The sun shines bright in the old Kentucky home,
‘Tis summer, the darkies are gay;
The corn-top’s ripe and the meadow’s in the bloom,
While the birds make music all the day.*
Matt Weiner has been criticized often enough for not quite getting there about race. We have, on this site, discussed “Magical Negroes” in Mad Men, and the Sheila storyline ended up fizzling in an unsatisfying way.
So now that he’s decided to address it, it’s not just a scene or an incident, no, it’s Matt, so it’s a holistic embrace of everything privilege; the privilege of race, of gender, of age, of money, of social class, and of how all of those things intersect.
Surely the most privileged person on the show is Roger Sterling; even more so than YodaBert, because Roger was born with his silver spoon. Roger is so incredibly privileged that he can parade an embarrassingly young wife and make a lot of powerful people treat her politely, and do it, nauseatingly, in blackface to boot. Blackface! (And don’t even try to say “sign of the times;” privileged people still do this). Roger can make people swallow any kind of bad behavior, because he’s got the money, class privilege, and power.
The entire episode is a sorting hat of who has more power than whom. Some people go to parties wearing enormous summer hats, some people spend the weekend at the office. Don and Betty go to the party, old people, children, and black servants stay home. Carla has every reason to tell Gene he hasn’t accused her “yet;” she knows all about who’s at the bottom of the pecking order. Knowing she could lose her job over this is a moment-by-moment correspondence with Roger’s blackface; Gene may be a demented white man who doesn’t know what year it is, but he’s a white man, and her blackface doesn’t wash off.
Don and Connie reminisce about impoverished childhoods in the bar. Don used to piss in car trunks; isn’t that what this episode is about? Who’s at the bar, and who’s pissing in trunks?
Paul & Jeff went to Princeton, but Jeff has more power because Paul was there on scholarship; Paul is still angry about it, and still trying to compensate. Peggy went to secretarial school, but she has an office with a door, and a secretary. If you can close a door you can get high behind the door, and if you have to sit outside you can disapprove”from outside.
Who has money and who doesn’t? Medical residents don’t, and children don’t. Sally experiments with stealing a little social privilege, but there’s a cost involved. Don knows the cost. Joan doesn’t, but she’s learning. Surgical chiefs sit at the head of the table even in someone else’s home; Emily Post and being socially correct conveys a kind of power, but not enough to counteract the pecking order of hospital politics.
And finally, Don and Betty. We know that Matt loves the movie A Place in the Sun; he referenced it in S1 and S2; it’s the story of a hard-working underprivileged, handsome man (Montgomery Clift) who falls in love with a beautiful privileged debutante (Elizabeth Taylor), first seen as a vision in white. He visits Taylor at their summer place in Long Island. Clift also has an affair with a factory girl (Shelly Winters) whom he gets pregnant; we are left wondering if he drowned her, or if her death was really accidental.
All of this is echoed in the episode; the beautiful people, the wealthy Long Island location, Betty in white and pregnant, both women at once. And there’s Don in the Monty Clift role, realizing that he definitely, absolutely, does not want to be Roger. There’s Betty, his vision in white, and what Don wants, I think, is not to be the fool that Roger is, nor abuse his power, but to do right, at last, by his wife.
*My Old Kentucky Home, by Stephen Foster. The official Kentucky State Song, the lyrics were changed in 1986 when Representative Carl Hines, the only black member of the Kentucky General Assembly, objected to the singing of the word “darkies.”
143 Responses to “My Old Kentucky Privilege”
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I do think Roger is happy, that seemed real to me.
Betty and that guy was interesting…they had chemistry and her line about a divorced woman marrying again with 4 kids was nice symmetry.
Pete and Trudy dancing the Charleston.
First of all, if the producers selected Vincent and Alison because they thought they would make an adorable couple – this little scene proved them right.
Priviledged kids very commonly took dancing lessons as a matter of course. it was accepted as a sign of a cultured person. As cynical and as insecure as Pete is, he has no self-conciousness about getting up at a party with his beautiful wife and dancing on center stage. He knows how good he – and they – are.
Great analysis ladies!
Deborah, you really get it.
Drunk Jane was a bit reminiscent of drunk Roger hitting on Betty in S1, no?
I was so creeped out by the concept of a code pink – especially when one of the people in the room is a rapist.
vee, I tried to touch on gender privilege, and you're 100% right, but I didn't maybe go there enough. There's also conscious versus unconscious; the abuse of power by doctors towards the helpless.
I was at a Halloween party three or four years ago where a white woman showed as Aunt Jemima, shoe polish and all. It was supposed to be ironic, I think, but it was deeply creepy and offensive. So I think a guy like Roger would still try that stunt today if he was in a social situation where he thought he could get away with it.
This post is absolutely amazing. I found the stuff at the club all very Gatsby, also. Long Island, a 20s feel, color as imagery, seemingless connections being more real than real life. The line (from Gatsby) that begins "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy…" brought to life with Jane, Jane and Roger…
It's funny how others seemed to describe Roger Sterling as a "silver spoon" or priviledged. When in reality, Pete comes from a more priviledged background. After all, Roger is simply one generation away from being self-made – like Joe Kennedy Sr.'s children. His father was proabably self-made, like Bert Cooper. If Roger was truly a "silver spoon", Cooper would have allowed Don to fire Pete back in Season 1's "New Amsterdam".
vee, mind meld! I posted on another thread about Code Pink – that was one of the most chilling parts of the episode.
Rosie I disagree, Roger is very much the privileged gadabout. Pete is actually good at his job and went into the business despite family opposition. Roger just filled the slot he was given due to his name being on the building. I have no doubt that Roger never left SC because he realized that he doesn't have the talent and foresight to be hired and succeed elsewhere. Though Pete's family line/ wealth is longer, Pete could succeed elsewhere and will likely rely less and less on his connections as time goes by, whereas family connection and money is all Roger has.
Your example doesn't actually prove your point. It doesn't matter how long the wealth has been in the family. The father might have earned it rather than inherited it, but that has no bearing on the privilege of the children. The Kennedy children were also brought up in great wealth – part of Roger's dislike for both Pete and JFK was their similarity to his own background. Rich boys who are seen as having everything handed to them. Roger never worked his way up, he grew up surrounded by immense wealth. Trudy is another child of privilege. Though her father is a self-made man, she herself is just a spoiled rich girl.
Cooper kept Pete because he saw reason to do so for business purposes. Roger being rich and spoiled had nothing to do with it. Business is not Roger's strong suit – mainly because he was born with that silver spoon.
I found it interesting that the two people who were appalled by the minstrel show stylings of Roger were Don and Pete. Everyone else at least smiled. Pete only smiled when Trudy looked over at him, and it quickly faded when she looked away.
Cooper kept Pete because he saw reason to do so for business purposes. Roger being rich and spoiled had nothing to do with it. Business is not Roger’s strong suit – mainly because he was born with that silver spoon."
I'm afraid that I have to disagree. You're talking about New York society, where it does matter how old your money really is. If Roger Sterling was truly born with a silver spoon in his mouth, Sterling-Cooper would have gotten rid of Pete Campbell back in S1. The only reason Cooper wanted Pete to stay was because of the latter's social connections with old money. He made that perfectly clear. If you don't believe me, watch "New Amsterdam" again.
I don't care how rich the Kennedys were. They were considered trash in compare to the New England old families. Even JFK and Joe Jr. had some difficulties dealing with the old money types. And they – like Roger – were born when their dad had money.
I did watch New Amsterdam. What I am saying is that you missed the point. Growing up in wealth = privilege. I really cannot make it any more clear than that.
Being considered trash socially by the old guard rich when one is nouveau riche has nothing to do with the privilege that wealth brings. You are combining social standing and wealth whereas the gauge here is just wealth – which grants privilege. Social standing is a completely different thing. No one said that Pete's family background did not save his job. The subject is Roger – who is privileged.
Pete being of older money and pedigree does not negate Roger Sterling being born into wealth and privilege. How much more privileged can one get than to be a son born into a wealthy family who is then handed an almost no-show position of power at the family business?
You are welcome of course to your opinion.
"Born with a silver spoon" does not imply standing in the society register. It just means a life of ease due to wealth that one was born into.
"Code Pink" was chilling … yes.
Something else that's chilling: the doctors' wives talking about how little their husbands make … and assuring Joan that she'll "be fine, no matter what happens."
I have said before that this is not a show about then, but about now. Heath care reform was seen as threat then as well, and in fact Medicaid was finally made available to the poorest of families in 1965. Previous efforts to pass more general health care reform failed, mostly thanks to the help of physicians' associations … and yes, their wives.
Find out for yourselves. Go to your favorite search engine and look up "Operation Coffee Cup". It's about then … but it's also as current as this week in American history.
The pattern in this episode was talent, performance, and power. Starting with the audition in the very first scene: that woman has to perform the twist for Harry. She has no power over her talents, instead Harry does.
What's next? Pete and Trudy perform a retro dance (for the times). Was it for the Dionysian joy or to impress the establishment crowd?
Roger performs a minstrel bit…because childish beauty commands it.
