In The Hobo Code, Lois, smitten with Salvatore, makes an excuse to visit the art department. Salvatore attributes his attractiveness to her to his tie, and says if he’d known it would “work” that well, he wouldn’t have made the salesman spend twenty minutes selling it to him.
You know what I get out of that? Sal spent twenty minutes with a salesman. A salesman who hovered over him, flattered him, perhaps touched him while adjusting the tie. Twenty minutes picking out a tie is not unlike fondling a cigarette lighter in The Gold Violin, you know?
Bryan Batt says he doesn’t think Sal has ever acted on his desires. So these little flirtations, these little intimacies, are how he manages. And that tossed off reference to picking out a tie is, to me, a huge hint at what Salvatore’s “gay life” is really like.
12 Responses to “Salvatore picking out a tie”
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Nice.
It really was a nice, flattering tie. I bet the salesman enjoyed himself as much as Sal did.
I got that too, only I never fleshed out the thought, even in my head. Nice.
Salvatore would win Sterling Cooper's Best Dressed every year if such a thing existed. I remember in that episode in particular thinking how fetching he looked.
Adept analysis!
I am actually just like Salvatore in this regard. I mean, I'm straight as a ruler, but I've been single a long time and I find the intimacy of clothes-shopping and makeup application a good balm for my lack of physical contact sometimes. It's all about letting people into your bubble.
I'd really love to get inside Sal's head. Like the secretaries at Sterling Cooper I bet he is secretly "window shopping" all the time, even if he is in denial and doing it subconsciously (mostly I think Sal is fully aware and privately accepting of his sexual orientation). In S2 Sal settled on Ken as the collegue he was most attracted to. He was keen to impress Ken with his cooking and conversation. Like the implied flirtation with the salesman this is as close as Sal gets to fulfilling his desires. Poor Sal.
Wow. Good catch, Deb.
I kind of like that he covers up what is basically a confession of flirting with the tie salesmen by flirting right back at Lois. So many layers to these characters.
"I think Sal is fully aware and privately accepting of his sexual orientation). In S2 Sal settled on Ken as the collegue he was most attracted to."
I disagree falafel. I think that deep down he is aware but not accepting. He's from an old world Catholic family. Sal doesn't have a 'secret life' just a repressed life. I think his longing for Ken took him by surprise and he may not even understand just what it is he's feeling. Much of this show is about contrasts.
For instance, Joan is the 1950s successful woman… a sexpot who knows how to use it. Peggy is the 1960s successful woman… secretely ruthless and determined to use her abilities.
You have Sal, the 1950s gay man who has repressed his feelings and never acted on his desires. Then you have Kurt, the "new" 1960s gay man (though being that open in 1962 is a bit of a stretch) who just casually announces his sexuality (in that scene you saw how uncomfortable Sal was).
I don't foresee much happiness in Sal's future.
Interesting!
After the end of season one, I watched the pilot again, and I had a similar reaction to Sal's picture of his "relaxed" neighbor. In hindsight, there's something heartbreaking about the way that Sal runs his hand down that picture, knowing on some level that that's the closest he's going to get.
I image that Sal might also 'enjoy' his time at the shoe shine stand and the barber shop.
Like Roberta, I got that on some level, but never mentally elaborated on it. But I would go with the reverse theory from Robin D. — Sal discusses the ties with his Art Dept. minions only after Lois fawns all over him. I suspect he would not have mentioned the tie salesman story at all if Lois had not made it a "safe" topic by allowing him to frame it as something he did to attract women.
"I think that deep down he is aware but not accepting."
What I meant was that Sal accepts that he is a gay man living a lie, not that he thinks being gay is acceptable. I agree that Sal is repressed, I just don't think he is self-deluding. Even when he married Kitty, I don't think he ever convinced himself he was straight.
Brilliant quote from this episode.
Lois: (while flirting with Sal) "I work in the closet all day."
ROTFL.