Don’s first-season moments with Midge are as rosy as rosy can be—they listen to Miles Davis, smoke a little pot here and there, and go their respective ways—him back to Ossining, her back to Bob Dylan-types and ‘I love you, Grandma!’ greeting cards.

In Don’s mind, the women he medicates with never change. In reality, they stay in the Village too long and wind up slaves to the needle.

Yes, in a quickly decaying New York, it makes sense that counterculture rears its ugly head in the form of heroin-addicted Midge and her would-be pimp husband.

A year or so away from the Velvet Underground’s ode to the drug, Village heroin use was in full swing. A 1965 Life Magazine shoot takes us inside the claustrophobic world of two addicts—a young couple who steal and hustle to feed their collective habit and leave their squalid quarters only to score (don’t even get me started on how much like the recent activities of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce this is).

Don tells Midge that he’s expected to see her in the Village, and of course he has! Don Draper knows nothing of what it meant to be an early bohemian woman—remember, Midge is living the boho life in 1960, a solid six years before little Peggy Olsen dares to venture over to a loft party. By 1966, Midge’s art career has gone nowhere, and the Dons of New York have moved on to younger and brighter things, and Midge’s flouting of convention has left her (literally) high and dry.

Destruction is on its way—to our SCDP heroes, to the women they throw money at, to the very city in which they all ply their trade. In a few short years, the Village will be uninhabitable for besuited businessmen like Don. The walls are closing in, and Don Draper’s only starting to notice.

*Footnote by- Angela Serratore

August 23, 2010

Don Draper’s Year of Eating Dangerously continues! Apparently the threat of being squirted by chicken Kiev wasn’t enough for poor Bethany—now she’s got to contend with chicken-scented hair and a date who doesn’t know how to use chopsticks.

Started in 1964 by a Japanese wrestler who wrangled up funds by driving an ice cream truck, Benihana was to be a place where curious Americans (ones younger than Roger Sterling, for obvious reasons) could dine at a teppanyaki table (it means ‘steel grill’ and ‘fried’, basically) and be served by a knife-tossing, joke telling Japanese chef.

Founder Rocky Aoki and chefs

The fare, largely meat, vegetables, and rice grilled together, wouldn’t have been wildly exotic to the average New Yorker, especially once they got over the whole Japanese food=raw fish thing, but the ambience (and specialty cocktails served in glasses shaped like Sumo wrestlers) proved charming—once they got over the peculiarity of sharing a table with strangers, the New York Herald’s critics gave Benihana a rave review, and by mid-1965 regular guests included the Beatles and Muhammad Ali.

Benihana currently operates in 17 countries, it’s particular style of dining proving as globally appealing as date nights and business peacocking, it seems.

Footnote by Angela Serratore

1:35am | 29 notes

August 3, 2010

Betty Draper loves a makeover. She’s redone her home, her hair, and her wardrobe, all in attempts to be her own woman, and yet! Betty’s reinventions are all tied (like she’ll always be tied!?) to Don, and this latest incarnation of Elizabeth Francis nee Draper nee Hofstadt? No different than the rest.

As Don’s wife, Betty was Grace Kelly at her height. Like a movie star dropped in Ossining, her wardrobe, hair, and makeup all served to enhance her youthful yet polished beauty. She looks like a living, breathing Barbie Doll, ready to be shown off at industry events in Manhattan.

As her first marriage starts to disintegrate, Betty, no fool, has her second lined up—and a new look to go along with it. If Betty is some 6 or so years younger than Don, and Don is at least 6 years younger than Henry (based on greyness of hair and age of adult children, approximately), then she’s at least a decade younger than her new husband. Unlike that strumpet Jane Siegel Sterling, Betts realizes the gravity of her situation—now the wife of a respected lawyer/political figure in the Republican Party, she’s going to dress the part.

You can see her transformation begin in Season 3—by the time Margaret’s wedding rolls around, Betty has swapped out her trademark candy confection-gowns for an icy blue suit (a suit!) with a fur collar.

