A Veteran Reflects on Mad Men

The show Mad Men glamorizes the life of Madison Avenue executives. The smoking, drinking, and casual sex run rampant in the office. But many viewers at home wonder if the show accurately depicts the time period and this particular lifestyle. On Aug. 31^st, 2009, USA Today published an article entitled, “Veteran ad exec says ‘Mad Men’ really were about sex, booze.” In the article, Bruce Horovitz interviewed Jerry Della Femina who is a “Mad Man.” According to the article, Della Femina started “at age 16 in a Manhattan ad agency mailroom. Currently, he is the chairman, CEO, and executive creative director at New York agency Della Femina/Rothschild/Jeary and Partners.” The article discusses Della Femina’s life during the 1960s, particularly addressing drinking, smoking, and sex. But according to Della Femina, “all the drinking, smoking, and sex depicted on Mad Men may be an understatement.

Image credit: Jennifer S. Altman for USA Today 

Also while reading the article, I drew the conclusion that Roger Sterling resembled Jerry Della Femina. For example, he talked about company lunches and that he would walk through the front door of the restaurant and “the bartender would see us and start shaking the martinis…without even asking, the second one would arrive.” This reminded me of the time Sterling told his waiter that he never wanted to see the bottom of his glass. Della Femina was also an avid smoker as was Roger Sterling and admitted to smoking “three to four packs a day.” Another similarity I saw between the two was their infidelity. Sterling cheated on his wife several times. Della Femina admitted in the article that most marriages did not survive during this time period. He even mentioned how his ended after 24 years.

Another interesting aspect of the article was when Della Femina talked about working with tobacco companies. At Sterling Cooper, many of the characters smoke Lucky Strike cigarettes and I just assumed they smoked them because they liked them, not necessarily to impress their client. Della Femina explained how his company used to work with the tobacco company R.J. Reynolds. According to Della Femina, “the R.J. Reynolds guys would get off the elevator on our floor where we had two of those ashtrays filled with sand. The RJR guys would claw through the sand to see if there were butts from any other brands….They wanted to know what our people were smoking.”

I really enjoyed the article and I appreciated the insight that it provided into the world of Mad Men. Although I know many things about the show are historically accurate, I had just assumed that the show had played up the drinking, smoking, and casual sex aspect just to create drama and make the show more compelling. I truly found it hysterical that all of these elements seemed like an over exaggeration turned out to be an understatement. I think the article complemented the show very well and I was able to draw many apt comparisons about the show that I had not previously known were true.

Adultry Is Everyone's Problem

The first time I watched Mad Men one of the main flaws I found in almost all of the adult characters was infidelity. No matter how much I wanted to relate to the cast, and to view Don Draper as my protagonist, this one major flaw slapped me in the face. From as long as I can remember adultery has been in the headlines. From my parents’ discussion of the Clinton scandal dominating the room, to last week my roommates' critical examination of the broken marriages of Tiger Woods, Sandra Bullock, and Jenifer Aniston (just to name a few). Adultery has never been spoken of as anything less than a sin growing up, and there is no reason why I or anyone else with my upbringing would consider it the same thing. Yet, if you turn on the television or surf the web you are guaranteed to find images of adultery are clear. The 1960s and last week are no different when it comes to the appropriateness or existence or adultery.

Mad Men does not shy away from showing their audience their leading men and women straying from or participating in the act of adultery. This is not shown because “sex sells” but because adultery was common place during this period, especially in the higher classes of American society. Don Draper and Roger Sterling are merely products of their time. Women were in on it too. In 1962, one of the bestselling women’s books was Sex and the Single Girl by Helen Gurley Brown, the editor and chief of Cosmopolitan magazine from 1965-1997. Gurley Brown instructs young women how to work the system in which they were restrained by. She taught them many lessons that she learned during her 30+ years of being a single girl in the city from how to be financially sound and choose the best roommate, to how to chase a married man. This book was controversial at the time mainly because she voiced what was already being done behind closed doors. Joan Holloway is a great example of a woman who is sexually independent and allows men of every marital status to help her get the things she wants in life without toiling with the idea of marriage. Society is aware that adultery is a sin, and grounds for divorce even, but this does not hinder most people from straying. Gurley Brown in I’m Wild Again published in 1999 wrote a section about adultery. She asked one of the married men she had an affair with why he felt he “needed” to stray. The response was shocking; it was not selfish or deflecting the issue, he merely said “It just felt civilized."

