Meryl Streep
—Film, television, and stage star who is considered one of the most talented and respected actresses of her generation. She starred in such films as
Sophie’s Choice
and
Kramer vs. Kramer
.
Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland
—Duo who starred together in a string of MGM films, including the Andy Hardy series.
Mother Courage and Her Children
—Musical adaptation of the play of the same name by Bertolt Brecht, staged by the Public Theater of New York during the 2006 Summer Stage series in Central Park.
Motion Picture Production Code of 1930
—Film content guidelines adopted in 1930 and replaced in 1967 by the MPAA rating system. Also known as the Hays Code. The guidelines designated what was morally acceptable in a film in an attempt to save American filmgoers from seeing smut on screen.
Jenny:
Thank God it’s working.
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
—1936 film directed by Frank Capra and starring Gary Cooper. After a working-class man inherits 20 million dollars, he struggles to avoid the scheming of others.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
—1939 film directed by Frank Capra and starring Jimmy Stewart. Sent to Washington as a Senate replacement, everyman Jefferson Smith lobbies for a bill to establish a boys’ camp. The film won eleven Academy Awards.
Murphy Brown
—1988-1998 CBS comedy starring Candice Bergen as a news anchor and journalist. The liberal show tackled such topics as alcoholism and single motherhood.
My Three Sons
—Television comedy that ran from 1960 to 1972, first on ABC and then on CBS. The storylines revolved around a single father trying to raise his three sons.
Nancy Reagan
—Wife of former president Ronald Reagan and First Lady from 1980-1989, a fashion icon and advocate of the “Just Say No” anti-drug campaign.
Jenny:
She has the best inauguration gown in the Smithsonian collection, too.
Newt Gingrich
—Conservative Republican who was the speaker of the House of Representatives from 1995 to 1999 and served a total of ten terms in Congress.
Jenny:
He also served his first wife divorce papers while she was in the hospital with uterine cancer. What a guy.
Noël Coward
—English actor, composer, and playwright who penned both controversial and mainstream plays that attracted large audiences. He was knighted in 1970.
Northern Exposure
—1990-1995 CBS series revolving around a young doctor forced to move to quirky small-town Cicely, Alaska, to pay off his student loans.
Nutmeg State
—State nickname for Connecticut.
The O.C.
—Fox teen-soap hit that premiered in 2003 and followed the lives of outsider Ryan, who was taken in by a family in the O.C., and the other privileged teenagers he met. The show often featured little-known musicians and jumpstarted the careers of featured singers and bands.
Old Faithful
—World’s most famous geyser. It is located in Yellow-stone Park and is characterized by extremely reliable eruptions.
Old North Church
—Historic site in Boston built in 1723. It’s the church where the “one if by land, two if by sea” lanterns that were a part of Paul Revere’s midnight ride were to be hung.
Ozzie and Harriet
—Bandleader and his wife who starred in ten-year hit radio show
Ozzie and Harriet
that later became a television series of the same name. The show ran from 1952 to 1966 on ABC and chronicled Ozzie and Harriet’s efforts to raise their two sons.
The Patty Duke Show
—ABC sitcom about a girl and her identical cousin that ran from 1963 to 1966. The show was created as a star vehicle for Patty Duke.
Paul Revere’s house
—Tourist attraction located in Boston, Massachusetts. The house was built around 1680 and owned by Revere from 1770 to 1800.
Peyton Place
—Steamy, soapy 1957 movie depicting corrupt small-town New England life. The film was based on Grace Metalious’s bestselling novel of the same name.
Picket Fences
—CBS drama that ran from 1992 to 1996 about the lives of the townspeople of Rome, Wisconsin. The show used bizarre events (such as cows birthing human babies and a murder spree) to deal with politics and ethics.
Playing the Donna Martin to Rory’s Kelly Taylor
—Reference to popular
Beverly Hills, 90210
characters. Donna Martin was a dedicated virgin with few love interests, while her best friend Kelly Taylor was popular with the boys and prone to bed-hopping.
Jenny:
Some things in life are just inexplicable.
Plymouth Rock
—Rock where the Pilgrims first disembarked from the Mayflower in 1620.
The prodigal daughter
—Reference to Jesus’ parable “The Prodigal Son,” in which a son squanders his wealth and then returns home to his father, where he is welcomed with open arms and a fatted calf.
Put them all together . . . and they spell “Father”
—Reference to the 1915 Howard Johnson song “M-O-T-H-E-R (A Word That Means the World to Me).”
Roe v. Wade
—Controversial landmark 1973 Supreme Court case that ruled that prohibiting abortion violates personal privacy under the Constitution.
