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| Image: The Ferris File |
Seen in FBDO
As Ferris Bueller’s Day Off starts to wind down, we find Jeanie sitting in the Shermer police station with Garth Volbeck (01:17:15). The usual widescreen version of the film cuts the bottom of the shot off just below their knees.
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| Image: Paramount Pictures |
The same scene viewed in full-screen, however, reveals the reading options provided by the Shermer police to those in their station’s waiting area. The top magazine on the stack is an issue of Sports Illustrated and the one underneath is this issue of Rolling Stone.
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| Image: Paramount Pictures |
Description
The issue of Rolling Stone dated May 9, 1985 features a cover photo of Madonna and Rosanna Arquette by Herb Ritts.
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| Image: Herb Ritts / Rolling Stone |
Relatively fresh on the scene at this point, Madonna was touring North America on The Virgin Tour in promotion of her quickly-growing number of songs topping the pop charts. Additionally, Madonna’s feature film Desperately Seeking Susan had just hit theaters – a film that co-starred Rosanna Arquette.
Notes
- The issue of Sports Illustrated stacked with the Rolling Stone magazine is dated January 8, 1979.
- In a minor coincidence almost not worth mentioning, a technology article in this issue of Rolling Stone features a Carver equalizer similar to the one seen in Ferris Bueller’s iconic bedroom stereo system.
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| Image: The Ferris File |
Finding This Item
Determining the specific publication seen under the Sports Illustrated in this scene was a little tricky. Based on its size – slightly bigger than the Sport Illustrated – it narrowed down the options to those printed in sizes larger than traditional magazines. From there, a stroke of luck helped in landing on Rolling Stone as the top left corner of the cover peeks out revealing the first letter in the long-standing Rolling Stone logo.
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| Image: Rolling Stone |
But what issue was it? Considering the Sports Illustrated on the top of the stack was a six-year-old back issue at the time of filming, the possibilities were a little more extensive than you might think. With such a blurry image showing no more detail than a lightly-colored cover with a darker spot near the bottom left corner, I started sifting through cover images from Rolling Stone from 1986 and earlier.
Starting with the more recent issues, it wasn’t long before the dark spot on the cover was identified.
Sure enough … it was Madonna’s armpit.
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| Image: Paramount Pictures / The Ferris File |
Find Your Own
- Check eBay for your own copy of the May 9, 1985 issue of Rolling Stone!
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