1920s & '30s

Return to Gallery Directory

1920s & 1930s

The Great K&A Train Robbery
The earliest clip in the collection, this silent Tom Mix-starring western introduces one of the major tropes: a joke about a man going to Vassar while it was an all-women’s school. This adds an extra layer by implying that the character in question (the villain of the piece) is somewhat less than masculine.


Washington Merry-Go-Round
A 1932 political drama, a character mentions the Vassar daisy chain in complaining that his wife’s experience of Washington is a superficial one. This is one of the few to actually reference a specific college tradition. (See Dharma & Greg for the best of those.)


State's Attorney
This fun pre-code John Barrymore film finds him as a prosecutor with some shady connections. Here he shares a smoke and quip with his daughter.


Flirtation Walk
A 1934 Dick Powell/Ruby Keeler musical set at West Point, the cadets in this scene are getting ready to plan the 100th Night show, a tradition for cadets in their final year. Just a quick gender-separation joke.


Wise Girl
This scene sets this lively ’30s comedy in motion. Wealthy Miriam Hopkins discovers her niece and nephew have spurned their inheritance and run off to a bohemian lifestyle in Greenwich Village. As she’s promising her father to go and rescue them, he’s concerned she won’t be able to survive the Village. As is typical in these early days, Vassar is a punchline.


Cain and Mabel
A romantic comedy with Clark Gable and Marion Davies. The "Reilly" referenced here in the punchline about Vassar is a publicity agent who's cooking up a false romance between them, which has blossomed into reality.


A Day at the Races
This is one of the great entries in the collection, and certainly quite well-known. It’s a perfect evocation of one of the major trope of the collection: a joke about men attending Vassar.


Love Is News
And the above is immediately followed by another joke about men at Vassar. This is a light Tyrone Power romance/comedy, and our scene has a bunch of journalists playing drunk checkers.


Rosalie
The second entry from a musical, and a really fun one, with two whole song-and-dance scenes actually set at Vassar. An elephantine MGM musical, Rosalie (Eleanor Powell) is a princess from a fictional middle-European country in the U.S. to attend Vassar. She falls for Nelson Eddy, who comes to campus to win her love. As there’s a lengthy scene set at Vassar, I’ve included the whole thing, so this is very long—but it’s worth including, especially for the presentation of dorm life.



Continue to:
Page Two: 1940s
Page Three: 1950s
Page Four: 1960s
Page Five: 1970s
Page Six: 1980s
Page Seven: 1990s
Page Eight: 2000–2002
Page Nine: 2003–2005
Page Ten: 2006–2009
Page Eleven: 2010–2012
Page Twelve: 2013–2015
Page Thirteen: 2016–2019
Page Fourteen: 2020–2022
Page Fifteen: 2023–

Genre Index
Star Index
Literature, Plays, and Poems
Music and Radio Broadcasts
Alternative Media