1980s

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1980s

Happy Days
Another sitcom appearance, with an easy punchline about men attending Vassar.
Thanks to Lisa Bell ’89 for the tip.

Liar's Moon
Early Matt Dillon movie about a dirt-poor farm boy and a banker's daughter who fall in love in a small Texas town in 1949. When she gets pregnant, her future plans are brought into question.


Hart to Hart
This was a popular, extremely 80's show of a rich, married couple trotting around the globe solving mysteries. This episode's creepy villain has a bit of a fixation on Mrs. Hart.


I Was a Mail-Order Bride
A TV movie starring Valerie Bertinelli, gentle sexual hijinks, assorted obscured identities. Not too much to see here, just Vassar as character background.


She's a Good Skate, Charlie Brown
Did anybody know there were 50 (!) Peanuts specials? And one of the ones you've never heard of had a weirdly timed punchline about Vassar?


Ninja in the Claws of the CIA
A delightfully bad chopsocky film features a badly dubbed martial arts master training a badly dubbed new recruit for the CIA. Apparently Vassar had a master's program at some point.


The Facts of Life (4 episodes)
The sitcoms keep rolling in: here are four episodes from this 70s/80s show, set in Peekskill, in a private all-girls school. In two of these episodes, we hear about men at Vassar—these aired in 1983 and 1984, and men had been attending Vassar for more than a decade. It’s the first time we see men referenced as attending simply as a statement of fact, no joke.
Thanks to Angela David Beatty ’93 for the tip.

The Paper Chase
In this episode of the drama series set at a law school, Hart thinks his professor has probably plagiarized an article he submitted for the Law Review, but he has trouble proving it. Happily, a Vassar girl saves the day. Vassar as character point for a character we never even see, referencing intelligence and studiousness.


Dallas
One of the classic 80's primetime soaps, this fourth season episode has J.R. Ewing preparing for an interview and learning how to ingratiate himself with the reporter.


Remington Steele
A Vassar trustee is here the victim of harassment. Steele's partner, Laura Holt, is posing an alumna visiting her in order to gain access to the harassing calls.


The Big Black Pill
A low-budget TV movie co-written and starring Robert Blake as an L.A. private detective; in this early scene, he checks in with his office to learn about his next case.


Murder Me, Murder You
A TV movie featuring Stacey Keach as hard-boiled New York City cop Mickey Spillane. While investigating a missing girl—who turns out to be the daughter he never knew he had, who of course went to Vassar—he runs across a shady all-girl courier-service ring. In the end of this scene, the person he’s speaking to in this scene turns out to be the bad guy...and I do mean guy.
Thanks to Jim German for the tip.

St. Elsewhere (5 episodes)
I’ve put together a montage drawn from five different episodes in the 2nd and 3rd seasons. It’s a whole plot arc around Lizzie Westphall’s going to Vassar...and having a tough time of it. It’s a rather heartfelt and realistic look at freshman life from a well-regarded medical drama. There’s even a couple of nice Vassar-specific touches.


The Flamingo Kid
A Matt Dillon coming-of-age movie, we find him at dinner with his girlfriend’s family, who come from a vastly different social class than he does. Here Vassar is a class marker, a place where a wealthy and well-bred family might want their daughter to go.
Thanks to Soyon Im ’91 for the tip.

Roadhouse '66
Light comedy where Judge Reinhold is a buttoned-up business boy, learning to live a little when stranded for a bit with car trouble in Bowman, Arizona.
Thanks to Demetrios Papanikolas '87 for the tip.

Hunter
In the mid-'80's detective show our leads are interviewing a crime victim who's reminiscing about his day, amid his grief. 
Thanks to RJ Dorn '82 for the tip

Nasty Lady
A trailer for a porn movie. There's probably a lot to say about this, but...why bother. 
Thanks to Jason Evans '94 for finding this.

The Muppets Take Manhattan
Frank Oz found Vassar an idyllic enough setting to make this marvelous opening for the third Muppets film, soaring over the quad and landing in front of ACDC. Pay no attention to that sign!

Thanks to Jess Abelson ’00 for the tip.

Police Academy
This one really just has to be seen to be believed. The named costume designer was not a graduate. Why put the bad guy in a Vassar T-shirt? He certainly doesn’t seem like a graduate!
Thanks to Christopher Deutsch ’97, Leslie Kline-Capelle, Christine Beers, and Sylvia Koontz for the tip.

You Can’t Do That On Television
Each episode of this Canadian kids’ show had a collection of sketches organized around a common theme. On the episode about colleges, there were three jokes about Vassar.  This was from 1984 so men could certainly attend (and it never awarded doctorates) so the jokes don’t quite work, but it’s interesting to see Vassar on a show aimed at teenagers.
Thanks to Naomi Heftler ’95 for the tip.

The A-Team
The quintessential '80s action show brings our heroes to an unnamed North African country to protect the princess at her upcoming wedding. Guess who unexpectedly went to Vassar (hint: not Mr. T.)?

