Goofs

The night Betty Warren learns of Amanda Armstrong's distributing contraception, she is planning her wedding. Betty says her "November 2nd" wedding is "three weeks from now", meaning that it's in early-mid October. The school newspaper in which she wrote an op-ed on the subject is dated Sept. 19.

The first day of art history class, Katherine Watson brings in two black slide cases. When is class is over, she leaves with one red slide case.

During Betty's wedding reception, Katherine, Nancy, and Bill sit at a table. Nancy walks into the scene twice to see if Katherine wants anything to drink.

During the convocation assembly at the beginning, President Carr wears a gown and tassel that show she has a doctoral degree, but her cap indicates a master's or bachelor's degree.

During the Maypole dance, the first shot of the maypole shows a tight pattern made at the top. In the second shot, the ribbons are just starting to go around the pole.

Katherine Watson is harassed for introducing modern art to her students. Wellesley was the first liberal arts college to teach modern art, and its program was well-established by 1953.

A scene depicts a teacher of ''poise and elocution'' explaining to Wellesley students how to set and seat a table to further the careers of their future husbands. No such "poise and elocution'' classes were ever given at Wellesley.

The film erroneously depicts Wellesley as the most conservative college in the nation. In fact, Wellesley was not politically conservative at this time and had already appointed to its faculty one of the first African-American sociology professors.

The costumes for the Wellesley students are mostly inaccurate for the depicted era. Students did not wear girdles or pearls or earrings to class. Instead many women wore jeans and sweatshirts.

The students depicted in the film, including extras, are almost all Caucasian. In 1953, Wellesley's student body was much more racially diverse than the movie suggests.

Katherine Watson tells her class that Vincent van Gogh never sold a painting during his lifetime. He actually sold one painting, to his brother Theo, for 5 francs.

Watson obviously was talking about a commercial sale as opposed to a close relative's "pity purchase".

The "AR" (Adam's Rib) party is supposed to be at 5 p.m. It's winter in New England, but broad daylight outside the windows.

With the exception of Christmas break, all the bar scenes are similar. Bill wears the same sweater, Katherine's hair is always half-up, her earrings are the same, and her outfit is the same, with either a coat or a vest.

Both Dominic West and Juliet Stevenson, who play Americans, slip and let their natural English accents come out several times.

The night Giselle shows off her new diaphragm is the same night Betty mentions that her wedding is three weeks away, on November 2nd. This would set the scene sometime in the second week of October. This is further proven when, a few scenes later, Amanda Armstrong's termination letter is dated October 10th. But when Katherine pins Betty's article on her bulletin board, the article is dated September 19th.

At the end when Betty is bicycling next to Katherine's cab, she should appear in the Cab's rear and side windows falling behind when Katherine finally stops waving and turns forward, but instead she disappears entirely.

At the wedding, champagne is served in flute glasses. They were rarely used until the 1970s, when drier vintages became preferred. In the 1950s, champagne was served in champagne coupe (or saucer) glasses. They are still used in champagne fountains at weddings.

The slide of the Sistine Chapel in Katherine's Christmas present is a photo of the Chapel ceiling after it was restored in the 1990s.

Katherine and friends walk into a bar in Wellesley, which was a totally dry town in the 1950s.

During the slide show, Dr. Watson says, "A Rhodes scholar. I wonder if she recites Geoffrey Chaucer while she presses her husband's shirts?" Women were not permitted to apply for Rhodes scholarships until 1977.

One young woman holds up a blue plastic diaphragm case. In the 1950s, diaphragm cases were cloth or rubber. Plastic cases appeared in the 1970s.

During Betty's wedding reception, the band plays a rousing number. The trumpets do not have mutes, but their sound could only be produced with a metal mute.

When Katherine shows the first advertisement slide, she says "slide" without moving her mouth.

During the wedding reception, when Nancy explains to Katherine that her then boyfriend didn't die in the war, a slow song is playing. For a second, the people in the background dance very quickly.

Giselle runs early in the film. At one point, a microphone is visible, taped inside her shirt.

When Katherine visits Joan's house to show her law school brochures, palm plants are in the front of the house. They would not survive in Massachusetts.

Katherine Watson says the Lascaux cave painting was discovered in 1879. It was actually discovered in 1940; the cave art in the Cave of Altamira of northern Spain was discovered in 1879.

When President Carr dictates the invitation for Katherine's return to Wellesley, her secretary writes in shorthand that makes no sense. The only correct word is the first, which reads "Dear".

When Betty types her editorial against the school nurse, the narration says "... has been willingly distributing..." but she types "disb" as the start of "distributing".