Footnotes to the TV series
LORELAI: Not as impressive as my mother making four green beans last an hour and a half …. When she finally got to the last bean, she cut it in six pieces. I swear, I thought Gran was gonna lunge across the table at her.
RORY: The student surpasses the master.
As far as I know, this comes from a quote attributed to the Renaissance artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci: “Poor is the pupil who does not surpass his master”.
RORY: And you believe me?
JESS: Like you’re standing with an ax next to a cherry tree.
Jess refers to a popular legend about George Washington – that when he was six years old, he received a hatchet as a gift (mm, great present for a small kid!). He used it to chop down one of his father’s cherry trees, and when his father confronted him angrily, George said something to the effect of, “Father, I cannot tell a lie. I did it with my little hatchet”. Instead of being angry about it, his father warmly praised him for his honesty. He should have been happy the tot didn’t cut his own leg off or something.
The story was published in the 1806 fifth edition of The Life of George Washington by Mason Locke Weems, popularly known as Parson Weems. He claimed to have been told the story by an anonymous elderly woman who was a friend of the family, but there isn’t a shred of evidence that it’s true, and official sources all say it isn’t.
Another reference to presidential cherries in Gilmore Girls!!!!!
CLARA: Rory just said you had things to do.
JESS: Hey Tattoo, just look at the plane, will ya?
A reference to the fantasy drama television series Fantasy Island which aired from 1977 to 1984. It starred Ricardo Montalbán as the mysterious Mr Roarke, who owned an island where people could pay to live out their fantasy for a weekend.
Tattoo, played by French actor Hervé Villechaize, was his diminutive and energetic sidekick. Tattoo would run up the main bell tower to ring the bell and shout “De plane! De plane!” to announce the arrival of a new set of guests at the beginning of each episode. This line, shown at the beginning of the series’ credits, became an unlikely catchphrase because of Villechaize’s spirited delivery and French accent.
FRANCIE: You do not wanna be my enemy, Marlo Thomas.
RORY: I think I do, Tina Louise.
Margaret “Marlo” Thomas (born 1937) [pictured], actress, producer, author, and social activist. She is best known for starring on the sitcom That Girl (1966-1971). She has received three Primetime Emmy Awards, a Daytime Emmy, a Golden Globe, a Peabody Award, a Grammy Award for a children’s album, and has been inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2014.
Tina Louise (born Tina Blacker in 1934), actress best known for her role playing Hollywood movie star Ginger Grant on the sitcom Gilligan’s Island (1964-67). She won a Golden Globe in 1958 as New Star of the Year for her role in the film God’s Little Acre.
Rory and Francie both identify each other with actresses based on their hair colour.
RICHARD: Wonderfully. They’re spoiling me rotten. [takes Emily’s hand] Emily got me the most beautiful humidor. It’s from 1917, and was owned by a lieutenant in World War I.
TRIX: You know, your father had a humidor that was owned by Victor Hugo. I still have it if you’d like it.
RICHARD: Well, I’d love it [drops Emily’s hand]
Victor-Marie Hugo (1802-1885), French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career spanning more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the greatest French writers of all time. His most famous works are The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831) and Les Misérables (1862).
Victor Hugo was a keen smoker, even saying that “Tobacco … converts thoughts into dreams”. I presume he smoked cigars, although it seems pertinent to mention that Victor Hugo is a famous brand of cigars. Is it possible that Richard’s father actually owned a humidor that was made by the company, I wonder? It seems much more likely.
Richard always seems to choose his mother over Emily. Even after he tries to show Trix what a thoughtful gift Emily has chosen for him, he drops her hand and says he’d prefer to have his father’s humidor instead. He can be very hurtful to Emily, and shows her no loyalty when it comes to Trix.
TRIX: You’re single?
LORELAI: I’m single.
TRIX: By choice, or do you scare the men with your independence?
LORELAI: Actually, I scare them with my Minnie Pearl impression.
TRIX: The lady with the hat.
Sarah Cannon, known professionally as her stage character Minnie Pearl (1912-1996), was an American comedian who appeared at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville for more than 50 years and on the television show Hee Haw from 1969 to 1991.
DEAN: Not bad. I’ve got McKellan for History.
RORY: Oh, has he done his Napoleon having dinner with Charlemagne bit yet?
DEAN: Catherine the Great shows up for dessert.
RORY: Oh, wow, he’s revised it. Good for him. He’s a unique man, but a decent teacher.
Napoleon, previously discussed.
Charlemagne, or Charles the Great (747-814) [pictured], King of the Franks, King of the Lombards, and the first Holy Roman Emperor. Charlemagne has been called the “Father of Europe” as he united most of Western Europe for the first time since the classical era of the Roman Empire, as well as uniting parts of Europe that had never been under Frankish or Roman rule. His reign spurred the Carolingian Renaissance, a period of energetic cultural and intellectual activity within the Western Church.
Catherine the Great, previously discussed.
Rory hasn’t been a student at Stars Hollow High since she was a freshman in 2000, but apparently Mr McKellan is still using the same material on his senior students. And it’s taken Dean two years to also have him as a History teacher. How many History teachers does little old Stars Hollow High actually have?
PARIS: Well, if there’s nothing really to talk about, what’s the point, right?
LOUISE: You said that one student council meeting a week was not enough.
MADELINE: Yeah, you said that was no way to govern, that meeting once a week was lazy, ineffectual, and if we were going to do it like that, we might as well just buy ourselves a ranch in Texas.
Paris referred in her comment to Prairie Chapel Ranch near the town of Crawford in Texas. It was acquired by former president George W. Bush in 1999, and was known as the Western White House. It was used both as a vacation house, a meeting place, and as a place to host visiting dignitaries.
George W. Bush was considered a lazy president, with some wits remarking that he worked “24/7 – 24 hours a week, 7 months a year”.
[Rory, Lane and Lorelai are walking through Stars Hollow. They cross a street]
LANE: Are you serious? …We can really rehearse in your garage?
LORELAI: In exchange for the promise that you never pose naked on the cover of Rolling Stone no matter how much trouble your career is in.
Rolling Stone magazine has quite a tradition of musicians and actors posing nude or semi-clad on their cover. A few examples are John Lennon and Yoko Ono in 1968, Madonna in 1991, The Red Hot Chili Peppers in 1992, and Blind Melon in 1993. Most recently from the perspective of this episode, Christina Aguilera had appeared nude on the cover in November 2002.
In this episode, Lane’s problems finding a rehearsal space for the band are solved when Lorelai generously allows them to rehearse in her garage. Given how noisy bands can be while rehearsing, this is an extremely kind offer on Lorelai’s part.
DEAN: You know, when all this happened with you and me and Rory, I figured I’d just stay out of everyone’s way, that that would be easiest. But now, I’m looking at you and I’m thinking, I’m gonna run from him? The Glad Man.
I think Dean is referring to “The Man from Glad”, a mascot for the Glad Products Company, which specialises in trash bags – as a dig at Jess for taking out the garbage. The mascot is a white-haired man in a white suit who arrives to save housewives from domestic challenges, with the help of spy paraphernalia, as a nod to The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 