Lovejoy
When the description reads, “Lovejoy is a loveable rogue and an antiques dealer with an amazing talent for spotting hidden treasures“ do I even need to say it's a British series? Ian McShane's scene here, with his real-life wife, pretty much captures the show's vibe.


The Grafenberg Spot
Yet another pornographic movie—the scene here is non-sexual, and delightful in its stereotypically wooden acting.


Dynasty
In this scene from the classic ’80s soap, we learn a little about Fallon’s background...

Thanks to Jennifer Karlin Thornton ’87 for the tip to Dynasty, and to Slovenian fan Martin Zupan to identify the specific episode.

Down and Out in Beverly Hills
Vassar as a place where a wealthy and young woman of the world in the 1980s might want to go. It’s basically a throwaway line here, and really could’ve been almost any liberal arts college.
Thanks to Margot Tarasov Cartun ’80 for the tip

Dress Gray
A TV miniseries based on the novel of the same name. The novel is set at West Point, while the miniseries at the fictional U.S. Grant Military Academy, but in both, the female lead is a Vassar graduate -- the sister of a cadet who died in mysterious circumstances. Her former boyfriend, an upperclassman at the Academy, had the brother as his plebe, and suspicion falls on him. In two scenes, the boyfriend, played by a shirtless Alec Baldwin, first explores what happened with the medical officer and then in a flashback is harassing the brother in an attempt to "break him in." 


April Fool’s Day
A classic ’80s cheesy slasher film, as our heroes discover something disturbing and previously unknown about the host of their weekend retreat. Said host is wealthy and well-bred, so her Vassar status makes sense as a character point.

Thanks to Adam Cohen ’95 for the tip.

Rags to Riches
A TV movie later made into a series. It’s supposed to be the 1960s, but the whole production has a very ’80s vibe to it. Wealthy Joseph Bologna is caring for a group of orphans. Bologna’s girlfriend is not into the children and hopes to pack them off to a very exclusive boarding school. After the visit to the school, she peruses their brochure about the quality of their education and college placement record.


Black Widow
A cat-and-mouse detective movie, Debra Winger’s on the trail of a woman she believes seduces rich men, marries them, and kills them. Here she’s interviewing the secretary of the murderer’s current husband, and learning what they know about her. Vassar as character point for someone wanting to pose as well-bred and refined.
Thanks to Jim German for the tip.

Who’s That Girl?
Here’s a fun one from a Madonna vehicle, where she’s posing as Griffin Dunne’s wife for an interview with a stuffy, upper-crust panel. Dunne’s wife has been kidnapped and is being held hostage outside on the street. (Bringing Up Baby surely deserved a better remake, but this is what we have.) Vassar as character point for high-class and well-bred.
Thanks to Jess Abelson ’80 and Jeffrey Crouch ’87 for the tip.

Tanner ’88
Director Robert Altman did this 10-episode cynical satire of the Presidential primary process, going from New Hampshire to the convention in the run-up to the Bush-Dukakis election. This scene shows the boredom and blasé attitude of the press corps, and features Altman’s signature overlapping dialogue.
Thanks to Alan Licht ’90 for the tip.

Sledge Hammer
This is a very silly ’80s sitcom about a gun-happy, daft, fairly crazy cop (David Rasche, now well-known for playing Carl on Succession. An odd Vassar joke, putting the label on a male thug.


A Taste of Money
I’ve found Vassar in an awful lot of genres—silent, science fiction, anime, slasher, to name a few—but I never thought it’d show up in the world of hardcore porn. It’s a costume point only, which is even weirder; I’d give anything to know how that choice was made. These are two scenes here that had a sex scene between them which I eliminated—I mean, nobody’s wearing their Vassar clothes, so there’s not much point. Note, there is some sex happening in the background at one point of what I am showing here, but it’s not terribly distinct or energetic. And yes, Money is the name of the lead female character. Can’t have a porno without a terrible pun in the title.


Tricks of the Trade
An ’80s TV movie with sitcom stars Markie Post (of Night Court) and Cindy Williams (of Laverne & Shirley). Post is a prostitute whose john is Williams’s husband. He’s killed while visiting Post, putting Williams into her orbit as they together work to solve the crime. Williams is wealthy, uptight and unaccustomed to Post’s underworld. Here, Post has dressed her as a (curiously balletic) prostitute so she’ll better blend in when they ask questions. Vassar as character point for uptight and proper.
Thanks to Karen Roberts Turner for the tip.

Physical Evidence
Burt Reynolds turns in a second appearance (see Gator), playing, again, a sexist and obnoxious cop who makes sexist jokes about Vassar girls. Here, he's been accused of murder, which he probably didn't commit, and meets the attorney who will be defending him for the first time.


Another World
A throwaway line during some cocktail chitchat on a longrunning soap. Nothing much to see here. Apologies for quality -- I was only able to find a copy from someone whose VCR had some tracking problems.


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