Footnotes to the TV series
CHRISTOPHER: Change of plans.
LORELAI: You can’t just change the plans. The plans came over on the Mayflower.
The Mayflower, previously discussed.
In real life, the surnames Gilmore and Hayden are not mentioned as passengers on the Mayflower.
LORELAI: Oh God, I hope they [Richard and Emily] go [on vacation] over Christmas. That would be as holly jolly as it gets.
A reference to “A Holly Jolly Christmas”, a 1962 Christmas song written by Johnny Marks. First recorded by the Quinto Sisters, it was featured in the 1964 animated Christmas television special Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
It was sung by Burl Ives, who was also the narrator, and released on the soundtrack album. Burl Ives re-recorded it for his own Christmas album, and released it as a single. Of enduring popularity, the Burl Ives version continues to chart on the current charts, and has peaked at #4 in the years since 1998.
CHRISTOPHER: Where’s Sofia?
LORELAI: Fired … She touched the Baccarat unicorn.
Baccarat, previously discussed as one of Emily’s preferred brands.
A Baccarat unicorn might cost around $500 today.
This episode, one of the more complex in structure, has a series of flashbacks within it. In the first flashback, we see a teenaged Lorelai and Christopher coming to the Gilmore home after school. They are wearing the same uniform, although I don’t think the show ever mentions them attending the same school. We know it is December, because they have finished their midterm exams, and are discussing the upcoming Christmas vacation.
With no adult supervision (Richard and Emily are out, and the maid has been fired, of course), Christopher – naturally – heads straight to the liquor cabinet and pours them drinks. Getting Lorelai drunk seems to be part of his technique.
Christopher reveals that his plan (more of a dream, actually), is to take a year off after graduation and go backpacking around Europe. He asks Lorelai to come with him, and she agrees – just as she and Rory are planning to go backpacking around Europe as soon as Rory graduates. During the conversation, it is clear that Christopher and Lorelai are close friends, not boyfriend and girlfriend, and that Christopher would like something more. By the end of the scene, they are kissing, although it is unclear whether this is the first time or not.
The young Lorelai and Christopher are played by Chelsea Brummet and Phillip Van Dyke. Brummet would later become a regular on kid’s sketch comedy show, All That, and Van Dyke had previously been on several TV shows, including Hey Arnold, and The Amanda Show. His acting career finished in 2003.
LORELAI: Wow, these will be an enormous help in planning our trip. Hey, you wanna go see the Berlin Wall?
RORY: Sounds great.
The Berlin Wall, a guarded concrete barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and East Germany. It included guard towers placed along large concrete walls, accompanied by a wide area (later known as the “death strip”) that contained anti-vehicle trenches, beds of nails and other defenses.
You can actually see the Berlin Wall today – at least part of it. The remains of the wall have been left up as an exhibition, and it is one of Berlin’s top tourist sites.
Fodor’s Selected Hotels of Europe
Published in 1987 by travel company Fodor’s. A guide to the luxury hotels of Europe in the late 1980s.
Hotels, Restaurants and Inns of Great Britain and Ireland, 1986 edition
A travel guide by Hungarian-born British food critic Egon Ronay, which was published annually. In 1987, it was sold to the British Automobile Association, however, Ronay was able to buy his rights back in 1997.
Myra Waldo’s Travel and Motoring Guide to Europe, 1978 edition
A guide by prolific travel and food writer, Molly Waldo. If you are planning to read all the books mentioned in Gilmore Girls, you’ll have trouble obtaining this one, as it appears to be unavailable.
RORY: We have travel books.
LORELAI: No, sweetie, these aren’t our kind of travel books. These are Paris and Nicky Hilton’s kind of travel books.
Paris Hilton (born 1981), media personality, businesswoman, socialite, model, and entertainer, and Nicholai “Nicky” Rothschild (born Nicholai Hilton in 1983), American socialite, fashion designer and model, younger sister of Paris [Nicky is on the left]. The granddaughters of Conrad Hilton, the founder of Hilton Hotels, they were famous for being glamorous wealthy heiresses in the 1990s and early 2000s.
I somehow feel that Paris and Nicky would not need a guide book to find a good hotel …
LORELAI: Oh Rory, come on. Did you order from Amazon again? ‘Cause we’re going to get your books their own house.
Amazon, previously discussed. It’s been established that Rory buys most of her books online from Amazon.
LORELAI: Angel face, you need to learn that there are going to be times in your life when you have to do ridiculous things for money. If you’re Adrian Zmed, that includes everything that ever happens in your whole career.
Adrian Zmed (born 1954), actor known for playing Johnny Nogerelli in the 1982 film Grease 2; several of his other films have gone straight to video. He is best known for the role of Officer Vince Romano on police drama TV series T.J. Hooker, airing from 1982 to 1986.
[Lorelai and Rory walk up to the house with boxes of Beanie Babies]
RORY: I just need to go on record that a grown man should not throw himself a Beanie Baby retirement party.
Beanie Babies are a line of stuffed toys created by American businessman H. Ty Warner in 1993. The toys are stuffed with plastic pellets (“beans”) rather than conventional soft stuffing. They come in many different forms, mostly animals.
Beanie Babies emerged as a major fad and collectible during the second half of the 1990s. They have been cited as being the world’s first Internet sensation in 1995. They were collected not only as toys, but also as a financial investment, owing to the high resale value of particular ones.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 