LORELAI: Oh, please God. TAYLOR: Sold for fifty-two fifty.
Worried that she will end up sharing her crummy picnic basket with one of Miss Patty’s choices for her to date, Lorelai begs Luke to save her. After some obligatory grouching, he does the right thing and buys Lorelai’s basket – the Miss Patty Brigade apparently decided to set an upper limit of $50. By bidding $52.50, Luke wins.
This scene is closer to the ending of the box social auction in Oklahoma!, with Luke in the role of the chivalrous Curly who manages to stump up the cash to save his girl. Luke doesn’t have to sell everything he has to buy the basket, but he does find money that the others don’t have or aren’t willing to spend.
Jackson is piqued because Sookie hasn’t picked up on his hints he wants to move in with her, and petulantly refuses to bid on her basket. With nobody else making a move, Andrew from Stars Hollow Books puts in a bid for it. At this point, Andrew appears to be single, but it’s unclear whether he wants the delicious basket, or Sookie herself. He certainly doesn’t seem worried about upsetting Jackson.
The point where Andrew and Jackson’s names are said together is almost certainly a joking reference to Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), lawyer, soldier, and statesmen who served as the 7th President of the United States, from 1829 to 1837.
Dean puts a $5 bid on Rory’s basket, even though Taylor set the bidding at $3. He is expecting that to be the end of the matter, but is shocked when Jess begins bidding against him. Eventually Jess gets Rory’s basket for $90 – Dean, who has only come prepared with a small amount of money, expecting to win the bid straight away, cannot compete.
Rory’s is actually the most expensive basket we see at the auction, even though it’s tiny with only a few leftovers in it. Even Taylor tries to dissuade the boys from bidding so much, despite the fact the money is being raised for charity.
This interaction is an homage to the box social auction scene from the 1955 musical film, Oklahoma!, based on the 1943 stage musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein, which was based on the 1931 play Green Grow the Lilacs by Lynn Riggs.
The film focuses on the love triangle between virginal farm girl Laurey (Shirley Jones), charming cowboy Curly (Gordon MacRae), and unchivalrous farm hand Jud (Rod Steiger). Laurey goes to the box social with Jud to teach Curly a lesson, and the two men end up in a bidding war for Laurey’s picnic hamper at the auction. It seems as if Jud has won, but then Curly sells everything he has in order to raise enough money to get the winning bid.
The clean cut Dean and outsider Jess are clear analogies to Curly and Jud, but unlike the film, Dean has no way of instantly raising the money to get the highest bid. It does suggest that Rory accepts the lunch date with Jess because she’s fed up with Dean, as Laurey accepts Jud’s invitation because she’s tired of the way she’s being match-made with Curly. It also hints at Jess’ obsession with Rory, as Jud becomes obsessed with Laurey.
However, in the film, Laurey and Curly end up married, and Jud is killed in a fight with Curly. Perhaps this is meant reflect a bit of wishful thinking from Dean!
The show opens the day before the Stars Hollow Bid-on-a-Basket Fundraiser, with signs telling the viewer that bidders can win themselves a delicious home-cooked picnic lunch, that it’s held on Sunday at midday, and that all proceeds go to the Stars Hollow Retirement Home (the signs are sponsored by Doose’s Market). Across the street at the market, baskets are on sale, and more signs tell us that it’s also known as the Bid-on-a-Basket Festival. We can see a woman leaving with her new basket.
Inside the market, Lorelai and Rory are shopping for their own baskets, but of course they don’t intend to cook a delicious home-cooked picnic lunch (or even make Sookie do it for them, like they did for the bake sale). They’re just going to put old leftovers in their baskets – as we now know they keep leftovers for a long time, it’s sounding like a Salmonella Festival for anyone bidding on their baskets!
These type of fundraisers are called “box socials” and were common in the 19th century and 1900s, with women cooking the food and packing it into a box or basket, and men bidding for them. Although it was meant to be a “blind” auction, married and attached women would let their husband or sweetheart know which basket was theirs, so they could bid on it – bidding on a woman’s basket was a way to let her know you were interested in more than her home cooking.
Box socials are also low-key dating auctions, with the winning bidder not only getting the basket, but the chance to share the picnic lunch with the lady who provided it. A lunch basket auction of this type features in the 2001 YA novel Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen (in this case, it is a high school boy who provides the basket, and girls bid on the chance to have lunch with him). This seems like a bit of a coincidence, or perhaps merely zeitgeist.
Although Flipped is set in the 1990s, when it was made into a film in 2010, they set it in the 1960s, as if that scene was deemed too old-fashioned to be believable. They must have agreed with Lorelai, who complained that the concept was “backwards”. In fact there has been a mild resurgence in box socials since the 1990s.
The show never makes it explicit, but according to the timeline, the Bid-on-Basket Fundraiser seems to be held in mid-February, and it would make sense if it was the Sunday after Valentine’s Day. That’s a clear connection with love and romance, although it isn’t practical at all to have a picnic in winter! In real life it would be freezing.
The episode is named for an English nursery rhyme, first recorded in the US in 1879 as a children’s game, to be sung while children danced in a circle. One child would run around the circle and drop a handkerchief; the nearest child to them would then pick it up and chase them. If caught, the child who dropped the handkerchief would either be kissed, join the circle, or had to confess the name of their sweetheart.