Paul Kinsey performs Al Jolson ragtime because he can't shake his inferiority to that Princeton mountebank.
Joan performs on the accordian because her husband is weak and cannot perform in the operating room.
The only person who has talent and performs for herself is Peggy.
"You're still working?"
Says it all.
As for that Charleston number — just as '70s and '80s nostalgia comes up in recent entertainment, in the 1950 and early '60s it was nostaligia for the 1920s (and '30s.)
The Untouchables TV series (1959) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Untouchables_(19…
Another series named, literally, The Roaring Twenties 1960-'62 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Roaring_Twenties…
Some Like It Hot, the Marilyn Monroe vehicle set in the 1920s (1959) would have made it to TV by 1963: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Some_Like_It_Hot
I remember learning the Charleston as a kid, informally, in that period but as it's been stated previously in a nother thread: as priveleged WASPs Trudy and Pete would have had dancing lessons (cotillion) at about the same age.
@kisses in the hallway – on the nose! I was trying to pinpoint the undercurrent and then read your post. Exactly.
It was interesting watching everyone's eyes as they performed.. Roger looking for approval from his childbride, Pete making eye contact with Roger as he danced with Trudy, Joan's momentary flicker of discomfort that only her husband saw….
Such a wonderful recap, Deborah. You said so much of what was swimming through my head while watching this, and as usual illuminated several things too. And thank you so much for addressing modern day blackface!
This episode was the first real stunner of the season for me. I loved the first one, and liked the second a little less, but it wasn't just knocking it out of the park, like I'm used to. Maybe they will get better as the season unfurls… But yes, this episode has stirred so many things for me, and it was just done beautifully. I just want to cover a couple before I head to bed.
Joan performing like a monkey, humiliating herself again to acquiesce to her husband's ego… despite her obvious charm, nothing could hide how horrible that was.
My Old Kentucky Home, Hello My Baby… and I think one or two more songs in this ep. were direct allusions to blackface. Al Jolson performed the latter and the former was a huge hit as performed in the 19th century by Minstrels. It is genius to use blackface in a meditation on privilege in America, since it was such an integral part in how modern American culture was formed. For about a hundred years blackface was the single most popular form of mass entertainment in this country, and in fact it gave birth to the pop music industry as we know it. Vaudeville, tin pan alley and Musicals all have their roots in blackface. Since about the 70s (in my estimation) there has been a concerted effort to sweep this intensely influential and horrifically racist history under the rug, but the roots remain firmly planted. Entertainers like Doris Day were doing straight up blackface well into the 50s and 60s. Some blackface scholars argue that the tradition never really died, but lives on now in costumes and even as full musical productions in certain elite arenas (Bohemian Grove, anyone), and depending on your definition, even in mainstream media. I could talk about this more (and I probably will), since I've actually done a shit-ton of research on blackface and it is one of my favorite fields of study, precisely because it's tentacles extend so far into our modern entertainment industry.
I do not view Roger's minstrel show as an offensive sight gag (as I have read on other sites). I think it was an attempt to shed light on the very real, very blatant racism which weaves through our culture, and which is most safely expressed in the comfort of elite, white, privileged contexts.
Just occurred to me – everyone was working and pretending to socialize across the board except for those in the office who were ostensibly working but then socialized. Only those in the office were truthful, and they actually had fun. Everyone else was miserable and working on maintaining their position through false fronts.
Spot-on synopsis, Deborah.
As a Princeton grad in the early '80s I remember well the air of preppy privilege around the Tigertones and being a guest an an all-male eating club (one of the last bastion's of Princeton male privilege by then) where students dressed for dinner and were served by uniformed African American waiters. I believe there were even cigars afterward. (I later used the club's selectivity as a pretext to break up with a boyfriend who was a member…).
An acquaintance my age (Joan Wickersham) has an op-ed in the Boston Globe today on how little the ad business had changed for women by the time she and I were starting our careers: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opini…
I worked on the client side of the marketing business in my first real job. My product: Tampax. Naturally, all our senior management and all our ad guys were men. Imagine the awkwardness around the conference room when we got down to discussing comfort and leakage. Wish we'd had Peggy our our creative team!
Blackface at a country club in 1962, yes, I can believe it.
Because of bookended experiences with pieces of that in the decades before and after 1962.
Somewhere around 1957or ’58 in our lily-white, lower-middle class suburb in New Jersey, I remember attending some sort of amateur variety performance (for charity?) one weekend, set in the grammar school auditorium, but not allied to the school.
One of the featured acts, was a “minstrel show”: local adult white men in blackface making awful hokey jokes, singing “coon” songs in exaggerated accents.
It felt wrong to this small child, so much so, that is the only act of the evening I remember. Possibly because this was during the time that the Civil Rights movement was featured on the nightly on our black and white TV, “negro” children integrating schools with the National Guard needed to hold back venomous crowds of white Southerners.
In 1960 my father was to work for the summer (in the space program) at an airforce base in Tennessee, and I remember being creeped out during the drive down by sights I’d never seen in New Jersey: segregated water fountains and bathrooms labeled “colored” and “white.”
Fifteen or so years later, I attended a very WASPY wedding in Baltimore: old money.
The pillared mansion, the black chauffeur and cook, the reception at the country club, which was again all white except for the wait staff and the band.
I was living in New York City then, a world not so very segregated: frankly, all that white priviledge creeped me out, too.
So Roger in blackface at a country club in 1963, all too likely.
I'm still trying to digest this episode, and your review helped a lot, Deboarh.
It was kind of like "Three Sundays," only "Three Parties."
I know there must be some significance to Betty being the only woman at the party without a hat, but danged if I can figure it out.
When Gene asked Carla if she knew Viola – I know that's a classic racist comment, but I think in this particular case Gene was just plain confused. And it's interesting to see that Carla treats Gene just like one of the kids.
Seeing all the singing and dancing talent the cast has makes me want to see the cabaret act all the more.
I KNEW Archie Whitman was from Pennsylvania! He looks and sounds just like my great-uncles.
On a fashion note: the pink ruffled top the Ann Margaret look-alike wears to the casting session isn’t quite period correct.
The ruffles under the bust, yes, pink, yes, worn with capris, but as you can see in the below photo, the midriff was meant to be bared:
http://c.getbackimages.com/uri/w514_h676_cfalse_K0309224150/ann-margaret-in-bye-bye-birdie-/image/4/0/4/4/4044907.jpg
Which I learned from experience. In seventh or eighth grade the knock-offs hit the local stores, and several of us junior high girls wore ours to school. (Mine in pink gingham.)
All with bared midriffs: which prompted a school wide banning policy, because of those bared midriffs.
Back in the day when dress codes were enforced: skirts and dresses for girls, no shorter than the knees.
In this circumstance, I actually thought Dr. Greg the Dolt/Rapist/untalented surgeon was actually proud of his wife's accomplishments. After she had been lavished with compliments from the Big Guy's wife, I thought Greg might have been respectful of her talents…from the look she shot him when he suggested she play, it was obvious Joan wasn't pleased, but I got a different feel from the not-so-good Doctor–one of respect for Joanie.
Personally, I was as shocked at Roger's performance as Don and Pete, but at the same time knew that it was period accurate. Of course, a lot of Roger's behavior is shocking and tasteless. It's just who he is. He's the guy who asks the new boss about getting drunk and putting on a suit of armor. He's the wacky uncle. But what really made me angry with him was the way he treated Don for potentially hitting on Jane (even though it was the other way around), when Roger himself had the nerve to hit on Betty in season 1. That really showed his own sense of privilege to me.
As for Joan, I think all of Greg's attempts to control her behavior will blow up in his face sooner or later. The contrast between her shutting him down while they're alone ("Then stop talking.") and acquiescing to his demand for a musical performance while in company of his superiors will not fly with our Red. The look she gave him while singing was clearly seething with "You'll pay for this" undertones. His privilege as her husband does not make him her lord and master, and I'm betting he is going to learn that in a big way this season.
Excellen anaylsis ladies. Very on-point. I was racking my brains last night about what to think and though privilege in general, particularly white privilige, has been on my mind a lot lately, I did not put this together but now that you point it out, it is very obvious. I was so stunned by what Roger did, not that I should have been. I think it was interesting that Don, the least priviliged of them all, was the only one who did not have that "oh that is so quaint" smile and laugh on his face when everyone else just seemed so charmed. He wanted to leave, which gave him points in my eyes. He was also the only one who had the guts to tell Roger the truth, that he looked like a fool and wasn't happy at all. Jane certainly isn't happy and her drunkness and her grabbing Don and proclaiming that she was a "nice person" shows the cracks in her facade. I think it is catching up to her that she is a young girl, who rather than having a handsome young husband like her friends, she is stuck with a silly old man with more money than brains, and she has isolated herself from her peers, i.e, her brief interaction with Joan and the other secretarys and she doesn't fit in with Rogers set entirely. I know she tried to put Joan down by having her "send a girl down" to flag her driver, but you could tell she felt a bit uncomfortable, and the looks on some of the older women at the party towards her spoke volumes. It seems like we got to see lots of fissures in the extent of people's privilige, lots of power plays, and as always, lots of people trying to play a role that doesn't entirely reflect who they are or what they are, but who they THINK, they want to be, which can be very dangerous.
