Category: S2Ep17: Dead Uncles and Vegetables

David and Lisa

TAYLOR: Let go of me!

TROUBADOUR #2: Don’t like to be touched, that’s cool. Got a little David and Lisa thing happening?

David and Lisa, 1962 drama film directed by Frank Perry. It is based on the second story in the 1961 novella Lisa and David by a psychiatrist named Theodore Isaac Rubin; the screenplay is written by Rubin’s wife, Eleanor Katz. The story is about a bright young man named David (played by Keir Dullea) who cannot bear to be touched; while in a mental health treatment facility, he befriends a girl named Lisa (played by Janet Margolin) who has a split personality.

David and Lisa received positive reviews from critics. It was made into a stage play in 1967, and into a television film in 1998, produced by Oprah Winfrey.

David and Lisa is one of the DVDs we can see at Stars Hollow Video in “Richard in Stars Hollow”.

Note the implication from the Second Town Troubadour/Second Market Guy that Taylor must have serious mental health problems if he doesn’t want to be hugged. It’s just the start of the trolling that Taylor is about to be subjected to!

The Return of the Second Town Troubadour

TAYLOR: Wait a minute, I know you. You’re that long-haired freak that wanted to be town troubadour even though that weird brown-corduroy-jacket-wearing freak was already it.

TROUBADOUR #2: That’s right, good memory! How are ya? [hugs him]

Last season there was an episode where the town had a meeting to decide whether they wanted to keep the mysterious Grant as their only Town Troubadour, or allow another guy to also play music around town. Thanks to an impassioned speech by Rory, the town voted in favour of Grant.

The other Town Troubadour, played by Dave Allen, isn’t from Stars Hollow, but runs a Kinko’s printing business in Groton, an hour or so away. He has now returned to be a Second Market Guy to Taylor, setting up his own fruit and vegetable stand in the park opposite Doose’s Market.

Why this man was originally drawn to Stars Hollow remains a mystery.

Lorelai and Rory Help Out at the Diner

LUKE: You don’t have to do this.

LORELAI: We don’t mind. Go.

How are Lorelai and Rory helping out at the diner on a day when Luke is busy and his assistant Caesar has a day off? Don’t they have a job and school to go to? And Rory went and got Jess to help as well, are we meant to assume that Jess is just skipping school for the rest of the day? (I’m also interested as to who did the cooking on that first day – the Gilmore girls famously refuse to cook, and with Caesar off work and Luke busy, was Jess the chef for the day?).

I can see maybe Lorelai could have the freedom to work at the diner during the rush hours, but Rory needs to catch a bus, and she’ll be in Hartford all day. Plus she has homework to do after school, and didn’t they come to the diner to have breakfast? When are they going to get to eat? Also, what day of the week is this? It seems to be Friday, so do they have a Friday night dinner to get to in the evening, or will Luke be back at the diner by then?

Are we meant to assume that Lorelai and Rory just helped out in the diner before work/school for twenty minutes or so? Because that’s not very much help at all. Time just sort of stops existing for the first half of this episode – a hallmark of those written by Daniel Palladino.

By the end of the episode, it seems as if Lorelai and Rory are virtually running the diner for Luke, with the reluctant help of Jess, and I suppose Caesar, once he returns from his day off. Although they can barely navigate their own kitchen, this does make some sense, because Lorelai manages an inn, and Rory helps out there part-time, so they do understand customer service. Lorelai in particular is apparently so good at it that she becomes something of a drawcard at the diner, her natural talent and people skills shining forth once again.

Horseshoe Carnation Wreaths

LUKE: Yeah, [Dad] just wanted me to make sure [Louie] got a proper funeral. You know, respectful, dignified.

LORELAI: No horseshoe carnation wreaths, got it.

Carnations are traditional funeral flowers, symbolising love and remembrance. Horseshoe wreaths at funerals are commonly made, sometimes symbolising good luck, but especially for people with a connection to horses – including gamblers, I suppose. Lorelai’s funeral snobbishness sounds like something of which Emily would approve!

Orlando, Florida

LORELAI: Florida? I thought he was in the area.

LUKE: No no, he spent most of his life here but retired to Orlando, so I gotta ship the body back here.

Orlando is the seat of Orange County in Central Florida, a city founded in 1838, and with a population of more than 300 000, making it the 67th largest city in the US (the entire metropolitan area is more than 2.5 million).

Orlando is nicknamed “the City Beautiful”, and is heavily visited due to the Walt Disney World Resort, and the Universal Orlando Resort, as well as being extremely popular for conventions. It is a common place to choose for retirement, like Louie did.

Orlando is about 1200 miles from Hartford, and can be more than four hours by air, if that’s how Luke is having him shipped. By road, it’s about 18 hours.

Jeannie and Major Healey

JESS: I’m in the middle of something.

RORY: Just assume that Jeannie’s gonna get Major Healey out of whatever scrape he’s in.

As the theme music playing tells us, Jess is watching I Dream of Jeannie, a fantasy sitcom created by Sidney Sheldon, starring Barbara Eden as a 2000-year-old genie named Jeannie, and Larry Hagman as Major Tony Nelson, the astronaut she falls in love with. Bill Daily played Tony’s best friend, Major Roger Healey, who was girl-crazy and often entered into get-rich-quick schemes, requiring Jeannie’s assistance to sort everything out. The show was originally broadcast from 1965 to 1970, but but often shown in reruns.

I Dream of Jeannie was created as a deliberate rival to Bewitched, both having pretty blonde magical beings as the focus of the show. It is amusing that Jess apparently prefers I Dream of Jeannie, while Lorelai seems to be a fan of Bewitched.

The classic theme music which you hear Jess listening to was composed by Hugo Montenegro with lyrics by Buddy Kaye. It replaced the original Season 1 theme music, a jazz waltz composed by Richard Weiss. Carole King and Gerry Goffin wrote a theme for the show, but it was never used.

(The show is set in Florida, the same place Louie retired to).

Jehovah’s Coffee Girl

LUKE: Not everybody likes it that strong.

LORELAI: Well, then I shall convert them. I am the Jehovah’s coffee girl.

Jehovah’s Witnesses is a non-mainstream Christian denomination which emerged from the Bible Study Movement founded in the 1870s by Charles Taze Russell; after his death, a breakaway group headed by Joseph Franklin Rutherford took control and chose the name Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1931.

Jehovah’s Witnesses are probably best known for their door-to-door preaching, distributing evangelical literature. Lorelai sees herself as similarly working to convert people to strong coffee.

Cathy Coffee, Mrs Folger, and Juan Valdez

LORELAI: We’re running out of coffee … I got it.

LUKE: Do you know how?

LORELAI: Do I . . . ugh . . . I am Cathy Coffee, mister, the bastard offspring of Mrs. Folger and Juan Valdez.

Cathy Coffee

I think a fictional coffee mascot that Lorelai has invented and is now personifying.

Mrs Folger [pictured]

Mrs Olson, or “The Folgers Coffee Woman” was in a string of television commercials for Folgers Coffee during the 1960s and ’70s. Mrs Olson was a Swedish neighbour who always recommended a cup of Folgers Coffee to other people in the commercial. She was played by an actress named Virginia Christina, born Virginia Ricketts (1920-1996).

Juan Valdez

A fictional character who has appeared in advertisements for the National Federation of Coffee Growers in Colombia since 1958. He is an icon for both coffee and Colombia. He was portrayed by a Cuban actor named José F. Duval until 1969, then by Colombian actor Carlos Sánchez. Since 2006, Juan Valdez has been portrayed by Carlos Castañeda, a coffee grower from a small town in Colombia.