I feel it is important for Mad Men’s audience to keep this in mind as they watch the series - to see it more as a cultural norm or rather something that was expected of them. People of that time married for different reasons, went to college for different reasons, and loved for different reasons. To compare them to today’s cultural standards is unfair and from my personal experience can build biases in your mind toward the show. Even though the reasons to turn to adultery may be different for today’s married couple, the rate of which marriages are ended due to marital infidelity seem to mirror the past. Today there are even dating websites devoted to adultery. These sites such as AshleyMadison.com, are providing an easier way for married people to stray. No longer are men confined to finding a woman on a train or taking off their wedding ring when entering a bar, but they are able to openly advertise for what exactly they are looking for. Are we today still as naïve about the severity and vastness of adultery as were the people of the 1960s? Or are we just as equally blinded by denial and refuse to consider that not everyone plays by the same rules taught to us? Or even that we ignore the rules when it comes to our own lives?

Sources referenced: Mad Men Unbuttoned: A Romp Through 1960s America by Natasha Vargas-Cooper

It's All About the Look

If you're like us, your fascination with Mad Men is not based only upon characters and story-lines. Sure, we all love the office-sex dynamic, Don's mysterious past, and that what's-going-to-
happen-next feeling every time Sal's homosexuality is insinuated. But, what we really love to see
is what they’re all wearing. The women wear form-fitting (yet classy) dresses with heels and are
always impeccable. Even Betty looks like the perfect wife after a long day of taking care of the
kids or spending a morning riding at the stables. Plenty of choices are offered for the women
who want to style themselves after the 1960’s. However, it has always been my opinion that one
can never have too much access to information (or shopping!) at their fingertips. So, in honor of
the costume designers of Mad Men, my blog post is dedicated to where to find the best 1960’s styled clothing. My favorite pieces have always been available at ModCloth.com and JCrew.
ModCloth sells a variety of retro clothing though their dresses are the most notable. JCrew has
also been offering Jackie cardigans (as in Jackie O) and Minnie pants, which are reminiscent of
Audrey Hepburn. Here, at a fellow Mad Men blog, women can find more that will remind them
of our favorite women on television. For more on women’s fashion, also click here to
check out Elle’s take on Mad Men with Janie Bryant, Mad Men’s costume designer.

Now, let us not forget the men, for what would the 1960s be without the dashing debonair men
that make up Sterling Cooper’s agency. Like their female counterparts, the men always appear
pristine in their tailored suits. And, who doesn’t adore the beloved hats that were once a sign of a
well-groomed, chivalrous man? Unfortunately, ladies, we can only strive to mimic the style of
the 1960s. Men, on the other hand, are finally able to dress like their television heroes. As Dave
Itzkoff advertised in The New York Times, men can finally “be as Dapper as Draper.” The suit,
sold here by Brooks Brothers, is styled after the tailoring of the 1960s as seen on Don Draper and
Roger Sterling. The suit was also designed by Janie Bryant, the show’s creator. The suit debuted
last fall but is still available online. I will warn you, it comes at a hefty price.

Sources Cited: Itzkoff, Dave. “Be as Dapper as Draper in Your Own ‘Mad Men’ Suit.” The New York Times. 14 Oct. 2009. Web. 22 Apr. 2010.

It's a Barbie World

With the first season the Mad Men taking place in 1960 and the Barbie brand being introduced in 1959, it was only a matter of time before the two industries merged together. Sold at around $75.00 per doll, Barbie and Ken will soon become one of four characters in Mad Men: Joan Holloway, Roger Sterling, Don Draper, or Betty Draper.

But do the characters of Mad Men fall too close to home to be a typical Barbie doll? Is Betty Draper not a Barbie doll herself? This draws an interesting question; now that we see the damage and disloyalty that truly lies behind the perfect “Barbie doll” characters on Mad Men, does that make the image of Barbie and Ken less perfect?