Just one small point, about the discussion on the Kennedy's. It is a common misconception that Joe Sr was a self made man entirely. Joe's mother was a self-made woman who saved her money from being a maid to WASPY types, opened her own store and made good money. Joe went to private schools, was driven to school by a driver and grew up relatively upper class. Now he took the ball and ran with it and made himself comfortably permantely rich and married well, and of course would be considered "noveau" rich but he wasn't quite the poor hard-scrabble type that people made him out to be.
As a buxom accordion player, I was absolutely thrilled to see this side of Joan. I was a 6-year-old in '62 when my dad asked my scrawny not-yet-buxom self if I wanted to play the accordion (as he did)… Thrilled to see the actress REALLY play the accordion, too! Terrific episode, with levels of 'performance and privilege'…just terrific!
The show can do or be whatever it wants and has no obligation to discuss race, but "a holistic embrace of everything privilege" doesn't really do that. Race =/= class, it's related but not the same. Directly addressing race would be a different thing than showing the bad attitudes of white people. Not that it's a bad thing to discuss class in America, which this episode does well, but I disagree that this solves the "Matt doesn't do or get race" problem. We still don't have any fully fleshed out black characters (or writers, probably).
Donny, I agree that this doesn't fully address race, but it's just one episode. I don't want a "very special" race episode. One of the problems that has been tossed around a lot is that there are few black people on the show, but there's a reason there are few black people, and that reason is the closed door of white privilege in the world of Sterling Cooper, and this episode addressed that forcefully. In addition, Carla was, I think, not at all a "Magical Negro" in this episode. She was angry and she was touchy and she was not going to let herself be fucked with. I appreciated that a lot.
I honestly don't know if it's enough. I'm white. I can make an effort to take off the blinders of white privilege, but it's not the same. I don't know if it's okay to show blackface, even in the context of showing it to be wrong. One way of taking off the blinders is in not assuming that I, as a white person, have the answer to that. We have many people of color reading and participating on this blog; I very much want to hear that perspective.
And there are 2 new writers in the past 2 weeks (Dahvi this week and Cathryn Humphris last week), so I can't say for certain that there are no people of color on the writing staff, but of the writers I'm familiar with on Mad Men, all are white.
Thank you Deborah and Roberta for such wonderful reviews. I learn something every time I read one – something I have missed on the episode and go back to think, that was it! I continue to watch this show each week and be completely moved. This is the only show that has had the depth to really make one think, unravel and link it all back to today. Just watching makes me want to have been in that time with the understated relationships. Sometimes I think everyone says way too much these days. I am sure catty gossip existed then, however there are some days I wish that people left a little to try to figure out instead of just being so out there. Loved this episode and it left me with a hope that maybe Don is appreciating Betty a little more. Isn't the true essence of what everyone wants is a good relationship? Whether it is between partners, parent and child, work colleagues, or friends? I do think Don has been looking and looking for any happiness and in the end did realize that Roger's (fake or real) was not for him. To many of us, Roger's apparent happiness just cannot seem as though it has any depth. What we all fail to realize is that every human has different levels of what is meaningful, that is why we all can't believe Roger's happiness is real. After reading most of these blogs, those who comment and watch Mad Men are thinkers and for thinkers, it is hard for us to believe there are many who are not. Roger is not a thinker……. We all learn and grow with time – isn't that why we always say, "if I had only known in my 20's what I know now"? Many never progress beyond 20 (Roger). On another note, I am so grateful to the show for "Peggy". She is the kind of women who paved the way for many of us today to be able to hold any kind of "power" in the workforce. Brilliant that she was the one who held the cards over the week-end at work and said in the end – "you guys can just leave". It still is not equal in 2009, but if not for women like her, we would be in a much different place.
Deb, I'm waiting for Hollis to be made a copywriter, but no, I don't want a "very special" anything. It should come seamlessly into the world created here. It just seemed like you were suggesting that this was some kind of departure for the show, and to me it dealt with race in the same oblique way it always has.
There are a couple of African American bloggers doing Mad Men, I'll see if I can find them again.
btw, let me say that other than that quibble, I loved this post.
Donny, we have an African American blogger right here at the Basket. And a Latina as well. I'm hoping they'll chime in.
Deborah, this analysis belongs in the New York Times. Such excellence. Thanks again for your insightful commentary.
Best review of last night I've read anywhere-thanks Deborah, and thank you for putting it up there last night when I was so..something about the show I couldn't go to bed. I kept thinking about it and snippets kept going through my head. Thank you Comcast–will definitely watch this one again.
A couple of observations in line with the themes of the episode:
Loved Don's line to Pete–"Don't hand out any business cards here." I started thinking about Don's background–he comes from NOTHING yet knows how to act in the melieu of privilege, and knows that Pete, who grew up in it, can be clumsy. How does Don do it? Was he the overeager callow young account exec once who got smacked down for too-obviously doing business at a social function, or did he learn from Betty..or from somebody else?
Will Connie turn out to be an important ally, or somebody who will steer a big account to S/C because of his encounter with Don?
I hope they are saving for Sally's therapy–yeesh. That is going to be one messed up teenager.
Where did Olive come from? Did I miss something? Is she going to be a pain in Peggy's butt or is she going to be an ally/mother figure and look out for Peggy in the office?
This was by far my favorite episode so far and wow–can't wait to see where Matt takes us this year.
Don is the classic chameleon; he has an ear for nuance that allows him to fit in within any group. Pete, otoh, fits in nowhere.
Unfortunately, Don's fitting in is all surface. Inside, he's still Dick Whitman; he's still wearing the donkey head and wondering if he'll be allowed to use the toilet.
We saw that Peggy was unhappy with her secretary, and we saw that she complained to Joan. We didn't see, but can assume, that Joan handled it by shuffling personnel.
Deborah, I'm Hispanic so clearly my perspective is going to be different – I can't speak to the representation and portrayal of black people on the show, obviously. But we haven't seen a whole lot of brown folk either, have we? I mean that honestly, I haven't rewatched seasons 1 and 2 in a really long time.
I actually dislike Trudy more every time I see her. To me, all of her cuteness and sweetness is simply an act (and this being MM, of course it would be). She's nothing but a social climber- a spoiled nouveau riche girl using Pete's pedigree to get into the Social Register. All of her sweet affectation is forced, and I'm sure that's not bad acting on Alison Brie's part.
Look how quick she was to bring up the idea that all her old beaus would surely be there (Pete seemed disgusted by it) and how quickly she cut off Jennifer, and commandeered Betty's attentions, making it clear that she and Betty were poor Jennifer's social superiors. Remember when she & Pete first got the apartment, how quickly she regaled the neighbors with stories of Pete's lineage? Let's make sure all the neighbors know she's married to a Dykeman.
I don't think there's a sincere bone in her body. Everything she does is calculated to improve her social standing.
Ok, enough about Trudy.
Did anyone else think that Betty begged off the dancing because she was protecting Don – she knew Don was not having a great time at this party, and she made a polite excuse for his benefit. (At first I thought maybe Don is not a good dancer, and she knows that, so doesn't want to embarrass him. But no – Don couldn't possibly be a bad dancer, could he?)
I wasn't sure how to read the scene at the end – the sentimental/romantic part of me desperately wants to believe that after seeing the drunken Jane and foolish Roger, Don realized how much he loved Betty, and seeing her there rekindled his old passion for her. But then on the other hand, I wondered if he was just trying on Roger's approach to happiness. Still not sure what I think about it. The fact that it was shot so far away rendered it ambiguous to me.
I really liked Peggy's sense of independence and modernism, but honestly, I thought some of her dialog seemed very forced, especially the last part with Olive. I loved the message- it just didn't ring true how she said it.
I KNEW Archie Whitman was from Pennsylvania! He looks and sounds just like my great-uncles.
I was wondering if Archie was killed on the farm back in Illinois (kicked in the head by a mule, right? I guess that could have been in a coal mine too though ) and then maybe Don moved to PA coal country with the new stepfather. Not sure…..
gypsy, the script for the Hobo Code (featuring Archie) indicated Pennsylvania, but that was never said on-screen.
Re Carla, I was wondering why she didn't confront Sally directly. I was pretty sure Carla knew it was Sally, and with so much on the line for Carla personally, she might have found a way to indicate to Sally she better come clean. Carla functions much like a mother to those kids and I'm pretty sure they would have been somewhat intimidated by her. I once knew a guy whose parents actually worked in advertising in the '60s and I heard a lot about his black nanny and how nothing got past her.
Re Don, from the way he made that Old Fashioned, I got the impression he worked his way up at the roadhouse or elsewhere and learned how to fit in with moneyed people through observing them close up.
My first thought about Olive was whether she was gonna rat Peggy out. Peggy is a bit overconfident and sort of clueless there and Mad Men loves to mess with overconfidence. I mean who did Peggy think she was talking to? She should know better than to assume that every woman out there would be rooting for her to pull herself up by her bootstraps.
