PARIS: How are we going to get a professional photographer?
LOUISE: Helmut Newton is my godfather.
PARIS: Okay, sign him up – and tell him to leave the whips and chains at home.
Helmut Newton, born Helmut Neustädter (1920-2004), German-Australian fashion photographer whose black and white photographs were a mainstay of Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and other magazines. His photos were erotic and stylised, often with fetishistic or sado-masochistic overtones – hence Paris’ instructions not to include whips and chains. Clearly Newton is not really appropriate as a school photographer!
It is interesting to speculate how Helmut Newton became Louise’s godfather. Presumably one or both of her parents have a connection with the fashion world. At this stage of his life, Helmut Newton lived in Monaco, but spent his winters in Los Angeles.
LOUISE: Dances help bring in money to pay for those stupid topiaries you want in the quad.
Topiary is the art of clipping evergreen trees and shrubs into clearly defined shapes as a part of landscaping grounds. Common plants used for topiary are box, conifers, laurel, holly, myrtle, yew, and privet. Topiary dates to ancient Roman times, declined in the 18th century, but was revived in the 19th, and became part of what we consider the “classic English garden”. The style was later adopted by wealthy upper-class Americans for their gardens. [Picture is a topiary garden in Newport, Rhode Island].
EMILY: How is your Caesar salad dressing prepared?
LUKE: I’ll have to call Paul Newman and ask him.
Luke is saying he doesn’t make his own salad dressing, he is using a bottle of Newman’s Own dressing, a brand of condiments and foods founded by Hollywood star Paul Newman and author A.E. Hotchner in 1982. The company, headquartered in Westport, Connecticut, donates 100% of its after-tax profits to the Newman’s Own Foundation, a private non-profit foundation which supports various charitable causes – one of them is the SeriousFun Children’s Network, residential summer camps for seriously ill children all over the world, which Newman co-founded in 1988.
Emily debates whether to order Caesar salad or Cobb salad for lunch at Luke’s diner.
A classic Caesar salad [pictured] consists of whole leaves of romaine lettuce and croutons, dressed with lime juice, olive oil, coddled eggs, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, Dijon mustard, Parmesan cheese, and black pepper. Its creation is attributed to Caesar Cardini, an Italian immigrant who had restaurants in Mexico and the US. He is said to have invented the salad in 1924 at his restaurant Caesar’s in Tijuana, Mexico, when a busy Fourth of July left his kitchen depleted. He used what ingredients he had on hand, adding flair by tossing the salad at the table. In 1946, the salad was introduced to New York by Gilmore’s (!) Steak House, who added anchovies into the mix. Although Cardini disapproved, anchovies are now usually added. Lemon juice is also typically substituted for the lime juice.
Cobb salad is a classic American garden salad usually made from chopped salad greens, tomato, crisp bacon, fried chicken breast, hard-boiled eggs, avocado, chives, blue cheese, and red wine vinaigrette. The ingredients aren’t mixed together, but laid on the plate in neat rows. There are various stories as to how it was created, one being that it was invented in 1938 by Robert Cobb, the owner of the Brown Derby Restaurant in Hollywood, where it became a signature dish. The legend goes that Cobb hadn’t managed to eat until nearly midnight, and made the salad out of leftovers he found in the kitchen.
Coddled eggs are eggs that have been gently poached in a ramekin in a bain-marie, cooked just below boiling point. There is a risk of salmonella from eating them unless you are careful, hence Emily’s concern about ordering the Caesar salad. In the end, she orders the Cobb salad, where the eggs are hard boiled instead.
Note that Emily’s worry about the coddled eggs is basically the same conversation that Lorelai had with Sookie about mussels when they went out to dinner on their double date with Jackson and Rune. In both cases, Lorelai pleads with them to choose something else from the menu, in almost the same words.
This is the song that Luke sings to Lorelai, in order to tease her about being asked out by Kirk. “Love Is in the Air” is a 1977 disco song by Australian singer John Paul Young, written by George Young and Harry Vanda, and released as the lead single from John Paul Young’s album Love Is in the Air. It went to #3 in Australia, and was a world-wide hit, going to #5 in the UK and #7 in the US, but most popular in Norway, Sweden and South Africa, where it went to #2. It went to #1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.
The song was featured in the 1992 Baz Luhrmann film Strictly Ballroom, remixed with a ’90s dance beat. Re-released as a single from the Strictly Ballroom soundtrack, it went to #3 in Australia, and was most popular in New Zealand at #2.
It is a bit surprising that Luke knows this song, and most likely watched Strictly Ballroom, which doesn’t seem like his sort of film. Maybe he went to it with a girlfriend?
FRANCIE: This is politics. If you’ve got a problem, tell it to Noam Chomsky. I live in the real world, now blow.
Avram Noam Chomsky (born 1928), linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historical essayist, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called “the father of modern linguistics”, Chomsky is also a major figure in analytic philosophy. He is a Laureate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Arizona and an Institute Professor Emeritus at MIT, and is the author of more than 150 books on topics such as linguistics, war, politics, and mass media. Chomsky’s latest book at that time was Understanding Power, a collection of transcripts about political activism from lectures and seminars given by Chomsky, published in February 2002.
