Do you think the light bulb eventually went on for Lorraine about Calvin Klein? That fashion brand was a significant part of culture in the 1980s (as evidenced by the movie).
Do you think she was at some point like, "how the hell did that guy have Calvin Klein underwear in 1955?"
Maybe, but it's just as likely she forgot the name. By the end of the movie, she was calling him Marty and that's what most likely would have stuck in her memory about him.
We see this from Marty's prospective, but to Lorraine and George, they stayed for the rest of the prom, he drove her home and kissed her again. From that day on, George was a new man and Lorraine was head over heels now. They dated through HS then got married and raised a family.
I wonder how much of a memory Marty would be to either after the prom.
Doubt it, she didn't seem that smart to begin with. Also there is NO WAY either of them knew that Marty was Calvin, NO WAY, they would have had to connect way too many dots with no evidence or logic.
shareI'm not saying they would have made the connection that Calvin was Marty. Just that Calvin Klein became a household name known for, among other things, having his name on the underwear - at some point after their time with Marty.
Since she assumed his name was "Calvin" because he had the Calvin Klein underwear, when it did become popular, you would think that there would be some "WTF?" going on.
Naw she'd probably just assume it was a coincidence, far more logical than her connecting that dots that her son is a time traveler and was the one who got her and her husband together.
shareAgain, I'm not saying it would make her conclude that her son Marty is a time traveler and was the same Marty that she
thought was Calvin Klein. I don't see that at all.
It just seems that a prominent fashion designer named Calvin Klein, who was known in part for his penchant for putting his name on underwear, should cause some head scratching as to how the guy that affected her life so immensely would have "Calvin Klein" on his underwear in 1955.
Not really, I knew a kid once whose name was Rene Russo, I never once thought that Rene Russo as a child time traveled to the future. She'd just chalk it out to a coincidence.
shareIs Rene Russo known for putting her name on underwear? Did the Rene you knew also have "Rene Russo" on her underwear when you met her?
shareThe underwear is irrelevant, Rene Russo was in one of my favorite movies ever Ransom yet I never once connected the dots that the kid I knew was actually the actress who was from the past.
shareThe underwear is absolutely relevant. It far more than a coincidence of two people having the same name.
It's a fashion designer that is actually known specifically for putting his name on underwear. And anther significant person in her life that had that EXACT name on his underwear, 30 years before it was popular. Who she found out after the fact that his name wasn't Calvin Klein, but Marty.
That's not an irrelevant thing.
So why would Marty have "Calvin Klein" on his underwear three decades before the fashion designer made his underwear that way?
She would not have suspected time travel. It must have been a big mystery for her, though.
At the time, she assumed his mother had just sewn labels in his underwear, so I doubt she would've made that connection to Calvin Klein underwear years later. Maybe she'd even forgotten his last name. I don't even remember the last names of some of my classmates!
shareExactly! She came up with a reason for Marty having a name on a label on his underwear, that was believable to her at the time.
Then again, she seemed a bit surprised that his underwear were purple. But I guess that she wouldn't think about that either years later.
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Or when Star Trek came out in 1966 and George remembers the reference to "Vulcan" from Marty. Then in 1977 Star Wars came out and George remembers the Darth Vader reference from Marty.
shareI would have to think that believing someone's name is Calvin Klein based on seeing it on his underwear and referring to him as Calvin for a time would be something that sticks in the memory fairly well.
shareI always got the impression George published his books before Star Trek and Star Wars came out, essentially getting to the copyright first.
shareWhat copyright would that be? You can't copyright an idea. You can't copyright a name. You copyright an entire work. Unless his book is significantly the same as either Star Trek or Star Wars there wouldn't be any violations. And since it appears the book is just coming out in 1985 (he is just getting his author copies) the book comes out long after Star Trek and nearly a decade after Star Wars.
shareIf her own son looking exactly like the boy who brought her and George together didn't do it, a fashion designer's name certainly wouldn't.
shareNo ones suggested this:
She'd be all like "Oh Calvin Klein has finally hit the big time, he's been selling his 'underwear with name on' pants since 1955 you know!"
This is the most likely outcome. Exactly as you describe "I remember him from way before he was famous. He's been doing this for 30 years."
shareAh, nice thought. But that would only work for a short while, until she would find out that the real Calvin Klein is a few years too young to be "her" Calvin Klein. Then again, Lorraine is maybe not smart enough to think that far. And before there were Google searches, it would be more difficult to find out somebody's birth year just like that.
shareThat's an excellent point. Lorraine didn't seem to be especially sharp, so it may have never even dawned on her in the first place. But if it did, I wonder how much thought she really would have given to it.
You definitely have a valid observation that in the days before Google, and the internet in general, research was limited.