Enjoying the discussion.
I don't think it's accurate to see Carla as angry – though she certainly has a right to be. Her situation is tenable as best throughout the entire $5 affair,a fact of which she is most acutely aware. The 'not yet' comment is her only opportunity to even broach the subject of her automatically assumed guilt – a risk I was both proud and afraid to see her take. But even after her obvious relief at the money being found,she is unable to scold Sally for the theft, or say anything further about the matter. Her comments to Grandpa aren't angry, but her holding on to what dignity she could have in spite of her job. I was on edge for her the entire time, and found that reaction far more disturbing and long-lasting than my disgust at Sterling's minstrelry.
#42 Gypsy–Don in fact is either not a good dancer or doesn't like to dance, hard as that may be to believe. We saw this on Season 2 , "Three Sundays" when he and Betty were at home getting soused on Sally's bloody marys, and Betty cajoles him into an awkward spin around the living room to the accompaniment of Perry Como.
Deb, let me just join in the chorus—this was a wonderful review, that really helped me put a lot of things into focus. Still a little "hung over" from staying up until midnight to watch it twice, but I hope I'll have something to add later to the already great comments. As always, we have a really sharp bunch of people here who add another dimension to the series.
@ # 13 LAbaby – I totally noticed that Pete didn't like Roger's act too. Excellent choice by the writers! It is easy to have the underprivileged guy (Don) disapprove but what was Pete thinking? I like how such a small look kept me wondering.
I didn’t feel that Joan was a performing Monkey with her accordion…rather than having chosen a polka or other similarly dated number, she rolled out what I thought was a striking performance piece. Contrast that with Roger’s cringe-worthy dated Minstrel act.
This one was really an interesting, full episode. Loved to see Don talking with “Connie,” telling a real story from Dick Whitman’s past.
I also felt that Betty really was stunning at the party. With all the mint juleps, hats, talk of seersucker suits, she appeared the most au courant….(hope I’m using that right). The dress and the light lipstick reminded me of photos of the expectant Sharon Tate from later in the decade. A beautiful, pregnant woman.
I was a little puzzled why Betty didn't immediately suspect or blame Bobby, given his past misbehavior. Perhaps the fact that they were headed for the party kept her from exploring the issue further.
Pete is much more aware of his surroundings than Roger, who is totally oblivious and self-absorbed, without much thought for how his actions affect other people, or what is going on among people around him. His affair with Joan; dumping Mona when their daughter is to be married; selling the company; his remarriage to Jane; the entire black-face affair are all proof of that.
As for the Kennedys, Rose Kennedy's father was Honey Fitz, the mayor of Boston. He felt she was marrying down, because Joe Kennedy was first generation wealth (his mother aside, the Kennedys were not rich until he accumulated his fortune). Neither one of them would have been given the time of day by the Cabots, Lowells, Sears, Gardiners and other old Boston families.
@ # 42 gypsy howell – I have the same reaction to Peggy's thread in My Old Kentucky Privilege. It was my least favorite moment even though I was happy for her.
As for Don, I read him as sincerely loving Betty and being messed up enough such that he will continue to have affairs despite his love for his wife.
Last, Trudy. Ah yes. She can be viewed as quite the villianess but at the same time, everyone was trying to play that game – Trudy is just good at it.
Because it’s so swept under the carpet by modern history, the widespread nature of this behavior back then surprises us. The University of Vermont had an elaborate blackface dance contest called “Kake Walk” that lasted until 1969…
Good morning. I loved the episode. There was Don’s hand in the grass again – hands and feet this season, yes? Did you catch the lyrics to Joan’s song? It was about marriage. I wonder where that story line is going?
Don and Betty’s kiss at the end was beautiful. Betty was gorgeous. She must have had those maternity clothes custom made – beautiful!
Interesting to see Roger’s wife Jane falter and become a bit of a pariah. Certainly with Joan, that “flag down my driver..” demand. I thought Joan will shoot daggers out of her eyes!
Sally is trouble with a capital T – love having Grandpa in the house. There’s a feeling of immininent danger there now.
Happy Monday!
Kim
I think black face is an incredibly racist and classist thing to perform, but it is so inextricably tied in with our cultural history that it's roots should not be ignored. I took the History of Dance in America in college and learned it is a very important, but terribly unnerving, part of our country's entertainment traditions. It began when Black slaves held parties that included dance contests in which the performers battled for a cake. The challengers worethe plantation owners' thrown-out finery and incorporated the steps of the whites' cotillion dances with the movements of their native African dances. These celebrations were accompanied by homemade banjos along with other instruments and songs from Africa and Christian gospel. Some academics suggest that the slaves were expressing their anger by caricaturing whites. At their own balls and celebrations, to make fun of their "staff," the slave owners painted their own faces black and sang, played instruments, and danced in the manner of the slave's performances. The black face routine was then adopted by traveling white entertainers, who brought it North, where it became wildly popular. (Even though tap dance also became part of black face routines, it evolved out of the rivalry between Northern inner-city Blacks and the immigrant Irish). To safely perform on vaudeville stages for white audiences, Black entertainers could only use the black face paint and routines in the beginning. From there it morphed into better things for American entertainment: tap, jazz, rock, rag time, the blues, etc. But the the privileged, like Roger, held onto American entertainment's roots, not willing to move on, instead staying mired in its bigoted, dangerous, past.
I am horrified by my mistakes. It should be its instead of it's and it should be wore the instead of worethe. Sorry.
Awesome article Deborah…. Can't wait till the next episode.
Joan singing….. Pete dancing
What an episode
#54 Susan M, you are spot on in talking about black face and its history in entertainment, and it certainly appeared in films well into the 1950s (correct me if I'm wrong, but I think there's a black face scene in White Christmas). But by the 1960s, it started to disappear in popular culture. There would certainly have been more guffawing and eye rolling at the party, even if people were secretly enjoying it.
I do remember seeing Aunt Jemima on her porch at Disneyland, however, well after this, so stereotypes did not disappear immediately.
gypsy howell wrote of Trudy:
I don't think that's entirely fair, at least as far as calculation goes. She is very much the product of her parents, who are very much on the climb. Arguably, Trudy often behaves as she does reflexively, based on her upbringing.
I also think that Trudy sincerely wanted to have a baby, without regard to social calculation (despite noting that Jennifer Crane and the girtl at the market were in "some sort of club"). I think that was the point — noted in the BoK interview with Brie — of Trudy's voice change during her fight with Pete about it. "I really want to have a baby" is about the only thing Trudy does not say in the "Trudy voice."
One defense of Trudy, she cut Jennifer off because she was talking about babies and as she and Pete haven't been able to conceive, I'm sure it is a conversation she'd rather not be a part of.
brenda,
I don't know about "White Christmas" (you could be right) but there is certainly a blackface scene in "Holiday Inn" — in which "White Christmas" first appeared.
I thought the Jennifer/Trudy stuff was the classic feud between the childless and parents. They each resent each other for different reasons.
Re Don, from the way he made that Old Fashioned, I got the impression he worked his way up at the roadhouse or elsewhere and learned how to fit in with moneyed people through observing them close up.
Ahhhh, yes. I think you must be exactly right. He sure seemed comfortable behind that bar, didn't he? (I also loved the leaping over – it betrayed his roots a bit, which I enjoyed.) Not that he lacks familiarity with making himself a drink, of course….
Might help explain a little bit where Don came upon his suave persona — something I've always wondered about. He couldn't have been a total rube when he met Betty, or else she wouldn't have looked twice at him, fur coat or no. And the timeline between being a used car salesman and when he met and married Betty wasn't all that long.
As for Don, I read him as sincerely loving Betty…
That's the way I want to read it.
And now, my cynical side takes over for the "what's the worst possible outcome I can think of for this episode" department:
Don & Betty rekindle their passion that night, have crazy rough sex on the lawn, and Betty loses the baby. Shades of Archie Whitman and the stillborn daughter.
OK, sorry to put that nasty thought in your minds, but I can't get it out of mine!
gypsy, you can't "lose" a baby at nine months from rough sex. Worst case scenario, orgasm will induce labor. In which case, the baby isn't even premature.
Isn't the baby due near the end of June? In which case May 4 would be 6 weeks premature.
Y'know, just like Jackie's baby a couple months later…
(Maybe I've got my timelines wrong, though.)
But really, I'm not arguing the point, because I don't think that's what actually is going to happen. Just letting my morbid "oh god, why can't anyone ever just be HAPPY on this show" side of me go wild.
Gypsy, you're right, I calculated her due date as June 28. However, she said "any minute" when asked, so I assumed she was speaking the truth.
One more little observation — is Smitty falling for Peggy?
I think Don ended up a little jealous of Roger. He saw that maybe Roger was really (momentarily) happy and wanted some of that — and, to me, that was the meaning of the embrace. Betty is beautiful and he loves her, but they aren't newlyweds.
Remember the Alan Alda movie Four Seasons? Three couples always vacation together. One of the couples splits up and suddenly the male portion of the couple is bringing his bikini-clad love interest on their vacations. They're snarky and bitter at hearing the couple making love at all hours of the night and spontaneously skinny dipping. Finally, one of the women cops to being a little jealous. It's not that the other two couples are even unhappily married, but they're past the tearing each other's clothes off stage — 'cept for them there special occasions.
