Tag: People

Charlie Rose and Billy Joel

LORELAI: No, you go on ahead, I’ll catch up.
RORY: Okay. Try and make it home in time for Charlie Rose. Billy Joel’s on, and he might cry or something.

Charlie Rose, previously discussed. Billy Joel, previously discussed.

In real life, Billy Joel did not appear on Charlie Rose in 2003. He has been a guest on the show several times, and the one previous to the episode was in October 2001.

Lorelai suggests that Billy Joel “might cry or something” because he suffers from severe depression, and attempted suicide in 1970. In 2002, the year before this episode of Gilmore Girls, he entered a rehab centre and psychiatric hospital in New Canaan, Connecticut for treatment. This show is very insensitive about mental health issues.

Charlie Rose was on Wednesday nights at this time, letting us know the day of the week.

“My brother William”

POE 1: I’m sure it was ’32. I’m sad to say it was the same year my older brother William passed away.
POE 2: Okay, that’s not right either, Fred.

Edgar Allen Poe had an older brother named William Henry Leonard Poe, born in 1807. He went by his middle name, Henry. Henry Poe died in 1831, a few months after Edgar Allan Poe left West Point.

The first Poe has once again got things muddled.

West Point

POE 1: I myself attended West Point … I’m embarrassed to say that I was court-martialed in 1832 and forced to leave.

POE 2: Excuse me, but I was expelled from West Point in 1831, not 1832.

The United States Military Academy, also known as West Point, in West Point, New York. The site was originally Fort Clinton; it sits on strategic high ground overlooking the Hudson River. Founded in 1802, it is the oldest of the five American service academies and educates cadets for commissioning as officers into the US Army. The entire central campus is a National Historic Landmark and popular tourist destination.

Edgar Allan Poe entered West Point in 1830, and after deciding to pursue a career as a poet, purposefully got himself court-martialled in 1831 by refusing to attend classes, formations, and classes. The second Poe is correct.

Meryl Streep

LORELAI: You’ll get to see the next Meryl Streep all goofy and eighteen and doing crap like, “Hey, name an occupation!” “Plumber!” “Name a farm tool now!” “Tractor!” “Hey, I’m a tractor doing . . . plumbing.”

Mary “Meryl” Streep (born 1949), often described as “the best actress of her generation”, particularly known for her versatility and accent adaptability. She has received numerous accolades throughout her career spanning over four decades, including a record 21 Academy Award nominations, winning three, and a record 32 Golden Globe Award nominations, winning eight.

She was awarded the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2004, Gala Tribute from the Film Society of Lincoln Center in 2008, and Kennedy Center Honor in 2011 for her contribution to American culture. President Barack Obama awarded her the National Medal of Arts in 2010, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2014. In 2003, the French government made her a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters. She was awarded the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2017.

After receiving her BA from Vassar, Meryl Streep attended the Yale School of Drama, graduating in 1975. She has been mentioned several times as one of Lorelai’s favourite actresses. Lorelai references improv theatre, where actors must improvise a scene on the spot, often considered part of a young actor’s training.

“He was a troubled man”

RORY: He was a troubled man. He enjoyed a little bit too much of the hmm-hmm. [makes a drinking gesture]

Edgar Allan Poe has been described as a drunkard or an alcoholic, but many of these stories about him were spread by his rivals and enemies. He did sometimes drink too much, and didn’t handle alcohol very well (so that even a little was probably too much for him), but it was often months or even years between bouts of drinking. He might perhaps be best described as a binge drinker. It is sometimes speculated that alcohol played some part in his death, but this cannot be verified.

Edgar Allan Poe Society

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.

Satchmo

LORELAI: You named the spider Satchmo?
SOOKIE: After Jackson’s uncle.

Satchmo was the nickname of trumpeter and singer Louis Armstrong, previously mentioned. The nickname is short for “Satchelmouth”, but its origin is not known. Some say simply because of the size of Armstrong’s mouth, while a story favoured by biographers is that as a young boy in New Orleans, Armstrong would dance for pennies, collecting the coins in his mouth to prevent bigger children from taking them from him.

Jackson’s uncle was apparently named after the short form of a celebrity’s nickname in honour of Louis Armstrong.

A Tale of Poes and Fire

Edgar Allan Poe, born Edgar Poe (1809-1849), writer, poet, editor, and literary critic, best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in American literature. He was one of the country’s earliest practitioners of the short story, and is considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre, as well as a significant contributor to the emerging genre of science fiction. He was the first well-known American writer to earn a living through writing alone.

This episode features the Edgar Allan Poe Society coming to the inn on the night it catches fire, and the famous poet receives several mentions.