Footnotes to the TV series
pizza with everything (from the delivery service)
mystery dessert (brought over by Sookie – maybe cake?)
microwave popcorn
spray cheese (to put on the popcorn, I think)
potato chips
corn chips
Cheetos puffed corn snacks
marshmallows
jelly beans
Nestle’s Willy Wonka Fun-Dip Lix-a-Stix
Red Vines red licorice sticks
prepackaged cookie dough (with a spoon to eat it)
peanut butter (maybe to use as a dip with chocolates?)
M&Ms
Hershey’s chocolate kisses
Hershey’s Cadbury Caramello bars
LUKE: So you passed the need for an actual person to talk to several minutes ago.
LORELAI: Oh, yeah. Before the gelato stand.
Gelato is Italian ice cream; the word means “frozen” in Italian. It generally has less fat than other ice creams, but greater density and more intense flavours. Legend says the origins of gelato go back to the Roman Empire, but the dessert only became widely commercially available and popular in the 1920s, in the city of Varese in northern Italy.
Thanksgiving is a public holiday in the United States celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November – in 2000, Thanksgiving was on November 23. Originating as a harvest festival, it has been celebrated nationally since 1793, and was declared a federal holiday in 1863.
It is clear that the Autumn Festival celebrates the lead up to Thanksgiving. Interestingly, the word “Thanksgiving” is never mentioned in the episode, yet it is obvious that it is the theme of the festival from context. Notice how often the words “thank you” are used in this episode – Rory even thanks Dean for giving her a kiss!
Especially in the early part of the episode, many of the symbols of Thanksgiving are in evidence or discussed.
Autumn leaves: suitable decorations for the season of the year.
Pilgrims: Americans trace the First Thanksgiving to a 1621 celebration in Plymouth (now in Massachusetts). The Pilgrims, who were English Dissenters, were given help by the local Native American people in catching and growing food, and added to their stores when supplies were low. The Pilgrims invited the local people to their harvest supper, which lasted for days and was held somewhere between late September and early November.
Indians: Lorelai tells Rory to save her apologies for the Indians, referring to the devastating effects of European settlement on the Native American population and culture. Because of it, Native Americans of New England have held a National Day of Mourning as a protest on Thanksgiving since 1970.
Turkey: This poultry native to the Americas plays a central role in Thanksgiving dinner, usually served roasted and stuffed. It is said to be one of the foods served at the semi-legendary First Thanksgiving, making it a traditional choice (they also ate a ton of eel, cod, and venison, but nobody cares much about that).
Pumpkin: A food native to the Americas in season in autumn, and a symbol of the harvest. Pumpkin pie is a traditional dessert for Thanksgiving dinner (which sounds wrong as a sweet, but tastes really nice).
Squash: Like pumpkin, autumn squash are native to the Americas and ripe for the season, making them a natural choice for Thanksgiving dinner.
Horn of plenty: Also known as a cornucopia, this has been a symbol of prosperity and abundance from classic times, and has long been connected with the harvest season. In the US, this has made it a natural fit as a Thanksgiving symbol, and is often a decorative wicker basket filled with fruits and vegetables.
Canned goods drive: Donating canned goods to the less fortunate in a common charitable cause at Thanksgiving. In Stars Hollow, the collection point for the canned food drive is actually called the Horn of Plenty. Rory and Lane both volunteer to work at the Stars Hollow canned goods drive, for which they dress in Pilgrim costumes, with an Autumn Festival badge
The “Mayflower” and Plymouth Rock: Taylor and Dean attempt to make a display of canned soup look like either the Mayflower, or when that fails, Plymouth Rock. The Mayflower was the ship on which the Pilgrims arrived in the New World in November 1620, and Plymouth Rock in Plymouth Harbor was traditionally where they disembarked. Both are items of great veneration.
EMILY: You smiled. You’re pleased that the ice man looked at you like a Porterhouse steak.
A Porterhouse steak is cut from the rear end of sirloin of beef (called a short loin in the US), and contain a large tenderloin of steak. They are the most highly prized of all the steak cuts.
EMILY (ordering a drink): Stoli on the rocks with a twist.
Emily is referring to Stolichnaya, a brand of well known premium Russian vodka that was first produced in the 1930s. Judging by the expression on Lorelai’s face, it’s unlikely that she has any, and Emily probably gets something a little more downmarket.
LORELAI: And I said something at the table about the pâté smelling like Clorox and one thing led to another and I wound up here. I hadn’t told anybody yet about me. And you.
Clorox is an American brand of household cleaning bleach, made by the Clorox Company, founded in 1913.
The pate would have smelled unpalatably bleach-y to Lorelai because she was pregnant; pregnancy can change the way you perceive odours and flavours. As Emily and Richard didn’t know she was pregnant, they probably thought Lorelai was being a rude brat, and sent her upstairs. Could this help explain Lorelai’s disdain for pâté?
LORELAI: Here. [hands Rory a drink]
RORY: What is it?
LORELAI: Shirley Temple.
RORY: What are you drinking?
LORELAI: A Shirley Temple Black.
(Lorelai lets Rory smell her drink.)
RORY: Wow.
LORELAI: I got your Good Ship Lollipop right here, mister.
Shirley Temple (1928-2014) was a multi award-winning box office-topping American Hollywood child star who began her career at the age of three. In 1934, she became famous starring in the film Bright Eyes, written specifically as a vehicle for Temple. On the Good Ship Lollipop is Temple’s musical number from the film, which became her signature song.
Later in life after leaving Hollywood, Shirley married a wealthy businessman named Charles Black so that her name became Shirley Temple Black. Strongly interested in conservative politics, she was US ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslavakia, and was the first female Chief of Protocol of the United States.
The Shirley Temple Lorelai hands Rory is a non-alcoholic cocktail, made for children and named after the child actress. Traditionally it’s made from ginger ale with a splash of grenadine, decorated with a cocktail cherry. Modern versions may be made with lemonade, lemon-lime soda or orange juice. Shirley Temple herself disliked the cocktail, finding it too sweet.
Lorelai indicates that her own drink is the grown-up version of a Shirley Temple (or just a very grown-up cocktail). It is possibly a Dirty Shirley, a Shirley Temple with vodka or rum added to it.
RORY: So do I look older?
LORELAI: Oh, yeah. You walk into Denny’s before five, you’ve got yourself a discount.
Denny’s is a chain of American diner-style table-service restaurants that are open all the time, not closing at night or on holidays unless forced to by state or local regulations. Founded in 1953, there are more than a thousand Denny’s restaurants in the United States. There is a Denny’s in Hartford that Rory could walk into before five o’clock.
Some Denny’s restaurants do give senior discounts, but as they are franchised there is no across-the-board senior discount program. I can’t find anything about them giving senior discounts before 5 (is that am or pm?). They do have a 55+ menu though, which is cheaper and with smaller portions.
LORELAI: So now tell me, why Miss Lemonhead today?
Lemonhead is an American brand of candy, first introduced in 1962 and made by the Ferrara Candy Company. They are round and lemon-flavoured with a hard candy core and soft shell coating.
Lorelai eats an apple while she waits for the pizza to arrive. Much later in the series it is established that Lorelai doesn’t like apples, and only craved them when she was pregnant with Rory. Despite this supposed dislike of fruit, there is always a bowl of fresh fruit on the Gilmores’ kitchen table, including apples. Maybe it’s for Rory.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 