It's easy to see Roger's comment about being publicly happy as misguided, because his marriage has all sorts of levels of inappropriateness, but there is a level at which he's right.
I agree with everyone that it was a great, fantastic episode. While blackface performances are horrifying to us now, it's something that was around for years as a popular, mainstream form of entertainment. Minstrelsy was a major contributor to the formation of American musical theater. I've been reading up on the topic of blackface since last night, as a matter of fact! Let me be clear: I'm glad its not around anymore, at least it's not around in an overt way (does anyone else cringe when Darrell Hammond "does" Jesse Jackson on SNL?). But because it's not around anymore, it's a topic that needs to be learned, to know the truth of our American cultural history.
That said, wasn't there some story about MM actresses being told not to lose weight? Doesn't Alison Brie look positively skeletal? I know she's on another show too, and she seems to be promoting her own brand as much as her character wants to social-climb. Not that I blame her for it. But it really shows a distinct difference between the unreal standards of today and the beauty of women's natural bodies from this earlier time period.
I'm so glad Carla speaks up for herself. Let's hope that means she's secure enough in her job that she is allowed to have an opinion (sorry, I'm currently addicted to the audiobook of "The Help.") I disagree that she knew it was Sally all along. I think it's much easier to assume that the senile old man is confused.
Debra, that's not quite right. It was around for years as a popular, mainstream form of entertainment for white people. It was never anything but offensive to black people.
Karl, I know there's one in Holiday Inn, and if I'm remembering right, there's a minstrel show in White Christmas, too, with tambourines and the like.
Ms. D., I remember four Seasons but I sincerely don't think this is jealousy. He's making a fool of himself. Frank Sinatra and Mia Farrow all over again.
Joan’s performance was lovely/charming in sharp contrast to Roger’s blackface…but what makes her the “mechanical monkey” IMO is that she was forced to perform by her husband. Her natural charm shines through (for now..), but the point is she didn’t have a choice.
However, she said “any minute†when asked, so I assumed she was speaking the truth.
Wishful thinking on the part of any woman who's coming up on 8 months pregnant! During that last month, time stands absolutely still.
Maybe MW put lots of foreboding signals into Betty's pregnancy so we in the audience will experience the same dread and fear about not having a healthy baby that any parent-to-be has lurking somewhere in the dark corners of the mind.
Ominous portents:
–Dick/Don's flashback of the stillborn daughter, caused by the reckless and destructive sexual urges of the husband
– Jackie K loses her baby after it's born 6 weeks premature in Aug 1963
–"She's not moving"
–"I just want everything to be perfect"
So, is the Charleston to the 60's what the "Electric Slide" is today?
LOVED the episode. So much going on and so beautiful to watch.
This seems to be Peggy's season as her character development is moving at warp speed in the past 2 episodes. She goes from randomly sampling a one night stand to smoking pot and single handedly handling the Bacardi creative, proclaiming she is "woman hear her roar"? Won't critique MW's timing because I'm willing to overlook the stretch for the brilliance of his storytelling, however, as an Irish Catholic, that Catholic guilt thing is deep seeded and I have to question that she's not feeling just a bit conflicted about all this gender emancipation.
I ache for Roger, who I love in spite of himself. (Or maybe it's just John Slattery) The future is not his and despite his own brief moment in the Lavender Haze, does anyone doubt for a moment that Jane will be sleeping around with at least one or two of the tennis pros at the club within the year?
Was a little nervous about Sally and Grandpa Gene, but I do like the bond between them and had to laugh at how she solved her problem — she got something from both her parents! And am glad to see Kiernan given so much more to do this year. I find her charming and real, unlike so many over rehearsed kid actors.
Joan is breaking my heart and suffice it to say that whatever happens to Greg, I want it to involve severe physical pain – inflicted on him.
Don and Betty are puzzling and tiring to me. For some strange reason, I really want them to work. But I'm not sure it's possible and I hate seeing them in this obligation limbo. Anvils are dropping like crazy that Betty is headed into a full blown affair one of these days and I doubt that's something Don could ever forgive her for. Hypocritical or not. The epiphany Don had with Anna appears to have been meaningless to their story because they're back to where they've always been only seeing the image of each other. I too thought Don kissed her sincerely at the end of the show and was more optimistic about where they were going until I watched "Inside the episode" and MW said they were both kissing someone else in their minds. Doesn't bode well and I'd hate to see Betty end up like Joan Kennedy.
Jobu needs a refill.
—Chelsie Ross in 'Major League'
Oh, he's making an utter fool of himself, as I called it "all sorts of levels of inappropriateness," and I don't think Don is looking to play the part of the ass from Midsummer Night's Dream, ahem, but the feeling of being in blind, romantic love is pretty addictive and we saw Don once felt that way about Betty.
Roger may be happy in his marriage (after all, he's having sex with a 20 year-old!)
But Jane looks lonely and lost (her snobbism laid on top of an otherwise emptyness.)
She has no friends left from the secretarial pool (who were politely vicious during her return trip, even before Jane pulled rank), the women at the party also standoffish and disapproving.
No wonder Jane's losing weight, she's not eating (anorexic, before the term made popular?)
Back in 1968, one of my friends reacted to her mother's new marriage by declaring she was "fat" (at 98 pounds), nothing her friends said made a difference and her refusal to eat (which had no name then) resulted in longer and longer absenteeism from school for a former A student.
Jane isn't eating, she's drinking, and except for Roger (at work all day) she's alone.
Could be her anorexia is a stab at some sort of control, even if it's only over her own body.
@ Susan M #54
Fascinating capsule history of blackface. I didn't know that, like so much else in American popular music, it involved the endless entangling and reflecting back to each other of black and white.
@ Debra #67
I’m so glad Carla speaks up for herself. Let’s hope that means she’s secure enough in her job that she is allowed to have an opinion (sorry, I’m currently addicted to the audiobook of “The Help.â€) I disagree that she knew it was Sally all along. I think it’s much easier to assume that the senile old man is confused.
I felt as if Carla did the best she could in a potentially precarious position. She's worked for the Drapers long enough to know what's good and bad about them, and must think they're decent enough people that she hasn't looked for other work (though it would be interesting to hear what she says about them when she goes home to her own family. Was she there the day Betty shotgunned the birds?) But she also knows that Gene, senile old man or not, is still family, and she's just the help. Her word wouldn't count much against his.
Wow, this is clearly the place to drop in for the morning-after analysis — if I weren't catching the show on iTunes, I'd be here late Sunday nights too. Deborah, what a perceptive summary. So much more in the followup conversation, and an education about the Kennedys and the history of blackface to boot. Love it.
Thankfully this is no place to be apologetic about getting lit-critty, and although I try to avoid the buzzwords when possible, I can't help but see a lot in this episode of people performing themselves. Or, maybe, performing their past selves, in a place where it's yet to be determined what that past means. Joan, whose bravura va-va-voominess suddenly seems just slightly out of sync her new social circle, resisted playing for her husband and guests only as much as was proper (the eyes betrayed how much she didn't want to do this, but there it was, once it had been brought up she was going to have to do it) — and she knocks everyone's socks off with this kitschy delightful thing. The kissy noises! Wow. If she was going to do this, she was going to do it up right, and yes it was clear how her husband (having just been taken down in front of her) is still in awe of her. I love it when they let actors really act, with their eyes, their breathing, micro-timing and the smallest involuntary-looking gestures, and this scene was masterful for that. (The whole episode was, really.) So … how bad was her husband's little surgical slip? He still has a job, but is this as high as he's going to climb now? If the everything-going-to-turn-out-fine is really going to have to depend on being a-woman-like-Joan … what happens next? Guess she won't be leaving SC behind anytime soon, after all. Things are going to get pretty interesting in that apartment.
Kinsey sings for his supper, uncomfortably but insistently performing his past, with his Princeton-55 buddy (interesting little relationship there, you think mr. '55 is bitter about *not* being the one on scholarship, but *not* being the one with a real job?) Pete and Trudy are a joy to watch, and Don's little slide over the bar felt like he was reliving one of the things he liked about his roadhouse days.
one more aside, what do you think Jane is hooked on? You don't "keep losing weight" from drinking, and mr. Princeton-55 helpfully reminded us that a number of options were available.
“Inside the episode†and MW said they were both kissing someone else in their minds.
I just watched that, and now I'm puzzled too. I can kind of get who Betty might be "kissing" (Henry Francis, if I have the name right) but oddly enough to say, at this point, I'm not sure who else Don would be kissing besides Betty.
Unless I'm really missing something…
I don't think he pines for Midge. If he's still yearning for Rachel, he sure hasn't shown any sign of it lately. He never cared about Joy. He hates Bobbi now. And I know it ain't Jane!
"The Betty he once thought he knew" is the best I can come up with.
Still… not very satisfying.
Watched last night's episode through both times.
Actually, I like Trudy MORE the more I see her. I like Roger less.