Francie is thinking of Chomsky’s political views, which are broadly anarchy-syndicalist and libertarian socialist. Many of his books and lectures have been critical of the US government, its foreign policies, and its method of democracy – in particular, the way that political power at presidential level is controlled by the privately wealthy and by the public relations industry. In Francie’s view, his ideas are impractical and theoretical, not “the real world”.
Francie refers to the 19th century English fairy tale, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. It was first recorded by the English poet and writer Robert Southey and published anonymously as “The Story of the Three Bears”, in a volume of his writings called The Doctor.
The original story was about an ugly, rude old woman who enters a house and helps herself to the bear’s porridge and their beds, with tragic results for the interloper. Published twelve years later by English writer Joseph Cundall in his Treasury of Pleasure Books for Young Children, the nosy person was changed to a pretty little girl.
Many names were suggested for her over the years as the story was republished, from Silver Hair to Little Golden-Locks, before the name Goldilocks was hit on in 1904, in Nursery Rhymes and Tales (English author Flora Annie Steel is credited for choosing the ultimately successful name). The little girl’s fate has differed in various retellings, but she never ends up as badly as the old woman, usually learning her lesson and vowing never to wander off into the forest again.
Rory reacts with irritation at being compared to a silly little blonde-haired character (she’s extra sensitive about blondes, because of Jess’ girlfriend). However, Francie is most likely comparing Rory to Goldilocks as if she is a naïve little girl, poking her nose into things she doesn’t understand, meddling where she doesn’t belong, and unaware of the dangers she is in. You know, the dangers of all the … hemlines? While Rory has been compared to fairy tale and children’s characters before, this is the first time it’s done to insult her.
RORY: We are not supposed to be brokering backdoor deals and pushing through agendas with intimidation and bribery. I mean, what are we, French skating judges?
Rory refers to the figure skating scandal of the 2002 Winter Olympics, held in Salt Lake City, Utah, in February of that year.
It was alleged that the pairs’ figure skating competition had been fixed, in which a French judge had compromised scores. The Russian team was awarded the gold, to a furious reaction from Canadian commentators, who believed that their team’s performance was clearly superior. The US press supported Canada, and suspicion quickly fell on the French judge, Marie-Reine Le Gougne. Le Gougne admitted being pressured to choose the Russian team, but later denied any wrongdoing.
After limited investigation of the issues, a second award ceremony was held, and two pairs teams received gold medals: the Russian team, and also the silver medalists, from Canada [pictured]. As a result of this scandal, the International Skating Union suspended two officials for three years: Marie-Reine Le Gougne, and the head of the French skating federation. A Russian organised crime boss was arrested for fixing the Olympics while in Italy, but released due to lack of evidence.
FRANCIE: She’s gonna support the hemline issue, and any other issue that I bring up for the rest of the year. Otherwise I’ll make her so ineffectual, she’ll make Jimmy Carter look like Martin Sheen – do you get me?
James “Jimmy” Carter Jr (born 1924), 39th president of the US from 1977 to 1981 for the Democratic Party. He is generally seen as an ineffectual president, the end of his presidency marked by emergencies such as the Iran hostage crisis, the energy crisis, the Three Mile Island nuclear accident, and the Nicaraguan Revolution. His post-presidential activities are rated higher – he has worked with Habitat for Humanity, and set up a centre for improving human rights, earning him the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 (after the events of this episode, but announced around the time of its broadcast). Jimmy Carter is the longest-lived American president, the oldest living president, the one with the longest post-presidency period, and the longest-married president, as he and his wife Rosalynn have been married for 76 years.
Martin Sheen, previously discussed, the actor who played President Josiah “Jed” Bartlett on political drama series The West Wing (1999-2006), created by Aaron Sorkin (at one point, there was a rumour going around that Gilmore Girls was actually written by Aaron Sorkin, using Amy Sherman-Palladino as a pseudonym!). Jed Bartlett was an amalgam of John F. Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton – Clinton was a friend of Sheen, who often visited the White House.
Jed Bartlett was an outstanding president in the series – brilliantly intellectual, quick-witted, compassionate, stoic, and driven by integrity. He is regarded as one of the greatest fictional American presidents of all time, and Sheen won a Golden Globe and two SAG Awards for the role.
Francie is saying that unless she gets her way on everything, she’ll shut Paris down until she becomes so ineffectual that in comparison, the low-rated Jimmy Carter will seem as brilliant as fictional president Bartlett.
Liza Weil, who plays Paris Geller, was in an episode of The West Wing in January 2000, the same year Gilmore Girls began airing. Dakin Matthews, who plays Headmaster Charleston, was in the same episode.
FRANCIE: I want you to go back to Margaret Thatcher and tell her to play ball.
Margaret Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, born Margaret Roberts (1925-1913), Prime Minister of the UK from 1979 to 1990, and leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. The longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century, she was the first woman to hold that office. As prime minister, she implemented controversial conservative policies that became known as Thatcherism. A Soviet journalist dubbed her the “Iron Lady”, a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style.
Francie is suggesting that Paris is likewise a tough and uncompromising female leader.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 