Dancing with Don and gazing longingly at Henry, she’s already beginning to look the part of Mrs. Francis, and not unlike Grace Kelly post-addition of royal husband.

When we meet again in Season 4, Betty’s overhaul is even more striking. At Thanksgiving Dinner, 1964, she looks, well—old. Her brocade suit is mother-of-the-fall-bride, and her hair and makeup are pure Lady Bird Johnson, the First Lady after the Most Fashionable First Lady of All Time.

The funny thing about Betty’s new looks? They never seem to stick. Not a moment after her fancy (and expensive) decorator placed 42 Bullet Park road in the ‘success’ category, her id went and put a fainting couch right in front of her hearth. The Anita Ekberg Betty of Rome was left behind in the Hilton courtyard, but her resentment at being forced to give it up somehow made it past airport security.

Only time will tell if Betty’s new look (and the marriage that inspired it) will last.

*Footnote by Angela Serratore

July 23, 2010

“Everything in California is new and the people are full of hope” — Don on my home.

The Wrap is running the excerpt from the book today : California Cool

“We never learn the full names or identities of the Fellini-esque aristocrats with whom Don escapes. Names like Rockefeller, Astor, Rothschild, Dykeman — or Whitman — mean nothing in the desert. The whole scene is drenched in a democracy of the sun. Nothing has come before and few think of tomorrow.”

Bask with me.

9:00am | | Los Angeles | California | Don Draper

July 2, 2010

Web-savvy Reader of Immense Attractiveness:

We created a little gift for you.

Christina Perry and Derrick Gee are two illustrators I commissioned for the Mad Men Unbuttoned book (pre-ordering is for winners!) to make it pretty. There are 5 original pieces and they are beautiful as this wallpaper you see above.

For this illustration we were trying to isolate what motivated us to do the book, we figured out that we loved so much was to getting closer to the characters by filling in the gaps. Looking at the history that surronds them and plugging it into the personal details of their lives. So Christina, Derrick and I imagined all the little treasures we would find in Don’s desk.

*A movie ticket from La Notte (one of Don’s favorite flicks)

*A copy of ‘Man in the Gray Flannel Suit’ which appears on his Sterling Cooper bookshelf.

*Keys to the Cadillac

*Mints for kissing your wife, ex-wife, or otherwise.

*Engraved zippo.

*Cufflinks in case a change of shirts is order.

*And of course, Don’s bread and butter: some Luckys.

Just right click and save! And here is What’s in Joan’s Purse?

May 17, 2010

“A friend suggested I watch the series, “Mad Men”. It feels like deja vu….this photo was taken in 1960 in Manhattan (the series takes place in the same year and place)….my mother and stepfather (a television executive) look a lot like the main characters Don Draper and his wife Betty. It all feels so familiar…the hair styles, the thin ties, the smoky air, the cocktails…….the extra-martial affairs……”

This photoset of childhood in Manhattan is delicious. Give it a click through, you will enjoy.

I promise.

December 4, 2009

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]

Mad Men Playlist:

Don’t Think Twice (It’s All Right) — Bob Dylan

Hmm! This song. It’s so undeniably personal. Can it really be applied to Don Draper when it speaks to so many things and so many people? Bob Dylan’s mournful little break up song was released in 1963, and it was featured in the finale of season one “The Wheel”, which ends in 1960.

I don’t think it was a good choice! The sound works, for sure, but the lyrics just don’t match up. Dylan’s song is sad, certainly, but it’s not regretful. He’s a traveling gypsy, just like Don wishes he could be sometimes, but he certainly doesn’t wish it in the season one finale. He comes home to reunite with his family, not to walk down that “long, lonesome road.”

For a show that usually matches mood with song so well, and tries so hard to be chronistic, this song choice is jarring.

• footnote - by Natasha Simons

10:59pm | 24 notes | mad men playlist

November 26, 2009

Let us all be thankful for restorative weekends in Palm Springs.

Ok, Footnotes crowd: Let’s get long form! I think you’ll like. From one of the best scenes of the series.

