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You know what I’ve always wondered? Why didn’t Lorelai call Rory to tell her that Norman Mailer was at the Dragonfly Inn?
Image: TheWB.com
In the episode ‘Norman Mailer, I’m Pregnant,’ Norman Mailer guest starred as an author who comes to conduct interviews at the Dragonfly – much to Sookie’s displeasure, since he only orders iced tea while her lunch is threatened to be cut from the budget. It’s a cute episode. But I got to wondering about something odd in the scripting… Rory would have wanted to meet Norman Mailer!
Norman Mailer, who died in 2007, was an American novelist, journalist, poet and much more. He’s considered an innovator in a genre called New Journalism. His books include Armies of the Night and The Executioner’s Song, both of which were awarded a Pulitzer Prize, as well as many other works. Mailer was politically active as well, which I think would have sparked Rory’s interest if the books did not (which of course they would have!).
Now, given that Lorelai dragged Rory out of bed to meet Christiane Amanpour, don’t you think Lorelai would have called Rory to gossip about Mailer being in the Dragonfly? Perhaps arrange for Rory to come by and gawk at him, if not meet him?
I don’t think it was a big gaffe in the show, but sometimes it’s fun to follow these little plot elements to learn more about the characters, as it were. I love these discussions.
And Menda, that’s a good point. We don’t know the “backstory”, so to speak.
If I remember correctly, in the episode with Norman Mailer, Sookie wasn’t fuming at just one of his visits where all he orders is tea. It was assumed, and slightly mentioned, that he has come to do interviews at the Dragonfly before. With that, one can assume that Lorelai drug Rory out of bed to meet him his first visit. It’s just all the ins and outs of trying to logically fit everything they can in the writing and background.
I’m guessing there may have been a scene where Rory met Norman Mailer, but it got cut because it didn’t really forward the plot. Then again, Mr. Mailer himself said he didn’t like being fawned over, so it may have been in his contract not to let anyone make a big fuss over him in the episode.
As to the other celebrity sighting in the show, in the second episode of the series, the headmaster asked Rory what kind of reporter she would like to be, and Rory said “Christiane Amanpour.” So of course Rory had to meet her. However, Rory did not want to be Norman Mailer, and I don’t recall her ever reading anything by Norman Mailer in any episode, so it was not such a big deal to Rory to meet him.
Also, I think in the episode where Rory, Lorelai & Sookie take the Chilton girls to a Bangles concert, Rory says that Lorelai and Rory go to New York City for shows fairly frequently. If this is the case, then they also likely go to book signings, so Rory has other chances to meet famous authors already.
So in my mind, Rory failing to meet Norman Mailer was NOT a big gaffe in the plotting of the show.
I had always wondered this myself.