LORELAI: Rory’s my kid and I make the rules, so if she comes home one day and says, ‘Hey, uh, I’m gonna spend the weekend with Patricia Krenwinkle’ and I say, ‘Okay, grab a sweater’, you just have to deal.
Patricia Krenwinkel (born 1947), murderer and member of the Manson Family. She is now the longest-incarcerated female inmate in the Californian penal system. Krenwinkel was on death row in 1971, but in 1972 her sentence was commuted to life imprisonment after all death sentences were invalidated prior to that date. She has expressed remorse for her crimes, and is a model prisoner, having received a Bachelor degree in Human Services from the University of La Verne.
RICHARD: Who’s going to help her get into Harvard? LORELAI: Reese Witherspoon.
Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon (born 1976), multi-award winning actress and producer. She has an Academy Award, two Golden Globes, a BAFTA, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and an Emmy. One of the highest-paid actresses in the world, she has been named one of the most powerful women in the world, and one of the most influential.
Lorelai refers to Witherspoon’s 2001 comedy, Legally Blonde, directed by Robert Luketic, and based on the 2001 novel of the same name by Amanda Brown. Witherspoon plays Elle Woods, a sorority girl who attempts to win back her ex-boyfriend by becoming a Doctor of Law at Harvard University. In the process, she overcomes stereotypes about pretty blondes, and triumphs as a successful lawyer through unflappable self-confidence and fashion/beauty know-how.
Legally Blonde was a box-office hit which led to a sequel, a direct to DVD spin-off, and a stage musical. It received generally favourable reviews, and Reese Witherspoon received the 2002 MTV Award for Best Female Performance. Another film in the series is scheduled for 2022.
PARIS: Nothing, not even a cigarette butt on the ground, I can’t believe it. This town would make Frank Capra wanna throw up.
Francesco “Frank” Capra (1897-1991), Italian-born American film director, producer and writer, the creative force behind many of the award-winning films of the 1930s and 1940s. He won six Oscars, and numerous other awards, both in the US and in Italy.
He is perhaps best-known for his 1946 Christmas fantasy drama film, It’s a Wonderful Life, based on the 1943 short story, The Greatest Gift by Philip Van Doren Stern, itself loosely based on Charles Dickens’ novella, A Christmas Carol.
The film stars James Stewart as George Bailey, a man who has given up his own dreams to help others, but is driven to despair one Christmas Eve. His guardian angel saves him from suicide by showing him how he has touched the lives of so many others, and how different life would have been for his wife Mary (played by Donna Reed), and his community of Bedford Falls, should he never have been born.
It’s a Wonderful Life made a loss at the box office, and received lukewarm reviews. The FBI thought it was pro-Communist. However, after becoming a Christmas television staple in the 1970s, it became one of the world’s most beloved movies, and is regarded as one of the greatest, and most inspiring, films of all time. It was Frank Capra’s favourite of his own films, and James Stewart’s favourite film in which he starred.
The wholesome, slightly quirky town of Bedford Falls bears more than a passing resemblance to Stars Hollow, and the Christmas setting seems perfect for Lorelai’s love of snow. Also note that in the film, the kindly George Bailey gives bank loans to people based on their good character, not on their financial status – Lorelai seems to have received a shock when she discovered that bankers don’t actually care how nice you are when she was trying to get a loan.
Dame Angela Lansbury (born 1925), British-Irish-American actress with a long and prolific career on radio, stage, film, and television. Her first film role was in the 1944 movie Gaslight, previously discussed. She has received an Honorary Academy Award, a Lifetime Achievement BAFTA Award, A Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screenwriters Guild, five Tony Awards, a Laurence Olivier Award, and six Golden Globe Awards.
She is best known for starring as Jessica Fletcher in the television detective series Murder She Wrote (1984-96). Jessica Fletcher was a retired schoolteacher turned detective novelist who was often called upon to solve murders in her spare time. Although reviews were mixed, the show was very popular and rated extremely well, especially with older viewers.
