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"You wait and see, Mr. Carruthers. I will be mayor; I'll be the most powerful man in Hill Valley and I'm gonna clean up this town!"
—Busboy Goldie Wilson foreshadowing his future success in politics.
"One set of election posters [on a boarded-up building facade in Courthouse Square] read: RE-ELECT MAYOR GOLDIE WILSON. HONESTY, DECENCY, INTEGRITY. The picture beneath the inspiring words showed the face of a black man, about fifty years old with a gold front tooth."
—From Back to the Future by George Gipe (quote, page 20)
" Meanwhile, the counterman, who had listened to Goldie's speech with increasing frustration, finally managed to break in. "Mayor!" he said. "Ha! A colored mayor of this town! That'll be the day." / "You wait and see," Goldie returned. "Like this man here says, someday I'm gonna be mayor." / "I ain't impressed by this man here," the counterman retorted. "And as for you, just keep sweeping." / Goldie slid his hands up on the broom handle but didn't set to work immediately. "Mayor Goldie Wilson," he said softly. "I like the sound of that." / Marty smiled, rather pleased with himself for "inspiring" Goldie Wilson, or at least giving him hope. "
—From Back to the Future by George Gipe (quote, page 95)
Mayyyyyyorrrr!
"Goldie" Wilson
Biographical information
Date of birth1933
Age (1885)Not born yet
Age (1955)22
Age (1985)52
Age (2015)82
Physical description
GenderMale
Hair colorBlack (Graying by 1985)
Eye colorBrown
Behind-the-scenes information
Played byDonald Fullilove
  [Source]

Goldie Wilson was the Mayor of Hill Valley in 1985 and had been since 1977.[1] His 1985 re-election campaign ads promised more jobs, better education, bigger civic improvements, and lower taxes. The slogan on his printed ads was Honesty / Decency / Integrity. He had a gold tooth when he was a young man, although there is a disagreement as to whether he still had a gold tooth thirty years later, when he was running for re-election.[2]

Biography[]

In his youth, Goldie observed that his mother had worked 40 years and got nothing out of it.[3] Because of this, he was determined to make something of himself, and stated working at Lou's Cafe.

In November 5, 1955, Goldie was a young busboy working at Lou's Cafe. While young Goldie was offering some advice to a teenage George McFly who had moments earlier suffered abuse at the hands of Biff Tannen and Biff's cronies (Match, 3-D, and Skinhead). Goldie warned George not to let those bullies dominate him, warning that they would continue to do so until the moment he stands up for himself. Goldie also tried inspiring George with his own attempts, saying he was taking classes at night school in order to qualify for more prestigious careers than his current job as a busboy, or claiming he was not going to be in this slophouse forever; "Someday, I'm going to be somebody!" It was apparent that his boss, Lou Carruthers, did not appreciate his business being referred to in such a manner, and sarcastically remarked if Goldie Wilson would be known to the rest of Hill Valley. One of Lou's customers, Marty McFly, had remembered seeing political advertisements about him in 1985, and upon hearing the name, out of excitement and impulse of seeing the younger Goldie along with his younger father, remarked "That's right, he's going to be mayor". Goldie seemed inspired and took it as a compliment, and remarked "Mayor! Now THAT'S a good idea!". Lou scoffed at the idea that an African-American would ever be elected to public office, saying "A colored mayor! That'll be the day!", which only made Goldie more determined. Goldie remarked to Lou that he was serious about this and would "clean up this town". Lou, somewhat more impressed, sarcastically remarked to Goldie that he could begin his grand quest by cleaning up the floors of the cafe. Goldie got to work while remarking to himself "Mayor Goldie Wilson, I like the sound of that!" Later, when Marty got in a fight with Biff and his gang, they pursued him in Biff's car, only to crash into D. Jones's manure truck, which was parked close to Lou's Cafe. In the excitement, Goldie ran outdoors, then immediately remarked how smelly the spilled manure was.

Goldiewilsonposter

Poster for Goldie's re-election in 1985.

On October 24, 1962, Goldie was pinning up posters, as he was running to be Hill Valley's district representative. One poster was pinned near the ruins of Dr. Emmett Brown's mansion, which had recently burned to the ground. He encouraged the nearby Leslie Groves and Colonel Lomax, who were looking for Brown, to vote for him. He informed them that Brown was a recluse, and that he had probably burned his mansion down for the insurance money. Groves and Lomax left, not willing to work with an insurance thief.

He later attended night school and graduated, some time prior to 1971, he became a member of the Hill Valley City Council. By 1977, he was elected mayor, making him "the most powerful man in Hill Valley" just as he had said he would. In 1985 his term was nearly up, and he ran for reelection. In his later years as a politician it appeared he had taken on a more professional appearance, wearing a coat and tie befitting his image. A campaign poster featuring his image lacked his gold teeth, which suggest Goldie had cosmetic dentistry, replacing his gold teeth with ceramic ones to give a better image of a natural-looking smile.

As Mayor, one of Goldie's more controversial policies was sponsoring an initiative to replace the clock tower atop the Hill Valley Courthouse, which had not run since being struck by lighting on November 12 1955. This initiative was strongly opposed by the Hill Valley Preservation Society, who believed the clock should be kept as it was. The society's efforts would originally be successful in preserving the clock until at least 2015.

However once Marty McFly altered the timeline by convincing a young Emmett Brown to help Officer Danny Parker arrest Kid Tannen, a new clock was installed on the clock tower in 1990.

