Lucky Seven

Over the past few weeks the 7x7 Link Award has been making its way across the classic film blogosphere. I’ve been kindly honored with this award by three of my favorite bloggers:  Ivan G. Shreve, Jr., of Thrilling Days of Yesteryear, FlickChick of A Person in the Dark and Whistlingypsy of Distant Voices and Flickering Shadows.

Recipients of the 7x7 are obliged to do these things:

Mad Men's Don and Sally Draper

Reveal an unknown aspect of ourselves. With my current blog event, a tribute to Mad Men, in mind, I’m disclosing that, in my distant youth I was a quintessential child of the ‘60s/’70s. To wit…my brother and I were taken with our parents to hear JFK deliver a speech during his presidential candidacy –I managed to grab and shake his hand by standing on an abandoned papier-mâché donkey in front of the podium. There's more, but that's enough for now. In other words, I think I have a pretty good idea where Sally Draper is headed…

Single out those posts we consider our:

1. Most beautiful piece – Possibly, The Private Lives of Elizabeth & Essex – my entry in CMBA’s Movies of 1939 blogathon last year. Though E&E isn’t a favorite film of mine, I was fascinated by its history and tried to tell the story of what turned out to be one of the lesser films of that storied year in an interesting way.

Edna May Wonacott on the set with Alfred Hitchcock

2. Most helpful piece – My pieces on child actress Edna May Wonacott (Shadow of a Doubt, The Bells of St. Mary’s) have had a positive impact on her life. When our first interview appeared - online, in her local paper and in a classic movie journal - she began hearing from fans from all over the world. She has since received invitations to speak about her movie-making experiences at local clubs and organizations. Earlier this month a British professor of film studies/ Hitchcock authority contacted me with an interest in interviewing Edna for an upcoming book; Edna has since responded to her questions.

3. Most popular piece –Hands down, Marlene Dietrich: another facet of her legend, about the less glamorous side of the legendary goddess of screen and stage.

4. Most controversial piece – I can’t think of one, but I’ll choose my pieces about Leatrice Gilbert Fountain if only because of the controversy surrounding the career of her father, John Gilbert.

5. Most surprisingly successful piece – Location, Location Location, about the movie history of Southern California’s Catalina Island. View #s for this post are through the roof.

Marlene Dietrich and Josef von Sternberg

6. Most underrated piece –Light, Shadow and Synergy a 3-part series on the collaboration of Josef von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich that I posted very early in this blog’s life.  I suspect it would have been more popular had it appeared later.

7. Most pride-worthy piece – It's not a piece but an event, this January’s A Month of Vertigo which was successful beyond my wildest dreams.

Bestow the award upon seven bloggers we follow:

Fellow CMBA members Allen Hefner of Bit Part Actor, John Greco of Twenty Four Frames, Kevin Deany of Kevin’s Movie Corner and Jill of Sittin’ on a Backyard Fence who is hosting the fantastic tribute to Fredric March, March-in-March this month -along with these classic film bloggers from other corners of the blogosphere: Yvette of …in so many words, prolific blogger on art, literature and film…Kay of the entertaining and canny Movie Star Makeover who I met on Twitter…and The Vintage Film Costume Collector, who I discovered through Chistian’s blog roll on Silver Screen Modiste.

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Mad Men: Through a Glass Darkly

by guest contributor Motorcycle Boy

“A personality marked by traits of compulsive and habitual use of a substance or practice in an attempt to cope with psychic pain engendered by conflict and anxiety.”

~      definition of addictive personality, Mosby’s Medical Dictionary

  

“Mad Men glorifies alcoholics.”  This statement was made to me by an acquaintance, clearly meant as a criticism of my favorite television series.  He went on:  “It seems the writers take every opportunity conceivable to shove a glass in the hands of the actors.”

Now, there is no denying the fact that at the office of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, alcohol is a constant given. “I drink, therefore I am” seems to be the ad man’s motto.  And everyone on this show smokes – they smoke like chimneys, as if there’s no tomorrow (or at least a tomorrow not leading to premature illness and death). Of course, these characters live in a different time – the early 60’s -  a not so distant past when people freely and thoughtlessly litter a park while they picnic and adults slap children, even ones that aren’t their own.  This was a time when women and minorities were openly treated as second class citizens.  And along with this, it was a time when many people were alcoholics, though they may not have identified themselves as such, who drank throughout the day. Mad Men depicts all this as it enters into the reality of the era, though these things are never portrayed as something to be emulated.

But as  much attention that is given to Mad Men -  its smoking and drinking, its obsessive attention to period detail (the length of women’s skirts, the hairstyles and interior design of the rooms)  -  there is so much more that lies beneath the glossy, escapist surface of this show. Mad Men is an extremely complicated drama - a human drama.  There is much to discover in its characters and storylines – much about our society and about ourselves. I believe that it’s all these factors that contribute to this show’s great appeal.  Something draws us to watch it - something we’re seeking to discover (whether we’re conscious of it or not) and this, in itself, is addictive.