“Rumstud”
—Media nickname given to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld after Fox News described him as a “babe magnet for the seventy-year-old set.”
Jenny:
To which the seventy-year-old set replied, “I wouldn’t do him with your walker.”
Sabrina
—1954 film featuring a love triangle between Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, and William Holden.
Shirley Booth
—Film, radio, and television actress who gained acclaim in such films as
Come Back, Little Sheba
and
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
but is now primarily remembered for her role as a wise-cracking maid in the 1960s television sitcom
Hazel
.
Saturday Evening Post
—Weekly magazine published from 1821 to 1969. The publication ran cartoons and articles, but was best known for its fiction.
Saturday Evening Post
covers of Norman Rockwell
—321 covers created by the twentieth-century American artist famous for his idealistic portraits of small-town American life.
Sex and the City
—HBO comedy which ran from 1998 to 2004, featuring four friends struggling with love, life, and fashion in Manhattan.
Shakespeare in Central Park
—Open-air theater production since 1962, often starring well-known actors.
Smurfy Smurf
—Reference to the cartoon show about cheery little blue creatures that live in the forests of Europe, and their often-used adjective, “smurfy.”
State House
—Boston building built in 1713, the seat of the first elected legislature in America.
Strasbergian Method Acting
—Method credited to American acting teacher Lee Strasberg and favored by film stars such as Al Pacino and Robert De Niro.
Steven Seagal
—1990s action star best known for his film
Under Siege.
Sturbridge Village
—Large outdoor living history museum that recreates a New England town in the 1830s. It features a country store, a cider mill, a parsonage, and several other businesses and homes.
Sullivan’s Travels
—Satiric 1941 film written and directed by Preston Sturges and starring Joel McCrea and Veronica Lake about a hotshot young director who sets out to learn about the lives of the poor.
Tab Hunter
—1950s and ’60s movie star who became a teen idol and ladies’ man, and then penned a bestselling autobiography about life as a homosexual in Hollywood.
Taxi Driver
—Controversial 1976 Martin Scorsese film starring Robert De Niro as a lonely, deranged taxi driver who practices drawing his gun while shouting “You talking to me?” in a full-length mirror.
Jenny:
If he’d been sane, he’d have been practicing his Oscar acceptance speech like the rest of us.
Thelma and Louise
—Characters from 1991 movie
Thelma & Louise
, about two women who go on the run after shooting an attempted rapist.
There’s Something About Mary
—Wildly successful farce starring Ben Stiller and Cameron Diaz.
Thomas Kinkade
—Twentieth-century artist often called the “the Painter of Light” who is best known for his mass-production and commercialization of his own work.
Jenny:
He makes Hummels look edgy.
Thurston Howell III (
Gilligan’s Island
)—Character on
Gilligan’s Island
notable for his wealth and social elitism.
Timothy
—Companion to the Apostle Paul who had a deep knowledge of scripture. Two books in the New Testament are named after him.
Jenny:
And he never let any of the other apostles forget it, either.
Tony the Tiger witness-protection-program style
—Reference to the series of television commercials for Frosted Flakes that featured Tony the Tiger seen in “silhouette” to protect his identity.
Trumps
—Reference to New York City real estate tycoon Donald Trump and his various wives and offspring.
Veronica Lake
—Blonde sex symbol with a peek-a-boo bang who became iconic in the 1940s for her glamour. She starred in such movies as
Sullivan’s Travels
,
I Wanted Wings
, and
I Married a Witch
.
Vidal Sassoon
—World-famous hairdresser who developed a popular line of hair care products.
Vivian Vance
—Actress best known as Lucy’s sidekick Ethel Mertz on the 1950s sitcom
I Love Lucy
.
Wagyu beef burgers
—Reference to Chef Daniel Boloud’s expensive Kobe beef burger at the New York City restaurant DB Bistro Moderne.
The Wall Street Journal
—International daily newspaper that focuses on business and financial news. It was founded in 1889, and has won twenty-nine Pulitzer prizes.
Ward and June Cleaver
—Cheery parents of Wally and Beaver on the idyllic 1950s sitcom
Leave It to Beaver
.
Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski
—German film director and actor whose professional relationship was notoriously volatile and sometimes violent.
Wicked Witch of the West
—Character from the beloved children’s book and movie
The Wizard of Oz
. The term is usually a reference to someone evil.
Jenny:
But she had great shoes.
William Holden
—Hollywood actor who starred in
Stalag 17
and
Sunset Boulevard
. J. D. Salinger saw his name on a marquee and used it for his protagonist in
Catcher in the Rye
.