A bit of a peeve: "I'm in a very good place" would not likely have been a common pop-psych phrase in 1963, since pop psych itself was not really established then, so having Peggy say that clanks a bit.
I liked the interlude between Don and the old guy at the bar in the club, but didn't see why they used it. It was almost as if they got enough people demanding more about Dick Whitman that they felt like they have to toss a bone every episode.
Jane is getting younger and more scared all the time. I liked the Holly Golightly outfit at the office, though.
I am curious who dubbed Joan's singing voice. I would have to go back and look again, but I am fairly sure she is also not playing the squeezebox.
@Judybrowni, I'm seeing what you're seeing with Jane, just missed your post when I was typing mine. Maybe it's diet pills for her? Did you see how, when she was walking away from Joan in the office, that fantastic b/w harlequin print dress just hung on the hips? They really do advance the story with wardrobe … She seems to be doing her best to be happy and make the most of her new position, now that no one on either side (secretarial or social club) sees her as one of their own.
@Turtle, add Kinsey's "Yeah … no … " (before pulling out Princeton '55's number) to Peggy's "very good place". I hate it when they do that.
Great, great review, Deborah!
Someone may already have mentioned this and I missed it, but I noticed that there seemed to be some foreshadowing of the social changes that are coming. Gene is having Sally read from "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire." (What grade is Sally in by the way?) Gene then greets Don with the question, "How's Babylon?" and then tells Sally: "Just wait, all hell's gonna break loose!"
Finally, Peggy wakes up from a nap like Sleeping Beauty and proclaims: "I'm Peggy Olson and I want to smoke some marijuana!" If that's not a sign of the world turning upside down, I don't know what is!
@Gypsy, if Don is kissing someone else in his mind, I'm guessing she's someone he once watched dance with bare feet, someone with dark hair. Not the dance teacher, but someone the dance teacher reminded him of . I'm thinking that this season we're going to find out about someone who was very special to Dick Whitman.
Zatopa – jeez, how could I have forgotten about her? Maybe you're right – someone from the past, or someone he wishes he knew.
I find that this is a show I have to watch over and over again, because so many of the little clues are dropped in completely out of context in one episode, and then it's only in later episodes that I get that little flash of "OK! Now I get what that means!"
"Maybe it’s diet pills for her? Did you see how, when she was walking away from Joan in the office, that fantastic b/w harlequin print dress just hung on the hips?"
Everyone knew what "diet pills" were for, but Jane says she doesn't know why she's losing weight.
(Jane says she had to have her rings sized, and yes, that dress hangs on her in a period when clothes were tightly fitted for women.)
Jane admits she hadn't eaten anything at the party.
The term "anorexic" hits popular culture decades later, but I have no doubt it existed for women through the ages (just read a novel set in 19th century China, based on a wave of young girls starving themselves to death in that period, as the only means of having some control over their lives and bodies.)
I love reading all these observations. I just seem to enjoy the show and then after reading the blogs, appreciate even more the depth of the show. I was amused by the "blackface" and rather surprised. Just about 4 years ago some friends were in a lipsync show with me and dressed as Gladys Knight and the Pips. I was the director of the show and could have forbidden this, but allowed them to embarrass themselves. I got no negative feedback on the number from any of our all white audience. The church we attend is known for its outreach to the black community even in the 60's, but we have virtually no black members. It seems that voluntary segregation is now the way of life. Should we be horrified by the hip hop rap or are we so deep in white guilt that we validate this? That is so much more offensive to all people than a minstrel show. Sorry to be un pc
If it hadn't been for the mention of Roger getting her rings resized, I would probably have thought Jane was just trying to make Joan feel dowdy with the statement about weight.
Which doctor made the "code pink" remark? That is really creepy. I guess we forget that these doc's are just men after all. Is this a real thing that occurs or occurred?
Melissa, I think your thought about making Joan feel bad was true. Jackie Kennedy body image was fast over whelming the MM curves.
I found it interesting how Trudy and Betty immediately gravitated toward each other and that they both talked about going to "the club" growing up. Poor Mrs. Crane was left out in the cold, but I got a major hint of social ambition from her…she wants to be there and be seen.
As for Don, I think he made a stupid move in the end with Roger…and he knew it the moment Roger dismissed him as a future guest. I think Don does care about stuff like that even if he's uncomfortable there.
Our Don is jealous.
I'm Hispanic as well Nomie.
It's true, I don't remember seeing any Hispanics on the show so far but then I wouldn't want it blatantly advertised as "here is a Hispanic character." It upsets me more when the media only uses those who fit a certain mold, ie. bronze colored skin, to represent someone of Hispanic origin.
But back to the episode, Jane is definately withering away. I almost feel sorry for her, but can't make that leap. Ken definately needs to find himself a special someone, even if it only lasts for a while. "Expectations of a working man at a certain level" arise. And Hildy. Hildy is MIA.
Another horrifying result of "black face" entertainment: to become "popular" entertainers (read: to more moneyed, white audiences) blacks themselves were forced to don blackface and play the stereotypes developed by white performers, right up through the early 20th century:
"By 1840, African-American performers also were performing in blackface makeup. Frederick …Douglass generally abhorred blackface and was one of the first people to write against the institution of blackface minstrelsy, condemning it as racist in nature, with inauthentic, northern, white origins.[48]"
However: "From the mid-1870s, as white blackface minstrelsy became increasingly lavish and moved away from "Negro subjects", black troupes took the opposite tack.[55]" becoming within the stereotypes more true to actual black culture, to some extent.
However, make no mistake that black black face was still straightjacketed into the negative stereotypes developed by whites into the second half of the twentieth century: for instance, the Amos and Andy TV shows from the early 1950s in which blacks are playing the parts of blacks, originally written and performed by whites in radio.
Geez did I really hear one of the characters say "a n*gg*r-ectomy" on this clip?!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9tY1wNZplc
If you haven't seen the movie Bamboozled, it's interesting. I didn't really like it, it tried to address blackface and stereotypes and it felt jumbled to me, and not a good movie, but if you want to see the issue addressed, it's pretty freakin bold.
Nope, didn't see Bamboozled, but I've read about it.
Lived through an era when blackface was still being perpetrated in popular culture, so I guess I didn't want to live through that again.
But maybe I'll take a look the next time it's on cable.
Don't know if it's mentioned here or elsewhere yet, but an additional bit of resonance re the racial themes of this episode was Don listening to the radio report at home about civil rights demonstrations in Alabama, which had been in full bloom in May 1963. At least, I think that's what the radio report was about, as it was hard to hear.
JudyBrownl, he might NOT be having much sex with Jane. Although there was a scene where we saw them in bed, remember he told the call girl that he'd had two coronaries and not to expect much. It could be that Roger can't perform, and Jane as a red-blooded young woman, is frustrated by that.
Zatopa, your description fits Rachel to a "t". I think he will always pine for her.
@gypsy: Betty wants to kiss Mr. Tummy Toucher.
You may be right about Roger and his coronaries — from what I've read, men with coronaries were often warned by their doctors that size could trigger an attack.
Although I can't imagine Roger giving up sex for even that reason, there's no doubt his sex drive wouldn't be comparable to a guy Jane's age — pre-Viagra.
I meant men in that era were warned against sex after coronaries by their doctors.
It's interesting that January Jones is filmed a few times in 1/4 profile and her face is slightly obscured, so Betty's bump and her lovely updo are highlighted in that stunning dress. She is as beautiful as she's ever been in the series. Don sees her at the end this way, as does the new guy. I think the idea of a lovely, desirable woman/mother is who Don is compelled to kiss (and the new guy must touch), not another woman, or Betty herself. The best parts of their relationship seem to be comprised of moments, here and there, that inspire them to keep going.
As a black woman, the blackface didn't bug me (after uttering, "Oh HELL no!" initially) as it was a part of the casual sort of racism that existed at that time in addition to the more virulent type. I was very unnerved at the Carla storyline, thinking it would end with her being sacked for Sally's careless act, also a common practice. I think Sally was not ratted out because of a combination of love for her by Gene & Carla, but also because G&C realize they would be rocking the boat with negative consequences.
I don't really worry about Joan and her loser husband. She is a consummate manager and will make the homefront run smoothly as she did the office. She went into that marriage with her eyes open – she is no victim. The older dr's wife realized this with her remark of Greg working out eventually, due to 'the woman behind the man'.
Jane, obviously has bitten off more than she can chew at her tender age. While wily & manipulative, she's going through a high society learning curve that might eat her up, or, she might recover & deal with it just fine. Very few of the key MM characters get their true comeuppance (except for Duck, who overplayed his hand). She's no slouch, as she did get the best of Joan, who was gunning for her. She just needs to find a social ally or two. It's just too early to tell. Last night's message was the grass is not greener on the other side for all but Roger, who thinks he already has it all.
What what about Peggy's poor secretary. Olive is clearly not sure of her future or place in life.
The coffee thing showed a secretary that was too eager to please. "I'll drink whatever you leave behind…" eeooo….
And on Saturday, her kids are grown, her husbands out for the day.
What is she to do?
Her boss is working that day… she needs her (which she and which her is an issue of debate).