Mad Men depicts a period in American culture when habitual drinking and smoking (and bigotry) were an accepted part of the norm. It deals with the social changes that were happening at the beginning of the 60’s and into the mid-60’s. Often different episodes will show the tension between the passing era of the 50’s – the rigidity, repression and denial – and the approaching of the turbulent changes associated with the 60’s – the civil rights and women’s movements, open sexual freedom, drug experimentation and the events that were about to blow the lid off of American society. It’s quite fitting that there’s an episode in the first season titled “Kennedy vs. Nixon”.  There is the “old order,” in which the different levels of society were much more hierarchical and defined (like the male dominated pecking order of the ad agency), and then there is the dawning of a new awareness that is full of promise and, at the same time, threatening. How society worked and how people coped during this changing time is fertile ground for exploration and producer/creator Matthew Weiner makes the most of it.

         

...So what habits are Don Draper and his agency pushing?

         

The basic thrust of consumerism is marketing an image to people so that they can be sold a product. It’s not just about what people want, but what they really want – their unconscious desires and the obstacles to fulfillment represented by their unconscious fears.  In the time period of Mad Men - much more so than even today - there were many social boundaries around sex and race, of one’s basic identity, and a suffocating rigidity in roles that people felt pressured to act out in their lives.  This is an obvious formula for the kind of psychic pain that comes from conflict – the conflict that grows from a repressed identity.  How can you know what you really want or need when you don’t know who you really are?  If the “social mask” fits too tightly it makes it difficult to breathe.  The constant drinking in Mad Men is shown more as a socially sanctioned way that many people sought some relief from this internal pressure – or at least as a way to numb themselves.  A person who is imprisoned, whether conscious of it or not, feels the overwhelming need to be released.

Don Draper and his associates cater to this need.  By the 1950s America had undergone a form of mass hypnosis constructed around total consumerism.  Television and growing mass media connected people in a way that opened them further to manipulation by the “professionals” who understood the pressure points of living a false identity and could use it to sell product.  Many people, then and now, present a fabricated image to society - a façade for the real identity underneath. This condition  is embodied in the whole Madison Avenue advertising industry as presented in the show and, in particular, in the central character of Don Draper, who literally has taken on a false identity to hide the truth from the world, and, as best he can,  himself.  If anyone is in psychic pain its Draper and it touches everyone in his life.  Still, no one knows better how to sell people a bill of goods by manipulating their insecurities and, unavoidably, their addictions.  On some level Draper seems to understand that he reflects a kind of mass delusion where consumerism is a substitute for self-knowledge and love.  The whole thing, from the perspective of the men in advertising and the unknowing public, is like one great dysfunctional, addictive process, founded on repression and denial and affecting everyone.  What motivates people is spiritual “thirst” and Don Draper knows how to use that to sell product because he’s so familiar with the feeling himself.

Mad Men is a series with many stylish surfaces and is so well done it could easily be appreciated strictly as escapism. But it’s so much more than that.  The characters are full of twists and turns and their fates interest us because they’re very much up for grabs.  What will happen next?  By the fourth season Don Draper is moving headlong into alcoholism and we wonder if he’ll end up a more fashionable version of his rival, Duck Phillips, or a less farcical Roger Sterling.  What’s captivating is that we, the audience, know what is to come for America but we don’t know how these characters will respond to or reflect the change.  The events are part of history, and though these people’s lives are shaped by them, they have to strive and discover for themselves their place in the new society.   We wonder if Betty Draper will completely go over the edge and continue to alienate her children.  She seems hopelessly stuck and unable to discover a path out of her false existence - she could take a number of courses, one of which could easily be addiction.  Sally Draper, the difficult young daughter who also is struggling to find her way, seems to represent a coming generation which will be defiant and loud, sexually active, and impossible to ignore.

There are multiple angles from which to interpret Mad Men, but I feel that there’s a great overriding tension at the core of the series, and in many ways it’s linked to the addictive process.  When people live within tightly wound conventions and are prevented from expressing their true nature, they can cut themselves off from their life force – there’s no creativity, only conformity.  If, on the other hand, they go deeper and connect with their instincts, it’s possible to feed the soul but it’s inherently dangerous because there is no formula to follow – anything can happen – the “old order” drops away and chaos can emerge.  Fear is what keeps the characters in Mad Men from genuine lives and leads them to grasp at substitutes, whether it be alcohol or consumerism.  Don Draper attempts to stay fixated on externals and selling an image rather than facing his true identity. He functions on the inside of society, spinning out illusions (he’s a powerful force and influence on people’s lives), still, when it comes to his personal relationships and his own inner life, Draper is the ultimate outsider – a living enigma.

