Tag: People

Billy Carter

PARIS: Even if I was the Billy Carter of the family, the name is still supposed to carry some weight.

William “Billy” Carter (1937-1988), the younger brother of President Jimmy Carter, previously discussed. At the time his brother was running for president, Billy developed a colourful image as a beer-drinking Southerner in the press.

During his brother’s presidency, he ran a gas station, and was the spokesperson for Peanut Lolita liqueur; in 1977, he endorsed Billy Beer. He was known for his outlandish public behaviour, once urinating on an airport runway in full view of the press and dignitaries.

In 1978 and 1979 he made visits to Libya, was registered as a foreign agent of the Libyan government, and received a loan of $220 000. However, a CIA agent claimed he had actually received $2 million from Libya. This led to a Senate hearing on alleged influence peddling which the press named Billygate, leading President Carter to publicly disassociate himself from his brother during his presidency.

Rory’s Quotes

RORY: “Apply yourself. Get all the education you can, but then do something. Don’t just stand there, make it happen.” Lee Iacocca. “Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.” Malcolm Forbes. “Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.” Oscar Wilde.

Lido “Lee” Iacocca (1924-2019), [pictured] automobile executive best known for the development of the Ford Mustang, Continental Mark III, and Ford Pinto cars while at the Ford Motor Company in the 1960s, and for reviving the Chrysler Corporation as its CEO during the 1980s. He attended Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, then went to Princeton to do his masters in mechanical engineering. The quote comes from Iacocca: An Autobiography (written with William Novak).

Malcolm Forbes (1919-1990), entrepreneur and politician most prominently known as the publisher of Forbes magazine, founded by his father B.C. Forbes. He was known as an avid promoter of capitalism and free market economics and for an extravagant lifestyle. He served two terms as a member of the New Jersey Senate. He received his degree from Princeton University. The quote comes from Forbes magazine.

Oscar Wilde, previously discussed. He was educated at Trinity College in Dublin, and at Oxford University. The quote comes from his collection of essays, Intentions.

Marxism

PARIS: We were actually discussing modern day Marxism in America, which is not what I would have deemed a ‘come and get it’ sort of conversation, but nevertheless, he came and got it, and I have to figure out what that means to me on a psychological level.

Marxism, a left-wing method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialectical perspective to view social transformation. It originates from the works of 19th-century German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. As Marxism has developed over time into various branches and schools of thought, no single, definitive Marxist theory exists.

Kofi Annan

PARIS: Well, look who’s suddenly decided to become Kofi Annan … Charleston thinks we need to play nice with each other, so he screws up the whole bicentennial.

Kofi Annan (1938-2018), Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founder and chairman of the Kofi Annan Foundation, as well as chairman of The Elders, an international organisation founded by Nelson Mandela.

Mr Charleston has an entire school to run and is in the middle of organising the bicentennial celebrations. Is it really feasible he cares that much about two students having a spat – especially two students who will be leaving Chilton in only a few months?

Tears for Fears

SOOKIE: You’ll give me lots of tips [on pregnancy]?
LORELAI: Oh, what I can remember.
SOOKIE: Get your diary out from that year ’cause I wanna know it all.
LORELAI: A lot of my diary from that year was, um, a debate over which member of Tears for Fears I loved more at that particular moment.

Tears for Fears are an English pop rock band formed in1981 by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith.The band’s debut album, The Hurting (1983), reached #1 on the UK Albums Chart, and their first three hit singles all reached the top five in the UK. Their second album, Songs from the Big Chair (1985), reached #1 in the US, achieving multi-platinum status in both the UK and the US. The album contained two US #1 hits: “Shout” and “Everybody Wants to Rule the World”. The band broke up in 1990, but have since brought out albums together, and tour semi-regularly.

When Lorelai was pregnant in 1984, Tears for Fears hadn’t had any chart success in the US, except for “Change” making #73, and doing quite well as a radio track. Lorelai must have been ahead of the curve. This is another example of the teenaged Lorelai enjoying slightly obscure British rock music.

“There was a person inside that cow”

PARIS: Hey, I was trying to give the kid some human contact. He’s been talking to nothing but a cow for a year and a half.
BRAD: There was a person inside that cow, I’ve told you that!

The role of Milky White the cow in the 2002 Broadway production of Into the Woods was played by actor and singer Chad Kimball [pictured], who was also the understudy for Adam Wylie’s role of Jack. He has been in a few other Broadway shows, and several regional theatre productions.

Paris says Brad was in Into the Woods for a year and a half, but it was only about a year – perhaps she is counting rehearsal periods. However, Brad seems to have been missing from Chilton for around eleven months.

Ruth Reichl

SOOKIE: They sent it back. My food. My four star, ‘you haven’t lived ’til you’ve eaten there, says Ruth Reichl,’ food.

Ruth Reichl (born 1948), chef, food writer and editor. In addition to two decades as a food critic, mainly spent at the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times, Reichl has also written cookbooks, memoirs and a novel, and been co-producer of PBS’s Gourmet’s Diary of a Foodie, culinary editor for the Modern Library, host of PBS’s Gourmet’s Adventures With Ruth, and editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine. She has won six James Beard Foundation Awards.

Reichl was a food critic for The New York Times from 1993 to 1999, so if she ever visited the Independence Inn to review Sookie’s cooking for this publication, it would have been in the late 1990s. From 1999 to 2009, she was the editor of Gourmet magazine.

Jerome Robbins

PARIS: I’m only saying it won’t be a totally satisfying victory just beating Jerome Robbins and the rest of the losers here. I’d really like to take you down also.
BRAD: Boy, she is really up on her theater references.

Jerome Robbins, born Jerome Rabinowitz (1918-1998), dancer, choreographer, film director, theatre director and producer who worked in classical ballet, on stage, film, and television. Among his numerous stage productions were West Side Story, Gypsy, and Fiddler on the Roof. Robbins was a five-time Tony Award-winner and a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors. He received two Academy Awards, including the 1961 Academy Award for Best Director with Robert Wise for West Side Story, and a special Academy Honorary Award for his choreographic achievements on film.

Chita Rivera

BRAD: Paris, this time on stage has been a very growing experience for me. I’m no longer intimidated by you or people like you.
PARIS: I’m thrilled to hear it, Chita Rivera. Move.

Chita Rivera (born Dolores del Rivero Anderson in 1933), actress, singer and dancer best known for originating roles in Broadway musicals including Anita in West Side Story, Velma Kelly in Chicago, and the title role in Kiss of the Spider Woman. She has won three Tony Awards, including one for Lifetime Achievement. She is the first Latina and the first Latino American to receive a Kennedy Center Honor, and is a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.