OT: I'll take obscure Rutgers references for $1000, Alex...

[NorthernKnight]

And a not so obscure one…

Nobody Ever Died for Dear Old Rutgers https://www.bing.com/videos/search?view=detail&mid=5CDA32A496CDF95650625CDA32A496CDF9565062&q=Nobody died for dear old Rutgers &shtp=Sms&shid=cb8e19d9-7ab5-4c27-ac6c-c360e46244e6&shtk=Tm9ib2R5IEV2ZXIgRGllZCBmb3IgRGVhciBPbGQgUnV0Z2Vycw%3D%3D&shdk=UHJvdmlkZWQgdG8gWW91VHViZSBieSBTb255IE11c2ljIEVudGVydGFpbm1lbnQgTm9ib2R5IEV2ZXIgRGllZCBmb3IgRGVhciBPbGQgUnV0Z2VycyDCtyBQaGlsIFNpbHZlcnMgwrcgTWFyayBEYXdzb24gwrcgSnVsZSBTdHluZSDCtyBPcmlnaW5hbCBCcm9hZHdheSBDYXN0IG9mIEhpZ2ggQnV0dG9uIFNob2VzIENob3J1cyDCtyBPcmlnaW5hbCBCcm9hZHdheSBDYXN0IG9mIEhpZ2ggQnV0dG9uIFNob2VzIE9yY2hlc3RyYSDCtyBNaWx0IFJvc2Vuc3RvY2sgSGlnaCBCdXR0b24gU2hvZXMgKE9yaWdpbmFsIEJyb2Fkd2F5IENhc3QgUmVjb3JkaW5nKSDihJcgT3JpZ2luYWxseSByZWxlYXNlZCAxOTQ3IC4uLg%3D%3D&shhk=XH55L6Kkey3b%2FQa6QqMJjRJpiCAto%2ByrY8eqsgIbc3E%3D&form=VDSHOT&shth=OVP.rRm2iQBgggqdF03eMBOdMAFoFo

 

[e5fdny]

Or maybe Michael Douglass’ mother’s sister was a Brazilian beauty married to an heir to the Johnson Family and they were visiting for the weekend when she went into labor?

Well, it’s even deeper than that.

turns out that Michael Douglass’ Mother was from a wealthy Bermudian Family but her Mother was a descendant of Colonel Jimmy Neilson of New Brunswick and Rutgers Fame.

Brazilian...Bermudian.

Close enough. LOL

 

[NorthernKnight]

Brazilian...Bermudian.

Close enough. LOL

Lol…In my memory I was giving Seward credit for marrying a sultry bronzed starlett from Rio.

 

[e5fdny]

Lol…In my memory I was giving Seward credit for marrying a sultry bronzed starlett from Rio.

He had the wallet so...lol

 

[LotusAggressor]

In the Netflix movie High Flying Bird, there is an exchange between an agent and a basketball coach that mentions RU. The coach thought RU was an Ivy League school. The agent replied that Rutgers wasn't an Ivy League school. The coach said "It is to the people in this neighborhood ".

 

[hoquat63]

Pretty sure that was Rutgers-Camden, not that that doesn't count...

That is correct - Camden

 

[RU85inFla]

That is correct - Camden

He climbed out of the Hill center.

 

[knightfan7]

TV Show "Suburgatory"

Ryan "The Body" Shay can't decide from which school, Rutgers or Mid Florida Tech, he should accept a football scholarship.

"There’s only one day until Ryan “The Body” makes a decision about which school he’ll be signing to play football at. He has two options: Rutgers, with its close proximity and solid program, and Mid-Florida Tech, the place where he dreamed of going since he was a child. Ryan has always wanted to go there, buy an alligator, and teach it to speak so that it can go to games and cheer for him, but even with that (and three MFT cheerleaders making it rain in the hallway), he can’t make the decision on his own."