As long as Mad Men is able to peel back the layers and creatively express this very human conflict, it will continue to mesmerize (perhaps the word should be intoxicate).  Over the course of multiple seasons Matthew Weiner and his writers have the luxury to explore these characters and their relationship to the times – to get at the truth of their lives.  Mad Men is addictive on so many levels because it’s a psychological adventure, an entry into a tumultuous past that has shaped our current world of mass media - of reality shows and twenty-four-hour news. In this context, it’s not just a joy to watch and a benign habit, but, through the range of its insight, a lush oasis of sanity.

~

Motorcycle Boy, a new contributor to the Lady Eve's Reel Life, is a loyal follower of this blog as well as a family friend. He has worked professionally in the fields of psychology and music, is a longtime resident of the San Francisco Bay Area and a lifelong lover of art and history.

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Ernst Lubitsch does Noel Coward: Design for Living (1933)

Gary Cooper, Miriam Hopkins and Fredric March

Fredric March was already an Oscar winner and a newly minted Hollywood star when he co-starred with Miriam Hopkins and Gary Cooper in Ernst Lubitsch’s 1933 adaptation of the Noel Coward play Design for Living. In 1929, when all the major studios were scouring the Broadway stage for photogenic leading men with trained and mellifluous voices, March had been recruited and signed by Paramount Pictures.  He received his first Best Actor Oscar nomination for his 1930 portrayal of ‘Tony Cavendish’ in The Royal Family of Broadway, but it was his split-personality tour-de-force as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in 1931 that brought Fredric March his first Academy Award and movie stardom.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)

Playwright/actor Noel Coward wrote Design for Living, a comedy in three acts, in 1932; it debuted on Broadway in 1933 at the Ethyl Barrymore Theatre starring legends of the stage Alfred Lunt, Lynn Fontanne and Coward himself. Because of its censoriously risqué plot, the play was not produced in London, Coward’s home ground, until 1939. His story of Gilda, Otto and Leo, a sophisticated trio involved in a romantic triangle (not to say threesome), was inspired by the personal lives and relationships of Lunt and Fontanne who were his close friends; Noel Coward would remark that Design for Living was about three people who love each other very much and that, though the play was a solid hit when it opened, no one loved it more than its three leading actors.

The play: Alfred Lunt, Noel Coward, Lynn Fontanne in Design for Living

When Ernst Lubitsch set out to film Coward’s play, he had a particular cast and screenwriter in mind. Miriam Hopkins, who had starred for him in The Smiling Lieutenant (1931) and Trouble in Paradise (1932), was his first choice for the female lead.  He was interested in Ronald Colman and Leslie Howard for the two male leads, but couldn’t afford Colman or persuade Howard. He next turned to Paramount leading man Fredric March for the role that was Coward’s Leo but became Lubitsch’s Tom, and approached Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., to portray the character that had been called Otto but would soon be George.  But Fairbanks came down with pneumonia and the director eventually settled on popular Paramount matinee idol Gary Cooper. Of the three leads, Hopkins had the least experience on-screen, but the most experience with Lubitsch.  She had also co-starred with March in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and her film associations with both men helped advance her career.

Lubitsch (standing), Cooper, Hopkins and March on the set

Lubitsch, a writer himself, had hoped to collaborate once again with screenwriter Samson Raphaelson (The Smiling Lieutenant, Trouble in Paradise, The Merry Widow, The Shop Around the Corner) on Design for Living. But Raphaelson was not interested in working on “another damned sophisticated triangle” (referring to The Smiling Lieutenant and Trouble in Paradise) or in rewriting Noel Coward, and declined. Ben Hecht, an esteemed screenwriter and script doctor (Nothing Sacred, Wuthering Heights, Notorious) with a cynical view of the status quo, was Lubitsch’s next choice.  But it was not an easy partnership. Lubitsch, who commented that the two “weren’t used to each other,” was most at home working closely with his writers and Hecht was comfortable writing on his own. But they managed.

In the end, the plot was re-engineered and the triangular situation at the heart of Coward’s play was retained.

As Leo became Tom and Otto became George, all three characters became struggling American creative types rather than the play’s free-spirited British socialites. And the situation between the three was toned down; at the beginning of the play Gilda is living with Otto and has just resumed an affair with ex-beau Leo. Lubitsch’s film would follow the amorous adventures of three young, attractive Americans in Paris, London and New York: playwright Tom Chambers (March), painter George Curtis (Cooper) and commercial artist Gilda Farrell (Hopkins). Tom and George are buddy/roommates who meet and fall in love with Gilda.  

Miriam Hopkins, pre-Code siren

Miriam Hopkins is in her element as passionate, independent Gilda (pronounced ‘Jilda’).  She commands the screen – and her co-stars – with easy charm and confidence. Hopkins was at the height of her delectable pre-Code heyday in 1933; the steamy and controversial The Story of Temple Drake was released just months before Design for Living.

