[Stuart Sweet]

First, let's start with the last moment... Oh Betty! In the Cadillac??

Second, I'd like to vote for a lighter, funnier episode soon. The drama is great and well-acted and there's so much to like, but we barely get a chance to breathe in this show with all the pathos. Please, writers, you gave Don and Betty an afternoon off in the park... give the viewers a chance to exhale too.

That being said, another fabulous episode. A great tie in to brands of the past (Martinson's coffee) and we get to see the beginning of what is now called "image" advertising. We also get a tiny little teaser about something in Don's past, and a peek into the closet in which Salvatore lives.

I thought that it was a little much, lingering on the litter on the ground as the Drapers drive away. There's no question that it was done like that back then, but they stayed on the shot too long.

We also get to see a little more of what makes Jimmy Barrett tick, and why he's not such a terrible guy after all. Still, as Betty says, he is crass, and I hold him directly responsible for the last moment... Oh Betty! In the Cadillac??

But I digress. On the other hand, Betty's comment was similarly crass. I wonder if today's viewers understand what she likely meant by "you people?" She didn't mean comedians.

 

[TedBarrett]

NIce point about image advertising...

The Gold Violin of the title is explained as a gorgeous violin that cannot make music - image rather than function.

There are many "Gold Violins" in this episode

The Rothko in Cooper's office - no meaning other that what the viewer brings to it - and Cooper's wise investment in art not as an oject but as something he expects to double in vlaue

The Martinson's song - not a jingle just image as everything (as Stuart points out)

The Cadillac - it's not a car, it's a statement of arrival

Betty - Don's Golden wife - who is desired for her looks notwhat she knows.


Don's invitation to join the board of the NY Folk Art museum - not because he knows anything about Folk Art or art in general but because he is shaper of image with and thus "qualified" to shape the future.

good writers on that there show

who get their dig in by having the published writer dismiss his art as just a hobby - his real job is Accounts - pandering and pimping for the clients

still mulling over Sterling not backing Joan's office authority
is her pending marriage removing her power - no longer a sexual plaything for Sterling and thus of no value?

 

[spartanstew]

still mulling over Sterling not backing Joans office authority
is her pending marriage removing her power - no longer a sexual plaything for Sterling and thus of no value?

Maybe, but he just wants to have as many "options" around the office as possible.

 

[phrelin]

Good review Stuart. It seemed to me a episode filled with contrasts related to ugly behavior versus creating an image - probably the lingering on the litter was a bit obvious to contrast with the otherwise charming picnic scene.

Yeah, the "you people" comment. It's interesting who Don has had affairs with.

The other thing I noticed in the show was several mentions of prices of things. Not just the Cadillac.

And the other thing I noticed was one of the young guys supposedly part of the new youth movement calling Peggy "Dear".

 

[Lee L]

Actually, I think it was Sweetheart.

I agree with the assesment of Joan losing her power with her marriage. She is definitely on the way out and at the very least, Sterling needs a new model to take "around the block" and he has his sights set.

Kind of reminds me of one of the old Rock Hudson Doris Day movies where he was in advertising (can;t remember the name, but it was from about the same time as Mad Men is set IIRC) and he comes in to some office and asks about the girl who used to work there and they said "She got married" and they all had an immediate understanding that it was perfectly normal for her to be gone now.

 

[compac]

Wow... we're new to the show but caught much of the 1st season all at once (dvr'd 12 episods or so) just before the start of this season.

Great story lines... any one got a lead with the scene when Don is a car salesman from the past?

This happens when he's first visits the Caddy dealership. All I have seen was the Korea War part from when he is injured to the train scene taking the remains of his "real" self home for burrial. Also, the episodes when his brother shows up and then hangs himself in the next episode or 2.


So he was selling used cars, and a blond female walks in saying he is not who he says he is? :?

What do you think this will go to.. another gal from the past showing up?