* * *

Man in Fez Hat: Dig Ad man had a heart. Toothpaste doesn’t solve anything. Dacron sure as hell won’t bring back those ten dead kids in Biloxi.

Don: Neither will buying some Tokaji wine and leaning up against a wall in Grand Central pretending you’re a vagrant.

Man in Fez Hat: You what it’s like to watch all you ants go into your hive? I wipe my ass with the Wall Street Journal. …Look at you—satisfied, dreaming up jingles for soap flakes and spot remover, telling yourself you’re free.

Don: My god. Stop talking. Make something of yourself

Midge’s Lover: Like you? You make the lie. You invent want. You’re for them… not us.

Don: Well I hate to break it to you, but there is no big lie. There is no system. The universe is indifferent .

Man in Fez Hat: Man, why’d you have to say that?

* * *

It is so easy to take Don’s side in this moment. History, more or less proves him right. (Plus, it’s difficult to feel sympathy for a pigeon-chested twentysomething in a peasant shirt when he is standing next to Don Draper). The political changes that defined the 60’s and 70’s came about through a combination of disciplined political action — not music festivals.

This idea of counterculture, and the Us v. Them dichotomy has always existed Western Civilization (see supreme court case Jesus v Romans), but this specific bohemian scorn against ‘the ad man’ was fomented specifically during the 1960s.

In the view of Midge’s glassy eyed party guests, society had become overrun with lies and propaganda thanks to hyper consumption fueled by advertising. The world was soiled by injustices (like Biloxi) and yet people were told freedom was to be found in washing machines and Cadillacs. “The system”, then, was considered a huge swindle of images and symbols that repressed individualism and truth. The way to rebel was to renounce symbols of greed, discipline, and uniformity.

The rub? This was done by adopting a whole new system of symbols: a hammer and sickle pin to show your defiance to the rigid McCarthyism of the 50’s, a bare midriff to outrage the mothers who taught their daughters to be polite and find husbands, or even a Paul Kinsey style beard to broadcast the notion that you and your face will not be constricted by the tyranny of disposable razors!

Yet according to Don there is no system; the universe does not care what kind of shoes you do or don’t wear; it will continue to spin mercilessly, unmoved by human turmoil (no one knows this better than a dust bowl farmhand like Dick Whitman). So the counterculture that Midge’s buddies adopted was supposed to build a new world on individual freedom. Now, we have the benefit of being 40 years in the future and seeing that this project of theirs did not work so well: The system of hyper consumerism was not staved off by bearded men in ironic fez hats, it’s actually still thriving!

So then, where does that leave Don? Don is also in revolt, yes? But is his brand of rebellion any more or else authentic than the hippies in the corner? After all this conversation is being had in the apartment of Don’s mistress. Don revels in the same kind of hedonism and rule breaking to satisfy his individuality as the dope smokers do. I mean, the guy shows up an hour late every day, bucks at authority, and has joyless sex with powerful women for what reason exactly? To shake off that creeping alienation that comes from a world living in a world of well disguised lies?

At least his feet are clean when he does it.

November 16, 2009

Can you guess what Boho lover lady put on for her afternoon romp with Don?

Of course you can.

It is the crowning jewel of a masterpiece: Blue in Green. It’s the third track on Miles Davis’ 1959 Kind of Blue. The composition was co-written by Bill Evans who played piano on the album. Evans was to the piano, what Davis was to the trumpet. Both men begun with a bop beat and then slinked into a cooler, looser, slow-like-honey mode with the rising influence of West Coast jazz at the the beginning of the 1960’s. Davis, of course, went on to wilder orchestrations and built a discography defined by musical innovation.

Evans found his steady rhythm in cool jazz. In the mid-sixties he was a part of the breezey California sound along with tenor sax titan Stan Getz. The two did album together which is also very good to listen to when committing adultery in the Village. Or anywhere.

The RSS for this blog is http://madmenunbuttoned.com/rss

1 of 2 next page