In his early films, Gary Cooper is always handsome and appealing, but he does not always convince as an actor. Cast against type in Design for Living he seems awkward spouting Hecht’s snappy dialogue at times and it isn’t hard to understand why Lubitsch had first turned to Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. But the director was satisfied with Cooper’s performance and believed movie-goers would “…be happy to see that he is an accomplished light comedian.”

Fredric March, experienced in talky roles like this one, is a better fit. In a departure from the more somber roles he was better known for, he shines as dapper, jovial Tom, a character partially informed by Ben Hecht’s own background as a playwright.

Had it been released just six months later, in 1934 when the Production Code was in force, Design for Living would not have gotten past the censors. Not only do Tom and George love Gilda – but Gilda loves Tom and George.  She cannot and will not choose between them, and so the three decide to live together platonically – for a while…

Gilda is able to take what was then considered the entirely male prerogative without having to pay the on-screen price – usually death – that would soon be ordained by the Code:

Gilda: “A thing happened to me that usually happens to men…a man can meet two, three or even four women and fall in love with all of them and then, by a process of interesting elimination, he is able to decide which one he prefers. But a woman must decide purely on instinct, guesswork, if she wants to be considered nice. Oh, it’s alright for her to try on a hundred hats before she picks one out, but…”

Tom: “That’s very fine, but which chapeau do you want, madam?”

Gilda: “Both”

Click here to go to Sittin' on a Backyard Fence where Jill is hosting March-in-March, a blogathon honoring the work of two-time Oscar winner (and five time nominee) Fredric March. This piece is my entry for the blogathon and also appears on Jill's blog.

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Mad Men Style

by guest contributor Christian Esquevin

The thing that makes Mad Men such a perfect television series is its “all-of-a-piece” quality. It has all of its elements operating at a high level and fully integrated into a drama geared towards adults. This goes well beyond high production values, or even great writing – it is a seamless creation mixing fascinating characters, interesting plots, evocative sets and costumes, a down-to earth reality needing no gratuitous violence. It is a perfectly pegged recreation of the Zeitgeist - not just of the world of advertising - but of urban America at the turn of the 1960s. Despite its very real display of sexism in society and in the workplace, including the very negative consequences of that mindset, Mad Men is mainly the story of one man and his perilous perch high atop the hierarchy of a corporate ad agency. The series title is a play on “ad men” and Madison Avenue, where the big ad agencies were located.

The opening title graphic and much of the show’s advertising uses the art and theme of a man falling from of a skyscraper. The new 5^th season advertising art of the falling man in New York was printed on reflective plastic so it would show the surrounding skyscrapers as backdrop – causing a bit of a controversy by recalling bad memories of scenes from the Twin Towers. Regardless, it is no accident that the show’s creator Matthew Weiner was influenced by the aesthetics of Alfred Hitchcock. The character Don Draper is very much living a dilemma like Vertigo’s Scottie Ferguson, not because of a fear of heights like Jimmy Stewart, but rather of crumbling along with his stolen identity and the edifice he has constructed of his life. “Who is Don Draper” a reporter asked him in Season 4. Very few people know, and those characters have been mostly dying off, including the real Don Draper himself. In a rare display of self-analysis, Don took up a diary in a 4^th season episode titled Summer Man: “When a man walks into a room, he brings his whole life with him. If you listen, he'll tell you how he got there. How he forgot where he was going, and that he woke up. If you listen, he'll tell you about the time he thought he was an angel or dreamt of being perfect. And then he'll smile with wisdom, content that he realized the world isn't perfect. We're flawed, because we want so much more. We're ruined, because we get these things, and wish for what we had.”

Mad Men is full of metaphors that enhance the theme of the show and add layers of meaning, but we are still trapped like voyeurs watching unfold a real life drama. One of those subtle metaphors is that Don seems to be the only person that carries keys. He can use them boldly when entering his domain, clumsily when he’s drunk, or nervously shaking them in his apartment door lock when he thinks the FBI is tailing him. At his low point, he forgets them completely and relies on his secretary to deliver them to his apartment, where she finds him asleep in the hallway. The show is all-of-a-piece because, in a story about how advertising creates images for products, the show creates images for the characters in the plot, and the characters are involved in creating their own images of themselves. As Don Draper says, “You are the product.” 

The Man with the voice - Jon Hamm as Don Draper

The show’s hallmark is its obsessive attention to visual detail. This provides the audience with a rich experience through the recreation of the early 1960s: the clothes people wore; the interior architecture of their offices and homes; and the sparkle of those material things that they crave. That re-creation of the era was taken so far by Matthew Weiner that he cast actors based on whether they had that late 1950s-early 1960s look. For example, Jom Hamm as Don Draper could not be a muscled actor, a rare trait in the early 1960s. Similarly, Christina Hendricks as Joan Harris needed to have a full-figured, hour-glass silhouette (though helped by padding). But Jon Hamm as Don Draper was the perfect choice, not only does he have the looks that slays the ladies, but he has the voice – that smooth deep soothing voice that could sell snowballs in Alaska.

