In Mad Men at the Movies we investigate the cinematic references in the Emmy winning drama Mad Men. Though we accidentally took a one month hiatus from this series (due to a paucity of movie references) we shouldn't have. The series is mainly an excuse to talk about the show. It's the best on television. In fact, I haven't loved a show as much as Mad Men since the heyday of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (circa 1998/1999)... inbetween those two titans only Battlestar Galactica and Once & Again got to me in similarly seismic ways. Which is to say, I love it madly. If I were to coincidentally receive an old engagement ring right before watching an episode, I would undoubtedly impulsively propose to it.
"Mad Men, you make me very happy. Will you marry me?"
4.13 "Tomorrowland"
Season 4 has seen Don Draper (Jon Hamm) survive a tumultuous year filled with career highs intermingled with scary career scares but emotionally he's been hovering at the edge of the abyss for the entirety of 1965. In the season capper, he takes his kids to Disneyland (hence the title... and a sly one, too). He's already slept with his secretary Megan (Jessica Paré) in a previous episode but he invites her along as replacement babysitter since the ex Mrs. Draper has impulsively fired the children's life long nanny Carla. Don can't be expected to change diapers!
Though Don's sudden marriage proposal to Megan played like a shock -- I watched the episode at a party thrown by the Lipp Sisters and the room went audibly gaspy -- it shouldn't have; the whole season has been leading here.
This week's episode of Mad Men "The Beautiful Girls" contained no movie references -- unless you count Faye calling Don "Mr Bond" (we think we heard that?) when he pried too much into her business with other ad agencies -- and a few celebrity name-droppings in a pitch meeting. What we did get is a lot of forward movement on Mad Men's quest to illustrate the 60s itself as a character. Vietnam is starting to scare these familiar faces and the burgeoning civil rights movement is starting to interfere with their perceptions of self.
Beautiful Girls: Joan, Peggy and Faye (Betty not pictured)
Mad Men probably won't win any new fans with that bad neighborhood mugging scene, since they've already been criticized in some quarters for the (mostly) all-white cast. But Mad Men's focus has always been a very specific type of people, ad men in midtown, and the show is doing a beautiful job of reflecting how people actually deal with change. I love Peggy's initial dismissal when confronted with racism "I'm not a political person!" and the way this bled into her own ideas about sexism and then to actual guilt about her culpability in working for racist organizations. This strikes me as an honest and realistic depiction of the way that people actually deal with change. Usually people respond to things based on how and when they affect them or their loved onespersonallyor they put off dealing with it at all until the social tide swings far enough towards a new way of thinking that they have no choice but to either jump on board or refuse the tide of progress and become ultra conservative. You can see this in the way straight people deal with the gay rights movements and you can see this in how native citizens deal with immigration issues in their own country, wherever that country may be.
Hopefully Mad Men will give us a movie to discuss soon... but this season is just on fire.
freelance creative Joey and name-dropping Harry discuss Peyton Place
Episode 4.8 "The Summer Man" In yesterday's episode, Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) and Joan (Christina Hendricks) have a difficult showdown with Joey (Matt Long) the freelancer, another example of the show's study of sexism in the workplace. Joan turns on Peggy, despite Peggy's efforts to help. Joan is still in her downward spiral, less powerful in the office, helpless at home, and continually obsessing over Vietnam. Meanwhile, Don Draper (Jon Hamm) finally pulls himself out of his spiral. After last week's instant classic episode, which was very tightly focused, this was a rather uncharacteristic episode with prolonged narration from Don and a jumble of different scenes that felt like transitions away from old storylines. <--- Mia Farrow and Ryan O'Neal in Peyton Place.
There were several cultural references in this episode such as Margaret Mead, Aesop's Fables, Life Magazine, Ray Charles but the closest we came to movies were two properties that had been or were to become movies. Broadway sensation The Odd Couple was cited with the classic "Are you an Oscar or a Felix?" question, but it would be another few years before that comedy transferred to the big screen. In another scene Harry Crane (Rich Sommer) tried to convince troublesome Joey to audition for a role opposite Ryan O'Neal on "Peyton Place"(1964)because he was so small screen handsome. Joey, unbeknownst to Harry, misinterpreted this as a gay come on.
Ryan O'Neal is a familiar name to anyone who lived through the 1970s when his fame was at its peak but in 1965 he hadn't yet made the jump from small to big screen. Peyton Place had just made the opposite journey. The original film adaptation of the novel (my review) was a Best Picture nominee in 1957 -- one of Oscar's most honored losers actually with 9 nominations and 0 wins -- but it became a series in 1964 catapulting both Ryan O'Neal and Mia Farrow into A List movie stardom once they moved on.
Clip. Mia is heavily featured. Ryan shows up until the 2:36 mark.
Have you seen either version?
The only connection that cropped up in my head with the movie version of Peyton Place and this episode is that Constance McKenzie (Lana Turner) is one (enjoyably) frosty bitch and Mad Men loves that type... though Betty softened beautifully in this episode just as Joan pulled her icy armor closer. * *
Mad Men @ The Movies discusses the cinematic references in television's best series.
Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) and Don (Jon Hamm) succumb to exhaustion. Four seasons of great acting will knock the wind right out of you.
Episode 4.7 "The Suitcase" This week's episode was a well timed Peggy & Don duet. The historic backdrop was the infamous boxing match between Sonny Liston and Cassius Clay (Clay had already changed his name to Muhammad Ali but not everyone had acclimated to the switch. Interesting that Don in particular shows resistance to it given his own name change/reinvention). Given that context and the episode's actual content it might be more appropriate to call "The Suitcase" a well timed Peggy & Don brawl. By the end of the episode they'd put each other through ten rounds, with an actual brawl (albeit with Peggy watching rather than throwing punches). We'll call it a draw. Shockingly, they both had a good cry before the hour was out, and seemed both more vulnerable to the viewing audience and to each other; it was a brutal episode but it wound down with surprising tenderness. The two characters have so often been used as imperfect parallels and generational / gender distorted reflections of each other that moments where they come head to head like this are nearly always memorable. And a whole episode of it? I can't help but say it: "The Suitcase" was a knockout.
But, for our purposes at MM@M, it was a rare episode without any movie star / movie name dropping. The closest we came was a James Bond reference and the opening shot/scene when Harry Crane (Rich Sommer) passes out tickets to see the big match... on the big screen.
Ken: Where are these exactly? Harry: It's a movie theater -- no bad seats.
Those seats costs $15 which is quite a hefty price tag in 1965 (the hookers a few episodes ago cost $25). The SCDP team is seeing the match broadcast live at Loew's Capitol Theater in Times Square. The legendary theater once housed world premieres like Doctor Zhivago in 1965. After the last engagement in 1968, 2001: A Space Odyssey, the theater was demolished. Sadly movie theaters like that don't exist anywhere these days, really. It had over 5000 seats and a 25' by 60' screen.
As for Harry's assertion that movie theaters have no bad seats... do you agree? I'd beg to differ as I hate the front row. I'm a middle/middle man, though lately I've taken a liking to aisle/middle/right. But anything's fine really so long as it's not the front row! *
Before we begin, a hearty congrats to Mad Men team for their third Emmy. Confetti thrown.
Episode 4.6 "Waldorf Stories" In this episode, Don and Roger continue their downward spirals (it seems to be the long arc plot of Season 4) drinking way too much and imbibing too much awards show adulation (Don wins a Clio) or nostalgia (Roger continually reminisces). Meanwhile Peggy and Peter are on the rise, choosing pragmatism and hard work over their individual personal discomfort. The older characters tripping themselves up and the younger characters changing and rising is definitely the long arc of Season 4.
The only character chatting up the movies this week was Roger Sterling (John Slattery).
Roger: Charlie Chaplin was very lonely. That Tramp -- too much of a sad sack. Laurel and Hardy - they're much better. Except Hardy was so mean to Laurel. I hated that.
Why am I talking about silent movies?
Caroline (his secretary, taking dictation): I suppose as part of the chapter on your childhood?
Roger: That part of my book is getting bigger and bigger. Why is that?
Oh Roger. Who exactly is the sad clown? Clue: It's not Chaplin though he was that, yes.
That Roger is talking about 1920s movies and wonders why aloud, is one clue that he's having difficulty focusing on work or even the present tense aka 1965. The flashback heavy nature of the episode, in which we suddenly realize that Joan & Roger go way way back (intriguing -- was she even working in the office yet?), is the other.
Best Moment Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) strips off her clothes in a hotel room as challenge to her sexist faux-nudist co-worker. "I can work like this. Let's get liberated."
Finally, you have to love the choreography of the finale, which threads Don & Peggy's storylines together and also has a movie joke. Don lost his advertising award during his very own Lost Weekend. Here's his resigned banter with his secretary Miss Blankenship (Randee Heller, yes, that's The Karate Kid's mom).
Draper: Call the Pen and Pencil and see if someone found my award. Blankenship: What's the category? Draper: Best Actress.
Ha! Don hates her so much.
But the staging is as funny as the joke.
Draper actually enters the office (blink and you'll miss him) during Peggy's story punchline in which she mocks her co-worker after their nude encounter (she's talking about a "little" change in the ad) but her hand gesture and the eyeline from art director Rizzo to her implicates Don Draper. He keeps getting emasculating this season.
Best Actress. Heh.
Other References in this Episode (TV) Peyton Place, The Flintstones (Celebrities) The Pope, Red Skelton (Literature) A Tale of Two Cities, Noah's Ark, Playboy (Politics) The Daisy Ad, The Klu Klux Klan, The Temperance Movement
Of Note Show creator Matthew Weiner on why his actors come up empty at the Emmys. This was recorded before Sunday night's awards in which all of the actors lost again.
Further reading For diehard Mad Men fans who can't read enough.
Shitty First Drafts "Why Betty Draper Matters" This is a smart read about housewives in the 1960s. I'm within the small minority who is fascinated (even when appalled) by the former Mrs. Don Draper so I heartily approve.
