Tag: Music

Mystic Pizza

PARIS: Excuse me. We reserved this place for 8 sharp and right now my watch says 8:04.
MISS PATTY: Well, then tell it to go outside and have a smoke. You can’t rush a cool down sweetheart.
PARIS: Look, I understand the whole Mystic Pizza, small town, ‘we don’t let a clock run our lives’ thing, but I come from the big city where money talks and I’m paying good money for this place and I have a schedule to keep.

Mystic Pizza is a 1988 romantic comedy-drama film directed by Donald Petrie, and starring Annabath Gish and Julia Roberts as two teenaged sisters working as waitresses at Mystic Pizza, a pizza parlour in the real-life fishing village of Mystic, Connecticut (it also features Matt Damon in his screen debut). The younger sister, played by Annabath Gish, is on a partial scholarship at Yale and also works part-time at the whaling museum, so there are some connections with Gilmore Girls. If you enjoy Gilmore Girls, I would definitely recommend Mystic Pizza.

Mystic Pizza received generally favourable reviews, with particular praise for the lead actresses, and has gained something of a cult following as a feel-good coming-of-age movie. In September and October of this year, it was turned into a stage musical by the Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine – this was several years after a fictional Broadway musical based on the film featured in the sitcom 30 Rock in 2007.

The real life Mystic Pizza restaurant which had inspired the film was renovated to resemble the film set, and is still in business.

Fernando

SOOKIE: But we have an ice cream maker, a professional one. See, that means we can make enough ice cream for everyone in the inn, whereas this little guy…
LORELAI: Fernando.

Lorelai may have named her ice cream maker after Fernando, the 1976 song by Swedish pop group ABBA, included on their album Arrival the same year. One of the best-selling singles of all time, it went to #13 in the US, and is still a staple on some American radio stations.

I’m mostly suggesting this because I can’t imagine a woman of Lorelai’s age and background choosing the name Fernando without thinking of the song. The lyrics do fit the circumstances though, because the song is about two old Mexican freedom fighters from a nameless conflict, reminiscing about the battles of their youth.

The stars were bright, Fernando
They were shining there for you and me
For liberty, Fernando
Though I never thought that we could lose
There’s no regret
If I had to do the same again
I would, my friend, Fernando

Lorelai chose liberty over marriage to Max, and in the end she has no regrets about doing so. However, she doesn’t want to keep the ice cream maker, as it’s a constant reminder of a failed relationship.

Destiny’s Child

SOOKIE: Swear. Raise your right hand and say, ‘May Destiny’s Child break up if I count these blueberries.’
MICHEL: Pick another group.

Destiny’s Child, a girl group founded in Texas in 1990 under the name Girl’s Tyme, with a final and best-known line-up of Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams. They signed to Columbia in 1997 under the name Destiny’s Child, and gained mainstream recognition with the release of their hit song, No, No, No, and their 1999 best-selling album, The Writing’s On the Wall. Their most recent album at this stage was Survivor, which came out in April 2001, apart from their Christmas album in October of that year.

The reason Michel might be particularly concerned that Destiny’s Child could break up is because the band announced they were going on hiatus to pursue solo careers in 2001. They reunited in 2004 for their fourth and final album, Destiny Fulfilled. After their 2005 tour, the group did indeed break up.

Somehow Michel is more worried about eating one or two extra blueberries on his pancakes because of the calories than he is with eating actual pancakes! Michel’s relationship with food is even unhealthier that Lorelai and Rory’s, and is certainly weirder.

The Gang’s All Here

TRISTAN: Well, well, the gang’s all here.

Tristan references the popular song, Hail, Hail, The Gang’s All Here, written by Theodora Morse under the name D.A. Esrom, to a tune by Arthur Sullivan for the 1879 comic opera, The Pirates of Penzance. Although published in 1917, it had been referenced in American newspapers as a popular song since 1898, often sung at political gatherings and sporting matches.

The Monkees

RORY: Hey.
MADELINE: Hey.
LOUISE: We’re the Monkees.

