Tag: People

Mariah Carey’s Crack-Up

FRANCIE: Mariah Carey’s crackup.
LEM: Have you heard her fan message recently? She’s fine and is currently staring at a really beautiful rainbow.
IVY: Survivor, hello.

Mariah Carey (born 1969), American singer, songwriter, and actress. She rose to fame in 1990 with her self-titled debut album, and was the first artist to have her first five singles reach #1. She initially signed with Columbia, and married one of their executives in 1993 (they separated in 1997 and divorced in 1998).

In July 2001, after parting with Columbia and breaking up with her boyfriend of three years, Carey suffered a physical and mental breakdown. She began posting a series of disturbing messages on her official website, and displayed erratic behaviour on several promotional appearances, such as doing an unscripted striptease on MTV. The messages on her website spoke of being drained and burnt out by the music industry, and needing a break.

Carey was admitted to a hospital in Connecticut for treatment for two weeks, then remained absent from the public for some time. In late August (perhaps 4-6 weeks before the events of this episode), Carey posted an audio message on her website thanking fans for their support during her recovery.

In the message she told her fans, I just want to say thank you so much for all the letters and everything … as I speak to you, I’m looking at the most beautiful rainbow that is going across the entire sky, and I love you much! Thanks. Bye. She took the rainbow as a positive omen, especially as her 1999 album was called Rainbow.

Recently, Mariah Carey has revealed that she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the time of hospitalisation, but it took her some time to accept it. It must be said that Gilmore Girls was never particularly sensitive on the subject of mental health issues.

Leonardo DiCaprio

LORELAI: Ugh, they totally just snuck that modelling thing in.
RORY: Hmm, my mom’s a model. Maybe you’ll get to date Leonardo DiCaprio now.

Leonardo DiCaprio (born 1974), award-winning actor, producer, and environmentalist, known for taking unusual roles, especially in biopics and period pieces. At this stage, DiCaprio had won critical acclaim for his role in the 1993 quirky coming of age film, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, and become an international star after playing the male lead in the 1997 epic romance, Titanic, which became the highest-grossing film to that point.

In 1999, he began dating Brazilian model Gisele Bündchen (born 1980), a relationship which lasted until 2005; this is what Rory is thinking of [pictured]. It’s another of those celebrity references which have had real staying power, because DiCaprio went on to date a number of other models, and since 2017 has been in a relationship with Argentine-American model Camila Morrone (born 1997).

Kate Moss

LORELAI: Oh, yeah, sure, I’ll be there all day. So, a fashion show, huh? Are we gonna get any famous models?
AVA: Excuse me?
LORELAI: You know, to model the clothes. Any chance I’m finally gonna get to see Kate Moss eat something?

Katherine “Kate” Moss (born 1974) is a British supermodel and businesswoman. She rose to fame in the mid 1990s as part of the grungy heroin chic fashion trend, where models were not only emaciated to the point of androgyny, but also had pale skin, stringy greasy hair, and dark circles under their eyes, as if actually physically ill or drug-ravaged. It was a reaction against the 1980s supermodel trend of models looking healthy and vibrant, like Elle MacPherson.

Kate Moss became a fashion icon through her collaboration with Calvin Klein, famous for her waif-like size zero figure and connections with the British music scene, dating famous musicians and appearing in several music videos. She had allegations of drug use against her which she never denied, although she was later cleared of all charges due to lack of evidence.

She became known for her quote, “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels”, which she later regretted. Despite Lorelai wondering if Kate Moss will ever eat anything, one of the reasons she became so popular with the media is that she was very thin, yet was often photographed eating junk food, which she claimed to live on. I can’t help wondering if she was one of the inspirations for Lorelai and Rory’s diet!

Although fans sometimes get frustrated with Lorelai and Rory looking so slim despite their supposed huge appetites and junk food diet, in fact they were refreshingly energetic, fit and healthy looking compared to many of the girls and women in the media and on television shows in the 1990s (eg Paris Hilton, Ally McBeal). This was a time when actresses like Alicia Silverstone and Drew Barrymore were considered “fat”. Lorelai and Rory may have been slender, but at least they didn’t starve themselves, or look sick and scrawny.

Sandra Day O’Connor

PARIS: And the connection you make with the Puffs, they last the rest of your life. My cousin Maddie got her internship at the Supreme Court because of Sandra Day O’Connor.
RORY: Sandra Day O’Connor was a Puff?
PARIS: Yes. She was Puffed in 1946, became the president in ’47, and in ’48 she actually moved the group to the very table you sat at today.

Sandra Day O’Connor (born 1930) is a retired attorney and politician who served as the first female associate judge in the US Supreme Court from 1981 to 2006. Prior to that, she was a judge and elected Republican leader in the Arizona Senate, the first female majority leader in a state senate.

O’Connor most often voted with the conservative bloc of the Supreme Court, and was sometimes named as the most powerful woman in the world. She retired in 2005, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama in 2009.

In real life, Sandra Day O’Connor could not have gone to Chilton or been a Puff. She was born in Texas and lived on a cattle ranch, attending a private girl’s school in El Paso. For her final year of schooling, she took a 32-mile bus trip every day to attend Stephen F. Austin High School in El Paso (rather like Rory going to Hartford).

In 1946, aged 16, she enrolled at Stanford University, where she gained a BA in Economics in 1950, so she was far beyond the world of high school sororities by that stage. And even at university, she didn’t join a sorority, as they didn’t exist at Stanford at that time.