Tom & Lorenzo The cast on the cover of Rolling Stone.
Rolling Stone a beauteous on set photo gallery from Rolling Stone.
Fast Company actors as spokespersons for brands blurs MM's boundaries
Antenna "You're Not Going to Kill This Account" on actual and revisionist history alike.
Scanners "...From Twin Peaks" a must read for David Lynch fans.
TV Guide Sal will be coming back to the show in some way (!) Cameo or otherwise?
Norsk Film Institute Mad Men at the Movies gets its own screening series in Norway. Unfortunately I am not thanked, involved, or flown over for it. Jeg gråter.
Mad Men @ the Movies investigates cinema references... a fancy excuse to talk about tv's best series.
Episode 4.5 "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword" In this episode SCDP attempts to win the Honda campaign but Sterling still hates the Japanese from his WWII days. Meanwhile, it's Draper Vs. Draper again as Don (Jon Hamm) and Betty (January Jones returns.) hurl hate at each other. Tween daughter Sally tries to tune them out by misbehaving i.e. engaging in perfectly normal behavior like masturbating. Uh oh! In one sequence Sally cuts her own hair, sending her babysitter and her father into hysterics.
Don: Why would she do that? Babysitter: She probably wanted to look older or like Hayley Mills. I don't know."
Heaven to hear 60s child star Hayley Mills (a personal fav) referenced on Mad Men. Hayley is best remembered today for the back-to-back family friendly classics Pollyanna (1960) and The Parent Trap (1961). She was actually the last actor to win the Academy's intermittently awarded Juvenile Award (you know the one-- the only Oscar Judy Garland ever got. Grrrr.) Mills would have most definitely been an idol for Sally's generation.
The previous summer moviegoers had enjoyed Hayley in The Moon Spinners (64) and she had two films in theaters for 65: Disney's That Darn Cat (pictured up top) and The Truth About Spring. This episode takes place in 1965 which happened to be the last year Mills could be referred to as a teenager...
Hayley Mills leaving her teen years. 18 in 1964 (left) & 19 in 1965 (right)
She was exiting adolescence just as Sally was entering it. In 1966 she actually played a young married woman in The Family Way.
Nevertheless, for the family friendly Hayley memories this particular episode conjures, the pop culture reference that leads to the most adult-specific hysteria is not from the movies but from the small screen. Sally watches television's The Man From U.N.C.L.E.(from its debut season '64-'65) while at a sleepover (her friend is already asleep). In the scene, David McAllum is tied to a chair, and his masculine pheromones are doing a hormonal whammy on confused Sally. (Or maybe Sally's just going to be into bondage as an adult.)
Episode 4.4 "The Rejected" In this episode Pete Campbell (Vincent Kartheiser) faces both personal joy and career drama and combines them in cunning fashion. He sure is a 'high WASP'. Don's secretary Alison gets a smashingly played exit scene (goodbye Alexa Alemanni. We hardly knew ye. But we liked what we knew. Pssst Mad Men will work wonders on your reel. You were great.) And Peggy attends an underground party winning both male and female attention. Plus, Ken Cosgrove returns (yay!).
Right before Ken's name surfaces, Pete and Harry are arguing about the printing of a newspaper ad.
Pete: I don't care if she looks like a Puerto Rican. Puerto Rican girls buy brassieres. Harry: Not that they need to. I saw this one on the subway in one of those striped Jean Seberg shirts, red rag in her hair. Nipples. Pete: I'm not in the mood.
Jean Seberg wore that famous striped shirt in Breathless (pictured above) which hit US screens in 1961, four years before this episode takes place. The Jean Luc Godard film became one of the most iconic films in the French New Wave, a film movement which had already peaked by 65 but had definitely affected New York culture.
Though Seberg is most remembered for the French Breathless today and made other foreign films, she was an American actress (born in Iowa) and made many movies at home, too. She was not only a fashion icon but a political activist of some notoreity (hence an interesting if tossed off reference name ... since we know much political turmoil is coming as this show explores the 1960s). She died at only 40 in Paris from an overdose.
In early 1965, concurrent with this episode, Seberg was a Golden Globe nominee for Lilith (1964), a film about a woman in a mental institution. (Maybe both Jean Seberg and Lilith would've related to Mad Men's frustrated women?) The AMPAS voters passed Seberg over for a nomination but she wasn't the only snub. The Oscar lineup (as follows) was actually composed mostly of the Globe comedy nominees (that doesn't happen anymore) with only the Drama winner making the cut.
Julie Andrews, Mary Poppins (Globe winner, Comedy)
Anne Bancroft, The Pumpkin Eater (Globe winner, Drama)
Sophia Loren, Marriage Italian-Style (Globe nominee, Comedy)
Debbie Reynolds, The Unsinkable Molly Brown (Globe nominee, Comedy)
Kim Stanley, Seance on a Wet Afternoon
Enough 1965 history. Back to 1965 fiction.