The rhyme was turned into a highly popular 1938 song by Ella Fitzgerald, in conjunction with Al Feldner (later known as Van Alexander). It has since become a jazz standard, often used in film and television soundtracks.
The lyrics to the rhyme are usually given as:
A-tisket, a-tasket A green and yellow basket I wrote a letter to my love And on the way I dropped it, I dropped it, I dropped it, And on the way I dropped it. A little boy he picked it up And put it in his pocket.
It’s suitable for an episode all about baskets, romance, and miscommunication. The episode will also include something being dropped that a “little boy” picks up.
This is the song playing on the stereo when Richard returns home from Stars Hollow. It plays over him looking sad while alone in his study, until the end of the episode.
The opening lyrics are in tune with Richard’s melancholy mood:
I was a stranger in the city Out of town were the people I knew I had that feeling of self pity What to do, what to do, what to do? The outlook was decidedly blue
A Foggy Day was composed by George Gershwin, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin. It was introduced by Fred Astaire in the 1937 musical comedy film A Damsel in Distress, loosely based on the 1919 novel of the same name by P.G. Wodehouse, and the 1928 stage play written by Wodehouse and Ian Hay. Astaire’s recording was very popular in 1937.
The song has been covered numerous times, and Richard listens to a Frank Sinatra version. Richard may be listening to his 1954 album Songs for Young Lovers, produced by Voyle Gilmore (!), or from the 1961 Ring-a-Ding-Ding! The second one, which was well-reviewed and went to #4 in the charts, seems more likely, as Richard would been about eighteen when it came out.
A poster for this video game is displayed in the window of Stars Hollow Video – the store obviously hires out games as well as movies.
Grand Theft Auto III is a 2001 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar. Set in fictional Liberty City (loosely based on New York City), it follows the adventures of Claude, who becomes embroiled in a world of crime, drugs, gangs, and corruption. The game received critical acclaim, was the best-selling game of 2001, was named Game of the Year, and is considered to be one of the greatest video games ever. It was also controversial for its depiction of sex and violence.
It’s possible that this is a foreshadowing of Rory’s own Grand Theft Yacht, but more likely a comment on freedom of speech.
The show ends with another Friday Night Dinner – not the one immediately after the Thursday night scene at Stars Hollow High School, but the following one, more than a week later. Lorelai tells Emily that work began on the house the previous morning, so that we know they have already done the termite fumigation, and everything is on track for their house to be fully repaired.
Getting a house’s foundation repaired usually takes about three days, so it might be be finished over the weekend. Even allowing for extra time because the damage was so extensive, we can feel confident that Lorelai’s house will be completely fixed by Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest (in time for the next episode!).
In this episode, Lane has been mysteriously unavailable whenever Rory tries to catch up with her to share her news, such as her stellar PSAT results, or their termite disaster. While talking to Dean at Stars Hollow High School, Rory suddenly notices that Lane is one of the cheerleaders who are staying late for practice. Aghast by this discovery, Rory heads off for coffee with Dean.
When Rory sees Lane at the school on her way home, they have a confrontation. Rory is upset that Lane hid her cheerleader tendencies from her, while Lane says she couldn’t tell her the truth because she feared being mocked or Rory getting upset. Rory is actually quite rude to Lane, insulting her cheerleader outfit and reminding her that they always made fun of cheerleaders like Janie Fertman.
Lane points out that Rory isn’t around much any more, always being busy with Chilton stuff or Dean, that she wanted to try something new, and doesn’t have to justify her choices. This is all perfectly reasonable, and it’s great to see Lane get to do something for herself for a change. Rory is in a bad mood because of the fight with Lorelai, and gets in a temper with her, and it ends with both girls raising their voices at each other.
(In an episode about secrets, this is the third secret: Rory keeping her PSAT results a secret from Paris, Lorelai keeping her termite problem a secret from Emily, and Lane keeping her cheerleader secret from Rory).
This song plays as Lorelai wakes up happy, gets coffee, goes outside, and falls through the porch. It was written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, published in 1955. It was introduced in the 1956 Alfred Hitchcock film, The Man Who Knew Too Much, sung by Doris Day. Her rendition went to #2 in the US and #1 in the UK, and the film received the Academy Award for Best Song. It became Doris Day’s signature song, and is regarded as one of the best songs in cinema history.
The song popularised the phrase que sera sera to indicate a sort of cheery fatalism, although the phrase itself was used as a heraldic motto as early as the 16th century. It is an English mistranslation of “what will be, will be” from the Spanish; in Spanish it would be lo que será, será. No such similar phrase is known of in Spanish or Italian, it has always been an English saying.
In The Man Who Knew Too Much, Doris Day sings the song in the hopes that her kidnapped son will hear it. The song’s message of hope is often used in film and television juxtaposed against disastrous events to create a moment of black comedy, of which we see a very mild version in Gilmore Girls. The joke is that Lorelai has no idea what is coming.
(It might seem unusual to go out on your porch in the your pyjamas early in the morning in the depths of winter to drink your coffee, but Lorelai has that special relationship with snow. And they’re actually in California).
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 