How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

• 1967

The classic Frank Loesser musical from 1961 has a fairly funny Vassar joke…but it didn’t make it into the 1967 movie version. There was a revival on Broadway recently, so splicing in a bit of bootleg recording from the theater, the reference be presented here. In the scene, Robert Morse is hoodwinking his boss into thinking that he too went to the boss’s alma mater, known as Old Ivy. He also pretends to be an experienced knitter, knowing that the boss is passionate about it. In the stage version, after the leads finish their song and exit, two janitors hear the end of the tune and find the knitting. A gender-role joke ensues.

Thanks to Rachel Milligan ’96 for the tip.