Favorite Moment Revisiting Kenny & Pete's rivalry. Pete apologizes for gossiping and then tells Kenny he's going to be a father. After Pete's weak olive branch, Ken offers a delicious stealth-bitchy compliment: "Another Campbell. That's just what the world needs."
Best Intangible Something Every single thing about the centerpiece sequence worked superbly. A group of women are corralled by Joan (not invited due to being "old and married") to be focused tested about beauty regimens while Don & Peggy watch from behind glass. The repercussions ends up rippling through the office, violently. The multi-scene sequence is all composed of people looking at each other from a glassed off protected distance whether comical (Peggy spying on Don) or dramatic (Don wincing at Allison's tears) or through doorways. It's full of entrances and exits (almost like bedroom farce) with everyone carrying their painfully open baggage into each room and when they exit, they've left articles behind. Amazing.
Best (Shouted) Exchange Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) rejecting a lesbian advance from Joyce (Zosia Mamet) at a party.
Peggy: I HAVE A BOYFRIEND Joyce: HE DOESN'T OWN YOUR VAGINA. Peggy: NO, BUT HE'S RENTING IT.
Please note that Peggy is wearing a not un-Seberg like striped shirt for this sequence. Mad Men is nothing if not self reflective.
Best (Silent) Exchange Peggy and Pete, former lovers, saying their goodbyes (through glass again). For a show that's so often about inchoate feelings it sure is emotionally acute.
Further reading? I like to read a wide range of reaction to movies and tv, don't you?
Lylee's Blog "I can't fix anything else" on last week's episode but I think it's insightful.
Parabasis great piece on Peggy rising and Don descending in the mid 60s.
GIF Party & GIF Party. Two funny Elisabeth Moss bits. For all her personal troubles (Peggy's not Moss's) one sometimes senses that Peggy is the one character that's going to be all right. Don Draper on the other hand...
HitFix has a thorough recap with detailed end notes.
Atlantic Peggy's brush with the mid sixties and the episode's comic tone
The New Republic on the "effortless" feel of the episode, and lessons for series television in general
I never thought I'd see anyone on Mad Men shouting "MONSTER!" at a movie screen but that's why Mad Men at the Movies is great fun to write. You never know what's coming.
Episode 4.3 "The Good News" In this episode, Joan focused for once (yay Christina Hendricks!) the worlds curviest office manager handles her confusing marriage with surprise tenderness and her career with less control than usual, her temper flaring. Meanwhile, Don (Jon Hamm) travels to see his first ex-wife and gets very bad news. He returns home early, ditching a planned Apaculpco vacation. Come the middle of the holiday afternoon, Lane (Jared Harris) and Don are already drunk and planning a boys night out.
Don: [drunk, with mouth full] We're going to the movies. Lane: Do you think we should? Don: Does Howdy Doody have a wooden dick? [reading from newspaper] Zorba the Greek -- seen it, but would see it again. It's a Mad Mad Mad World -- no kidding. Send Me No Flowers? Lane: No.
Cut to: Different office. The movie ads have switched hands. Don is pouring a drink, missing the flask entirely.
Lane:The Guns of August! Don: I hate guns and I hate August. Lane: It's all over the rug! Don: Then we''ll have to smoke the dress. Lane: Don't know that one. [Back to paper]The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Don: [pause for entirely appropriate internal actress reverie] Catherine Deneuve. Lane: ...apparently it's for all the young lovers of the world.
[cut to:..]
Heyyyy, that's not Catherine Deneuve! No, the boys have chosen a Godzilla movie. Or wait is that Gamera? Some folks online are saying Gamera (the trailer) but that came out after this episode takes place.edit:I thought it was Mothra vs. Godzilla, which would be in the right US release time frame... but the more I look at it, yes, Gamera. My god I used to love those movies as a kid on the telly. But they all bleed together. Seriously, if you've seen one giant monster crushing Japan...
Lane and Don are now even more inebriated and loudly talking through the movie.
Don: You know what's going on here don't you? Hand jobs. Lane: Really? What percentage do you think. Angry moviegoer: Do you mind? Lane: [shouts politically incorrect Japanese gibberish at angry moviegoer. Then points at the screen and shouts] ...MONSTER !!!
Drunk Lane is hilarious -- Don even thinks so. It's so rare to see him laugh! -- finally giving Jared Harris something to work with for the first time since he fired everyone in Season 3. He later will hold a slab of well done steak against his crotch and shout about his Texas sized belt buckle. This episode has four dick jokes. No joke. Season 4, only 3 episodes in, is already infinitely more crass than the previous seasons but the 1950s era propriety is beginning to slip away from virtually all of the characters save possibly old timey youngster Pete Campbell. But he's blue blood.
Anyway... the movies!
We relate to Don's reverent invocation of Catherine Deneuve. This is Deneuve circa 1964 on the set of Cherbourg.
But, really, whichever year you capture her in, she's a breathtaker. Deneuve has to be among the twenty or so greatest movie stars that the planet ever produced, n'est-ce pas?.