The secretarial pool at Sterling Cooper

The set design recreates the world of the early 1960s when America had the world by its tail. The interior office architecture was planned not just for efficiency, but to show the benefits of modernity and the use of the same kinds of products the ad agency helps sell. The buildings were in the “International Style’ of modern architecture. The offices had wood paneling and Danish influenced furniture. The chairs and couches were streamlined and low to the ground. Windows had Venetian blinds with curtains, executive desks had pen sets, and whisky was in the drawer. The secretarial pool was in an open layout, and a plethora of IBM Selectric typewriters denoted a modern business. Abstract art hung on the walls. The firm may have re-organized in lesser quarters later in the series, but the mid-century style remained the same. Roger Sterling’s new office was designed by a “decorator” in various monochromatic shades of gray, leading him to quip that with his gray suits and gray hair he just disappeared in his surroundings.

Don's first office at Sterling Cooper: manly but modern

As for the ladies of Mad Men, they provide the sizzle that makes the show such fun to watch.

Although it’s also a guilty pleasure to see how much bad behavior they think they can get away with, or how long it is before one of them screws up. The show is anchored by January Jones as Betty Draper (later Betty Francis), shown below, Christina Hendricks as Joan Harris, and Elisabeth Moss as Peggy Olson. Betty is always the classy, if somewhat immature, woman – and a not very good mother. Her wardrobe is always stylish; she’s a Grace Kelly in the suburbs. She wears bouffant skirts in single piece dresses, all in cheerful colors and floral prints. She is always, “put together” wearing jewelry, matching purses and shoes (as was de rigueur in the day), gloves, and red lipstick. 

January Jones as Betty Draper

Joan Harris is the red-headed and curvaceous bombshell. She wears tightly-fitted dresses in bright jewel colors. Her costumes are made with fitted foundation undergarments, which was how they were made for the Hollywood movies at the time, though ladies of the day achieved the same effect with girdle/bra combinations.

Christina Hendricks as Joan Harris

The Mad Men cast

During most of the series Peggy Olson’s wardrobe was still influenced by her former Catholic School uniforms.  She dresses very plainly and unattractively, and she is often dressed in plaids and stripes. As she advances in her career and matures, her clothes become more sophisticated and becoming. In the photo below she is wearing a dress seemingly inspired by vintage Metlox California ceramic dinnerware.

Elisabeth Moss as Peggy Olson

Janie Bryant is the show’s excellent costume designer. She designs many of the items for the show’s large wardrobe, although vintage clothing and accessories are also used. Like other costume designers, she must design the costumes to define character. Subtle changes have marked the advancing years of the early 60s. As we make our way into the mod-influenced and youth movement fashions of the later 60s, significant changes will be shown in the women’s wardrobes. Skirts will go up, and clothes will increasingly define personality in a more forceful and even rebellious manner.    

As for the men, the business suit is the most prevailing costume, which is making a comeback thanks to the show. In the case of Don, it’s his armor, and he seems vulnerable during the times he dresses casually. Gray flannel suits were the preferred dress for business men of the era. For Mad Men, Janie Bryant had to find distinguishing features for the various mad men and others. Don always wears a white dress shirt with French cuffs, with slim ties then fashionable. The suits were slim with narrow profiles Don’s accessories are the tie clip and the white pocket square worn flush. He keeps his bills neat in a money clip. Roger tends to wear three-piece suits with vests, often in light gray to complement his hair. Pete wears darker suit colors. When tough times rock the firm and Don in particular, his suits also become darker. Lane Pryce is English. He is usually dressed in a suit with an unmatched vest. To be more accurate, his suit jackets should feature side vents rather than a center vent, as was preferred in England, but we won’t quibble.

John Slattery as Roger Sterling and Jon Hamm as Don Draper

The men’s fashions in Mad Men have also influenced current trends. As mentioned, the suit is back. Skinny pants have been common for a number of years, but the skinny ties and tie clip are one influence of the show. It is hoped that that the current style of wearing dress pants 3 or 4 inches too long will disappear as a result, and maybe even the single jacket button fastened high above the waist.

January Jones and Jon Hamm as Betty and Don

Don and Betty are now divorced, and at the end of last season Don fell in love with his new secretary Megan and they became engaged. It remains to be seen in the new season what their fates will be. Jessica Pare plays Megan. She’s beautiful and ambitious, but also caring and nurturing. She’s perfect for Don – perhaps too perfect. She doesn’t know much about him, but who does? Whatever happens to the couple, we will be smack in the middle of the turbulent years of the 60s. Everyone is sure to get buffeted.

Another reason the show is all-of–piece is the embedded themes and currents that influenced the era of the early 60s. These include such iconic books as Sex and the Single Girl by Helen Gurley Brown from 1962, David Ogilvy’s 1963 tell-all, Confessions of an Advertising Man, and the earlier The Hidden Persuaders, written by Vance Packard and first published in 1957. The latter explained the new techniques of using psychological research and subliminal messages in advertising.