We were first told when Mad Men started (Joan to Peggy) that that people in offices either want their secretary to be a waitress or a mother. Olive takes that literally. Not good.
I get the feeling that asside from secretary work, her hubby and her kids she has nothing.
Stoned-Peggy was right, she's afraid.
Olive is afraid, but FOR Peggy.
Peggy is ignoring the rules Olive's generation was stuck with, Olive is afrai for Peggy.
But Peggy has decided she's going to write the rules herself: we now call that Second Wave Feminism.
Actually, re: Joan and her crappy husband, wasn't the comment in the kitchen from the wife of the surgical chief somewhat telling? She said something like (and I'm paraphrasing this very loosely), "If Greg can catch a woman like you, maybe there is hope for him." In retrospect, this suggests to me that his little slip-up in the OR wasn't so little.
Roberta, I am an African-American, and I think that this episode was a good turning point. I generally agree with you that on this show, blacks have been conspicious by our absence and peripheral nature. As soon as I saw Roger in blackface and the $5 issue I thought "wow, be careful what you wish for," towards the Af-Am blogs I read that have discussed Mad Men. That floored me. I had to rewind it (thank goodness for the DVR). I could be wrong, but I suspect that in keeping with the coming changes we will surely witness in the future of the show, and the "Decline and Fall" we see forshadowed, the race issue will come up more and more. I doubt it will be a main motiff but it will come up again and be handled. Who knows, maybe they will bring Paul's ex-girlfriend back. I was disappointed that she went so quickly, but as much of poseur (to use today's terminology) as he is, and his pompous condescending behavior on the Freedom Ride, I was not too suprised she dumped him.
There is a lot of dialouge in general among African-Americans blogs that follow the media (check out Racialicious, which discusses Mad Men among other shows) on the issue of blacks declining presence on many tv shows, and of the disappearance or non-apperance of many minorities in the media, but I think Mad Men is a bit different. Although this is a problem, on other shows or movies (for instance Avatar which in its original cartoon featured character of various Asian ethnic groups but now that a movie is coming out has nearly all white characters) because Mad Men is very specifically showing a certain time and place, for most of these people blacks are just maids, or elevator operators, etc. I think we may see at some point, a black client, or secretary, or copywriter or something as the years go by and that will open it up more, but I think they wanted the mis en scene accurately drawn first and then the changes in the greater society will (hopefully) be better articulated.
Thanks again for this wonderful review and excellent site.
Dark Peggy, thank you for your comments. Normally I spell my name "Deborah" and reserve "Roberta" for my sister.
I sometimes read Racialicious but any time you want to email us a link on a particularly interesting Mad Men topic you see on a blog, feel free.
Oh and one more thing, about Peggy's disappearing secretary, didn't she also mention that she was engaged and leaving soon? Of course it is plausible that Joan did a desk shuffle too.
Why should Olive be afraid for Peggy? Olive is supposed to look out for Peggy as a good secretary should, I don't think she's worried about advancing feminism. That "I'm going to get to do everything you want for me" thing was cringe-worthy, because that is so not what Olive meant. Olive just doesn't want her boss to get in trouble because it would reflect badly on her (Olive). (I think Peggy was projecting her own mom at that point.)
The other question I had was were secretaries on salary in the '60s? Because ordinarily you can't just decide to come in on the weekend without prior approval of overtime.
saber2185 @92, cool.
And yeah, I agree that TV often uses a very specific set of characteristics to signal "Hispanic" or "Latin@". I wonder what it would look like if someone did pop up on the show – hell, my grandfather was a lawyer in Manhattan at that point in time, it could even be someone like him.
Isn’t the baby due near the end of June? In which case May 4 would be 6 weeks premature.
How far gone was Betty when she discovered that she was pregnant during the Cuban Missile Crisis? And that would be between mid and late October 1962.
Roger in blackface is basically a continuation of Roger's "who cares" comment when Don asked "what do women want" back in the first season. He has no interest in really understanding people he doe not identify with, and he likes to keep those he does identify with in an exclusive set. He is first out of step with the bussiness.
Also Betty found out about her pregnancy about three weeks in, as that was the time between "pretending" with Don and his return from California.
I have an instant love for the Peggy/Olive relationship. Sometimes isn't it great to have people you feel like are family but with less emotional baggage. Olive was afraid for Peggy as she saw Peggy's behavior as a transgression, the type that would always be punished by the Hayes Code. (She might also think that Peggy will only be happy if she finds a nice guy to settle with, and is thinking that guys dont settle with girls who do that…)
@ Rosie #109
How far gone was Betty when she discovered that she was pregnant during the Cuban Missile Crisis? And that would be between mid and late October 1962.
According to the calculations of one or both of Our Genial Hostesses, the baby could only have been conceived during Don and Betty's trip to Philadelphia (Episode 10, Season 2, "The Inheritance"), which was determined to have happened approximately September 20, 1962. Betty is told she's pregnant on October 22, 1962 (Episode 13, "Meditations in an Emergency"). That means she's due in late June, 1963.
I haven't seen it posted here yet, the "Connie" that Don met at the bar was Conrad Hilton.
It’s been mentioned in the open thread, Melissa, and has already been added to the S3 Cultural References page.
Well, I hate to argue with the creator of one of my favorite websites, but since I have two points to make…
1. In the context of 19th- and early 20th-century America, calling something "mainstream" is of course "White mainstream." there wsn't any other kind of "mainstream."
2. At least according to wikipedia (grain of salt, I know), minstrelsy in blackface by black performers actually could have black audiences:
These black performers became stars within the broad African-American community, but were largely ignored or condemned by the black bourgeoisie. James Monroe Trotter—a middle class African American who had contempt for their "disgusting caricaturing" but admired their "highly musical culture"—wrote in 1882 that "few… who condemned black minstrels for giving 'aid and comfort to the enemy'" had ever seen them perform.[60] Unlike white audiences, black audiences presumably always recognized blackface performance as caricature, and took pleasure in seeing their own culture observed and reflected, much as they would half a century later in the performances of Moms Mabley.[61]
Please know I'm not defending anything about minstrelsy. I'm curious about it as an academic topic; it's one of many ugly truths about American culture.
I WORKED WITH AN OLDER LADY IN THE 1980'S AND AT FIRST SHE REALLY DISLIKED ME BECAUSE I WAS HIRED AT A HIGHER SALARY. SHE SOON FOUND OUT THAT I WAS A GOOD FRIEND TO HER. THE COMPANY USED TO GIVE HER A 5CENT PER HOUR RAISE. HOW DO WE KNOW THAT CONNIE WAS CONRAD HILTON?
Frosty, if you don't learn to use your shift key, I will delete your comments.
Oh, thanks for pointing that out, Deborah. This is my first season visiting your site and I didn't realize there were three (or more?) threads for every episode. I thought the "open thread" looked like a "live blog" and didn't realize discussion continued at the end, because I never looked that far down. Now I'll know to look there, and the Cultural References page will be my favorite. That helps a lot! I'll figure it out eventually!
WERE MINSTRELS MEAN SPIRITED? I THOUGHT THEY WERE JUST SILLY ENTERTAINMENT AND ACTUALLY ENJOYED THEM BEFORE I FOUND OUT THAT PEOPLE WERE HURT BY THEM.
Great review and comments. I’m late to the party – just watched My Old Kentucky Home on the second run.
MM continues to shock. I was floored by the blackface scene more than anything I can remember on MM. I’ve seen it in old B&W movies and such but this really hit me viscerally. I think because it was so up close and the disturbing but genuine reaction of amusement of the audience (save Don).
My wife and I like to talk about the episodes and she usually has the better observations. She picked up right away on five performances. Roger, Kinsey, Pete and Trudy, Joan and the “performance†of Gene and Sally. In a Midsummer Night’s Dream Bottom is the fool wearing an ass’s head and Roger (who usually pays Puck) fills the fool’s role in Kentucky Home.
We do indeed have a series of performances and it got me thinking as to why each is performing. Some want to perform – Roger as well Pete and Trudy want to perform though only Roger ends up the fool. Others find it helpful to perform – in the name of smoothing over a problem. This would be Kinsey as well as the Gene-Sally “performance†(which to me was definitely a performance.)
The only one compelled to perform is Joan. Joan has been compelled to perform before and from the look in her eyes she has about had enough – I certainly hope so. Did others catch how the woman in gold not only takes Joan’s side but seems to have more information about nasty Greg?
And what about Betty too knows that “it’s something you can turn on and off.†Betty can perform too and seems to be well aware of that – regardless of her condition!
In MM time we are not at midsummer yet but the “grass†and the night air seem to be bringing out some inspiration! For now Don is the one acting with reason.
Finally I loved Connie(?) he’s “old fashioned” and I hope he makes a return.
Some people commented WAY earlier on, about the fact that Betty didn’t wear a hat. As soon as I realized they were going to a KY Derby party, (as a Kentuckian) I was shocked Betty didn’t wear a hat. She always seems so put-together and accessorized. It didn’t seem to strike her at all that she didn’t have on a hat. I’ll admit she did look great & mod with her hair & makeup and I can’t imagine any hat looking good with her outfit.