I think she was just too tough and sensible to ever bother about table allocation in the dining hall, or gossiping about Homecoming. I presume the ludicrousness of the idea is what gave it appeal as a joke.

We also learn that Paris has an older cousin named Maddie who interned at the Supreme Court with the assistance of Sandra Day O’Connor. Maddie must have been a Puff as well, and possibly has a career in law. In real life, membership of sororities and fraternities can gain you coveted positions, although I doubt a high school one would actually be that influential.

Shecky

LORELAI: Oh Shecky, you kill me.

Shecky Greene (born Fred Sheldon Greenfield in 1926) is an American comedian, known for his headline performances in Las Vegas during the 1950s and ’60s. He also appeared in films and on TV, and made appearances at Carnegie Hall and on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Amy Sherman-Palladino became a fan of classic Jewish comedians as a young teenager from listening to her father’s old records. How Lorelai has also gained such knowledge of them is left to the viewer’s imagination.

“Glittery glove and a really freaky face”

LORELAI: So how’s it going?
RORY: Actually, I’m not very good [at dancing].
DEAN: Yeah, which is really holding me back, because I’m a natural.
LORELAI: Well, maybe you just need a glittery glove and a really freaky face.

A reference to pop singer Michael Jackson (1958-2009), known for being an extraordinary dancer.

He famously wore a “glitter glove” on one hand for the first time he did the “Moonwalk” while performing Billie Jean in 1983. This leather glove studded with diamantes became an iconic look for him.

Jackson was also known for the amount of cosmetic surgery he had on his face – perhaps as many as ten operations by the early 1990s on his nose, cheekbones, chin, forehead, and lips. Over time, his face became more and more unrecognisable.

Famous Debutantes

CHRISTOPHER: Well, did you tell her about Barbara Hutton, Doris Duke, Gloria Vanderbilt?
LORELAI: Yes, and she’s perfectly willing to marry Cary Grant, get offed by her crazy butler, and start designing blue jeans as soon as the ball ends.

Barbara Hutton, previously discussed. She was first dubbed the “Poor Little Rich Girl” at her lavish debutante ball in 1930. She married seven times. Her third marriage was to Hollywood actor Cary Grant in 1942; although he genuinely seemed to care for Hutton, they divorced in 1945. Grant did not seek or receive money from her in the divorce settlement. He was probably her best husband.

Doris Duke (1912-1993), billionaire tobacco heiress and socialite, dubbed the “Richest Girl in the World”. She was presented as a debutante in 1930, at a ball at the family home in Newport, Rhode Island. She was widely travelled, with an interest in the arts and horticulture. She was the first non-Hawaiian woman to take up the sport of surfing. A keen philanthropist, she donated money to AIDS research, medicine, and child welfare, including supporting the education of black students in the South. Duke died from a stroke, but rumours persist that she was murdered by her Irish butler, Bernard Lafferty (1945-1996). No charges were ever laid, and Lafferty died in his sleep only three years later. He wasn’t “crazy” so much as an alcoholic.

Gloria Vanderbilt (1924-2019), heiress, socialite, artist, actress, and fashion designer. During the 1930s she was the focus of a scandalous child custody case between her mother and her paternal aunt, Gertrude Whitney, which Gertrude won after Gloria’s mother was declared an unfit parent. Gloria made her debut in 1940. Vanderbilt studied both acting and art, managing to have successful careers in both, as well as becoming an author. A model at 15, she ventured into the fashion industry in the 1970s, and in 1976 launched a line of blue jeans which were an immediate success.

(The picture is Gloria Vanderbilt as a sixteen-year-old debutante).

Emily’s Charities

The Starlight Children’s Foundation

Founded in 1982, it provides clothing, games, and deliveries directly to hospitalised children through a network of more than 700 children’s hospitals and medical centres in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia.

Emily has been the co-chair on its board for the past eight years, which seems unlikely – the foundation’s headquarters are in Los Angeles, it doesn’t have co-chairs, and its board is made up people with high profiles in medicine, finance, and media. I think we are meant to assume this is a (fictional) local fundraising branch for Hartford.

The Black and White Ball is their main fundraising event. This is a masquerade ball in which everyone is dressed in either black or white. They are intended to be extremely glamorous and exclusive events, with high ticket prices.

Hartford Zoological Silent Auction

A fictional organisation of which Emily is a board member. Hartford doesn’t actually have a zoo. The nearest Zoological Society is in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to support Beardsley’s Zoo.

A silent auction is one where bidders write their bids down on a sheet of paper, with the highest bid winning. They are common at charity events.

The Mark Twain House Restoration Fund

The Mark Twain House is a museum in Hartford, once the home of the author of Huckleberry Finn. Restoration began on the house in 1963, and its fundraising arm is the Friends of the Mark Twain House and Museum. They’ve been fundraising since 1954. This must be the organisation that has Emily as a board member, and is holding the charity luncheon Emily has been forced to turn down.

Harriet Beecher Stowe Literacy Auction

Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) was an American author and abolitionist, best known for her 1852 anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The Harriet Beecher Stowe House & Center is in Hartford, next door to the Mark Twain House and Museum. Emily seems to be on the board of both these museums.

Emily’s strong community involvement, which is the major part of her social life, is very much like Lorelai’s enthusiastic support of every festival and celebration in Stars Hollow, right down to a cat’s wake. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree in this case.