RICHARD: Oh, I always start my breakfast off with half a grapefruit. LORELAI: Hm, do the Florida people know about you? Because Anita Bryant left this huge gap that has yet to be filled.
Anita Bryant (born 1940), previously mentioned. Singer who had a string of hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and was Miss Oklahoma 1958.
In 1969, she was chosen as the ambassador for the Florida Citrus Commission, with commercials featuring her singing Come to the Florida Sunshine Tree, and saying the tagline, “Breakfast without orange juice is like a day without sunshine”.
In 1977 she became a controversial figure as an anti-gay rights activist, leading a coalition of conservative Christians who wished anti-discrimination legislation to be repealed. They were successful, but earned the ire of gay-rights activists, who organised a ban against orange juice. She became an object of ridicule, and after her divorce in 1980, the Florida Citrus Commission allowed her contract to lapse. This is the “huge gap” that Lorelai suggests Richard might like to fill. It also seems to be another comment about censorship.
LORELAI: It’s going to be horrible. It is going to be a bad, depressing Lifetime movie and Nancy McKeon will be playing me. I am Jo.
Nancy McKeon (1966) is an actress best known for playing Jo Polniaczek on the sitcom The Facts of Life, a spin-off of Diff’rent Strokes which ran from 1979 to 1988, making it one of the longest-running sitcoms of the 1980s. The show was set at a private girl’s school, and Jo was an extremely intelligent but rebellious tomboy who rode a motorcycle to school and often got into trouble before graduating as class valedictorian. Jo must have been a role model for the ambitious yet wayward young Lorelai (another TV heroine with a motorcycle!).
Nancy McKeon appeared in television movies based on real life stories, as well Afterschool Special episodes with titles like, “Schoolboy Father”, and “Please Don’t Hit Me, Mom”. She starred in the 1989 domestic violence drama, A Cry for Help: The Tracey Thurman Story, and the 1992 kidnapping drama, Baby Snatcher. These are the types of “bad depressing” movies Lorelai probably has in mind.
Nancy McKeon has only ever been in one Lifetime movie, and it aired in 2003, after this episode was broadcast. Called Comfort and Joy, it’s a quirky romantic Christmas film, and not depressing at all.
RORY: Ooh, we could do a Ruth Gordon film festival. Harold and Maude, Rosemary’s Baby, and that really great episode of Taxi.
Ruth Gordon Jones (1896-1985), actress, screenwriter, and playwright. She was known for her nasal voice and distinctive personality, and became most successful in later life, being chosen for major screen roles in her 70s and 80s, and winning several awards. She seems to be a favourite of Rory.
Harold and Maude [pictured], 1971 coming-of-age dark comedy/existentialist drama. Directed by Hal Ashby and written by Colin Higgins, it follows the exploits of Harold (played by Bud Cort), a 19-year-old from a wealthy but emotionally cold family who is obsessed with death. He develops a friendship, later a romance, with 79-year-old Maude (Ruth Gordon), a Holocaust survivor who teaches him about living life to the fullest. It initially received mixed reviews, but became a runaway cult favourite, and is now regarded as one of the best comedies, best romances, and greatest films of all time. Colin Higgins adapted the screenplay into a novel, then a stage play.
Rosemary’s Baby, previously discussed. For this film she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, as well as a Golden Globe Award and a Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award.
Taxi, award-winning sitcom which aired from 1978 to 1983, focusing on the lives of the employees of the fictional Sunshine Cab Company in Manhattan. Ruth Gordon made a guest appearance in the 1979 episode Sugar Mama, playing a woman who tries to solicit one of the taxi drivers as a male escort. She won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.
LORELAI: The three faces of Costner – Bull Durham, Dances with Wolves, The Postman. Tom Petty playing Tom Petty, that great big speech about “Once upon a time there was a thing called mail”. It’ll make you laugh, it’ll make you cry, it’ll make you wanna mail something.
Kevin Costner (born 1955), award-winning actor and filmmaker. The three faces of Costner seem to be the first big success of his career, the greatest success of his career, and what seemed at the time to be the fading of his career with a failed film. In fact, he was to have renewed success with The Open Range in 2003, and received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame that same year, so his comeback was just around the corner.
