Actor David Walton (About a Boy) is a smart guy. He went to all the right schools – Dexter in Brookline, Massachusetts, St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire, and then graduated from Brown University in 2001. But on the TV game show Hollywood Game Night, he claims not to know the name of the boat in Melville’s Moby Dick.
When host Jane Lynch (Glee) asks the Ivy Leaguer if there’s a boat in the book named the Scurvy Skank or The Town-Ho, he chooses the former and loses the challenge. Fun fact about The Town-Ho. Melville explained “town-ho” as “the ancient whaling cry upon first sighting a whale from the mast-head.” Others say the source is the Nantucket Indian cry, “townor!” meaning “I have seen the whale twice.” It would be terrific if the cast of About a Boy would greet Walton with a hardy “townor!” next time they see him on the set. Hollywood Game Night airs Tuesdays at 10pm on NBC.
