Mad Men: notes from the break roomMad MenMad Men: season four, episode six
Don and his rivals all appear to be taking credit for work that simply wasn't theirsSPOILER ALERT: This blog is for those who are watching season four of Mad Men on BBC4. Don't read on if you haven't seen episode six – and if you've seen more of the series, please be aware that many UK viewers will not have done so …
Episode six: Waldorf Stories
"They don't seem to give awards for what I do." Roger
It's all too easy to just credit showrunner Matthew Weiner with Mad Men's success, when, of course, hundreds of people help make the show. At SCDP, Don is a parallel figurehead – the face of the firm. Tonight's episode is littered with moments of people – including Don – taking credit when credit isn't just theirs. Saying "me" when they should be saying "we" to validate their own myth and existence. We start with wannabe ad-man Danny trying to wallow in Bill Bernbach's success by putting the VW Lemon ad in his book – and things get more interesting from there.
Roger has mentioned on more than one occasion that he played a major part in recruiting Don and hence the subsequent success of SC and SCDP. From a series of flashbacks, however, we learn that it took Draper's smarts – and the help of a few martinis – to trick Roger into giving him a job. It's telling that, when Roger recites his memoirs, this is one of the few "work-related" anecdotes he can come up with. Then there's new creative man Stan, arrived from Doyle Dane Bernbach with their LBJ Klan attack ad in "his reel", but cagey about its origins – "Nobody at DDB keeps track of who does what". He also tries to claim that his and Peggy's Vicks ad is "pretty much how I pitched it".
Don, always seen as a beacon of individual creativity, is the worst offender. First, Peggy tells how he added a cowboy flourish to her Glo-Coat pitch and then, in an excruciating scene, an over-refreshed Don manages to take Danny's "cure for the common ..." line and present it to the Quaker cereal people as his own. In contrast to the famous scenes of Don wowing execs with his style and passion, here he is at his lowest professional ebb. He even channels the Don of Kodak Carousel vintage – "I kept thinking about nostalgia ..."
The booze is killing them all too. When Don necked Old Fashioneds at lunch in 1960 he looked a model of cool. Maybe he still does. But there was nothing awe-inspiring about seeing Draper and co get excited about their award for "Best Cleansers, Waxes and Polishes" (at the Clios); swaggering about like a rock star for selling floor wax. The confusing moment where the narrative skipped forward a day told us all about the state of Draper's own mind. This was a blackout the audience shared with a paralytic Don, who used his Saturday to carry on drinking and bring a waitress called Doris back to his house. Interestingly he told her he was a photographer called Dick. Is that how he wanted things to turn out?
"Hardy was so mean to Laurel. I hated that." Roger
If misplaced credit formed one strand of tonight's episode, the disempowered manipulating those with power to reverse their fortunes formed another. We see Don, working at Heller's Furs, turning Roger's braggadocio against him by tricking him into thinking he'd offered him a job; we see Peggy use Stan's taste for nudity against him – exposing his bravado by challenging him to be as comfortable as she is with her body and then stabbing him in the chest with his own erection. Excellent. The most disenfranchised person is Danny, who like Don, has enough chutzpah to get his foot in the door even if it is – like Roger buying a fur coat – an accident of the universe. The line that links both events is Don correcting them both: "I don't think that's how it goes."
This slippery transfer of power could be seen to reflect what's happening in America on a grand scale: bozos like Stan might be embracing some of the easier ideals of the 60s, but only on their terms. Well done to Peg for not letting him. The flipside comes from Pete. Campbell often feels passed over by those with power, especially when he and Cosgrove were appointed joint account heads. This time round, Pete is a partner and, as Lane welcomes Ken and his clients (Birds Eye, Mountain Dew and Fillmore Auto Parts) into the fold, Pete is given the opportunity to exert his power – and makes it clear that Cosgrove will have to answer to him.
Notes
Do you think someone in an interview using someone else's ads is a real Mad Ave anecdote?
Duck's performance at the Clios suggests his non-sobriety has been disastrous.
Roger's pronunciation of Chaough: "Chow-g-g-her".
This was good, though: "Well well, if it isn't Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm. Leave any drinks for the rest of us?"
"Why wait for a man to buy you a fur coat?" reads Don's copy in the Betty-starring Heller's ad.
Roger and Joan's affair must have been going for a good three or four years.
Culture Watch
The man who gave Harry's seat away when he was late for the Emmys was comedian Red Skelton.
Crane also keeps the Life cereal people happy by going through "the next few weeks of Peyton Place."
Is Pete referring to Joan or Ken when he asks Lane "and Madame Defarge to stop plotting behind my back?"
In the hotel Stan is browsing this April 1965 Playboy. The main story is an extract from Fleming's posthumous Bond novel The Man With The Golden Gun.
Skeeter Davis plays us out, not for the first time with The Ladder Of Success.
20th Century Tales
The Lyndon Johnson ad from Stan's reel featuring an Alabama KKK leader endorsing Barry Goldwater can be seen here. These attack ads, along with the famous Peace, Little Girl were all made by Doyle Dane Bernbach. Goldwater's didn't have quite the same punch.
Pete refers to seeing "running into Ken Cosgrove and Clarence Birdseye at the Clios". I presume he's being facetious about Phil from Birds Eye – Clarence Birdseye being the frozen food pioneer who founded the brand.
A book based on this blog series comes out on 4 November. You can pre-order it here.
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