Category: S1Ep13: Concert Interruptus

Monty

RORY: So did you guys find it okay?
PARIS: There’s no sign on this street.
RORY: I know, that’s why I told you to turn right at the big rooster statue.
PARIS: I thought you were kidding.
LORELAI: Oh no, we never kid about Monty.

There are numerous examples of big statues across the United Statues, often of ordinary things like animals and fruit. They are generally used as roadside attractions or as markers for a particular business. Stars Hollow seems to have one of a big rooster, affectionately known as “Monty” (by the Gilmore girls at least, who love to give names to inanimate objects), which marks the turn off to the Gilmores’ street, as the sign has quirkily fallen down or disappeared, and never been replaced. I feel as if the officious Taylor would not allow that to happen, but perhaps his powers were not yet so all-encompassing.

Rather disappointingly, this giant rooster is never shown, or discussed again, and it is not known why it was erected, or even if it was taken down at some point. We learn in the next episode that the Gilmores’ friend and neighbour Miss Patty raises chickens, and it is possible that Monty is there as a marker for her (hypothetical) side-business of selling eggs and/or poultry. It could be a marker for another type of rural business, or possibly Stars Hollow or its county is particularly famous for its poultry.

There is a big rooster statue in Salem, Connecticut [pictured], about an hour’s drive away from the area where Stars Hollow seems to be, so it’s perfectly plausible for Stars Hollow – this one is unusual for being painted black instead of the more usual white, and is a marker for a grain and feed store. Big rooster statues are common in California, where Gilmore Girls was written.

Paris’ Car

[Lorelai looks out the window and sees Paris, Madeline and Louise getting out of a car]
LORELAI: Rory, I think your friends are here. She must be one great babysitter to earn enough money for that car.

The car Paris is driving is a BMW 330Ci coupe convertible, an entry-level luxury car and the most popular model that BMW makes. In 2001, it would have cost around the $40 000 mark.

Rachel

After accidentally buying and wearing Luke’s ex-girlfriend’s sweater that he donated to the charity rummage sale, Lorelai learns from Sookie and Miss Patty that Luke had a “very serious girlfriend” called Rachel about five or six years ago (around 1995-1996), who broke his heart.

When Lorelai wonders how she could not have known about this relationship, or ever heard of Rachel before, the viewer can’t help but wonder too, as Lorelai has been in Stars Hollow since 1986.

Her friends explain that she was busy moving into her new house with her eleven year old daughter at the time, and that Rachel travelled a lot. As it doesn’t take that long to move into a new house, it makes you wonder how long this “very serious” partially long-distance relationship between Luke and Rachel lasted. Not very, by the sounds of it.

It’s a pretty lame explanation for why Lorelai’s never met or heard of Rachel before now, but at least tells us how long Lorelai and Rory have been in their home.

“She decided to be stupid”

RORY: [on the phone] Yeah, you too. Bye. [hangs up] That was Lane.
LORELAI: Oh, and what’s the verdict?
RORY: She decided to be stupid and tell her mother the truth – that she wanted to go to a rock concert with us tonight in New York.
LORELAI: Stupid.

In the very last episode, Double Date, Lorelai said she could never lie to Mrs. Kim to help Lane disobey her, citing “the mom code”. Yet now she says that Lane was “stupid” to tell her mother the truth, suggesting she was quite prepared to lie to Mrs. Kim on Lane’s behalf.

The Copacabana

[Miss Patty’s standing in front of big drums.]
MISS PATTY: I danced on these drums at the Copacabana in 1969.
LORELAI: Wow.
MISS PATTY: Yeah, it was a great act. I wore bananas.

The Copacabana is a famous nightclub in New York City, first opening in 1940 at 10 East 60th Street; many top entertainers have performed there. The club had a Brazilian decor and Latin-themed orchestra, and their showgirls wore bananas on their heads in the style of Carmen Miranda (who appeared in the 1947 film Copacabana). It seems Miss Patty was one of the famed “Copa Girls”.

Tribbles

[Sookie has fallen into a pile of stuff for the rummage sale, and it proves difficult to get her out]
RORY: Jeez this stuff is like tribbles.

Tribbles are an alien species in the Star Trek universe, first appearing in the 1967 episode The Trouble with Tribbles. Tribbles are small, furry creatures with a purr that humans find relaxing, however they increase in such numbers that they eat all the grain stores on board ship, and Captain Kirk literally becomes buried in tribbles when he enters the hold they are in. In the same way, Sookie is quickly enfolded by the pile of donated goods.

The Coffee Cavalry

LORELAI: The money goes to charity. I look cute. Case closed. Oh finally, the coffee cavalry arrives.

Lorelai is referring to the classic trope in Western films where the US Cavalry charges over the hill just in time to save the battling settlers from Indians. It was a favourite in D.W. Griffith films from the early twentieth century.

Lorelai is saying the coffee is arriving just in time to rescue her from the conversation. Apparently when she is wearing a cowboy hat, she thinks in Western cliches.

Annie Oakley

[Lorelai has entered wearing a leopard print cowboy hat]
RORY: What are you wearing?
LORELAI: Hey, we have already argued about the sweatshirt.
RORY: Yes but we have not argued about the hat.
LORELAI: What hat?
RORY: The one on your head, Annie Oakley.

Annie Oakley (1860-1926) was an American sharpshooter and exhibition shooter who won a shooting match while still a teenager. She later joined Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, and became an international star who performed before royalty and heads of state. While performing, she generally wore a Western-style outfit, including a cowboy hat.

The Old Muddy River Bridge

RORY: Hey Luke, someone put a sign for the rummage sale up in your window over there …
LUKE: Your mom asked me to put it there, okay?
RORY: And you said yes?
LUKE: She’s not real good with “no”.

From the sign in the window of Luke’s Diner, we learn that the charity rummage sale is to raise funds to restore the Old Muddy River Bridge. There is an artist’s impression of the bridge, although it’s unclear whether this is what the bridge used to look like and needs to be restored to this condition, or this is what the new bridge will look like once it’s rebuilt. Either way, it looks as if the whole thing could be knocked up in a single afternoon with less than $100 worth of lumber and Luke donating his time to it.

However, for some reason this simple wooden footbridge is an ongoing project for the town, which spends much of its time raising money towards the bridge’s reconstruction and maintenance throughout the show’s original run. We can see that once again Luke is more civic-minded than he pretends to be, as he helps advertise the rummage sale, just as he brought hot drinks the Stars Hollow Battle re-enactors.

Also notice that Lorelai doesn’t even need to add her address: everyone in town knows where she lives, and she can just tell them to take contributions to her house. That’s some level of notoriety in a town of nearly 10 000 people.

In real life, the small town of Washington Depot, which Stars Hollow was originally inspired by, is surrounded by state parks and reservations. There are several wooden footbridges over rivers, creeks, and gorges; some quite elaborate, and others small and simple like the one in the drawing.