Suburgatory 2.20 “Go, Gamblers!” Recap - TVovermind

Ryan has a difficult time deciding where to go to college, while George and Dallas talk cohabitation on an all-new Suburgatory.

tvovermind.com

 

[hoquat63]

Scenes from movie Bell Jar were filmed at RU, but my favorite odd RU reference was in the comic strip Shoe.
One of the characters, the Professor was out of work, and was asked why he couldn’t find a job, didn’t he have a fancy degree? His response was yes I have a PhD in aeronautics from Rutgers, unfortunately I majored in blimps,

 

[robcac26]

Larry David's neighbor in the episode of "The Wire" in Curb Your Enthusiasm's first season was said to be a Rutgers graduate. Larry needed permission from the neighbor to bury an overhead wire but the neighbor was obsessed with Julia Louis-Dreyfus and insisted on Larry setting up a meeting with her before allowing permission.

The Director of the episode was Larry Charles who dropped out of Rutgers but later went on to be a writer on Seinfeld and direct a bunch of stuff including Borat.

Ah interesting connection. Before Borat hit theaters, there was a premiere at the Loews on Rt. 1 next to the bridge (now AMC), and they reached out to Rutgers students as the test audience. I got to see the movie for free well before anyone else did.

 

[bigmatt718]

At around the 0:56 mark, one of the crew below deck in Overboard was wearing a Rutgers shirt. Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn are STILL together 4 decades later. That's almost unheard of especially in Hollywood.

 

[snowboarder]

Not specifically Rutgers but close enough in spirit
In the musical 1776
John Adams volunteers to visit New Brunswick to check on Washington's troops who are rumored to be drinking to excess and spreading venereal disease
John Adams:
Wake up Franklin , you're going to New Brunswick
Ben Franklin
{half asleep} Like hell I am. What for?
Hopkins: (another congressman)
The whoring and the drinking
{Franklin gets up and marches right off behind Adams}

 

[RUNVA]

In the movie "The Substitute" they mentioned Rutgers University as part of his qualifications as a teacher.

 

[LotusAggressor]

If I remember correctly, there was a scene in the long ago CBS sitcom Hearts Afire where Wendy Joe Sperber's character boasts about having a BA in Political Science from Rutgers.

 

[wisr01]

Garden State (Movie):

Sam(Natalie Portman) : What?

Andrew Largeman(Zach Braff) : Uh, it's Titembay, right?

Sam : Yeah, it weird huh? You're like so freaked out right now. You're like running for the door. It's okay, you can go. Don't feel bad. It's really...

Andrew Largeman : [interrupts irritatingly] Stop doing that.

Sam : What?

Andrew Largeman : The whole thing you just did. I wanna be here. If I didn't I wouldn't be. Okay? Trust me, my family is way more ****ed up than yours. Okay?

Sam : Okay.

Andrew Largeman : So... Titembay.

Sam : Yeah, he's my brother.

Andrew Largeman : Is he adopted?

Sam : Kind of. My mom adopted him from Sally Struthers, like, years ago. You know, one of those "for the cost of a cup of coffee a day" sort of things. Where she's like, "how can you just sit there and not help the children?" And we couldn't. We couldn't just sit there and not help the children. So we started sending him pictures and letters and stuff for years, but then I got really into ice skating so we sort of forgot about him. Then one day we get this phone call and it's Titembay and he's at the dry cleaners around the corner. And he's like, "I'm at Rutgers, I live in the dorms, but I'm used to living with my tribe so I'd rather live with a family." He's been living with us ever since.

Andrew Largeman : Wow.

Sam : Yeah, I know. He's the most amazing guy. You gotta hear some of his stories. He struggled through so much because he wanted to learn. When I think of what he's accomplished I just feel lazy, you know? He's studying Criminal Justice at Rutgers and when he was a baby he was one of those kids with flies all over his face.

Andrew Largeman : Wow.

[chuckles]

Andrew Largeman : I mean, it's... it's a crazy story.

Sam : Yeah, I know. I mean that's a true story! I'm not that good.

 

[hoquat63]

There was also a Kurt Vonnegut book, Player Piano I think, that has college football players at Rutgers and other colleges being paid professional that played for years.