We're betting that even if Don hadn't yet seen The Umbrellas of Cherbourg -- it opened in NYC two weeks prior to this episode's time frame -- he'll get to it soon enough. He likes the foreign films. And if you haven't yet seen Umbrellas, better get to it. It's only one of the greatest movies of all time. Plus it's a colorful musical and we like those. It also holds one of those rare Oscar distinctions of being nominated for statues in two separate years (before they changed the rules to prevent foreign films from doing so). It was France's Oscar submission in 1964 and won a Best Foreign Film nomination. In 1965, when it was presumably released in LA during the traditional eligibility period, it was nominated for four more Oscars, three music categories and best screenplay. Today's rules would have stopped the second batch of nominations, since a Foreign Film nomination preceding your release renders you ineligible for other nods (see the Aughts case of Hero for a rather famous example. The current rules also mean that France's A Prophet and Argentina's The Secret in Their Eyes cannot be nominated in any category for the upcoming Oscars even though they opened in the States during the 2010 eligibility period.)
About the other rejected movies.
The Guns of August opened on Christmas Eve in NYC in 1964. It was a documentary based on a Pulitzer Prize winning book. This isn't the first time I've noticed an actual illustration of a book on an old movie poster. Could you imagine a movie today advertising itself with a photo or drawing of a book? Even Harry Potter and Twilight wouldn't risk that!
Send Me No Flowers was one of Doris Day's many popular hit romantic comedies with gay co-stars. Excuse me gay co-star. No plural.
Zorba The Greek was released in December 64 and was a big hit with Oscar voters. Antonio Banderas will be reviving this Oscar nominated title role on the Broadway stage soon.
It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (Don left out one of the "Mad"s) was an all star comedy that was actually released a holiday release the year prior to this episode but movies used to stay in theaters much longer. Anyway, it was the biggest box office hit of 1964... at least according to my ancient book Box Office Champs: The Most Popular Movies of the Past Twenty Years which covers the years from 1939 through 1989. (I must have bought it shortly after I decided to live and breathe cinema. I blame Pfeiffer on that piano top. It's all her fault.) The book tells me that the movie "brought together virtually every living Hollywood comedian from Buster Keaton to The Three Stooges to Jerry Lewis. But it opted all too often for tired slapstick gags instead of moments of genuine wit. On balance, it was funny -- clearly it was a hit with audiences -- but so much talent should have produced something so much better." GEE, THAT DOESN'T DESCRIBE ANY OF TODAY'S COMEDIES!
Which movie would you have picked to see?
With its pared down cast (only Joan, Lane and Don get any play) and weirdly aborted vacation sequences, the episode aired to some unusually charged online griping. Maybe the naysayers wanted the show to stay in 1960 with its original cast and character dynamics for its entire run? It's true enough that the show has lost parts of itself that we loved but there is no way to stop the world from spinning. And the times they are definitely changing.
Best Moment / Line The finale. Five ad men are seated for a department head meeting. Joan Holloway Harris sits at the head of the table. "Gentlemen, shall we begin 1965?" With all of their personal lives spinning rapidly towards destinations unknown, 1965 is beginning whether or not they're ready for it.
Further Reading Mad Men Unbuttoned explains that Harry "Hollywood Brown Derby" scene Omega Level got great screenshots and thinks Don & Lane's big night out was the funniest 8 minutes of MM ever. Time Abortion legalities from December 1964 The New Republic Matt Zoller Seitz thinks "The Good News" was Mad Men's first bad episode.
Mad Men 4.2 "Christmas Comes But Once a Year" In this episode SCDP scrambles to make their low budget Christmas party festive for their biggest client Lee Garner Jr.. Don Draper gets drunks and beds his secretary. Awkward! Meanwhile, Freddy Rumsen (Joel Murray) returns with a valuable client in hand. He and his former protege Peggy argue about the Ponds soap campaign. Freddy wants to enlist a celebrity as the spokesperson.
Freddy: Tallulah Bankhead? She's glamorous. She seems more uncompromising than a movie star. She's on Broadway. Peggy: She never got off Broadway because she's not beautiful enough. Freddy: Shame on you. C'mon.
[imagining commercial] A little backstage at the makeup mirror with Ponds. Opening night 'The choice of professionals.' It's good, right? Peggy: All of their research says they're trying to get young women. Freddy: Young women look up to older women. Peggy:For beauty tips. Are you joking?
Joking indeed. Here's Tallulah Bankhead in 1930 and again in the 1960s (she died in 1968). She was one of the hardest living, wittiest and most quotable of stars. Glamorous? Yes. A good spokeswoman for clean beauty regimens? Um... No
Later in the episode...
Freddy: On the short list I got Tallulah, Jessica Tandy, Barbara Stanwyck, and Doris Day -- different types. Peggy: I don't even understand your list. What's wrong with Elizabeth Taylor? Freddy: Isn't about making old ladies look good? Peggy: Nothing makes old ladies look good. Freddy: The Ponds does.
Freddy's wish-list suggests that he goes to the theater a lot (Tandy & Tallulah both being stage rather than movie stars). An argument erupts between them about what young girls want and whether they'll get married or not and such. Peggy, who has just been called "old fashioned" by her boyfriend in a previous scene, deflects the insult Freddy's way.
