I really didn't get any chance to really talk with him. I know he didn't like the fact that I was not the most talkative contestant and I don't know how he felt about those couple of moments when I unintentionally made him look a bit silly.
A giant feeling of relief for myself and I think everyone else involved. It was the last show of the taping day and they weren't going to tape again for another week or so. I wasn't sure how my work was going to take that. I'd had everything I wanted to have happen to me at that point and I was beginning to catch a cold, my voice was going hoarse and I knew everyone was getting tired of seeing me so I knew it was then or possibly never. I had to go all the way and my mind just got set to do it.
I became married in between the taping and the airing. Since I knew the show would air a week after my 5/26 nuptials I went ahead and wore my wedding ring and said that I was a one-week newlywed. After five shows when Tom mentioned again that I'd been married one week, I went ahead and corrected him with "Two weeks".
With that status everyone liked me until after the fifth episode I could feel the vibes that the audience was tired of looking at me and wanted fresh blood. The men waiting to go on were getting a bit upset because they were using all the girls against me during the first five games.
I only did one of the things I said I would do with the money. I went back to college but just for a short time. I had a wife and two step daughters to care for so there were a lot of expenses and sadly, the money was gone after a year. I do still have the fifty dollars in Sue Bee Honey coupons. I also got a huge supply of canker sore medicine, and a thermal coffee server and coffee among other items. And of course I have the videos and some great memories.
The song "I Lost on Jeopardy" by Weird Al Yankovic was never more appropriate as it was with me. At the time I had been unemployed after a layoff and my insurance was running out. It was between Jeopardy and Scrabble. Why I didn't go with Scrabble I question to this day. It was the first day of taping for the new shows. Merv Griffin was there overseeing production and those monitors were not exactly behaving themselves. My mother and dad were in the audience the whole day. My wife had to work.
It was around midnight when I was asked to go on. I could have said I would rather wait for the next taping since it was so late as a couple of others did but again for reasons I've never understood I said I would go on. The lights on the set seemed unusually bright and I was beginning a tension headache. My opponents were, I believe, a high school principal and an English teacher. How worse could it get?
Ah, but when the inevitable show business column comes up, I'll get them both. Alex did the usual "tell me about yourself" and I had an answer prepared. I didn't want to say I was unemployed so I said I was a house husband and that my wife brought home the bacon and I fried it. Then to my shock and surprise, Alex retorted, "So you're out of a job?" My jaw dropped and my father had to hold back my mother from jumping from the audience and onto Alex's throat. So right away my confidence was waning.
But there was still that show biz category. But what was it this time? Movies? Actors and Their Roles? No...it was SHAKESPEARE! My heart sank lower than my jaw. I fought valiantly knowing the Bard's wife's name as well as the names of the three Apollo astronauts who went to the moon. But I knew early on there wasn't much of a chance.
When it got to the final Jeopardy answer I still had some money (I don't recall how much) as did the others. But it was a case where the leader with the right bet couldn't lose. My headache had worsened as the lights seemed to get brighter. The final Jeopardy category was the Olympics. Oh, wonderful, sports. The answer came up. "Of the five continents represented by the Olympic Rings, this one has never hosted an Olympics." Of course, the right question was, "What is Africa?" But my mind wasn't connecting. Somehow the word "continent" was not filtering through properly.
Not having any idea I made a guess out of very, very thin air. Alex came to me first and read my question. Neil Simon himself could not have thought of a more absurd question. Alex read it aloud for all to hear: "What is Norway?" NORWAY?? Of course, Alex had to verify my sudden brain fade by announcing to myself and the world that Norway was not a continent.
For that moment, and for future moments in three time zones in syndication, I, Howard S. Wilson, would become the stupidest man in America. Around the country people with IQ's below 25 would be pointing their fingers at their TV's proclaiming, "Boy, is he stupid."
What would later bother me more than anything (and this is true, though admittedly ridiculous) was when I heard that Greta Garbo was an avid game show watcher. Somehow, picturing the Great Garbo watching me be stupid made me rather depressed. But not as depressed as I was after the show and my parents had gone home. My one chance to get some needed finances was blown and I felt humiliated and embarrassed.
I stood on the corner of Sunset and Gower at 1 in the a.m. holding my two extra suits over my shoulder that never got worn. The air was chilly through a slight drizzle. For the first and only time in my life the thought of ramming my car into the center divider of the Eastbound San Bernardino Freeway entered my mind. Of course, I did come to my senses but I hated having to explain the whole story to my wife who was very understanding and sympathetic about it all. To add insult to injury my consolation prize was an Encyclopedia Britannica.
Well, at least a few weeks later after the airing... I felt it would be quickly forgotten. Or so I thought. Fast forward about ten years. I'm in the green room of the local community theater for my annual Xmas show appearance when a young girl, a preteen, walked up to me and said, "I saw you on Jeopardy."
I thought how could that be? She's not old enough and I told her so. Her reply was, "My English teacher in school was on it with you. She shows it to all of her classes every year." So once a year my ears burn with the sounds of school children somewhere in Chino, California crying out, "Boy, is he stupid!" Sigh.
But fast forward again to last year on the Santa Monica Pier. My wife and I were there to review the Cirque du Soliel's opening night. In a bar and grill on the pier before the show my wife and I decided to have a quick sandwich. As I began to bite down on my grilled chicken I looked up and through the door walked ALEX TREBEK.
Memories came flashing back of Garbo knowing I was stupid and unemployed. Since he had some young teenaged girls with him (daughter and friends probably) I held back from committing the acts that shot through my now fertile mind. But in my dreams I imagined myself creeping up behind him and blurting out, "I'll take a@@holes for a thousand, Alex! The answer is: He's the tactless host of Jeopardy. The question is: Who is ALEX TREBEK?"
Call it sour grapes, call it what you will but since that drizzling evening in 1984 I have yet to watch a single episode of Jeopardy or anything hosted by Alex Trebek. To Alex's fans I'm sure he's probably a nice guy. He seemed to be at the grill in Santa Monica, anyway. But that was, and is, how I feel. Which is okay, after all it's a free continent, I mean, country.
Whew and Jeopardy logos courtesy of Michael Klauss. Special thanks also to Howard for allowing me this great opportunity to interview him and see his shows!
I am not the only one lucky enough to interview a Whew champion. Please read Randy Amasia's interview with Deb Howard