 

[Will Scarlet]

In Season 7, Episode 4 (“Fight Team Fight!”) of the 70s-80s television series Little House on the Prairie, there’s a specific mention of the early-days of Rutgers football where youth football serves as the backdrop for the episode. As summarized by IMBD, “Walnut Grove's obsessive new football coach pressures his players to win at any cost, locking horns with Laura [Ingalls Wilder] over homework assignments, ignoring dangerous injuries and alienating his family.” Toward the beginning of the episode, Nels Oleson (husband and father of mean girls Harriet & Nellie) introduces to the community a long ago departed, but recently returned, former Rutgers football “hero:"

“Now, I realize that we have to adjourn pretty soon so Laura can get on with her classes, but I would just like to take this opportunity to welcome back a native son. Pete Ellerbe, left these parts years ago to become one of the great heroes of college football. I can attest to that myself, because I was playing for Princeton when Pete . . . 'Big Rock,' they called him . . . .was making Rutgers a great power. I was only third string, so I rarely had to face him myself, but, oh, I can tell you, the team was pretty nervous any time they knew they had to face 'Big Rock.' Well, anyway, Pete, welcome home.”

Ironically, Rutgers was, most definitely, NOT a “great power” in football when compared to Princeton during the time in question, presumably the early-to-mid-1880s. After beating Princeton 6-4 in the first intercollegiate football game in 1869, our second consensus win under modern rules took us 69-years to achieve—at the dedication game for the original Rutgers Stadium in 1938, which was a 20-18 victory. I’m sure that Source could better address the history. But, this “great power” reference, once again, underscores that Rutgers has long been held in far greater esteem elsewhere in the country than in New Jersey, a state that has traditionally discounted its achievements with public education like no other.

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

Yeah, iirc, they filmed around the Quads on College Ave, back when I lived in Hegeman (only external shots from what I remember).

Hmmm.. I thought Bishop House was Garp's classroom.. both inside and out. There again. I've never been in Bishop House and it would be quite easy to have one exterior with a completely different interior... like in a studio in canada. Hell.. Full Metal Jacket.. a USMC boot camp and Vietnam war film.. was filmed in the UK...

 

[198hamilton]

I see they basically got rid of Bishop Beach. Total shame. On a day like today it would be packed with people on beach towels with shorts on blasting music and playing frisbee. It was always a scene

 

[RUFB1]

How about this, A 1943 movie call Since You Went Away about a mother and two daughters who's husband/father is fighting in the Pacific when a family friend Naval Lt (Joseph Cotten) is at their house and a discussion ensues and Joseph Cotton says something like "if it wasn't for the war I'd still be kicking field goals for dear ole Rutgers".

 

[RU848789]

Garden State (Movie):

Sam(Natalie Portman) : What?

Andrew Largeman(Zach Braff) : Uh, it's Titembay, right?

Sam : Yeah, it weird huh? You're like so freaked out right now. You're like running for the door. It's okay, you can go. Don't feel bad. It's really...

Andrew Largeman : [interrupts irritatingly] Stop doing that.

Sam : What?

Andrew Largeman : The whole thing you just did. I wanna be here. If I didn't I wouldn't be. Okay? Trust me, my family is way more ****ed up than yours. Okay?

Sam : Okay.

Andrew Largeman : So... Titembay.

Sam : Yeah, he's my brother.

Andrew Largeman : Is he adopted?

Sam : Kind of. My mom adopted him from Sally Struthers, like, years ago. You know, one of those "for the cost of a cup of coffee a day" sort of things. Where she's like, "how can you just sit there and not help the children?" And we couldn't. We couldn't just sit there and not help the children. So we started sending him pictures and letters and stuff for years, but then I got really into ice skating so we sort of forgot about him. Then one day we get this phone call and it's Titembay and he's at the dry cleaners around the corner. And he's like, "I'm at Rutgers, I live in the dorms, but I'm used to living with my tribe so I'd rather live with a family." He's been living with us ever since.

Andrew Largeman : Wow.

Sam : Yeah, I know. He's the most amazing guy. You gotta hear some of his stories. He struggled through so much because he wanted to learn. When I think of what he's accomplished I just feel lazy, you know? He's studying Criminal Justice at Rutgers and when he was a baby he was one of those kids with flies all over his face.

Andrew Largeman : Wow.

[chuckles]

Andrew Largeman : I mean, it's... it's a crazy story.

Sam : Yeah, I know. I mean that's a true story! I'm not that good.

One of my favorite films and probably my favorite movie soundtrack ever. And the Rutgers mentions don't hurt either. And of course, the Largeman character doing X and waking up the next morning with the word "Balls" written on his forehead in large black magic marker.

