Didja Notice?

As the episode opens, Indy arrives on train engine 524-1110 in Le Havre, France as he heads home. This same engine was seen in several previous episodes. The Le Havre station is actually Horsted-Keynes station in Sussex, England. The station was shut down in 1963, but has been preserved as an historic site and has been used in a number of film and television productions.

At 48:40 on the DVD, the sign at the Le Havre station reads "LE HAVRE, Passagers pour Embarquer." This is French for "LE HAVRE, Passenger Embarkation." Seconds later, signs reading "MAINE DÉPART" and "BUREAU DES BILLETS" are seen. These are French for "MAIN DEPARTURE" and "TICKET OFFICE".

When Indy sits down at the dinner table aboard ship with Mrs. Wharton and her daughter, Mrs. Wharton immediately greets him as "Mr. Jones" even though he did not introduce himself by name in their earlier encounter at port. Perhaps they bumped into each again on the ship prior to dinner.

Mrs. Wharton tells Indy that her husband is Thomas Wharton, First Secretary at the American embassy in Paris. As far as I can tell, Thomas Wharton is a fictitious diplomat of the time.

Indy tells the Whartons his father is a professor of medieval studies at Princeton University.

At 52:13 on the DVD, Indy and Amy are playing the sport of badminton. At 54:16, they are seen playing a game of shuffleboard.

Indy tells Amy he wants to go to the University of Chicago to study archaeology instead of studying at Princeton. Amy tells him she's planning to go to Vassar to study medicine and become a doctor.

At 54:36 on the DVD, the steamer ship shot is flipped. Flipping it back the right way, the name on the bow appears to be Claridon. This appears to be a fictitious ship name.

At 54:36 on the DVD, a tugboat in New York Harbor is seen to be the Grace A. Barrett. This was an actual tugboat used in the harbor from 1919. The shot seen here appears to be archival footage.

    At 57:53 on the DVD, luggage is being unloaded from the Claridon at Pier 12 of New York Harbor by O'flannery Stevedore. This appears to be a fictitious stevedore company. Here, Indy assists the Whartons into a cab from Twentieth Century Taxicab Association. This was an actual taxi company at the time. The cab appears to be a 1924 Ford Model T Tudor with license plate 036-925.

    Before the cab leaves, Amy tells Indy to meet her at the Central Park bandstand next Sunday.

The shot at 59:20 on the DVD is flipped, featuring Great Western steam engine #51, according to the Young Indy Filming Locations website. Indy gets off the train at Princeton Junction Station.

The taxi Indy arrives at his home in at 58:32 on the DVD is a Ford Model T Depot Hack. Indy's house was filmed at 117 South 4th Street, Wilmington, NC.

At 59:10 on the DVD, Princeton Hardware and a billboard reading "Sure to Please, B-K Accessories" are seen. As far as I can tell, Princeton Hardware and B-K Accessories are both fictitious businesses. The Princeton Hardware building is actually the Roudabush Cafe at 33 South Front Street in Wilmington, NC. This same building will appear in "Mystery of the Blues" as O'Bannion's Flower Shop. The vehicle parked behind the street light pole looks like it is probably the same Ford Model T Depot Hack from the previous scene.

At 59:10 on the DVD, Indy walks by Harper's Pharmacy, where he worked as a soda jerk three years earlier in "Race to Danger". An advertising sign for Sonny Sugar Cones is seen in the window; this was an actual brand of sugar cones at the time.

As Indy walks back to his house after his interlude through town, he bumps into his old high school girlfriend Nancy, pushing her baby son, Butch, Jr. along in a baby carriage. She tells him she married Indy's old high school nemesis Butch and he asks how her father is doing. All of these characters were previously seen in "Race to Danger". This scene was shot right across the street from the house that stands in for Indy's home!

Indy has a number of interesting items cluttering his bedroom, many of which appear to be related to foreign cultures and his travels growing up, though most are not readily identifiable. At 1:02:29 on the DVD, a stereoscope is seen on his desk. At 1:02:35, the Bible given to him by Leo Tolstoy in "Swore and Peace" is sitting next to the framed photo of his mother. A photo of Teddy Roosevelt's hunting party from "Safari Sleuth" is seen sitting on the table as well.

Engine 524-1110 is seen again at 1:03:10 on the DVD. This time it is supposed to be the train to New York! Here, Indy meets up with Amy.

The scene with the band playing in Central Park at 1:03:39 on the DVD was shot at Airlie Gardens in Wilmington.

Indy gets a summer job assisting physics professor Robert Goddard from Clark University who is spending the summer at the Princeton campus. Robert H. Goddard (1882-1945) was an American physicist and professor who invented and built the first liquid fuel rocket.

