Pop culture in and around the Lakes Region

Bizer has started to compile a list of pop culture items in and around the New Hampshire Lakes Region. If you have anything to add / correct, please send an email to movie19@bizer.com.

====================Television Shows ====================

TV show: All in the Family, season 8, “Unequal Partners”, first aired 23-OCT-1977. === Archie is planning a fishing trip to Lake Winnipesaukee. “There ain’t no train into Lake Winnipesaukee.”

TV show: Cheers, season 5, episode "Abnormal Psychology", first aired 16-Oct-1986 === The gang is watching the bar TV and we hear the announcer say, "So grab your rod and reel and join us next week when Jim takes us trolling on Lake Winnipesaukee"

TV show: Law & Order, season 18, episode, “Betrayal”, first aired 05-Mar-2008 === There are numerous references to Meredith, thought to be a young girl. Meredith, however, turns out to be Meredith, NH. Courtroom dialog follows:

Witness: It was a place that he rented on a lake in New Hampshire, Lake Winnipesaukee.

DA: Was it near a town?

Witness: I don’t remember. I was a teenager. (At this point, the witness has now remembered)

DA: What’s that, Ms. Waxman. Are you remembering the name of the town it was near? The town was Meredith, wasn’t it?

TV show: Dirty Jobs, season 5, episode 8, "Well Digger" (First aired 30-Jan-2007) === As part of the show, Mike Rowe (host) accompanies Dave Ferruolo of Fathom Divers (Laconia) working on the muddy bottom of Lake Winnipesaukee installing boat moorings.

The Brotherhood of Poland, New Hampshire (2003) - A short lived TV series cancelled after the airing of the fifth episode. It was written by David E. Kelley, famous for Other New England TV shows such as Ally McBeal, Boston Legal, and Boston Public. It was partially filmed in Plymouth, NH

On The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, December 2014, Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake do a sketch where they are campers at Camp Winnipesaukee.

==================== TV Commercials ====================

American Express commercial, spring, 2007. It shows a group of famous celebrities (Ellen Degeneres, Cheryl Crow, Shaun White, Andre Agassi, Alicia Keys), sitting around discussing being able to make a difference. A passerby happens to mention Lake Winnipesaukee.

AK: It's a great gift to be in a position to make a difference.

CC: Being in the public eye enables us to draw attention to things that matter, like the environment.

AA: Children at risk

SW: African relief

AK: Medicines for those in need.

Passerby: Or, ah, keeping Lake Winnipesaukee clean.

Director, Martin Scorsese: Hold it. Hold it. Lake what? Lake who? Who's that guy?

Passerby: I'm Tim. I work in the office next door. But keeping that lake clean is what matters to me.

SW: I've been there once. It was nice.

Director: All right, let's keep him in it. Let's keep him in it. He's got a good face. Don't overdo it. Arms folded. Never mind.

ED: I swam in it once. When I got out, I had to take my bathing suit off and it burst into flames. It happens anytime time I swim.

Director: Yeah, OK, just like that.

Narrator: Introducing the members' project. Card members submit ideas at americanexpress.com and we'll fund one winning idea, up to five million dollars. You don't have to be famous to make a difference, just a card member. Are you a card member?

==================== Movies listed on IMDB.COM ====================

(1957) Peyton Place - Portions filmed in Gilmanton

(1981) On Golden Pond - The film was primarily made on Squam Lake, but there are two scenes on Winnipesaukee. The Winnipesaukee scenes involve Billy Ray (Doug McKeon) driving a wooden boat. In one scene, he passes a sailboat with Rattlesnake Island in the background. In another scene, he is south of the Varney Islands with the camera looking westward.

(1991) What About Bob – The setting for the film is Lake Winnipesaukee in August. The movie was actually filmed at Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia. Filming took place in autumn when Winnipesaukee foliage would be orange.

(1995) To Die For – This film was inspired by Pamela Smart, the NH teacher who had her husband murdered. Nicole Kidman plays a local TV weatherwoman in New Hampshire. When the weather map is displayed, it is clearly Lake Winnipesaukee.

(1997) Old Man Dogs - Partially filmed on Squam Lake

(2001) Magic Rock - Filmed at Lake Ossipee

(2002) The Color of Water - This movie was filmed in and around the Lakes Region. Portions were filmed at The Castle in the Clouds and portions were filmed at Weirs Beach. The movie was probably shelved after filming. There is no record of the movie being released in theaters. In 2009 (or 2010), this film was released on DVD under the title of, Love Don’t Come Easy. There are brief (under 5 minutes) scenes of Winnipesaukee, but Winnipesaukee is never mentioned.

(2004) H.H. Holmes: America's First Serial Killer - Portions filmed in Gilmanton

(2006) Click - In a flashback scene, Michael Newman (Adam Sandler) remembers his childhood camping on Lake Winnipesaukee. A tent on a lake shore is shown, but it's not Winnipesaukee. Adam Sandler went to school in Manchester and is believed to have spent time on Winnipesaukee as a child.

(2006) Blood, Sweat & Gears - (video) Bikers' documentary partially filmed in Laconia

(2010) Grown Ups – With Adam Sandler. About 20 minutes into the film there are some brief scenes of Winnipesaukee. In an aerial view, Rattlesnake, Sleepers, Treasure, and Cub Islands are shown from over Mount Major. In the next scene, the camera is over Rattlesnake Island looking southward at Sleepers, Cub, Treasure Islands as well as Alton Bay and Minge Cove,

==================== Short films ====================

Short: The Three Stooges, "No Census, No Feeling" (1940) === The Stooges are census takers. Moe enters a kitchen and sits. Curly is wearing a chef’s hat with his back to Moe. Neither knows who the other is.

Moe: Good afternoon, Chef. I’m the census taker.

Curly: Well, you got me at a busy time.

Moe: Oh, it’ll only take a few minutes. Now, where were you born?

Curly: Lake Winnipesaukee.

Moe: Lake Win... How do you spell that?

Curly: W-O-... *WOOF!*... Make it Lake Erie, I got an uncle there.

Moe: What was your family decomposed of?

Curly: Well, I'll tell ya, there was a litter of three, and I was the one they KEPT! Nyuck-nyuck-nyuck! (snicker)

[One minute later in that same short, Moe enters a living room and starts talking to a man asleep on the couch. Unbeknownst to Moe, Larry is resting on a different couch. Neither Moe nor Larry can see the other.]

Moe: Pardon me, stranger, I'm the census taker. Where were YOU born?

Larry: Lake Winnipesaukee.

Moe: Lake Winni ... How many in the family?

Larry: I was one of a litter of three.

Moe: Now, don't tell me you were the one they KEPT?

Larry: Nah, I'm the one they threw away!

One minute later, Moe is crushing Larry’s head in a door while yelling, “Lake Winnipesaukee, eh. One of a litter of three, eh. A three litter man, eh.”

==================== Music / Song ====================

“Winnipesaukee” (aka The Indian River Song) by Sammy Kaye, circa 1943 (Thanks, RG)

This version of Adam Sandler’s, “Thanksgiving Song”, references Winnipesaukee about 1 minute 45 seconds into the song. “Gobble-gobble, dee, gobble-gobble dockie. I used to go to camp on Lake Winnipesaukee.”