Although Goldie might have been a nickname (because of his gold tooth), the name was passed on to his descendants.

Sometime between 1955 and 1964, he had a son, Goldie Wilson II, who, by 1986, was managing Hill County's civic records in order to eventually follow in his father's footsteps to become mayor of Hill Valley. In 2015, his grandson, Goldie Wilson III, managed Goldie Wilson Hover Conversion Systems, which advertised hover conversions for $39,999.95.

Goldie had another descendant in public service to Hill Valley, as Commissioner Wilson (possibly Clara Wilson) was the commissioner of the Hill Valley Police Department in 2035.

Life in Hell Valley[]

In the alternate timeline where an elderly Biff Tannen brought a Grays Sports Almanac from 2015 to 1955 to make himself rich, Biff had purchased most of the city and the residents began to refer to it as Hell Valley.

Goldie was one of first the citizens that were against Biff. As part of the City Council in 1971, he begrudgingly called a vote for overturning the zoning commission's ruling that the planned Tannen Manor was too large. He stated the vote had to be unanimous, and Stanford S. Strickland opposed it.

Biff vowed to get his revenge, and sent Strickland a box of cigars at his office at Hill Valley High School. When Strickland lit the cigar, it exploded and lit a pile of papers on his desk on fire. Biff replaced the fire extinguisher fluid with accelerant, so when Mr. Strickland used it, the fire went out of control. Biff sent a photograph of Strickland lighting the cigar to the Hill Valley Telegraph. Strickland was suspended from the school and the city council pending investigation. With Strickland out of the way, Biff was able to bribe the members of the city council to get the plans approved giving them new cars. However, Goldie Wilson had still opposed Biff, as he made a point to tell Wilson that he would not be getting a car.

When George McFly turned the Hill Valley Civic Committee into a secret committee dedicated to opposing BiffCo, Goldie Wilson was one of the first members. After Biff secretly murdered George later that year, Goldie Wilson became the head of the Civic Committee.

In 1983, Goldie was the head of the committee, and they got a new member, Dave McFly. Dave revealed that his stepfather, Biff, kept a safe in his office. Dave turned off the security alarms to allow Terry to enter to break into the safe. However, Biff witnessed the attempt to break into the safe, and had the Hill Valley Police Department, which he controlled, beat him to death. Biff then had them kidnap Dave, and since he promised Lorraine he wouldn't hurt her children, he had them tell Dave to leave Hill Valley and never return.

At that point, things looked bleak, however Emmett Brown revealed that he was their silent benefactor. He let them know that he had let the rumors that surrounded him since his time on the Manhattan Project continue so that he could work on his project in peace, even from BiffCo. He revealed to them that the project that he was in the process of constructing was a time machine.

Both Strickland and Doc tried to travel to the past to stop Biff, but neither were successful. Goldie Wilson was stopped by the police department, which Biff controlled, with the other remaining members of the Civic Committee, when they couldn't load the time travel chamber onto the truck as they couldn't disconnect it from the city power grid.

The police took the time machine back to BiffCo, and when Doc exited it, Biff demanded to know what it did. Doc refused, and Biff had him declared insane and sent him to the Hill Valley Hospital. At some point before 1985, Biff grew tired of Doc's stubbornness and had him lobotomized and placed in permanent residence at the County Asylum.

Working for Citizen Brown[]

In the timeline where Emmett Brown and Edna Strickland married and turned Hill Valley into a police state which they controlled as First and Second Citizen Brown, Goldie Wilson worked at the Hill Valley Courthouse, which had been renovated as first Citizen Brown's office. Marty convinced Emmett Brown that he had come from an alternate timeline where Doc had invented a time machine.

When they left the office, Goldie Wilson was outside. He used a radio transceiver to let Edna Strickland know that her husband was acting strangely. Edna thanked Citizen Wilson for his cooperation.

Appearances[]

Goldie1955

Goldie Wilson offers some advice to George McFly.

Behind the scenes[]

  • George D. Carroll became Mayor of Richmond, California (population 80,000) in 1964, the first African-American to become mayor of an American city [4]. The first African-American mayor of a major American city was Carl B. Stokes, who was elected mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, in 1967.
  • Wilson's re-election posters write his name as "Goldie" Wilson, suggesting that Goldie is actually a nickname.
  • Originally, Wilson was to make a return in the original draft of the second movie, where Marty had gone to 1967 and gotten arrested for vagrancy. There, Wilson was to be Marty's public defender, this time with a large afro hairdo and carrying himself as a militant. When Officer Reese introduced him to Marty "Meet your public defender: Goldie Wilson", he was to reply: "That's Muhammad Wilson to you". He would offer to get Marty off on vagrancy charge resulting in a $50 fine, however, as Marty would have had to go on the record about who he was, Marty refused and instead asked him to spread the news of his arrest in the media by using the name "Marty DeLorean", hoping that Doc would come and bail him out upon hearing about it in the news.

References[]

  1. BTTF novel p. 94
  2. BTTF novel p. 20
  3. BTTF novel p. 94
  4. "Negro Councilman Elevated to Richmond Mayor's Post", Oakland Tribune, July 7, 1964, p19

Relatives / See also[]

External links[]


Mayors of Hill Valley
1885: Hubert - 1931: Jack Thomas - 1955: Red Thomas - 1985: Goldie Wilson - 2015: Goldie Wilson Jr.
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