Tag: Speculation

Hank Williams

LORELAI: Hank Williams would be too sad to write a song about me.

Hiram “Hank” Williams (1923-1953), singer, songwriter, and musician. He is regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century. Williams recorded 55 singles that reached the top 10 of the Billboard Country & Western chart, five of which were released posthumously, including 12 that reached No. 1, three of which were released after his death.

Some of his sad songs include “Lovesick Blues”, “Your Cheatin’ Heart”, “We’re Getting Closer to the Grave Each Day”, and “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”. Perhaps the one closest to Lorelai’s situation is “A Tramp on the Streets”.

Nomad, The Lonely Wanderer

LORELAI: I’m a nomad … I am the lonely wanderer.

A nomad is someone without a settled home who regularly moves from place to place. Examples of nomads include hunter-gatherers, pastoral herders, tinkers, traders, and itinerants.

Lorelai is possibly referring to the 1963 country song by Slim Whitman, “(I’m a) Lonely Wanderer”. I’m mostly basing this on the fact that she immediately references another country singer.

92nd Street Y or Brick Church

PARIS: It’s partly my parents’ fault, they didn’t brand me properly. I should’ve been at the 92nd Street Y or Brick Church.

RORY: Prep schools?
PARIS: Preschools. It decides everything.

The 92nd Street Y and the Brick Church School are both upmarket faith-based preschools on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City – this may suggest that Paris lived there when she was a small child, her parents moving to Hartford later.

Does this provide a hint of why Paris never quite fit in at Chilton? The other alternative is that she believes her parents should have moved to New York for her preschool education, which is just selfish and impractical enough to be believable for Paris’ character.

The 92nd Street Y [pictured] is a secular Jewish cultural centre which offers a diversity of programs, including a nursery school. The Brick Church is a Presbyterian church which has offered early childhood programs since 1940, and members of the congregation receive preference in the highly competitive application process.

The fact that Paris considers both these preschools as options she could have had suggests that Paris’ mother may be or originally was Presbyterian. Either that, or she has no idea how preschools actually work.

“Stay another night”

LORELAI: Now, at least half the Poe group needs to stay another night, so we’re gonna need to find places to put them up.

I would have thought that if a hotel burns down a day before the end of your visit, that’s the end of your holiday, and you go home. However, perhaps half the Poes need to wait for flights at the airport the next day. With typical warmhearted community spirit, the people of Stars Hollow are prepared to take the fire-doomed Poes into their own homes for a night. Although if you were matched with Taylor or Mrs Kim, you might seriously consider just camping at the airport overnight.

Ricardo Montalbán

MISS PATTY: I was Ricardo Montalban’s receptionist for six months and he never complained.
MICHEL: Who?

Ricardo Montalbán, born Ricardo Montalbán y Merino (1920-2009), Mexican-American film and television actor. Montalbán’s career spanned seven decades, during which he became known for performances in a variety of genres, from crime and drama to musicals and comedy. He starred in Fantasy Island, previously mentioned.

Here we get another insight into Miss Patty’s past life, this time as receptionist to an actor. This may have been in the 1970s or ’80s?

Michel is ignorant of Ricardo Montalbán, even though he was a surprisingly extensive knowledge of American television.

The Cheshire Cat Inn

LORELAI: Hey, who are you on with?
MICHEL: The Cheshire Cat Inn.

The Cheshire Cat was the B&B in Portsmouth where Lorelai and Rory stayed on their road trip to Harvard [pictured]. Apparently there is also a Cheshire Cat Inn near Stars Hollow. Oddly, neither Lorelai or Rory remarked on this coincidence when they were at the B&B. Did the writer (Daniel Palladino) just run out of ideas for names here?

“Go to the ghetto on you”

[Dean sees them and waves. Lindsay glances at Rory]
LORELAI: Oh, I think she’s ready to go to the ghetto on you.

Possibly a reference to the 1998 hip-hop song, “The Geto”, by the rapper Scarface, featuring Willie D, Ice Cube, and K.B, from the album, My Homies. One part says, ” … got to go, to the ghetto”. If so, it may be an attempt to make us believe Lorelai’s earlier assertion that she is “into rap”. It sort of ends up seeming a bit racist.