I was really confused by the heckle, too. At first I thought someone threatened Newman because of his endorsement, then I thought Bobby Kennedy’s assassination was announced, until I heard the shot in the face line.
Why would he say that unless he wants to leave himself room to get the history politically correct?
Well, Burt Cooper seems to have one of the easiest jobs at SCDP so it all works out. Aside from showing up for a few of the big name pitches in the conference room, I get the impression that his job at this point is primarily having money in the company.
Now I picture Robert Morse just sitting around, reading the paper in whatever passes for the lobby of an TV studio.
“Do you know, Mr. Newman, sir, that Martin Luthor King is dead, sir? What have you to say?” as reported by the 4/5/1968 New York Times. Apparently, Paul Newman was yucking it up during his appearance at the Andy Awards and one of the few members of the audience aware of the assassination was offended by the levity. I think Mad Men purposely obscured the “heckle” because the actual line is rather awkward sounding and they would have had to show more of the Newman speech to show that his remarks were relatively frivolous. Instead they just pulled out the Gene McCarthy “time stamp” and let the audience wonder for a little while what had happened, much as those in the banquet room did.
They conducted extensive studies into something that should be instantly obvious?
Did auto manufacturers conduct extensive studies to find out whether a key ignition is faster than having to turn a crank to start your car’s engine?
From the article:
Basically, it reads like the script for Mad Men. And apparently Newman did not know until that moment.
The studies were more comprehensive than that and included tests of the switching equipment (under load), how long it took people to learn to D.I.A.L.* quickly and accurately, and so forth. It seems like a massive duh from this perspective, but the engineering and marketing research at the time was mixed. A significant number of test users disliked the button interface.
- Digitally Initiate Acoustic LInk - thank you, NPR, ca. 1985).
Somewhat off-topic, but I sort of miss the deliberate, intentional nature of the rotary phone. I can still feel the clickiness of the rotary dial as it spun to the fingerstop, and hear the sound of the dial as it returned to position. When you made a phone call, you knew it- there was a process to it.
Ah, progress.
Right. AT&T tested everything, since once it was out it was out.
All switches do their work when the phone is being dialed. It was conceivable that the old mechanical switches could not keep up. Also, wrong numbers and partial dials used the equipment and didn’t generate any revenue - so if push button phones resulted in higher misdial rates, they could hurt the bottom line.
As it turned out push button phones reduced the amount of time in a call due to dialing (which did not get charged) and so helped the bottom line. And there was a premium charged for them - even though they were cheaper for the network to handle. Fun fact - you could use pushbutton on a dial line.
I miss them sometimes and still say “dial the number”.
What I don’t miss: party lines.
Does anybody care about Don Draper’s true identity anymore? It was a big deal that some people had uncovered it in the early seasons, but nobody’s done anything with the info and it doesn’t ever seem to come up in any kind of ‘danger to Don’ way. Now, it just provideds some insight into who he is now.
I spent many a boring evening when I was a teenager, listening to the neighbor’s phone conversations on the party line. 
In the Spring of 1968, I was a senior in high school and worked on the school newspaper. I would go to the newspaper office daily instead of study hall. On April 5, I was on my way when I ducked into the boy’s room for a moment. Two black kids were in there and once I was done they blocked me from leaving. “Why did you kill our man?” one of them asked, but it wasn’t really a question and they weren’t expecting an answer.
It was the only time at school that I felt frightened for my safety. I understood that they were only expressing their anger and grief and frustration, but I also knew that the situation could head off in any direction without their meaning it to.
As it happened I talked fast and they had said their piece, so they let me go. But that was 1968 in a sentence. Us vs. Them. The privileged and powerful against the downtrodden and resentful. At any given moment, you could be part of the Us or part of the Them and who was taking sides against whom could flicker and change in an instant.
At some point in that year Gov. Ronald Reagan denounced a group of antiwar protestors who had waved a Viet Cong flag, saying that even the First Amendment didn’t allow that. I wrote an editorial for the paper that said, in so many words, that the free expression of political disagreement was exactly why we had such a thing as the First Amendment. After the paper appeared a teacher - a teacher - came up to me in the hallway between classes and said he should punch me in the nose for writing that.
We think that sides are split and antagonistic today, but I remember 1968 and I know that there was never a year in my lifetime when the gap between Us and Them was wider or as visceral. Mad Men can show only one of those sides, and at best can give no more than a glimpse through the wrong end of a telescope of how distant that other side looked. Their problems don’t mean a hill of beans in that crazy world. Yes, everybody went on living their quotidian lives for the rest of the year. Work went on, and school went on, and the television played in all the backgrounds. My question is, how do we go back to caring about infidelities and bumped ad spots for the rest of the season? At least I’ll get my answer soon.
I was puzzled by that. I like her but I don’t think she’s that big a deal. She’s not A-list, so why the secrecy?
Hamm and Stewart together are hysterical. I don’t usually stick around for the guests, but I’m glad I did.
Everything about MM’s story lines is secret, and I appreciate that.
That said, I have to confess I have no idea who Cardellini was, and furthermore I had to check IMDb to make sure she was the character I thought she was.
As the closing line of* Buckaroo Banzai *so aptly puts it, “So whaaat. Beeeg deeel.”
Freaks and Geeks was a pretty important and well-loved series to a lot of people, but if you don’t know it I wouldn’t expect you to know her.
She was brilliant in all 18 episodes of F&G.
I heard they offered the part of “Sylvia” to Angelina Jolie. She declined. Reportedly saying only Miss Linda Cardendilli was worthy of the role.
Me too. But this wasn’t a story line secret, it was a casting secret. Knowing she’s appearing doesn’t mean we know she’s Don’s latest conquest. She could have been a new employee, a client, a friend, an ex-wife, someone else’s new girlfriend.
It’s just weird that they saw it as a casting coup that needed to be kept under wraps.
Wow Freaks and Geeks was only like 10 years ago… she went from playing a 16 year old… to a middle aged woman… Way to go.
I never saw F&G, but first heard of Linda C during her run on ER. I thought she was a good solid actress but not necessarily anything special. So the hubbub about her being cast on this show is a little surprising.