Peggy: You know, Freddy, I've brought up your name a hundred times to come in and freelance for me. But everyone is right about you. You and your grand dames and your poor old typewriter and your desperate spinsters. You're so old fashioned, you know that?
Hey, if loving grande dames makes you old fashioned, I've been old fashioned since I was five years old! I've always loved theatrical women of a certain age.
In 1964 when this episode takes place, Liz Taylor was a mammoth star and at 32 still the screen's preeminent beauty (Peggy's suggestion makes sense) but it was actually Doris Day, ten years Liz's senior, who was the box office queen. Day was the top earner, male or female, from 1962 through 1964 according to the Motion Picture Almanac, so it's interesting that Day would be grouped in with Freddy's "old fashioned" taste. But I guess the romantic comedy queens, who always seem to be the top earning females no matter the decade, do appeal to the most conventional and traditional of moviegoers... and therefore all age ranges. (It's interesting that Mad Men is suddenly using Peggy and Freddy, two allies, to dramatize the widening generational gap of the tumultous 1960s.)
Liz and Doris are the constants but the sweetheart crown shifts from Debbie Reynolds to Sandra Dee and then, in the mid to late 60s, a real shakeup begins with the musical stars exerting their power be it Ann-Margret, Shirley Maclaine or the tsunami sized arrivals of both Julie Andrews and Barbra Streisand (just a few short years away). Natalie Wood is a constant during the early 60s (the peak of her popularity) but one assumes she just missed these lists since the bulk of each top ten is made up of male stars.
Since we're now writing about the episodes shortly after they air, I thought I'd add three new elements to each write up.
Best Line Peggy to her horny boyfriend: "You're never going to get me to do anything Swedish people do."
Best Intangible Something I absolutely love that everyone is going to have to blow Lee Garner Jr. (metaphorically speaking) to keep his business. Consider it Sal's phantom revenge. (For those just joining the series, Sal --who used to be the defacto star of "Mad Men at the Movies" -- lost his job basically because he refused Lee Garner's sexual advances behind the scenes.)
Best Single Moment Joanie leads a conga line.
This moment was a major hit with fans everywhere if Twitter is any indication. It prompted several amusing online responses including a conga from GIF PARTY and a campaign for an entire episode composed solely of Joanie leading a conga line. Hell, I'd watch!
Other references:(Music) The Beatles | (Myths/Characters) Potemkinville, Rasputin, Santa, Three Wise Men, Hitler, The Tin Man | (Literature) Article "The Swedish Way of Love"... this episode takes place in December 1964 so we're still a couple of years away from the famous I Am Curious (Yellow)film but the "Sexual Revolution" is approaching in America and Sweden was an early influential leader in this regard.
TV's greatest show has a love affair with the movies. So we have a love affair with TV's greatest show. We call it Mad Men @ The Movies.
The world premiere party for Mad Men Season 4 kicked off in Times Square a few hours before the show on Sunday night. I was honored to be invited so I must give thanks to the wonderful Lipp sisters of Basket of Kisses who always keep me in the swing of things when it comes to Sterling Cooper, excuse me, SCDP (Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce). It's always good to hang with the vivacious Lipps and I also got to chat with other MM fans including the adorable talented Carol Hannah of Project Runway fame.
The VIP crowd got Barbies. I managed to procure a Don & Betty set. (More on these dolls here. They retail for $75)
Left: Me (the hat was with the gift bag); Right: Girl from costume contest. I didn't catch her name but that's totally a Betty dress (the Barbie is wearing that same dress, albeit in miniature). She bought it on eBay which the judges called cheating.
This is the whole crowd shortly before the actresses arrived (hence the empty front row). I've circled the Lipp Sisters up front, true VIPs, and then that's me, further back to the side. It was a good crowd. Lots of rubbernecking on the street.
The evening came with two trivia contests (Pt 1 too easy / Pt 2 just right), two celebrity cameos from "Peggy" (Elisabeth Moss) and "Betty" January Jones who is sexy and statuesque in person and looks nothing like Elizabeth Hofstadt Draper Francis without the 60s costumes and hairstyling. My only gripe about the evening was that the panel of judges for the costume contest was quippy/bitchy to the contestants and, this being a fan event, more softball American Idol style criticisms were the way to go. If you have to criticize, tell them you love them first. They're fans. They aren't professional costumers.
January Jones and Elisabeth Moss. They joked that they were nothing like their characters but they were maybe like each other's characters. haha. The crowd sang Moss happy birthday and they wheeled out a cake.
The view from my seat. A crowded stage for the costume contest.