The opening words to the theme song of The Monkees television show, a sitcom running from 1966 to 1968, starring the American pop group, The Monkees, as four young men trying to make it as a rock and roll band. The verse says:

Hey hey, we’re The Monkees

And people say we monkey around

But we’re too busy singing

To get anybody down

The show utilised a number of innovative new wave film techniques to the sitcom format, and won two Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Comedy Series. Even after its run ended, it continued its popularity thanks to reruns, in particular a massive resurgence after 1986, when it was shown on MTV.

Note that this is essentially the same joke used in regard to Fat Albert in Like Mother, Like Daughter.

Jane

While waiting for the group project meeting to start, Madeline reads Jane magazine (1997-2007). This was a women’s fashion magazine founded by Jane Pratt, aimed at the 18-34 market, and designed for those young women who had grown up with Sassy (1988-1996), a feminist magazine for teenage girls which had Pratt as the first editor. Jane’s reputation was for being witty, quirky, trashy, and occasionally thoughtful, with a readership who saw themselves as “wild and crazy” party girls.

It folded because it’s young readership were now getting more interested in digital platforms, such as Jezebel. Jane Pratt went on to found the infamous xoJane online magazine (2011-2016).

Madeline is reading the November 2001 issue with Carmen Electra and Dave Navarro on the front cover. This issue actually had a double front cover, and you can see Madeline holding up the one with Shirley Manson, P. Diddy, and Alicia Keys on it. The magazine that month had interviews with other music stars, including Jennifer Lopez, Janet Jackson, Sheryl Crow, and Tommy Lee.

Pamela and Tommy Lee

LORELAI: Sell it on the Internet, make a fortune. First we brought you Pamela and Tommy Lee, now prepare yourselves for the crazy antics of Rory and the Bard!

Pamela Anderson (born 1967), Canadian-American actress, model, and author, previously mentioned. In 1995, she married her first husband, Tommy Lee (born Thomas Bass in 1962), drummer for heavy metal band Mötley Crüe.

A sex tape of the couple on their honeymoon was stolen from their home in 1995, and widely discussed on the internet. Anderson sued the video distribution company, but eventually Pamela and Tommy entered into a confidential settlement agreement with the company, so that the sex tape was once again made available to subscribers, resulting in triple the normal traffic to their websites. Sceptics believe that the whole thing was a publicity stunt.

On the Town

RORY: How did [Tristan] fall in with those guys [Duncan and Bowman]?
MADELINE: The new year started and there they were, all three of them, side by side.
LOUISE: And practically dressing the same.
MADELINE: It’s very On the Town.

On the Town, a 1949 musical film directed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, based on the 1944 Broadway musical with music by Leonard Bernstein and Roger Eden. It stars Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Jules Munshin as three sailors with a day’s leave in New York City, and their romantic escapades. An immediate succeess, it won the Oscar for Best Music and is regarded as one of the greatest musicals.

Like the three sailors, Tristan and his new pals all dress the same – although as there’s a school uniform, doesn’t everyone dress the same anyway?

Santa Barbara

LORELAI: So, Mia, how’s living in Santa Barbara?
MIA: Horrible. Did you know the damn sun shines all the time out there?
RORY: They’ve written songs about that.

Santa Barbara is a coastal city in California about ninety miles north of Los Angeles. Situated on the Pacific Ocean with a dry sunny Mediterranean climate, it is promoted as “The American Riviera”. Due to its geographic positioning, it has both cooler summers and warmer winters than surrounding areas, and despite what Mia says, it tends to be wetter in winter than its surrounds too, although rainfall is very variable.

It’s the sort of expensive place that wealthy people retire to, suggesting that Mia has done very well out of the hotel industry. Is it really possible she got that rich just from the Independence Inn? Surely she has other properties or investments as well? Maybe she’s a wealthy widow?

People in Stars Hollow seem to be strangely attracted to distant California. Christopher and Liz ran away to California to start new lives, Fran went on holiday there, Mia retired there. The writers live there, the show’s filmed there …

I’m not aware of any famous songs about the sunshine of Santa Barbara specifically that Rory might be thinking of, but there’s several songs about California.