:smack: Dammit, I got my AMC-scenes-of-lonely-men-gazing-out-of-windows-in-New-York confused. Sorry, everybody!
All this time I assumed that the proposal happened while they were still on vacation in California. It just occurred to me that the room looked more like Don’s Greenwich Village apartment.
A female copywriter (Frances Gerrety) wrote “A Diamond is Forever” at NW Ayer in 1947. (She never married). But while women weren’t unheard of in the copywriting business, they weren’t terribly common either.
Back to the episode, the message “…and some guy named Emerson Foote called” slayed me. Emerson Foote was the real-life Chairman of McCann-Erikson who resigned his position in 1964 stating “I will not have anything to do with any advertising agency which promotes the sale of cigarettes.”
Do actors ever speak badly about the characters they portray?
Read this interview with Jessica Pare and she sounds about as vacuous and full of herself as Megan, mentioning that she thinks they cast Megan as Quebecois because “she looks French” and that she thinks Megan represents the “new woman” of the seventies, who wants not only a man but a career. She also says something about how moving up from secretary to receptionist is a natural career path to something more. I know it worked for Peggy, but that’s because she had actual ideas.
Ehm what?
Megan is full of herself? She doesn’t look French, or whatever that was about? She doesn’t have ideas? You don’t think it was a natural career path back then?
Yup, don’t think Megan “looks French,” don’t really think she has any ambition at all as a copywriter (or rather, she might have ambition, but has yet to display any aptitude whatsoever), and I imagine that going from admin to creative was only slightly more likely than it is now, which is to say very unlikely.
I think Megan is total flake. Sweet, yes, but still, total flake.
I didn’t get a vacuous vibe from the interview either. She didn’t say she thought she looked French – she wondered if they thought she looked French. The career path comment isn’t wrong. Even today, many women start in clerical jobs and work their way up. Every woman in a management role at the last place I worked started as a clerk or secretary.
Megan might have ideas too – we just haven’t seen any yet. She’s been a thoughtful, competent secretary, and that’s a good start.
Oh yeah, and I do think she’s “full of herself.” I felt like her whole, “I am artist . . . I dabble in this and that” right before the sex with Don scene was sooo Bethany 2.0. And teaching the kids a song in French? Puh-lease. Also, on another board, someone was saying that she spoke french with a french, as opposed to quebecois, accent. Don’t know if this is true, but again, wouldn’t be surprised if it was.
What does, “looked French,” even mean? Maybe it’s because you are Quebecois and you have a French last name, that they cast you as someone Quebecois?
Gah, it’s like Megan’s, “my mother is of French extraction” comment . . .
- That’s like someone from New Orleans saying that
- It still sounds pretentious as hell.
Maybe she is talented enough to be a copywriter (and I didn’t know that was a normal career path back then, so I retract that), but so far all she has really shown an amplitude for or interest in is fucking the boss. By that logic, maybe Pete would be a great short story writer! He’s said he wants to do it and has tried to get himself published through this connections, so there you go.
Being a good secretary has absolutely nothing in common with writing good copy, and besides Peggy, I doubt anyone we’ve seen in creative would be a good secretary.
By that logic, Allison, Joan, Hildy, and Jane might all have been great copywriters.
Hey, I was just defending the actress. It was the character who said her mother was of French extraction, who sang the song in French, and who said she was an artist, etc.
Megan might be a bit full of herself, but from the interview, Ms. Pare comes off as excited about the part she’s playing and wondering where the writers will go with her.
We don’t know enough about the character to know if she’s talented enough to rise in the company. She had to get that confidence and self-assurance somewhere – maybe she’s actually accomplished some things.
And like I said earlier, anyone who speaks a second language fluently gets points from me. 
Okay, maybe I was being a bit harsh on the actress, but her comments about Megan being a “new woman” (hello, she slept with the boss!) and people thinking she, “looked French” (wot??), really got to me. Also, she sounded kind of ditzy when talking about her height. In all fairness, though, actresses all usually sound ditzy in interviews, so there you go.
I’m impressed if people are fluent in a second language that they learned on their own. Speaking a second language like she does is just an accident of birth. I’ve known Quebecois who spoke both French and English and were dumb as posts
I think that all we have seen from Megan indicates that she could be a good copy-writer. She understood, while none of the partners did, why Don made the article about tobacco. Also she showed some insight into the work, in the brief talk they had about it before they had sex the first time. On the other hand, we have not seen any indications that she would not be good.
Also Joan was actually very skilled in advertisement. We saw that when she worked in the tv department briefly.
Joan was skilled at deciding where to place ads, which is different from copy-writing.
I think all we have seen from Pete indicates that he could be a good jazz-dancer. He Charleston-ed it up with Trudy while no one else did. On the other hand, and most importantly, we have not seen any indications that he would NOT be good. (Just like we haven’t seen any indications than Lane Pryce would NOT be good as a lion-tamer!). Clearly, Pete needs to go fuck the head of jazz-dancing company. That’s the way to the top!
I think the partners understood what Don was trying to do. They just thought it was risky and that Don should have consulted them before doing it; and Bert, in particular, was angry that Don had sgined his own name alone on the letter, as it made the rest of them seem irrelevant.
Thanks for pointing out the engagement was In Greenwich, I assumed it was in Paris.
I still can’t believe we have to wait till next summer. Gah!
Paris?
Bert definitely quit. 1. He’s says “I’m no longer part of this agency.” after the prank phone call. 2. He says “It’s been a pleasure working with you all. I wish you the best of luck.” to a group that includes Peggy, Ken, Harry and Stan (who were not fired).
He thinks SCDP is dead. He wouldn’t have sunk another $100k into it. He’s out.
Regarding Megan. She has ambition but apparently has not been all that successful. In this episode she mentions elocution lessons and being told she could have been a singer. (I hope she doesn’t become Susan Alexander Kane to Don’s Charles Foster Kane.) In a nice twist, she mentions how her teeth hurt her chances at becoming an actress. So Joan will make her a copywriter, she won’t be good at it, etc. (But you never know with this show.)
They were already pushing things with Sally/Kiernan Shipka this season. She’s not quite 11 in real life. Another big jump is just not going to work. And she’s not replaceable like the various Bobby’s.
I don’t think she did. I think she just hero-worships him.
Except that he might already have given the money over. I think it’s safe to say that Bert has a lot more cash available than any of the other four partners; he might have paid the $100K in the previous day in the interests of saving his life’s work.
Well, maybe. I agree that they can’t jump ahead just one or two years; an actress too close in age to the current little girl is going to suffer by comparison. But if they jump ahead to '69 people might accept it.
The important thing is to find a way to show Peggy at Woodstock, of course.