The Errant Æsthete

Life’s a pitch! Aesthetes have always known that and these marvelously Machiavellian Mad Men are the true originals, disarming and infuriating with ultimate aplomb. The New York Times goes behind the scenes of last Summer’s runaway hit “Mad Men” (due to return July 27) about the world of advertising on Madison Avenue set in New York in the early 1960s and the newly discovered genius of its notoriously reluctant creator, Matthew Weiner:

“Setting it in the early 1960s, on the cusp between the repression and conformity of the cold war and McCarthy-era 1950s and the yet-to-unfold social and cultural upheavals of the 60s, allows Weiner an arc of character growth that is staggering in its possibilities. It also gives him the opportunity to mine the Rat Pack romance of that period, when the wreaths of cigarette smoke, the fog of too many martinis — whether exhilarating or nauseating — and the silhouettes specific to bullet bras only heightened the headiness of the dream that all men might one day become James Bond or, at the very least, key holders to the local Playboy Club.

Why advertising?

“It’s a great way to talk about the image we have of ourselves, versus who we really are. And admen were the rock stars of that era, creative, cocky, anti-authority. They made a lot of money, and they lived hard.”

Thoughts from some of the ad legends of the time:

“The creative revolution was the name of the game. This show gives you the impression it was all three-martini lunches.”

George Lois

“…there’s not a scene without somebody smoking and drinking. And it’s an overly simplistic view of the process of coming up with ads. You were handling millions of dollars of people’s money, and no one took it lightly. Here they’re smoking, joking, ogling girls, then they think of a line.”

William Bernbach

“People had bottles in their drawers. For lunch, we used to go to the Italian Pavilion, which is now where Michael’s is” (he’s referring to the media power spot on West 55th Street). “The bar was still in the same place, and the bartender would start shaking our martinis as soon as we walked in. They would literally serve us the first martini as we were sitting down, the second, the third, then we would figure out what to eat. It was such a wild time, and the best period for advertising, so much looser. [...] I always said advertising was the most fun you could have with your clothes on.”

Jerry Della Famina