 

[RU848789]

I see they basically got rid of Bishop Beach. Total shame. On a day like today it would be packed with people on beach towels with shorts on blasting music and playing frisbee. It was always a scene

That was me sophomore year. My friend and I started doing freestyle frisbee tricks that year and we got pretty good at it, taking our "show" on the road to the beach at Belmar - good conversation starter, lol. My friend went on to some fame and fortune as a paparazzi noted for being ruthless in getting photos of famous people, especially in NYC - they did a documentary film called "Blast-em" in the early 90s in which he features prominently - he was always kind of an uber-aggressive kind of guy, so it wasn't surprising he did that.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0103830/

 

[RUScrew85]

Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley) on an episode of Scrubs:

I think he was also in a movie where he says something like "I don't have some fancy Harvard, Oxford, Princeton, Yale or Rutgers degree like you...". I can't remember the movie or the exact line, but I remember thinking someone must have a connection to Rutgers to be thrown into that list of schools :P

Was going to post this. IIRC it happened closely after the Pandemic in Piscataway. (or whatever we called it, Pandemonium?)

 

[198hamilton]

Numbers
What years did you play frisbee in Bishop Beach?
I think we're pretty close in age.

 

[RU848789]

Numbers
What years did you play frisbee in Bishop Beach?
I think we're pretty close in age.

Soph year was 81-82 and that's when I played the most since I lived in Hegeman. Also played some there in the summers of 82, 83, and 84, as I lived off-campus from there and it was a short walk to that area.

 

[RUNVA]

In the movie "The Subsitute" Tom Berenger plays an undercover cop or something and has someone fabricate his college credentials, he reads it and it says he went to Cornell, Yale and Rutgers ( I think those were the other 2 schools)

In the movie "The Substitute" they mentioned Rutgers University as part of his qualifications as a teacher.

I found that clip. Wanted to give you credit as well RURX1228. Great minds think a like. I starts around the 10 second mark.

 

[wisr01]

One of my favorite films and probably my favorite movie soundtrack ever. And the Rutgers mentions don't hurt either. And of course, the Largeman character doing X and waking up the next morning with the word "Balls" written on his forehead in large black magic marker.

I also love the soundtrack from Garden State. One of my favorite movies as well. Another movie I love along with its soundtrack is O Brother, Where Art Thou?

 

[Scarlet Jerry]

Hmmm.. I thought Bishop House was Garp's classroom.. both inside and out. There again. I've never been in Bishop House and it would be quite easy to have one exterior with a completely different interior... like in a studio in canada. Hell.. Full Metal Jacket.. a USMC boot camp and Vietnam war film.. was filmed in the UK...

Yes, Demarest Hall and Bishop House, inside and out, we’re featured in The World According to Garp. I was there the day they filmed the movie. I lived in Demarest for two years, and they filmed the movie in the summer.

Scarlet Jerry

 

[198hamilton]

Numbers my freshman year in Tinsley was 1982 so we must have crossed paths
Did you know that James Gandolfini lived in Tinsley around 1981?
Just found this out last year

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

Numbers my freshman year in Tinsley was 1982 so we must have crossed paths
Did you know that James Gandolfini lived in Tinsley around 1981?
Just found this out last year

I remember a story from Tinsley from 81 or 82.. forget which. A few guys had a "funnelator".. funnel and surgical tubing. They set it up securing it somehow to some window frame or some way to make it really strongly held. They fired a few things.. eggs, of course.. but also a water balloon that hit a window on the Robeson floor and shattered it. It was thought a possible racial attack because that floor was for black students... but it was just sheer idiocy... the kind of lunacy we saw with the paintball thing last year. Just idiocy. And the guys I knew who were somewhat involved were engineers.. of course. Don't recall that anyone had any penalities or were not found out.

 

[BigRnj]

I remember a story from Tinsley from 81 or 82.. forget which. A few guys had a "funnelator".. funnel and surgical tubing. They set it up securing it somehow to some window frame or some way to make it really strongly held. They fired a few things.. eggs, of course.. but also a water balloon that hit a window on the Robeson floor and shattered it. It was thought a possible racial attack because that floor was for black students... but it was just sheer idiocy... the kind of lunacy we saw with the paintball thing last year. Just idiocy. And the guys I knew who were somewhat involved were engineers.. of course. Don't recall that anyone had any penalities or were not found out.

Holy shiit, yes that happened, I saw it. It actually blew a hole in the plate glass window of the Tinsley 3rd floor lounge iirc. A couple of guys were next to Mettler and attached what looked like black elastic tire tubing to the metal posts (the ones usually connected with a locked chain to act as a gate to keep cars from driving into Bishop beach and the quad). They rigged the funnel holding a water balloon with two handles and 2 guys struggled to pull it way back. It launched the water balloon from Mettler to Tinsley’s third floor. It was a like a missile, it was crazy.

It didn’t seem like they expected what happened, and they certainly weren’t hiding it, but after it happened they got their assezs out of there. I was thinking that could have taken a person out 😳

 

[GoodOl'Rutgers]

Holy shiit, yes that happened, I saw it. It actually blew a hole in the plate glass window of the Tinsley 3rd floor lounge iirc. A couple of guys were next to Mettler and attached what looked like black elastic tire tubing to the metal posts (the ones usually connected with a locked chain to act as a gate to keep cars from driving into Bishop beach and the quad). They rigged the funnel holding a water balloon with two handles and 2 guys struggled to pull it way back. It launched the water balloon from Mettler to Tinsley’s third floor. It was a like a missile, it was crazy.

It didn’t seem like they expected what happened, and they certainly weren’t hiding it, but after it happened they got their assezs out of there. I was thinking that could have taken a person out 😳

an eye witness! thanks.. I finally got the story correct.. I always confused the names of those dorms with each other. The other part of the story I think I am recalling correctly was that someone was on the bench-seat under that window.. luckily uninjured.

 

[198hamilton]

The guy who made it was named Todd. He had a big mop of curly hair. Pretty funny guy

 

[Cookie81]

Ed Harris is from Teaneck NJ and his brother worked at Rutgers for many years.

 

[BigRnj]

an eye witness! thanks.. I finally got the story correct.. I always confused the names of those dorms with each other. The other part of the story I think I am recalling correctly was that someone was on the bench-seat under that window.. luckily uninjured.

That is a blast from the past. I still tell that story every so often with RU friends and with my kids because one night they were doing drive by water balloons. It was totally random, I was walking towards Mettler/college Ave and some guys were horsing around laughing with their sling shot contraption. So I stopped for minute to watch and than wham… the launch 😂

 

[Phi_1055]

Ed Harris is from Teaneck NJ and his brother worked at Rutgers for many years.

I just watched “The Cleaner” on Netflix. Set in the Trenton area. Ed Harris has a scene at a soccer game where he is wearing an R hat and Rutgers shirt.

 

[RUfromSoCal?]

Woody Allen climbed out of Hill Center

lol... that bad rumor still hasn't died?

For those unaware..no, it's the Mesa Labs in Colorado

Mesa Laboratory - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[S.W.A.I.N]

Just watched Red Oaks on Prime. Whole show centered on Jersey, in the second season kids taking SAT tutoring say “I just wanna get into Rutgers!”

 

[willisneverrana43]

I should have never doubted “Source”.

Michael’s Mother had a sister who was married to one of the Johnson Boys (JNJ) (Seward) and Kirk and his bride were staying at the Seward Johnson Estate in Highland Park while Kirk auditioned for acting jobs in NYC. So, first six weeks of his life Michael Douglass lived in Highland Park.

How Michael Douglas started from a life of privilege - and worked his way up

"King of California" trailer

www.nj.com

Michael Douglas comes home to New Jersey

Actor Michael Douglas recently treated his Facebook friends and fans to snapshots of his visit last week to Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton.

www.app.com

Michael Douglas was inducted into the NJ Hall of Fame because he was born here while his mom and Kirk Douglas were in NB visiting his mom’s sister, and that’s enough to be eligible for induction. Woody Johnson inducted him. Douglas said in his speech that his friends Danny Devito and Jack Nicholson can no longer hold their induction over him.

 

[willisneverrana43]

Also, all the law school scenes in Rounders were filmed at the old Rutgers Newark Law School building, both the interior and exterior scenes.