Mad Men is also amazing because it can deliver nostalgia while simultaneously setting the show during the most tumultuous period in modern American history, when the influence of the past was questioned and the present was crumbling. Now that’s what makes a great show. We’ll see if Don’s motto of “live in the present,” while escaping from his past and adjusting to his surroundings like a chameleon will serve him well.

Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night.

~

Christian Esquevin's blog is Silver Screen Modiste and he's the author of Adrian: Silver Screen to Custom Label.

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Coming to a Theater Near You: Turner Classic Movies Presents "Casablanca"

Turner Classic Movies, Warner Bros. and NCM Fathom have joined in celebration of Casablanca as it turns 70 with Turner Classic Movies Presents the Casablanca 70th Anniversary Event. On Wednesday, March 21, at 7:00 pm (local time), the film that topped the AFI's list of the "100 Greatest Love Stories of All Time," will screen at select theaters nationwide. 

Conrad Veidt and Claude Rains

Winner of Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director (Michael Curtiz) and Best Original Screenplay (the Epstein brothers and Howard Koch), Casablanca was nominated for a total of eight Academy Awards in 1942, including nominations for Best Actor (Humphrey Bogart), Best Supporting Actor (Claude Rains) and Best Musical Score (Max Steiner). Is there a silver screen classic that better defines World War II romance? I don't think so. Who can resist a wartime tale of lost love and broken hearts with stars like Bogart and Ingrid Bergman - set in Morocco and Paris? And then there's the phenomenal supporting cast - Claude Rains, Paul Henreid, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Conrad Veidt, S.Z. Sakall, Dooley Wilson, Leonid Kinskey, Joy Page and Madeleine Lebeau (still with us at age 88) - a brilliant script and Max Steiner's iconic score.

The beginning of a beautiful friendship

The presentation will begin with a special 15-minute segment hosted by TCM's  Robert Osborne who will take the audience behind the scenes on the making of the Casablanca...and more. This is a one night only event, although some participating theaters will present additional matinee screenings.

Tickets are available now, Click here for a list of theaters taking part in this extraordinary event.

Click here for my July 2011 review, Casablanca with the San Francisco Symphony.

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The Feminine Mystique Of Mad Men

by guest contributor Whistlingypsy

“Now I am quietly waiting for the catastrophe of my personality to seem beautiful again, and interesting, and modern.”

 - Frank O'Hara, Meditations in an Emergency

Although the title might suggest the notion; this is not a discussion of feminism in Mad Men’s very male dominated industry. The inspiration is, in part, taken from the photograph above: a provocative portrayal of beautiful women and men perfectly accessorized and stylishly coiffed. The division of these individuals into feminine and masculine, light and dark, personal and professional, implies not only different natures and different worlds but a separate mystique.

Mad Men artfully dramatizes the many ways female identity can wiggle and re-shape in even the narrowest spaces, from captivating leading ladies to intriguing supporting characters. The show has explored some popularly held notions of femininity, some of which were already ossified by the 1960s, by placing these notions within the context of an advertising campaign. When Paul Kinsey proposed his "new concept" for the Playtex account in "Maidenform," (S2, E6), "All women want to be Jackie Kennedy or Marilyn Monroe", he wasn't referring to their conservative or liberal politics. He was putting a mid-century spin on the old Freudian concept of "the chaste versus the loose" woman. The return of the show for season five is a great opportunity to look back, and in the words of advertising man Leo Burnett, see “the inherent drama of everyday life” through the eyes of Peggy, Joan and Betty, Mad Men's powerful feminine mystique.

Be unforgettable,
disarming and sensational
in MYSTRECE by Hanes.

The quote at the top of the page was introduced in the storyline of "Flight" (S2, E1) and in this context seems to be a wholly masculine concern, but there is no reason why a woman wouldn't want her personality to seem "beautiful, interesting and modern". In 1963, Betty Friedan published her groundbreaking work on the nature of the female, titled The Feminine Mystique, which I will attempt to highlight: her goal was to dispel the notion that women were not only best suited but exclusively suited to the role of wife and mother, an instinctive role portrayed in terms worthy of a mythical character: the feminine mystique. She frankly addressed the false notion that a woman's suppression of her natural role, sublimated by a desire for an education and/or a career, would lead to grave discontentment. Her premise would have taken issue with Ann Margaret singing "How Lovely To Be A Woman" and Nancy Kwan singing "I Enjoy Being A Girl." Why? Despite these songs celebrating the woman of the late Eisenhower era, with humor and irony, Friedan would have claimed each woman’s cause for celebration is too dependent on a phone call from a man, and implies all the trappings of femininity is meant to help catch a husband.

By Appointment to
Her Majesty,
Mrs. Homemaker.

