Footnotes to the TV series
CHIEF BAKER: [into a walkie talkie] We’ve got the first engine laddering the roof, first engine. Yeah, and we need PD for traffic control.
PD stands for Police Department. In real life, there is a State Police Station in Litchfield, which is said to be very close to Stars Hollow.
We’re now in the second part of the episode title, which promises fire as well as Poes.
LORELAI: Where’s the pen you take orders with?
LUKE: I wasn’t anticipating taking orders at the Poe reading.
LORELAI: Hm, there goes your Boy Scout badge.
Boy Scout, previously discussed. Boy Scouts receive merit badges for successfully learning and completing various tasks, such as first aid, cooking, swimming, citizenship, hiking, and so on. These badges are in the form of patches, which can be sewn onto a uniform or a sash.
Lorelai refers to the maxim, “A Boy Scout must always be prepared”. In fact, Luke dropped out of the Boy Scouts very early.
LORELAI: Oh, is this everyone from the Edgar Allan Poe Society?
The Edgar Allen Poe Society was established in Baltimore, Maryland on January 19 1923, the 114th anniversary of Poe’s birth. Their headquarters are The Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum, which was the home of Poe during the 1830s. The Poe Society are all volunteers who aim to provide educational resources on the author, and are not as quirky as this episode portrays. Perhaps the ones in this episode are a different Edgar Allan Poe Society.
LORELAI: What are you doing here?
EMILY: Well, I was thinking about possibly having our next DAR luncheon here.
It was established in the previous season that the Hartford DAR hold their monthly meetings at the Independence Inn, which Lorelai had to agree to in order to get help with a loan she needed, in “Secrets and Loans”.
The monthly meeting included a luncheon, but this DAR luncheon is presumably something separate from, and far more elaborate than, the monthly meeting luncheons. Lorelai books the DAR luncheon for the 15th March, which was a Saturday in 2003. (There may be some joke here about the Ides of March – the 15th of March – the day on which Julius Caesar was assassinated).
MRS. KIM: Reception at Elks Lodge. Two hundred guests. Food goes fast. Let’s move.
The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks (often known as the Elks Lodge or simply The Elks) is an American fraternal order founded in 1868, originally as a social club in New York City which borrowed rites and practices from Freemasonry. They focus on social activities, charitable causes, and patriotic events. Until 1973 they were an all-white orgnisation, and they only admitted women in 1995.
In real life, there are numerous Elks Lodges in Connecticut, including one in Hartford [pictured] – which you really can hire for weddings. I think this one is meant to be in Stars Hollow, which maybe seems a little small to have an Elks Lodge.
RORY: I certainly didn’t call this meeting.
PARIS: Save the act for Sundance, you little snitch.
The Sundance Film Festival, first founded in Salt Lake City in 1978 by Sterling Van Wagenen, head of Robert Redford’s company Wildwood, and John Earle, from the Utah Film Commission. Originally called the Utah/US Film Festival, the name changed to Sundance in 1984, after the Sundance Institute, the non-profit organisation founded by Robert Redford to support independent artists – Sundance took over management of the film festival at this point. Many notable filmmakers received their big break at Sundance.
JESS: IRS.
NICOLE: I’m not IRS.
IRS, the Internal Revenue Service. It is responsible for collecting US federal taxes, and is an agency of the Department of Treasury.
Jess assumes that Nicole is at the diner to investigate Luke’s taxes, or provide an in-house audit. These audits can be selected randomly, so Jess is not implying that Luke necessarily did anything wrong when filing his tax return.
PARIS: Wadsworth Mansion is owned by the Connecticut Daughters of the Mayflower. Most of those biddies couldn’t negotiate an icy sidewalk much less a contract. Took me about five minutes on the phone to get them down to half their asking price.
The Connecticut Daughters of the Mayflower is a fictional organisation. The nearest real world equivalent would be the The General Society of Mayflower Descendants, commonly called the Mayflower Society. It is a hereditary organisation of individuals who have documented their descent from at least one of the 102 passengers who arrived on the Mayflower in 1620 at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts. The Society was founded at Plymouth in 1897, and there is a Connecticut branch in Hartford, which has both male and female members.
In real life, the Wadsworth Mansion is owned by the city of Middletown, and there is no negotiation of fees for the venue.
DEAN: Come on, make one of your Boy Scout references, or a good Farmer John joke.
Boy Scouts, previously referenced.
Farmer John, previously referenced.
JESS: For how long? … Before we’re on Social Security?
In the US, Social Security is the commonly used term for federal welfare payments to old age pensioners, widows and orphans, and the disabled, all administered by the Social Security Administration. With few exceptions, all legal residents working in the US will have a social security number.
The standard age to receive payments for old age is 67, although you may receive it at 62 by taking a lower amount, and if you work until 70, will get a higher payment. Jess humorously raises the possibility of he and Rory having to wait until their sixties before they are able to kiss in public.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 