The strangest thing that happened at the event (for me... few noticed) was just outside of it. Before the actual screening, two teenage girls to the left of me on the street just outside the VIP area starting screaming. I turned to see what the commotion was about. There was a young guy, perfectly coiffed and teen idol fresh (he couldn't have been over 17, if that) who agreed to sign autographs for them. He was not with the Mad Men event, just walking through Times Square and had stopped momentarily to look at the party. The two teen girls were crying and hysterical and one even tried to touch his hair, her fingers visibly shaking like he was a hot stove and she just wanted to know what it would feel like... just this one time! Her friend slapped her hand away before the burn, both of them crying. Since he had bent over to sign something, he didn't even notice. I have no idea who this person was, but he handled it like a pro, smiling, asking where they were from ("O h h h i i i o" warbled through tears).
I've decided he was from the Disney Channel since that's where all the "stars" that I've never heard of or don't recognize come from. The girl he was with was visibly annoyed by the hysterics but stayed off to the side, dutifully, before grabbing his arm to pull him from a potential mob scene. No one else mobbed and suddenly they were gone. I'm surprised anyone is ever recognized in Times Square. It's always so crowded that you can barely spot your loved ones if you get separated, let alone a celebrity in their off duty hours.
Where were we?
This post is going to be so long. Oh yes, Mad Men. Here's what you missed in the first three seasons if you're planning to start now...
On to Season 4 and its movie-loving ways... however those turn out.
Episode 4.1 "Public Relations" My preferred title How Draper Got His Groove Back. In this episode, we try to get acclimated to the new offices (there's too many doors. I miss the open space), new characters (who is Peggy's co-worker? Love Henry Francis's mom played by Pamela Dunlap) while trying to stay patient (What is going on with Joanie's marriage? Where the hell is Ken Cosgrove?). Don reminds us of his movie-loving ways early in the episode through his pride in a commercial that plays like a movie. Plotwise Don and Peggy both make separate PR blunders. By episode's end Peggy gets an angry earful and Don gets his mojo back, professionally speaking.
On the personal life side, he's still a trainwreck. He's even blind dating ...and letting Roger, whose lovelife he doesn't exactly approve of, set him up.
Roger: Forget that she knows Jane. This girl's terrific. She looks like Virginia Mayo. She's 25. See her this weekend. You hit it off, come Turkey day you can stuff her.
Hmmm. Does Anna Camp (from True Blood) playing "Bethany" look like Virginia Mayo? You be the judge.
In a strange coincidence I was just watching Virginia Mayo in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). She's terrific as the trashy restless wife of Dana Andrews. (That movie is so great.) People don't really speak much of Mayo these days but referencing her apple cheeked pinup looks is most definitely a compliment. She was a frequent movie presence from the early 40s through the late 50s. In addition to the aforementioned Best Picture winner, she's probably best remembered for noirs like White Heat and frequent Danny Kaye comedies including The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. She died just five years ago at the age of 84.
Mayo with Danny Kaye and with Dana Andrews
other references in this episode: (Music) novelty single "John & Marsha" (Magazines/Papers) Wall Street Journal, Ad Age, The Daily News (Celebrities) Luci & Dezi
* * Did you see this episode? If so, your comments please. If not, speak up anyway. How cool are those Barbie dolls? Or are you sick of the hype? (If you are, please note that there will be only one Mad Men post a week, Mondays, starting now.)
Further reading? Gold Derby thinks Mad Men is well timed for an Emmy 3peat. The Loop publishes a satirical letter from "Carla," the Draper maid. The Loop also has a rebuttal of sort. Claiming that the show isn't diverse enough is entirely missing the point. Cinematic Passions interviews costume designer Janie Bryant Inside Scoop bring back chicken kiev. Mad Men Unbuttoned the tune that's playing when Don gets his groove back. Put This On imagines how Draper would look in the WSJ. Love. Cinema Blend Sugarberry Hams for everyone. A ratings uptick. Best Week Ever gives funny recap...and awards. *
Programming Note:We were trying to catch up with Mad Men @ The Movies before Season 4 of MM started (tomorrow!). We'll have to leapfrog Season 3 (sorry Ann-Margret and Bye Bye Birdie!) so that we can have contemporary weekly discussions for Season 4 each Monday after the episode, provided that there's a movie reference to sound off on. Will you be joining in?
Episode 2.10 "The Inheritance" Pete Campbell is taking a business trip to Los Angeles and his wife Trudy (Alison Brie) wants to go with him.
Trudy: You know I'll stay out of your way. Pete: Of course. Lounging by the pool. They'll think you're a young Barbara Stanwyck. Trudy: Doesn't that sound like fun?
Young Stanwyck always sounds like fun! Poolside or anywhere really. Don't you agree?
Stanwyck in 1944. She was 37 here but doesn't she look fresh as a daisy?
Episode 2.11 "The Jet Set" Don and Pete make it to sunny Los Angeles where Pete gets quite excited by the sun and stars.
Pete: I just saw Tony Curtis in the men's room! Don: Handing out towels? Pete: Tony Curtis, Don! ...a thing like that.
And if you think I'ma 'bout to post a photo of Tony Curtis in the men's room for Stanwyck poolside parallel's sake. Well... I like you're way of thinking, but who could find one?!
The things you find on the internets. If only those things were in hi-res.