Friedan also appraised the advertising industry from the perspective of inducing women to believe each new product was necessary to her role in the feminine mystique. The adage “a housewife's work is never done”, was behind the notion that so long as a woman is busy, she will never question her role as wife, mother and consumer of household goods. The development of a range of cleaning products and household items was intended to keep women busy (and presumably content) Monday through Sunday, sunrise to sunset. This could certainly be interpreted as a woman's guide to elementary Freud with a proto-feminist spin, in Friedan’s defense, we know this is partly true. However, the book has been criticized, after the passage of fifty years, for a limited view of women’s choices and for the research’s exclusion of women of color and a narrow focus of sexual orientation. It would be foolish to assume American women had no options fifty years ago, each life was as different as the woman who would tell the story.

“I’m Peggy Olson, and I want to smoke marijuana,” Sterling Cooper’s only female copywriter informs her male colleagues in "My Old Kentucky Home," (S3, E3). A young woman who knows her mind, she later tells her secretary, in response to a comment informing her actions have consequences, “Don’t worry about me. I am going to get to do everything you want for me”. The question is why Peggy doesn’t tell her, “I am going to get to do everything I want,” perhaps she isn’t so certain after all. Peggy has a steep learning curve her first day on the job at Sterling Cooper advertising agency.

A promotional tie-in:
Underwood Red nail polish
& Underwood 150 typewriter.

Her secretarial school training would have prepared her to take and translate shorthand, type and make carbon copies, but unlikely to have equipped her for the intrigues and romantic values of a mid-century Manhattan advertising office. The agency's office manager, Joan Holloway, implies she is Peggy's senior in all the subjects that matter and happy to advise her as she begins her new life. Peggy goes decidedly "off lesson plan"and her innovations result in a heartbreaking scene in "The Wheel," (S1, E13) when she turns away from her newborn child. Peggy's entry into the world of copy writing is made possible not solely based on a clever turn of phrase when she hands Freddie Rumsen a "basket of kisses". He recognizes her ability to create "word images", a skill he is certain will be invaluable in persuading female consumers to buy an entire line of similar products. When her talent is not enough to persuade her male co-workers to take her seriously, and they fail to include her in an important meeting, she arrives at the bar where they have taken the client dressed to accentuate her advantage over her male colleagues. In response to her question regarding her bad luck with men in "The Jet Set," (S2, E11), Kurt, Sterling Cooper's freelance artist, tells her "you are old style" and offers to give her a new hairstyle.

Discover the Swinging
World of Yamaha

Peggy struggles with the dichotomy of needing to be taken seriously as a woman in a male dominated industry, and she stumbles through attempts to be one of the boys while becoming one of the girls. Although her integrity will not allow her to trade on her sexuality to get ahead, she is not without contradiction and she breaks personal and professional taboos when she begins an affair with Herman "Duck" Phillips. The pressure of these conflicting desires finds an object in the person of Don Draper, a man Peggy has reason to respect and trust. She expresses her reserved anger and disappointment in "The Suitcase" (S4, E7), when she accuses him of stealing her idea for the Glo-Coat campaign. She also wonders, with the parade of women in Don's life, why not her? She doesn't harbor a secret wish to spend time in Don's bed, she has accepted the truth behind the image. Peggy does want reassurance that her desire for recognition and her need to be desirable aren't mutually exclusive, and she confides, "I know what I'm supposed to want," she says, "but it just never feels right, or as important as anything in that office."

“If this were me I would say something like ‘fun loving girl, responsible sometimes, likes to laugh, lives to love, seeks size six for city living and general gallivanting. No dull moments or dull men tolerated.’ or something like that!” Joan (Holloway) Harris, Office Manager at Sterling Cooper advertising agency comments on Peggy Olson’s notice for a roommate in "The Arrangements" (S3, E4). Joan is a competent and confident woman; she can cook and she's a good hostess; she can play the accordion and sing in French, if necessary. She makes no secret of her taste for the finer things in life, and she is certain she'll get everything she wants.

Pardon Us While We Slip Into
Something Comfortable!
The 1963 Dodge gives women options.

The trouble is, she has been married to a young surgical resident for a year, and she seems as discontented with married life as she had become with her life as a single woman. Joan’s voluptuous feminine allure appears to mask something darker, sometimes merciless, which often shows through the cracks of her well-coiffed, couture-clad exterior. Joan is in the midst of a year-long affair with Sterling Cooper partner Roger Sterling in "Long Weekend" (S1, E10) when he tells her he is free to spend the weekend with her. Joan is far from the "fun loving girl" Roger expected when she refers to The Apartment and describes a female character as being “handed around to the office men like a tray of canapés”. Joan later reveals to Roger in "Six Month Leave" (S2, E9) a vulnerability he seems unable, or unwilling, to accept. He sees the death of Marilyn Monroe as inevitable, a movie star who had everything and threw it away. Joan sees herself in Marilyn, a beautiful, sensual and vulnerable woman who, after "this world destroyed her," was destined to die alone. Joan has begun to consider the truth of being a self-aware and sexually liberated woman, much like a courtesan of an earlier era it comes with built in limitations and an equally bleak future.

