Well, we generally don’t like kicking people when they’re down either (I have been someone who has at times defended Pete) ;). And Don has been pretty down for a bit, and mostly because he wants to be a better person and be honest about the things he’s tried to hide because he thought they made him weak.
You think that’s bad, when I read Andiethewestie’s post I immediately thought “hey, you can’t talk about my friend Don that way!” and then “wait, he’s not my friend, he doesn’t even know me!” and then “wait, he isn’t even a real person!” and then “wait… WTF is wrong with me?” all in the span of about five seconds.
I need to apologize to everyone in this thread for my comments about mini-computers in 1969.
It turns out that I was wrong when I said that mini-computers did not appear until the mid-70s. They actually did appear in the mid 60s. However, I do remain skeptical as to just how big and powerful those early machines were and whether they could have handled the applications needed by a medium sized advertising agency. I have serious doubts that early mini-computers had the capacity to handle any real serious applications. But I could well be wrong about that.
Then again, I can’t imagine how much computing power an advertising agency would need. I don’t really understand what kind of applications they would need to run. I suppose they would try to keep track of all TV programs run - when commercials were broadcast, etc.
If so, that hardly seems like an application that would require much computing power. But there may well be other apps that I don’t know about.
So, all things considered, it would be best for me just to retract my previous remarks. Alternatively, I could add that I just don’t know what they would want to run circ. 1979 and that my previous remarks were just my opinions based on my professional computer experiences that began in 1970. I never had any experience with min-computers until 1975 and wrongly assumed that was when serious mini-computers were first available.
I’m sorry for any inconvenience.
This job was absolutely perfect for computers because it is database management at its purest. Some of you may remember the thick books of ratings that Andy Travis used to regularly pour over on WKRP in Cincinnati. Ratings and demographics are generated for each six minute time slot during a day. Station rates are determined off of those.
Now imagine needing to do that for every radio and television station in America. The media buyer is responsible for determining what stations to run ads on, at what times, in what lengths, and in what frequency. He has to work within the budget that the client has to maximize its effectiveness. Having a computer to sort this stuff out was an incredible advancement over hand methods. Crunching through all the numbers would be slow by today’s standards, but media deals were normally made well in advance and letting the computer chug along all day would have been no big deal at the time.
Advertising agencies charged a price for doing this, normally 15% of the money spent. That makes Harry the largest day-to-day contributor of cash flow in the company. And that’s why he feels so underappreciated. In some ways he’s more important than any of the partners. Always has been.
My version of The Vest was avocado and crocheted by my mom. I win. 
I concede.
<Thelma hands over the prize, a bottle of homemade Kahlua (strong coffee mixed with cheap vodka)>
Don left the agency as the pompous ass he was, but coming back not quite a mangy dog with his tail between his legs, but going back to the agency was pretty awkward for him/ from making him sit around with the other copywriters and a sandwich thrown at him while he waits for the only guy who thought he should come back Roger, but Sterling ignorantly didn’t let the others know, to keeping security on alert, to the partners giving Don what felt like conditions of parole yeah, it was sweet to see the grovel. He’s a shell, it’s time to atone.
Grovel? I think not…mark my word, Don has a plan. Did you see the look on his face when he said “OK.”?
When he said OK without even blinking an eye, to me it was like he was thinking, “that’s all, that’s all you’re gonna do?” it seemed as if everything was falling into place the just the way he wanted it to.
Yeah, when I saw the word “grovel” I just threw up my hands and gave up on the exchange.
Don is not some master planner, though. In fact, one of his big problems is that he doesn’t think things through, he is extremely narcissistic, spur-of-the-moment, do-what-I-feel kind of guy. I don’t think Don has some master plan as much as he has self confidence that he can succeed.
But he has instincts that will react in the moment and pull him through. It’s not that he has a master plan already thought through, but that he knows he will be able to do whatever the moment calls for.
Oh I agree, some above were saying he has a plan and things were falling into place. Don’s plan is to be Don and do that Don thing that Don does.
Emily Arnett, the mystery blonde, is played by Brandi Burkhardt. She is not listed as having been on the show before. Nor are there any “Arnett” characters listed so not a relative of a previous character, it seems.
If she is not a call girl hired by the other firm, then my guess is that she is somehow part of the Dick Whitman world. But she is fairly young. Perhaps younger than Anna Draper’s niece Stephanie. Did Don/Dick meet with any of Stephanie’s friends in California?
It was a long day in the office for Don. Showed up at 9, Roger shows up drunk at 11:35, he is called into the meeting at 7:05. That’s a lot of time for him to think. Plus he shouldn’t be as clueless about the company finances as it appears. He knows they want to buy him out. He know they can’t. He sets the terms. E.g., he’ll bring in X amount of business, once that happens the firm is in the black, they can buy him out then. Of course, he hopes that they will be happier with the new business (new Don?) and the buyout stuff fades.
Don Draper would never accept this deal. It is a sucker deal.
Dating:
Roger tells him to come in on Monday.
Don’s watch says it’s the 31st. (And someone upthread mentions a calendar with the 31st.)
March 31, 1969 was a Monday.
BTW: The magazine Don is reading when Roger walks in is the April 4th, 1969 Time magazine. (Ike just died the previous Friday and that is why he is on the cover.) March 31st might still be okay given the weirdness of magazine dating. Can rule out Feb, Apr, May (31st on a Saturday), June. Essentially a month/episode on average.
He went to see Megan midweek. What did he do in the meantime? (Besides meeting with the other guys.)
Love Cutthroat Bitch is back. I suspect it’s the beginning of another boring “trying to wake Betty out of her coma” storyline. The way she looked at the woman on the bus was … interesting. Not just disgust. Maybe she wishes she could be like that?
BTW: Henry is a far from perfect father. Better than Betty, but not a nice person.
Looking at the footage of Model Shop that was shown, I noticed what looked like a Playboy Bunny logo on the side of a building. Checking indeed shows that Playboy once had offices/club at 8560 Sunset Blvd. The cars are shown turning off La Cienega onto Sunset. Was that particular shot chosen due to the Playboy reference?
Fun fact according to IMDb: Harrison Ford was the first choice for the lead in the film.
What?
I’m guessing that Model Shop is the name of the movie Don was watching in this episode.
Magazine dates are kind of like “good through” dates, they are the last day the issue should be on the stand.
BTW there was a NYT article, although it was in 1970. From AdAge:
Maybe the agency can get an early rollout of that hot new IBM 370 everyone’s been talking about. It’s got 240 thousand bytes of memory!
I don’t understand SC&P’s fear of Don going to another firm. If he is so unstable as to be considered a net liability (so much so that they would rather pay him to do nothing rather than pay him to work), why not let him go and good riddance? He stumbles down the street, works some magic for a bit, but ends up crashing and burning again, taking the fortunes of the new firm with them.
I mean, all things considered (talent+baggage) they must either believe he adds value or takes it away. If he adds value, why not bring him back… If he takes it away, why not let him go and sabotage a competitor? Or do they believe somehow that Don is only a liability to them, but a boon to anyone else?