Footnotes to the TV series
KIRK: I have to tell you, I’m a little worried about this gazebo holding up all those hoofers. They never did a trial run like I requested.
RORY: Oh, I think it’s okay. The studs are definitely sound, and the two by fours are a nice number two structural grade. Or better possibly. I built a house yesterday.
Again, for Rory to have built a house yesterday, on a Saturday, and it’s now Saturday night, shows that we have strangely had two Saturdays in a row.
[The girls start dancing. Kirk watches them as Rory walks over to him.]
RORY: How come you’re not up there Kirk?
KIRK: Oh, I don’t tap anymore. Bum knees.
This is the first indication we have of Kirk’s artistic leanings and dance training, later retconned so that he is actually a past student of Miss Patty (even though he had never met her in their first encounter on the show, in Cinnamon’s Wake).
This 1973 pop song is the one chosen for Miss Patty’s dancers to tap dance to in the gazebo. It was written by Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, and first recorded by Neil Sedaka.
The version used in this scene is the 1975 cover version by the duo Captain & Tennille, from their album Love Will Keep Us Together. The single became a world-wide hit, and went to #1 in the US, Canada, and Australia. Captain & Tennille did a Spanish-language version of the song called Por Amor Viviremos which went to #49 in the US the same year; a rare example of the same song hitting the charts in different versions.
MAX: Will you still want me when I get back?
LORELAI: I think there’s a very good possibility that I will be just as infatuated with you then as I am now.
Max’s asking if Lorelai will still want when he returns from Toronto is a reminder of the song Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree, earlier discussed. It’s noteworthy that Lorelai still hasn’t told Max that she loves him, just as she admitted to Rory that she couldn’t say “I love you”, even as she urged Rory to say it to Dean. Here she only says she is “infatuated” with him, suggesting an intense but short-lived passion. Again, Max fails to pick up on this red flag.
LORELAI: Aw, so come on then. How can you stand to leave all this for two months? Do you think Toronto’s gonna make you into an ice sculpture? I don’t think so.
Max isn’t going away for two months – he’s back in the next episode, which is set in early August, so he’s gone for perhaps six weeks.
MAX: I don’t know if you’ve realised, but every gift so far has been for you.
LORELAI: Yes, well, in this town, I am the queen. You are simply my jester.
MAX: A position I happily accept.
For reasons which are not made entirely clear, Lorelai Gilmore is the queen bee of Stars Hollow, and has an almost celebrity status in the town. You can see that all the gifts are extremely girly, such as a matching Hello Kitty waffle iron, toaster, kettle, and lamp, floral chinaware, and lavender lamps. They are the kind of gifts you might give a young girl, rather than a mature woman who is already a mother, and about to be married. Max is almost superfluous at his own engagement party.
Lorelai does not say that Max will be her king, or stand beside her as her equal. She is making it clear that she is the boss in this relationship, and that Max is just there for her amusement. It doesn’t sound like a good basis for a marriage, and for Max to “happily accept” it is a warning that he’s either delusional or doesn’t take her seriously. Big mistake.
LANE: Just don’t let her [Lorelai] change the date [of her wedding].
RORY: Not going to happen. Max is teaching a summer course at the University of Toronto, so if you’re back by the end of the summer, it’ll be fine.
The University of Toronto is a public university in the city of Toronto, Ontario. It is one of the oldest universities in Canada, and is the highest ranked university in the country, named among the best in the world. First founded by royal charter in 1827 and controlled by the Church of England, it changed its name in 1850 after becoming a secular instiution.
The university’s summer programs take place over 3-6 weeks, which fits in with Max being away until early August (so in fact the wedding could be moved up, causing Lane to miss it). Presumably Max is teaching classes in English Literature.
Gilmore Girls was first filmed in Unionville, on the outskirts of Toronto, so this seems like a gesture towards the show’s beginnings (at one time, they considered filming the show in Toronto permanently).
LANE: Write me. Constantly.
RORY: Every day.
LANE: Encouraging letters full of hope and see you soons.
RORY: I’ll be tying yellow ribbons around the old oak trees.
Rory is referencing the 1973 pop song Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Ole Oak Tree by Tony Orlando and Dawn, from the album Tie a Yellow Ribbon.
The song is tells the story of a man who has “done his time”, and is returning home to find out if his sweetheart still loves him. She is supposed to leave a yellow ribbon tied around an oak tree if the answer is yes, but to his delight he finds she has put out a hundred yellow ribbons to show how very welcome home he is. This is reminiscent of the “thousand yellow daisies” that Max gave Lorelai when he proposed.
Urban legend imagined that the man was a convict getting out of prison, but the lyricist L. Russell Brown said it was about a man returning from war, inspired by the folk tales of women wearing yellow ribbons during the American Civil War to show they were waiting for a Union soldier to come home. The war is presumably the Vietnam War, since the man is riding on a bus to get home.
Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Ole Oak Tree was a massive success world-wide, and the #1 song of 1973 in the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It is estimated that it has been played more than three million times on radio.
LANE: What time is it?
RORY: It’s eight. What time do you leave?
LANE: I have a ten o’clock flight.
If it’s 8 pm and Lane’s flight is at 10 pm, shouldn’t she be at the airport already, or at least on her way there? Most airlines recommend you arrive 2-3 hours before an international flight. This was shortly before 9/11, when travel security was less of an issue, but even before then, 90 minutes prior to the flight was the minimum, and Hartford is half an hour’s drive away.
LANE: I’m trying to find that subtle blend between not too cliché sounding traditional tunes with out of left field, should be standard.
RORY: Well, the Sinatra medley was great. I’d maybe skip playing anything else by The Damned.
The Damned are an English punk rock band formed in 1976, and founded by Dave Vanian, Brian James, Captain Sensible (Raymond Burns), and Rat Scabies (Christopher Millar). They were the first UK punk band to release a single, New Rose (1976), release an album, Damned Damned Damned (1977), and tour the United States.
They were also the first punk band to break up and make a comeback – they briefly broke up after their second album, then reformed without Brian James to release a third album in 1979. The band moved towards a gothic rock sound in the 1980s, becoming one of the first gothic rock bands, and a huge influence on the goth subculture, and hardcore punk.
I’m not sure which song by The Damned Lane might have chosen to play for the engagement party, but it could have been their first single, New Rose, which is a love song, and went to #81 on the UK charts. Lane may also have heard the 1993 cover version by Guns N’ Roses.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 