Online Additions

Full Listing of Vassar in Popular Culture

Sara Bensman ‘95 and David Ezer ’95 have compiled the following list of Vassar mentions in various media. If you know of any Vassar mentions missing from this list, please contact Ezer at ezer@peoplepc.com or call 212.787.9184.

Movies

  • Some Like It Hot
  • The Swimmer
  • Viva Las Vegas
  • Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead
  • Kingpin
  • Shining Through
  • The Muppets Take Manhattan (filmed on campus)
  • Moonraker
  • Dolores Claiborne
  • Take Me Out to the Ballgame
  • Uncommon Women and Others
  • Who’s That Girl?
  • Sabrina (1954)
  • April Fool’s Day
  • The Group
  • In the Bedroom
  • Police Academy (VC sweatshirt)
  • Thursday
  • Skidoo
  • A Day at the Races
  • Mafia!
  • Unmarried Woman
  • In the Bedroom
  • Down and Out in Beverly Hills
  • Robin and the Seven Hoods
  • The Road to Bali
  • Goodbye Charlie
  • Gentleman’s Agreement
  • Miss Congeniality
  • The Patriot (Seagal, not Gibson; visual)
  • Ride ‘em Cowboy
  • The Naked City (1948)
  • Brother Rat and a Baby
  • Curse of the Jade Scorpion
  • Girl, Interrupted
  • Ironweed
  • In-Laws
  • Trouble Along the Way
  • Flamingo Kid
  • Suits
  • Kate & Leopold
  • Girls Town
  • Cheaper by the Dozen
  • Bells on Their Toes

Television

  • The Simpsons The PTA Disbands Lisa Gets an "A" There’s No Disgrace Like Home
  • Friends The One Where Old Yeller Dies
  • The Monkees Monkees a la Mode
     
  • Law and Order Episode 225 SVU (12/14/01 ep) Many other episodes
     
  • Dharma and Greg Many episodes
     
  • St. Elsewhere Episode 55: Homecoming Episode 47: Two Balls and a Strike (maybe) Episode 61: Give the Boy a Hand (maybe) 
  • Saturday Night Live Steve Buscemi, host  
  • Party of Five Episode 140 (probably): Falling Forward  
  • NYPD Blue The Irvin Files Batman Episode 57/58: Marsha, Queen of Diamonds Marsha’s Scheme of Diamonds 
  • The Paper Chase (not sure on episode)
  • Beverly Hillbillies (Nancy Kulp’s character)  
  • The District Don’t Fence Me In
  • Ed Prom Night 
  • Designing Women A Class Act
  • Gilmore Girls Sadie, Sadie 
  • Leap of Faith Episode first aired 3/21/02

Music

  • Kurt Weill’s "The Saga of Jenny" from Lady in the Dark
  • Gian Carlo Menotti’s opera The Last Savage
  • Frank Loesser’s How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (not sure if it’s on a soundtrack album or only in a staged version; not in movie)
  • Peter Schickele (P.D.Q. Bach), Classical Rap

Print

  • Woody Allen: "The Whore of Mensa" (in Without Feathers)
  • Woody Allen: Mr. Big
  • Sara Fitzgerald: Rumors
  • Spencer Holst: Language of the Cats
  • Esther Freisner: Unicorn U.
  • Stephen King:
    • Dolores Claiborne
    • Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands
    • Needful Things (characters named after dorms)
    • Hearts in Atlantis
  • Elizabeth Atwood Taylor: Murder at Vassar
  • Lisa Alther: The Politics of Paradise
  • Michael Crichton: Disclosure
  • Bret Easton Ellis: American Psycho
  • Frank McCourt: Tis
  • Lizzie Champney: Three Vassar Girls Abroad
  • Rosario Ferre: The House on the Lagoon
  • Lawrence Block: Hit List
  • Julia Alveraz: The Secret Footprints
  • Donna Tarrt: The Secret History
  • Jon Katz: Death by Station Wagon, p. 145
  • Catherine Schine: The Evolution of Jane, p. 25
  • The New Yorker, cartoon, 9/16/85, p. 103
  • Real Simple magazine, August 2001 "What I learned from a marriage (Not My Own)"
  • James Michener: The Novel
  • City of Light
  • Jane Smiley: Moo
  • Amanda Cross: The Question of Max
  • Tom Wolfe: Bonfire of the Vanities
  • Betty Friedan: The Feminine Mystique
  • Bret Easton Ellis: Rules of Attraction
  • Brooks Hansen/Nick Davis: Boone
  • Robin Lippincott: Our Arcadia
  • Alexandra Robbins/Abby Wilner: Quarterlife Crisis: The Unique Challenge of Life in Your Twenties
  • Meg Cabot: The Princess Diaries
  • Shelby Hearon: Group Therapy

Plays

  • Wendy Wasserstein: "The Heidi Chronicles" and "Uncommon Women and others"
  • "The Substance of Fire" by Jon Robin Baitz with a character that teaches architecture at Vassa

Radio

  • Episode of "My Friend Irma" called "Wall Street magazine contest" (11-22-48)
  • A George Burns show, where Gracie says she went to Vassar

Others

  • Playstation game: Metal Gear