Bates College - in Literature, Film, and Culture

In Literature, Film, and Culture

• "Ally McBeal" (1997) In season 1, episode 2, Ally, approaching a man in a bar, finds out that he was her brother's roommate at Bates College.
• The Sopranos (1999) — In an episode entitled "College," Tony Soprano and his daughter Meadow visit Bates, where Meadow remarks that Bates students claim "Bates is the world's most expensive form of contraception." However, the scenes set in Maine were actually filmed in New Jersey.
• The Bates campus was filmed in The Letter, a movie about the pro-diversity rally for the local Somali population in Lewiston, Maine.
• The College gained national notoriety in the New York Times in 2004 for its celebration of Newman Day.
• Dave Matthews referred to a concert he performed at Bates in 1995 on the Charlie Rose Show, claiming that the concert "at this little college in Maine" sparked his career.
• During World War II, a Victory ship was named the S.S. Bates Victory, after the College.
• In a July 2006 article in Sports Illustrated, Bates students are credited with inventing "One Ringing." One Ring is a game where friends torment each other by calling and then hanging up immediately during sport matches.
• A January 6, 2008 New York Times article mentioned Bates' annual Mustachio Bashio tradition which celebrates "fanciful facial creations."