This is something the creative executives at Barbie marketing took under consideration. As stated by Stuart Elliott in his New York Times article about the subject, “The dolls come with period accessories like hats, overcoats, pearls and padded undergarments, but no cigarettes, ashtrays, martini glasses or cocktail shakers." It turns out, it doesn’t matter whether you are living in 1960 or 2010; when it comes to advertising, image almost always takes precedence over truth.

Meddling With Masculinity

The scene starts in The Oak Room Bar, crowded with people, alcohol and thick smoke permeating the air. Roger and Don are enjoying their 5 o’clock while conversing about light matters-- young females. Roger takes an interest in two attractive women down the bar when he comments about women losing their glow of youth after thirty, speaking to his discontent with his own marriage. Roger instantly turns glum after the women’s eyes follow Don as he exits to call Betty. This initial interaction promotes the uncomfortable situation at dinner later that night. The episode renders a theme of proving one’s masculinity in which both Don and Roger face challenges against the ideals they envision and take actions to reassert their own manhood.

Masculinity answers the “question of how particular groups of men inhabit positions of power and wealth, and how they legitimate and reproduce the social relationships that generate their dominance," according to Carrigan, Connell and Lee (92). This question is clearly articulated in the natural rivalry present between Roger and Don, of which comes to a head during dinner. Roger has passed his prime and envies not only Don’s emerging success but also his dashing looks and seemingly perfect home life. He comes on to Betty in the kitchen, saying that he knows he gives her "the hot pants." This attempt at bolstering his ego falls short when Don walks in and is fully aware of the flirting that Roger has instigated. Don afterwards approaches Betty, grabbing her arm to assert himself as the man in the house, something no one can take from him, not even his boss. This moment is particularly strong because Don enforces his power in the household and his power in the office, by scolding Betty and blaming her for the flirtatious encounter with his boss.

Don deals with the merging conflicts between home and work by exerting his masculinity over Roger the next day at the office. Don utilizes his youth and stamina to execute a simple plan in order to outshoot Roger. A contest in drinking and eating, both manly tasks, determines one aspect of greater masculinity. Don not only embarrasses Roger in front of his colleagues, but he also out-drinks and eats more than him, reinvigorating his sense of pride. This leaves emasculated Roger on the steps of the office, sitting in the odor of his own bodily fluids and his ego out the door with the knowledge to not mess with Don, or his wife, again. Williams states that masculinity “has to be continually renewed, recreated, defended and modified” (112). "Red in the Face" captures all of these aspects as the men in the show face challenges to their own masculinity as well impose tests on the others.

Each episode begins with a business suit-clad man falling. He falls out of an office building through the setting he is defined within and passes images that are ideal yet artificial. He is not in control. The theme rendered in this episode of masculinity is articulated clearly in the introduction to each episode. No man wants to feel that he is not in control. Even worse, no man wants to feel that another has more control over aspects of his own life than himself. Roger feels this challenge first at the bar and tries to assure himself that he is attractive and wanted by coming on to Betty, only to cause Don to feel tested in his own house. This causes Don to make his move at the office, publicly making known that his masculinity is something no one plays around with.

Sources cited: T. Carrigan, R. Connell, and J. Lee's "Toward a New Sociology of Masculinity" (From In The Making of Masculinities:The New Men’s Studies, Ed. H. Brod. Boston: Allen & Unwin, 1987) and R. Williams's Marxism and Literature (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1977).

Cocktails at the Plaza

In Season 1, Episode 7 “Red in the Face," we see Don and Roger enjoying an evening drink at a crowded bar. This bar is actually the Oak Room Bar, in the famous Plaza Hotel in New York, located on 5^th avenue and Central Park South. The bar is one of the most well known martini bars in New York, originally opened in 1907. The bar was designed by Henry Hardenbergh and originally only allowed men to frequent it. It was closed during the Prohibition era and then re-opened in 1934. The Oak Room Bar is still opened today, and considered to be one of the best hotel bars in the New York. It’s no surprise Don and Roger would go there for their after work cocktail, only the best and most elite hang-outs are sufficient for these Mad Men.

Links referenced: "Oak Bar Photo Gallery" and The Oak Room.