The season wrap party for Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune was held this year on the grounds of the Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills. The two shows frequently have their Christmas & wrap parties together, as they share the same executive producer (Harry Friedman) and much of the same crew. We call them “sister shows.”
Anyway, the party was outside on the grounds (the house was closed up), and we had a lovely day for it (May 16), in the late afternoon through early evening. Wheel just completed their 25th year. Jeopardy! does 25 next season.
The mansion was built by oil man Edward Doheny for his son Ned, finished in 1928. Doheny was the historical inspiration for the main character in the film There Will Be Blood – and in fact the bowling lane sequence was filmed at the mansion.
The 55 rom manor frequently gets used as a film location. And it is gorgeous.
I’d meant to take my digital camera with me, but fogot it. I ended up taking pictures with the camera in my cell phone — and they turned out reasonably well. As you can see in the following pictures.
The tables and buffet wee set up in the courtyard (seen in the second National Treasure film) and a drive area leading to it. Here you can see staffers standing by the beverage service.
From there you can check out the side garden & pool.
Greystone Manor garden pool
It’s really a lovely area. And the pool (with the fountain) has these turtles swimming around in it.
Turtles in the garden pool
I only caught two of the turtles in this picture, but there were several here.
Without doing anything other than turning around, you can go from looking at the pool to this view of the front terrace of the house.
Greystone Manor Front Terrace
You get a spectacular view of the LA basin from here. If you can see the detail in the following picture —
–straight ahead on the right side is the Beverly Center Mall (Keeping up with the movie references — seen in Volcano).
Here’s a picture of the front of the mansion —
Front of Greystone Manor
There are steps leading down from the terrace — and I caught two of the Jeopardy! writers on them.
Jeopardy! writers at Greystone Manor
I didn’t get pictures of everyone, and I’m not going to put up all the people pictures I took. But I will put up a few of them.
Alan Mills, Alex Trebek’s dresser
This stylish fellow is Alex Trebek’s dresser, Alan Mills. Left to his own devices, Alex can be very casual, so Alan earns his keep in that well-put-together look Alex is known for. Plus Alan’s a lot of fun to know.
And when Alex refers to the “crack research staff”, the following guys are part of the group he’s refering to.
Jeopardy’s crack research staff
Jeopardy’s crack research staff
They’re looking casual and relaxed here (but it was Friday at a party!), but don’t mess with them in Trivial Pursuit.
All in all, a very pleasant party and a satisfying wrap to the season.
[Note: None of my comments should be taken as official pronouncements on behalf of the show. This is just my explanation of a lovely evening with work friends.]