Other references in these episodes: (Cinema) Rope| (TV) The Twilight Zone, The New Loretta Young Show | (Literature) Ray Bradbury, William Faulkner | (Sports) The Yankees |(Celebrities) Bob Dylan, Rita Hayworth
You may have noticed I'm Mad Men crazy this week. I'm just trying to cram it in before Sunday's premiere. I'll calm down Monday.
<-- Betty's terrible advice to Sally! I never fail to get a kick out of what a horrible mother she really is.
I'm so excited I'm about to grab one of the T-Shirts from the Mad Men shop on CafePress. I'm already having trouble choosing but they made it easier for me by denying me some of the designs in men's sizes. Excuse me but what if I want a "Mark Your Man" t-shirt with lipstick prints all over it? I mean, I might. I have been known to embrace the girlie. I think I might go for the "Who's For Dinner?" shirt because I love Ken Cosgrove (Aaron Staton). Nobody else loves Ken but I do not care. I will read any short story he wants me to.
Anyway CafePress is very excited about the premiere on Sunday as evidenced by this Mad Men blog post with Season 4 conjecture and trivia questions and new merchandise. And no, I'm not getting a commission on sales just a T-shirt. I am a firm firm believer in Ts.
Where were we... oh yes...
The final MARILYN MONROE themed episode.
Episode 2.9 "Six Month Leave" Bad news... this episode of Mad Men opens with it. Marilyn has been found dead. The upsetting morning headlines disrupt the mood and particulars to such a degree that the usually silent elevator operator Hollis (La Monde Byrd, doing fine background work), speaks without being spoken to.
Hollis: You hear about Marilyn? Poor thing. Don Draper: I can't say I'm surprised, the few things I know about her. Peggy: You just don't imagine her ever being alone. She was so famous. Hollis: Some people just hide in plain sight. Peggy: My mother and sister keep calling. Don: Suicide is disturbing. Hollis: I keep thinking about Joe DiMaggio...
As soon as their conversation begins, it splinters into three, none of them responding to each other but lost in their own specific Marilyn opinions and thoughts. Celebrity culture may be a unifier with co-workers, strangers and loved ones, but our personal feelings about each celebrity can just as easily divide us again. The elevator opens, ending the disjointed conversation. Peggy isn't much ruffled, though several other women in the office are shown crying, and is immediately back to business, expressing relief that Playtex didn't pick up the Marilyn campaign.
George Barris (left pic) and Allan Grant (right pics) were reportedly the last photographers to shoot the screen icon (both in summer '62)
Marilyn's grave in Westwood, CA
Marilyn photographed by Lawrence Schiller in May '62 on the set of the unfinished film Something's Got To Give. She was fired in June. Though rehired before her death, filming never resumed. The movie was a remake of the Irene Dunne movie My Favorite Wife (1940) and was eventually reworked with new script, director and cast as Move Over Darling (1963) with Doris Day.
Marilyn's death in August 1962 has long been the subject of conspiracy theories and speculation: Accident? Suicide? Murder? Just about everything involving Marilyn gets disputed, even her talent. I didn't know this myself but apparently Monroe was vocal with the press about her unhappiness with the powers that be. We overhear a radio broadcast in the episode.
"In an interview just weeks before her death, Miss Monroe angrily protested to a reporter about attacks on stars. "We're what's okay with the movie business," she said. "Management is what's wrong with the business."
No MM themed episode of MM would be complete without commentary from their resident Marilyn, Joan Holloway (Christina Hendricks) who is discovered crying on the couch in her boss (and former lover's) office.
Sterling: What's wrong Red? Do you miss me? Joan: She was so young. Sterling: Not you too. Joan: Yes, I'm just another frivolous secretary. Sterling: It's a terrible tragedy but that woman is a stranger. Roosevelt. I hated him but I felt like I knew him. Joan: A lot of people felt like they knew her. You should be sensitive to that. Sterling:[Grabs her arm intimately] Hey... you're not like her. [Attempts to lighten the mood.] Physically a little but don't tell me that makes you sad. Joan: It's not a joke. This world destroyed her. Sterling: Really? She was a movie star who had everything... and everybody. And she threw it away. But hey... if you want to be sad. Joan: One day you'll lose someone who is important to you. You'll see. It's very painful.
Just as in their Season 1 fight over The Apartment (1960), this conversation is not exactly about what it's about. This Marilyn farewell doubles as an obit for their own broken romance. Too many narrative artforms use doubling too literally but this writing team tends to handle these things with some delicacy, rarely forcing the parallels into absolute mirrors. The episode's self-destructive A plot (Freddy Rumsen's alcoholism and forced exit), for instance, plays superbly within the context of the Marilyn's self-medicated ending. It's not an obvious mirror, but a foggy distorted reflection.
True story: I had this Marilyn poster on my bedroom wall growing up (baby film buff!) and my Mom thought it was "obscene"
Other references in this episode: (Music) Mitch Miller | (Literature) Katherine Anne Porter's Ship of Fools |(Unspecific Entertainment References) Gypsy, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit | (Celebrities) "The Champ"
Posts