Mrs. Wharton, trying to tell Amy not to see Indy anymore, tells her that one of the Rockefeller boys called on her again that day. The Rockefeller family was a prominent business family in America and among the wealthiest in the world at the time. Ironically, Indy remarked in Curse of the Ruby Cross that the Rockefeller patriarch, John D. Rockefeller, as a collector occasionally had his father advise him on art and relics of the Middle Ages.

The buildings of Princeton University seen in this episode are generally those of Duke University in Wilmington, NC.

At the university, Indy is reunited with his childhood friend Paul Robeson. Robeson (1898-1976) was an American professional football player, singer, actor, and social and political activist. He actually did grow up in Princeton. He was briefly seen (maybe) as a little boy in "My First Adventure" and in "Travels With Father".

When Indy says to Robeson they'll get together for something to eat next week, Robeson skeptically remarks, "Oh, you know a place in Princeton where a white boy and a black boy can grab a beer and get something to eat?" and Indy responds, "Trust me." Indy uses this phrase a number of times in his recorded adventures, notably in Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade.

Indy tells his father that Robeson just made All-American at Rutgers College (now Rutgers University). "All-American" is a designation granted to amateur athletes who are considered among the best in their sport (generally within collegiate sports). Robeson actually attended Rutgers for four years before enrolling in Columbia Law School.

Indy's father tells him he's already spoken to Dean Daly in the Admissions department of Princeton. As far as I can tell, Dean Daly is a fictitious dean of the university for the time.

Indy tells Goddard he flew in the war. This was during his time as an aerial photographer in "Attack of the Hawkmen".

Indy and Professor Goddard bond over their mutual love for Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. Verne and Wells were each well-known writers of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries known particularly for their now classic science-fiction novels. Indy remarks on having read From the Earth to the Moon by Verne; he also mused on this book in The Bermuda Triangle. The mentioned books The Time Machine and War of the Worlds here are by Wells.

The pocket watch Professor Jones looks at 1:11:14 on the DVD is a Doxa.

Indy remarks to his father about hearing President Wilson speak in Paris. This was during the negotiations for the Treaty of Versailles at the end of WWI, at which Indy acted as a translator for the U.S. delegation in the previous episode, "The Gentle Arts of Diplomacy".

During his argument with his son about Wilson's League of Nations, Professor Jones rattles off the names of several historical cities and personages: Athens, Sparta, Alexander, Rome, David Lloyd George, and Georges Clemenceau. Lloyd George and Clemenceau were the Prime Minister and Premier of Great Britain and France, respectively, and were seen in "The Gentle Arts of Diplomacy".

At 1:18:47 on the DVD, the hot dog cart has a jar labeled Tom's Roasted Peanuts. This was a real world brand, though it was not founded until 1925. The company is now known as Tom's Snacks Co.

At 1:19:34 on the DVD, Indy is finishing up an amusing story he's telling to Robeson and Amy which ends with him saying, "My father had me washing windows for a month."

After Indy apologizes to his father for being out of line with him the other night, the two briefly reminisce on the time they spent in Athens, which Indy says is the only time he really felt like they were father and son. This trip was chronicled in "Travels With Father".

During the apology scene, it is obvious a chunk has been cut out, as Indy's father still had his half-full dinner plate on the table in front of him, but when he walks away at the end, he has a tea cup and saucer.

Goddard's successful liquid fuel rocket test launch here is fictitious. The first successful test flight did not take place until March of 1926.

Robeson is seen giving his Rutgers speech as valedictorian here. Historically, this was on June 10, 1919, and there is no reason to suppose that is not the date depicted here. The speech he gives in this episode does not match his exact words in reality, though the themes are the same.

Indy and Amy say goodbye to Robeson in front of the Lilly Library at Duke University.

The train Amy boards to head home to New York is engine 250 at the Wilmington Railroad Museum.

At the end of the episode, Indy finally tells his father he's going to the University of Chicago to study instead of Princeton, because Chicago has a better archaeology program. I have been unable to confirm whether Chicago was considered to have the better program at the time or not.

Indy reminds his father that he'd said he could decide for himself where to go to school in a letter. Indy received this letter when he was in the war in "The Mata Hari Affair".

Unanswered Questions

Indy left high school during his junior year in 1916 to spend some time riding with Pancho Villa in the Mexican Revolution, then travelling to Europe to enter the Belgian Army to fight in the war. He returns home in May 1919 with no indication that he has completed his junior and senior high school years before heading off to attend classes at the University of Chicago. The GED (General Educational Development) tests to demonstrate high school level proficiency did not exist until 1942. So, how was Indy able to be accepted to university?

Memorable Dialog

American women.mp3

tickled to death.mp3

that's what I'm afraid of.mp3

I see you're back from your little adventure.mp3

how do you talk to a stone?.mp3

trust me.mp3

every vision's a joke until the first man accomplishes it.mp3

I'm not 10 years old anymore.mp3

my father doesn't have feelings.mp3

but I will still love you.mp3

what your mother would have wanted.mp3

close the door behind you when you leave, Junior.mp3