Bull Durham, 1988 romantic comedy sports film. It’s partly based on writer/director Ron Shelton’s experiences in the baseball minor leagues, and depicts the players and fans of the Durham Bulls from Durham, North Carolina. Kevin Costner plays a veteran catcher brought in to teach a rookie pitcher (played by Tim Robbins) about the game in preparation for moving to the major leagues. It was a commercial and critical success, and was named the #1 sports film ever by Sports Illustrated. It’s also considered one of the best comedies. It helped solidify Costner as an A-list celebrity.
Dances with Wolves, 1990 epic western which stars, and was produced and directed by, Kevin Costner, in his directorial debut. It’s based on the 1988 novel of the same name by Michael Blake, and tells the story of a Union Army Lieutenant who travels to the American frontier to find a military post, and his dealings with a group of Lakota (much of the dialogue is in Lakota with English subtitles). It was a box office hit, and the #4 film of the year. It was also favourably reviewed, and won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. It is credited with revitalising the western genre in film.
The Postman, 1997 post-apocalyptic action adventure film, which was also produced and directed by Kevin Costner, who plays the lead role. It is based on the 1985 novel of the same name by David Brin. Set in a neo-western version of a disestablished US in the near future of 2013, an unspecified apocalyptic event has led to war and plagues, leaving a huge impact on human civilisation and erasing most technology. A nomadic drifter finds an old uniform of a US Postal Services mail carrier, and unwittingly inspires hope, becoming a national hero. It failed at the box office and was heavily criticised in reviews.
Thomas “Tom” Petty (1950-2017), singer, songwriter, and musician. He was the lead vocalist and guitarist for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, formed 1976, and was a member of the supergroup The Traveling Wilburys, as well as performing as a solo artist. He sold more than 80 million records worldwide, making him one of the most successful music artists of all time. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.
He seemingly plays himself as the mayor of Bridge City in The Postman, as Kevin Costner’s character immediately recognises him as a famous person. Tom Petty had a post-apocalyptic themed story in his 1982 song I Got Lucky, and mentioned wanting to have a small part in a futuristic postwar movie. He finally got the chance in this film. [Picture shows Petty as the mayor].
RICHARD: You know what else I noticed? RORY: What? RICHARD: A first edition Flaubert, mint condition, shoved behind several of my Churchill biographies.
Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880), French novelist [pictured]. Highly influential, he is considered the leading exponent of literary realism in France. He is especially famous for his debut novel, Madame Bovary (1857), previously discussed.
Richard never specifies which book he has a first edition of, but fans often assume it is Madame Bovary, since Rory likes it. A first edition of even the English translation would cost tens of thousands of dollars, making this very unlikely. However, the first edition of the English translation of Three Tales (1877), published by Chatto and Windus in 1923, can be picked up for as little as $50, and is a very handsome volume. This would be my pick for Richard’s first edition.
Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965), British statesman who served as Prime Minister from 1940 to 1945, and then again from 1951 to 1955. He is especially famous for his inspiring wartime speeches, and is considered one of the most significant figures of the twentieth century.
Richard does not say whether he means biographies by Churchill or about him, but probably the latter, since Churchill only wrote two biographies (not several, although Richard could have multiple copies of each).
LORELAI: How are you Mom? EMILY: Also fine. LORELAI: Oh, look at that. All three of us fine, just like The Judds.
The Judds were a country music duo composed of Naomi Judd and her daughter Wynonna Judd. They were one of the most successful country music acts in history, releasing six studio albums between 1986 and 1991, winning five Grammy Awards and eight Country Music Associations, and had 25 singles in the charts, 14 of which went to #1. They were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2021.
The third Judd is Naomi’s other daughter, Ashley Judd, an actress with a long career starring in several successful films. Her most recent film at this time was Someone Like You, earlier mentioned as one of the possible “disgusting cow movies” of 2001.
[In the picture, Naomi is in the middle, Ashley on the left, and Wynonna on the right].
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 