Who's face is on the $100,000 bill: Ben Franklin, Woodrow Wilson or Howard Blumenthal?
If you're a millionaire, a trivia nut, or one of more than 3,000 people who gathered at the ZCMI Center on Saturday to watch the live version of the "Where in the World is Carmen SanDiego" game show, you'd know the answer is Woodrow Wilson. You'd also know who in the world is Howard Blumenthal. (Blumenthal is the producer of the geography game show for kids.)This question was the only stumper for the show's three contestants.
"I didn't know who Howard Blumenthal was," said Patrick Hoecherl. But the 12-year-old's knowledge of Ulan Bator, Lake Titicaca and Topeka helped him win the grand prize, a boom box from ZCMI and four airline tickets to any destination in the western United States.
Hoecherl, a seventh-grader at Clayton Middle School, competed against Brad Hunter, 11, who goes to Grant Elementary in Murray and Aimee McComb, 11, who goes to Crescent View Elementary in Sandy.
People from KUED-channel 7, which sponsored the event along with Delta Airlines and the ZCMI Center, selected the contestants from a pool of students who participated in the county and city library systems' reading marathon in November.
The students, who read at least six hours during the two-week period, were quizzed on geography over the phone. From this quiz, 11 finalists were selected. They auditioned at the station for the chance to participate on Saturday.
"We asked them questions we didn't know the answers to," said Mary Dickson, director of creative services for KUED. To test their stage presence, the kids were also asked to choreograph and perform a dance.
All 11 finalists participated in some form on the program. One came out between questions wearing a viking hat and lip syncing to opera. Such zany acts are what attract people to the show and its equally zany host, Greg Lee.
"I've been waiting for this for a long time," Todd Lehman said. The 9-year-old Salt Lake youth saw the show when it came to Utah for the first time last year. He said he liked this year's version better, mainly because he got better seats. Last year there were 5,000 people packed into the ZCMI Center.
This year fans started gathering as early as 8:30 a.m. People came from as far as Logan, Tremonton and Payson, according to Julia Hogan, the mall's director of marketing.
By the show's scheduled start at 1 p.m. parents and children filled the mall's courtyard, people stood along the stair cases and lined the bannisters on the second floor. Parents held children on their shoulders.
Some shoppers stopped to see what all the hullabaloo was about. A few minutes of Greg Lee's juggling a basketball, marshmallows and a stuffed bunny and they were hooked. At one point the entire mall joined him in singing the theme song for "Jeopardy."
Fans of the TV show said the live show was even better."It was good because they did more things and brought up more kids," said Matt Sneyd, 9, of Salt Lake City who watches the TV show every day.