Footnotes to the TV series
MISS PATTY: Now remember, one of the most important things in ballroom dancing is to remember to spot, otherwise you’re gonna get dizzy. So, what you wanna do is you wanna pick out something to focus on. I usually like to find a lonely seaman. Then when turning, whip your head around and find your spot again. [spins around] Hello sailor, hello sailor, hello sailor.
One of the show’s more groan-worthy sexual jokes. Note the reference to “hello sailor”, used again.
The song that is playing at Miss Patty’s while Rory and Dean, then Lorelai and Christopher, dance together.
The Way You Look Tonight was written by Jerome Kern, with lyrics by Dorothy Fields, and first sung by Fred Astaire in the 1936 musical film, Swing Time. The song went to #1 in 1936, and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
The song has often been successfully covered. The version Miss Patty plays is the best known and most popular – the 1964 version by Frank Sinatra, with the Nelson Riddle Orchestra. It’s on the album Sinatra Sings Days of Wine and Roses, Moon River, and Other Academy Award Winners.
Rory and Dean are given a quick dancing lesson by Miss Patty at her dancing school – the Miss Patty’s Place that’s been such a feature of Rory and Dean’s relationship. Could their nerves over being in a place that got them into trouble be one reason their dancing is so poor? (Mind you, Rory is said to be physically uncoordinated which makes her bad at sport, and Dean hates dancing).
The other debutantes will have had weeks of dancing classes. Rory apparently just had this one lesson. It seems unbelievable that Emily would send her granddaughter to make her debut while so ill-prepared.
LORELAI: Hey Mom, I might be reading too much into this, but um, is something going on between you and Dad?
EMILY: What are you talking about?
LORELAI: I don’t know, he just seems a little less jolly than usual.
Even the self-centred Lorelai has picked up that her parents are not getting along, and that her father isn’t happy. While Emily is seemingly obsessed with Rory’s debutante ball, Richard appears quite uninterested, even refusing to pick up his own tuxedo from the dry cleaners as he has too much work to do. Yet he is home early, not in work clothes, and drinking alcohol … hmm.
Emily declares that everything is fine, and Lorelai uncharacteristically backs down, saying that she must have been mistaken.
LORELAI: Mom, there’d have to be a 12k run and a jujitsu demonstration for her to go through twelve pairs of pantyhose.
Ju-jitsu (or jujutsu) is a Japanese martial art. Its name translates to “yielding art”, because it is based on using your opponent’s force against them, rather than providing an opposing force.
There are often references to sports and games of conflict in conversations between Lorelai and Emily.
EMILY: There’s the presentation, the circle, the curtsy, the fan dance.
Presentation
Debutantes are presented to a guest of honour during their debut, as a sign that they are being welcomed into good society. Originally, debutantes were presented to a reigning monarch at the English court. These days, it’s usually to someone prominent in the community.
Circle
All the debutantes and their escorts form a large circle, and take a slow, leisurely walk around it together. It’s designed to show off the girls, much like models on a catwalk, and is probably the part Lorelai was thinking of when she said it was like a “county fair”. Once upon a time, the idea was to let eligible bachelors get a good long look at some marital prospects, but these days it’s mostly so parents can see their little girl all dressed up and take pictures for Facebook etc.
Curtsy
The debutantes receive many lessons on how to perform the perfect deep curtsy at the ball. Sometimes the curtsy is during the presentation, while at other balls, the curtsy will be part of a complicated dance or performance. Rory seems to be missing out on all those weeks of curtsy practice, but presumably is getting intensive training from her parents and grandmother that we don’t see onscreen.
Fan Dance
Often at debutante balls, the debutantes perform some kind of highly choreographed dance routine. Amusingly, at Rory’s ball, the debutantes are preparing a “fan dance”, which is literally an erotic dance, usually performed in the nude or a skimpy costume as part of a burlesque show. Of course this would never happen at a real debutante ball, and the girls will all be wearing formal dresses anyway. (Picture shows burlesque dancer Michelle L’Amour performing).
LORELAI: Oh my God, George Lucas wishes he had this sound system.
George Lucas (born 1944) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter, one of the most financially successful in history. He is best known for the Star Wars film franchise, which features a stirring musical theme composed by John Williams.
The song playing in car Christopher’s car when he turns the sound system up. It’s a song by German electro-industrial metal band Rammstein, from their 1997 album Sehnsucht. The song was a #5 hit in Germany, and went to #20 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart in the US.
The song’s title translates to “You have” in English, but in German is a play on words with the homophone Du hasst, meaning, “You hate”. Possibly a slightly threatening song to arrive with, although it’s another reminder that Lorelai and Chris are both heavy metal fans.
LORELAI: Oh yeah. A Volvo sedan, are you kidding?
CHRISTOPHER: This is a great car.
LORELAI: For driving to bingo.
CHRISTOPHER: I’ve got Alpine head units, two subs, and two twelves. In exchange, no passenger-side airbag.
Volvo is a Swedish brand of luxury cars founded in 1927; the name is Latin for “I roll”. It was founded upon the concept of safety, and their cars have long been marketed as safe and reliable; many of the Volvo’s safety innovations have now become standard or even compulsory. Lorelai sees it as an old person’s car, because of its staid and rather boring image.
I think Christopher’s car is a 2001 Volvo S80, an executive sedan. He describes the car’s sound system as Alpine brand head units, with two sub woofers, and two twelve-inch sub woofers (maybe he means two amplifiers and two twelve-inch sub woofers?), which means he had to give up passenger-side airbags, a major feature of the S80. So he’s bought a safe car, and made it less safe (for the person who’s not him), so he can enjoy music.
As Lorelai notes, Christopher has given up his cool motorcycle for a sensible car, but the old (selfish) Christopher still lives. Take warning!
(There is an immediate shot of the Massachusetts license plate, to remind us Christopher has moved to Boston. It begins with 169, which seems like a naughty joke, although it’s not a vanity plate, so not deliberate on Christopher’s part).
RORY: The Compact Oxford English Dictionary!
CHRISTOPHER: I promised you I’d get it. I’m just sorry it took so long.
RORY: That’s okay.
CHRISTOPHER: On the bright side, this is the new edition. If I’d gotten you the old one, you wouldn’t have the word ‘jiggy’ in it.
RORY: Thank you. I love it, I’m gonna go look things up right now.
CHRISTOPHER: Wait, wait. [hands her magnifying glass]
The Compact Oxford English Dictionary, previously discussed as Rory’s dream book, which Christopher couldn’t buy her six months ago because his credit card was declined.
This time he is able to buy her the 2001 edition, which contains the American slang word “jiggy”. The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as “Excitedly energetic or uninhibited, often in a sexual manner; to get jiggy: to engage in sexual activity”.
The Compact Oxford English Dictionary has such fine print that it comes with its own reading glass.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 