 

[Stuart Sweet]

I was thinking about this. Don was 36 in 1962 (isn't that what the doctor said?) That means he was born in 1926. Interestingly, that would make him old enough to have been drafted in 1944 but he apparently was not. He went to Korea, perhaps of his own choice, sometime between 1950 and 1953 when the conflict was happening. He would have been pretty old to be in the service at that time.

At any rate he returns home sometime after that and sells (what I think are) used cars, which means that it was after 1952, since a 1951 was a used model. Given that, I would guess it was 1954-1955, which doesn't give him a lot of time to rise to the top of his game in 1960, especially as he was already in advertising when he met Betty. His daughter is about 8 in 1962, meaning she would have born in 1954, and assuming a normal time frame that would have Don and Betty meeting in 1952, when Don was still in Korea (and still Dick?)

There's a bit of a continuity breach here.It would have made more sense for Don to serve in WWII or in the years right after. That would give him enough time to climb the ranks at Sterling Cooper.

 

[compac]

AMC site w/ some of the episode's back story...

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid895162757/bclid1672161042/bctid1774291080

btw
When Don says he's 36 is that his real age or the real Don's? Remember a Cpt. would most likely be older than a Korean War enlisted solider, even an older aged volunteer.

 

[phrelin]

I was thinking about this. Don was 36 in 1962 (isn't that what the doctor said?) That means he was born in 1926. Interestingly, that would make him old enough to have been drafted in 1944 but he apparently was not. He went to Korea, perhaps of his own choice, sometime between 1950 and 1953 when the conflict was happening. He would have been pretty old to be in the service at that time.

At any rate he returns home sometime after that and sells (what I think are) used cars, which means that it was after 1952, since a 1951 was a used model. Given that, I would guess it was 1954-1955, which doesn't give him a lot of time to rise to the top of his game in 1960, especially as he was already in advertising when he met Betty. His daughter is about 8 in 1962, meaning she would have born in 1954, and assuming a normal time frame that would have Don and Betty meeting in 1952, when Don was still in Korea (and still Dick?)

There's a bit of a continuity breach here.It would have made more sense for Don to serve in WWII or in the years right after. That would give him enough time to climb the ranks at Sterling Cooper.

Well, I've struggled with that a bit. But my scenario goes like this:

Don is born in 1926. Don, becomes a university ROTC-type officer at the end of WWII then stays in the Reserves.

On July 5, 1950, American forces fought at Osan and were defeated with heavy losses. The half-strength 24th Division retreated to Taejeon, which also fell. Americans took heavy losses and there was great confusion during that period. Don was sent during that period as was Dick.

"Don" returns among the wounded in late 1950 and receives a medical discharge. He sells cars through 1952. In 1953 with successful sales experience behind him and as a University graduate, Don get's hired at Sterling Cooper, meets and marries Betty. This is a sufficient time frame for the daughter particularly if Betty was pregnant when they married.

In seven years, by 1960, "Don" is good enough to rise that far in a small firm. He's just enough older than those working for him and enough younger than the partners.

Yes, it's a tight time frame, but in that period in history a good con man could make it happen in an environment where a good salesman is a winner.

 

[Stuart Sweet]

I've come up with similar scenarios, but there was some mention that Betty was a working model when they met and while I don't remember the exchange made at the restaurant, it seemed clear at the time that neither was working at Sterling Cooper. It seemed like Don was working as an in-house creative for the company that hired Betty as a model.

It doesn't invalidate your theory, just makes it a little tighter.

 

[phrelin]

I've come up with similar scenarios, but there was some mention that Betty was a working model when they met and while I don't remember the exchange made at the restaurant, it seemed clear at the time that neither was working at Sterling Cooper. It seemed like Don was working as an in-house creative for the company that hired Betty as a model.

It doesn't invalidate your theory, just makes it a little tighter.

You're right. Sometimes it's not a good idea to start a show without having the back story time-lined.:grin: