Williams Sisters

LANE: It’s like watching the Williams’ sisters [referring to Emily and Mrs. Kim haggling].
RORY: I wish we had popcorn.

A reference to American professional tennis players Venus Williams (born 1980) and Serena Williams (born 1981). Venus is on the right in the picture, and her sister on the left.

The sisters dominated the sport in the 2000s and often played against each other; the first time was in the second round at the 1998 Australian Open, which Venus won. The previous year to this episode’s airing, they met in the semifinals at Wimbledon in 2000, which Venus also won. In all, the sisters have met at 29 matches to date, with Serena leading 17-12.

Yoko

LORELAI: Explain Yoko, because he’s [Rune] out there with the normal people and he’s going to scare them.

Lorelai is referring to Yoko Ono, previously discussed. (The Japanese conference guests may have put her in mind of the Japanese artist and singer.)

Thank you to blog reader Marycontraire for pointing out that Lorelai’s comment directly relates to the entry for The Lost Weekend.

“The lost weekend” was John Lennon’s name for the eighteen month period between 1973 and 1975 he was separated from Yoko Ono and living with a companion named May Pang. Musically it was a productive time for him, but also marked by some outrageous behaviour from Lennon while drunk or stoned. He likened this period to the film The Lost Weekend about an alcoholic.

Lorelai’s comment doesn’t exactly make sense, as Sookie isn’t in the same situation as Yoko Ono at all, but is typical of her riffing on pop culture without bothering whether it is actually pertinent to the case.

Ichiro Motors

This is the Japanese business whose employees are staying at the Independence Inn in Stars Hollow for a conference in this episode.

It is a fictional motor manufacturing company which may have been named after Ichiro Suzuki (born 1937), the Japanese engineer who worked for Toyota and designed the first Lexus, as not only was he involved in the car industry, but his surname is that of a Japanese motor manufacturer.

Fergie

TRIX: Raising your voice during high tea, whoever heard of such a thing? It’s like Fergie all over again.

Trix is referring to Sarah, Duchess of York (born Sarah Ferguson in 1959), a British royal known as “Fergie” by the British press. She married Prince Andrew in 1986; after having two daughters, they separated in 1992, and divorced in 1996.

Fergie’s demeanour as a royal was always very casual, and she could be loud and exuberant socially, which people either found a breath of fresh air, or like Trix, rather vulgar. We can see from her comment that Trix has been in high society in London, although the fact that she calls the duchess by her “press name” betrays that she doesn’t really know her at all.

The Elephant Man

SOOKIE: She’s [Rory] like the most unmaterialistic kid in the world.
LORELAI: No, it’s not about what she would buy. I don’t care if she buys a house, or a boat, or The Elephant Man’s bones.

Joseph Merrick, often incorrectly called John Merrick (1862-1890) was an English man with severe facial and physical deformities who was exhibited at freak shows as “The Elephant Man”. He then went to live at London Hospital and became well known in society, even being visited by royalty. It is not known from which medical condition Merrick suffered, and DNA tests have been inconclusive.

His life story was depicted in a 1979 Tony Award-winning stage play, The Elephant Man, by Bernard Pomerance, and David Lynch did a film version in 1980, starring John Hurt in the title role.

In 1987, Michael Jackson, who had apparently related to Joseph Merrick after seeing the film The Elephant Man, reportedly offered the London Hospital one million dollars for Merrick’s bones, but the hospital refused to sell them. It seems to have been a story fabricated by Jackson himself to add to his “Wacko Jacko” persona. For some time, rumours persisted that Jackson actually owned the bones.

Nietzsche and Dawson

LOUISE: Those who simply wait for information to find them, spend a lot of time sitting by the phone. Those who go out and find it themselves, have something to say when it rings.
RORY: Nietzsche?
LOUISE: Dawson.

Rory is referring to Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), a German philosopher whose work has been profoundly influential on Western philosophy. Since the 1960s his work has been a major focus in existentialism, postmodernism, art, literature, psychology, politics, and popular culture.

Louise is referring to Dawson Leery (James Van Der Beek), the central character on the teen drama series Dawson’s Creek, which aired on television between 1998 and 2003. I cannot verify if Louise’s quote is genuinely from the show, but it sounds like the sort of thing Dawson might have said.

This is a rather unsubtle example of how much more intellectual Rory is compared to Louise.

Miss Manners

LORELAI: You gave me a second hand present, like something you got at the junk store.
EMILY: You’re being a little dramatic. It was still in the crate.
LORELAI: You actually went, “Huh, what should I get Lorelai this year? You know what, I can’t be bothered. Let’s give her something we don’t want anymore”.
EMILY: You’re not funny.
LORELAI: What would Miss Manners say about this?

Miss Manners (born Judith Perlman in 1938, now Judith Martin) is an American journalist, author, and etiquette expert. Since 1978 she has written an advice column which is published in over 200 newspapers around the world.

Miss Manners does give her blessing to regifting, as long as the present is still new (not used), and that the recipient never finds out. She would think it quite okay that Lorelai received the unwanted hat rack from her mother still in its crate – the real rule of etiquette Emily has broken is telling Lorelai that her gift was previously given to her. Although as Emily says, she would probably understand if she met Richard’s mother.

Marx Brothers

TRISTAN: Uh … you left this [handing Rory her notebook.]
RORY: Oh yeah, I did. Thanks.
TRISTAN: Sure. [both try to go through the doorway together and back up]
RORY: Well, that could have been a potential Marx Brothers moment.

The Marx Brothers were an American family who formed a highly successful comedy act in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in film, from 1905 to 1949. They are generally known by their stage names: Groucho, Chico, Harpo, Zeppo, and Gummo. Considered to be among the greatest comedians of the twentieth century, several of their films are regarded as comedy classics.

During the show, it became apparent that The Marx Brothers made some of Lorelai and Rory’s favourite films. Amy Sherman-Palladino is also a big fan of The Marx Brothers.

“Too cabin-in-the-woods?”

PARIS: Read my manifesto, I want your thoughts.
RORY: First thought – lose the word “manifesto”.
PARIS: Too cabin-in-the-woods?
RORY: Don’t open your mail.

A reference to domestic terrorist Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski (born 1942), also known as the Unabomber. In 1971 he moved to a remote cabin in the woods in Montana, where he lived as a recluse.

He first began his bombing campaign after witnessing the destruction of the wilderness around him, and between 1978 and 1995 mailed or hand-delivered a series of increasingly-sophisticated bombs that killed three people and injured twenty-three.

In 1995, Ted Kaczynski’s lengthy essay, Industrial Society and Its Future, (known to the police as the Unabomber Manifesto) was published in The New York Times and The Washington Post. He promised that if it was published he would desist from further terrorism, and police hoped that its publication would help lead to his identification.

That proved to be the case: Ted’s estranged brother, David Kaczynski, recognised his brother’s writing style from family records of letters that Ted had written to newspapers in the 1970s, and an earlier essay by Ted.

Ted Kaczynski was arrested in 1996; he pleaded guilty to all charges in 1998 and was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. He is currently serving his sentence in a Supermax prison in Colorado.

Henry VIII

RORY: Henry VIII started a new church when the old one wouldn’t allow divorce.
PARIS: He also cut off his wife’s head. Is he still your role model?

King Henry VIII, the father of Elizabeth I, and earlier mentioned. He initiated the English Reformation, which separated the Church of England from the pope’s authority. Rory isn’t quite right that he started a new church – the Church of England already existed, but was originally under Rome – but she is generally correct about the reason.

Henry VIII tried to have his marriage to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, annulled by the pope, and when that didn’t work he took control of the church himself to annul his own marriage. It wasn’t technically a divorce – their marriage was declared null and void in 1533, and from then on Catherine was regarded as the widow of Henry’s older brother Arthur, her first husband.

His second wife was Anne Boleyn (c1509-1536), who was the mother of Elizabeth I. They were married in 1532, and he had her executed by beheading in 1536. She was charged with treason, adultery, and incest, but the evidence against her was unconvincing. Her main “crime” was probably failing to produce a son, as apart from Elizabeth, her other pregnancies ended in miscarriage.