She's busy...
yet she's beautiful...
she uses Pond's.
Pond's makes a woman
alluring and competent.

Joan doesn’t tolerate others defining her life or her personality, and she has an even lower threshold for whiners. When Joan asks Lane Pryce for time off to spend with her husband in "The Good News" (S4, E3), Lane alludes to her willingness to use her sexuality to get whatever she wants, "I understand that all men are dizzy and powerless to refuse you", and he adds, "Don't go and cry about it". Joan later expresses a frustration that Peggy Olson knows only too well when she throws a bouquet at Lane and tells him, he consistently makes her "feel like a helpless, stupid little girl." When her husband returns defeated after doing poorly on an interview in "The Gypsy and the Hobo" (S3, E11), Joan is so enraged by his comment that she has never known what it is "to want something your whole life" and not get it, she picks up a vase and breaks it over his head. She might feel a crack on the head is the least he deserves, after he raped her at Sterling Cooper and she quit a job in which she had made herself indispensable. She might feel his failure to notice she wants so much more from her life is typical of him; he had told her earlier she should "be home eating bonbons and watching television, not reading scripts". However, her act of rage is made all the more inexplicable in "The Summer Man" (S4, E8) when she arrives home as her husband is about to leave for basic training. "Who am I going to talk to?" she asks him and breaks down in tears when he mentions her friends at work. Her overwhelming sense of isolation could lead her deeper into a cruel deception.

“I hate this place, I hate our friends, I hate this town,” Betty Draper informs her husband in "Souvenir" (S3, E8) after an idyllic trip to Rome. Why is Betty Draper so miserable? She lives a charmed life as the wife of Sterling Cooper’s most promising advertising executive. She had an affluent childhood; attended Bryn Mawr; where she majored in anthropology; she had a brief career as a model; she is well-read and speaks fluent Italian. She lives comfortably in a beautiful upstate suburb, where she is a housewife raising three young children.

Be Bright! Be Light! Have a Pepsi!
Modern girls neither
sacrifice pleasure nor
compromise their figures.

Betty Draper is also, much like Joan Holloway, a good hostess: she knows how to dress well and set a good table. Her misery is abated with cigarettes and cocktails, horseback riding, European vacations, a glamorous wardrobe, and occasional target practice with a neighbor's pigeons. Why, then, is she fast becoming the inspiration for “Mother’s Little Helper” with her own fainting couch? Betty spends time in therapy, after exhibiting “unexplained emotional episodes,” which could be further compounded when her husband echoes her doctor’s assessment in "Red in the Face" (S1, E7), “Sometimes I feel like I'm living with a little girl." Betty could be living her life with unrealized aspirations, in a mistaken sense of loyalty to her mother, whose standards continue to haunt her. Her relationship with her husband perpetuates the parent/child dynamic. He scolds her for allowing a salesman into the home, he criticizes her bathing suit for looking desperate, and uses her as a test subject for a ad campaign. Perhaps Betty finds a few answers in her choice of reading material, The Group by Mary McCarthy. The novel explores many themes, including the notion of whether higher education makes women unsuitable as wives and mothers and the use of mental illness by husbands to control ambitious and intelligent wives.

This Spring, The blues
Are The News for Eyes!
and for Little Girl Blues.

Betty confides to her therapist in "The Wheel" (S1, E13) in her first truly honest moment "I can't help but think that I'd be happy if my husband was faithful to me”. A particularly messy exposure regarding her husband’s infidelity with the wife of a comic, finally forces Betty to face the harsh reality regarding her marriage. Betty tells Helen, her divorced neighbor, in "The Inheritance" (S2, E10) that Don has moved out of the house. She is undecided about the future of the marriage and responds, "Sometimes I think I'll float away if Don isn't holding me down." Her divorce from Don Draper, when she learns the truth of her husband’s past, and her remarriage to Henry Francis, does nothing to alleviate her feelings of insecurity. Although she made no secret of her contempt for all things Ossining, she lives in the same house with her new husband that she once shared with Don. She has never been a bad parent, perhaps a little disengaged, but she is becoming increasingly irrational with Sally and Bobby. Henry's mother observes the children during a particularly stressful Thanksgiving in "Public Relations" (S4, E1) and tells her son "They are terrified of her". Betty responds in "Tomorrowland" (S4, Ep13) when Henry asks her why she fired Carla "I want a fresh start". However, she appears overwhelmed by the prospect of leaving her old life behind and lies down on Sally's unmade bed.

This post is dedicated to Sterling, Cooper Draper and Pryce's most senior member of staff, Ida Blankenship: she was conscientious and loyal to the bitter end.

~

Guest contributor Whistlingypsy's blog is Distant Voices and Flickering Shadows.

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