Maybe she was just so excited and looking forward to getting to actually GO somewhere where she could look beautiful, and receive compliments. She didn’t want compliments on her hat. She wanted compliments on her beauty. I would imagine, being nearly 9 months pregnant, and a housewife, she’s not attending too many social functions where she can go all out with her appearance.
I think that Betty did the Grace Kelly simplicity thing, because all the frills would have made her feel like a house. I also suspect there was some sort of Madonna thing at work — the wholesome glow of motherhood, etc.
While Betty looked stunning, there was something about that dress that matched the belly in proclaiming her out of circulation. Which makes the guy’s clearly erotic interest in her all the more interesting.
It”s interesting the contrast between Don’s “Maypole” fantasy – the natural loose flowing hair (so Midsummer’s Night Dream like!) of the lovely brunette, and Betty’s increasingly severe hairstyles. Could she pull and lacquer those tresses any tighter to her head? The white dress was so lovely and virginal, but the hair was expressive of her increasingly brittle, controlled and repressed personality.
Yes, it definitely reflected the style of the mid sixties, but there were lots of hair styles in that time period, and Betty has chosen the most severe.
You know how I know that Don loves Betty? Because a man’s man like Don won’t carry a pink purse for just any woman . . . only for the woman he loves.
Could she pull and lacquer those tresses any tighter to her head? The white dress was so lovely and virginal, but the hair was expressive of her increasingly brittle, controlled and repressed personality.
But these tight hairstyles have only been recent. Betty didn’t always wear her hair in that manner. Could it be that she’s feeling increasingly brittle and repressed since the pregnancy? I’ve noticed that ever since the pregnancy, she has regressed to her former self.
I think she had made a mistake in deciding to keep the baby and take Don back.
Whoops. Sorry for confusing your name with your sister’s, Deborah. You are both so wonderful and intelligent it is easy to mix you up!
@Robin D. (#128): A black-face number was done by Bing Crosby in Holiday Inn, for the "Lincoln's Birthday" holiday.
They didn't black up for the minstrel show number in "White Christmas," but if it had been made a decade earlier, I wonder if they might have.
The Black & White Minstrel Show ran on British television until 1978.
Conrad Nicholson Hilton was born in San Antonio, New Mexico. Probably the only wealthy “Connie” from that town at that time, I’m thinking.
I love that the show can address such complex social issues from so many angles. Gender, race, social class, wealth, and various combinations thereof are still a minefield of privilege today. Seeing them in such a blatant manner has sparked such great discussions here.
@Brenda (#57 & 68): I don’t recall there being blackface in White Christmas. There’s definitely some mime makeup (sort of a photo negative of blackface) in the ‘Choreography’ number, which might be what you’re thinking of. And there are tambourines in the ‘Mandy’ number. I haven’t seen that movie in a few years, so I can’t recall whether the performances in that section were intended to evoke a minstrel show or not.
@Donny Brook (#107): “…”I’m going to get to do everything you want for me†thing was cringe-worthy, because that is so not what Olive meant. Olive just doesn’t want her boss to get in trouble because it would reflect badly on her (Olive). (I think Peggy was projecting her own mom at that point.)”
That was my thought too. But we have to remember that in that scene our Peggy is “so high right now”. And here’s yet another older woman she perceives as trying to squish her into their antiquated mold of what a woman is supposed to be and do (and not do). Just like Joan and her mother and her sister. The dialogue itself may be didactic and clunky, but I think Peggy truly is having something of a moment of clarity.
I have to say I'm really surprised by the total support of Carla's behavior by all the commenters. I usually love her character (she got a tear out of me with that "things are right where you left them" line), but in this episode I thought she was really contemptuous of and impatient with Gene, which made me sad. People with dementia are hard to live with; they are like small children, and it's hard to be patient with an adult you think should know better. But it still bummed me out to see her indeed treating him impatiently and yes, like a kid. I also put the "Do you know Viola?" down to him being confused, not meaning to insult her, and again, her reply was snappish and impatient.
Jane seems very sad. I imagine she's quite lonely. But there are other young trophy wives out there, perhaps she will find them.
Joan's song charmed the heck out of me. Oh my. The way she stands is so confident and graceful, her neck is just like a swan's.
I agree that Olive isn't afraid for Peggy, she's afraid for herself. That line is interesting: "I'll drink what you leave behind." Is that what she's planning to do? Hitch her wagon to Peggy's star and hoover up her crumbs? Peggy is so mightily awesome; last week getting laid with no shame and this week getting happily high. Love that the show didn't overplay the pot scenes; I felt the Midge pot scene was a little overdone, and this time they did it perfectly. Peggy really used it to unlock her creativity, well done, Peggy!
@Joyce (#131): "I have to say I’m really surprised by the total support of Carla’s behavior by all the commenters."
As someone who has dealt with three grandparents suffering from dementia, I can sympathize with Carla's treatment of Gene, especially since "those things" just weren't spoken of back then. It is very frustrating to see the people who we expect to be the wise elders of the clan become confused and child-like (and often even childish). And as if that weren't bad enough, she knows that his deteriorating mind could jeopardize her job. Is her behavior right? Well, no, not really. But it's perfectly understandable.
Carla doesn't have our third-person, twenty-first-century perspective. She has to react with what she knows and feels. In keeping with the thread of privilege, she has very little. She's a black female servant. Sure, she has a history with the family, but she's not actually a part of it. If it comes down to a confrontation between her and Gene, she cannot win (except maybe with the children, but it's Betty's decision, not theirs).
I like the fact that Carla is snappish. It makes her feel real. She's frustrated and a little scared and she lashes out. Who wouldn't in that situation? The beauty of all the characters in Mad Men is that they are so flawed.
Like Robin, I totally understand Carla's snappishness while not necessarily applauding it. She's had a third "child" thrust upon her with no warning (and a fourth on the way), and I doubt she's getting a commensurate pay raise for her troubles. And this extra responsibility is one who can, and does, give her a lot more grief than Bobby and Sally.
Personally, I don't think Gene meant "Do you know Viola?" as "All black people know each other," although it was 100% reasonable for Carla to assume he did. I think he got confused and thought he was back home with Viola, and if it wasn't Viola, well, then, it must be some friend of hers filling in for the day.
Carla getting snappish starts to break the magical negro wall. It humanizes her. I like.
Robin and Melissa, I totally get what you're saying and indeed, I'd thought about the fact that no one ASKED Carla if it was OK if Gene moved in. It could have happened offscreen but knowing Betty and Don, I doubt it. And yes, adults with dementia are difficult…but I felt that Carla was pre-emptorily cranky with him, which doesn't help him or her! But yes, agree, the flawed-ness of MM characters is what makes me so fascinating, they lie, they're ugly to each other, etc. etc. Maybe this is a sign that Carla will be more of a front-and-center character; Betty is pregnant, it seems fairly obvious that the Draper's home life will continue to be spotlighted, maybe Carla will grow in importance. I'd love to see Betty take more ownership of her mother role and maybe there's conflict between Carla and Betty, as there often is between parents and professional child-caretakers. I think Carla is a very interesting character and would absolutely love if the camera followed her home. She looks to be in her late 30s, early 40s…does she have children at home herself?
I thought it was a sign that Carla really is fairly well integrated into the family (so to speak). She spoke to Gene like a family member not a servant, even though of course she also feared taking the blame for the theft. I thought the dinner table scene showed that it was Carla who ran the household, at least when Betty wasn't around, and she wasn't going to let Gene act out.
I'm definitely no fan of the magical negro. This show brings up so many issues, there are so many shades of gray. Oh show! I love you.
Yes show, you are great. DIVINE!
Anyway, I'm wondering what will become of Peggy's stoned inspirations about bacardi.
Is she going to invent "Bacardi Feeeeeeling"?
I guess not, but I'm sure she's gonna nail it and satisfy the client and again climb a little higher in the SC hierarchy.
(Well of course I'm not sure but I sure hope so)
And what do you guys think of the idea of Peggy and Joan someday (not this season obviously) working together?
I thought about that a lot and i think it would a) be very cool and interesting and b) not completely impossible considering the mutual respect between Peggy and Joan…
Oh I don't know!
(Ps: sorry, bad english)
With the exception of the clothesline hammock, the ideas they were coming up with sober were a lot better than the ones they came up with under the influence!
Did anyone happen to notice that the end credits mentioned a Mental Health Counselor? I think that Matt knew the blackface scene would be very stressful for the actors, writers and support crew.
The Brits paid for counseling for the secretarial pool after Burt Whatshisname was fired and flipped out.
[...] Basket of Kisses | My Old Kentucky Privilege The entire episode is a sorting hat of who has more power than whom. Some people go to parties wearing enormous summer hats, some people spend the weekend at the office. Don and Betty go to the party, old people, children, and black servants stay home. Carla has every reason to tell Gene he hasn’t accused her “yet;†she knows all about who’s at the bottom of the pecking order. Knowing she could lose her job over this is a moment-by-moment correspondence with Roger’s blackface; Gene may be a demented white man who doesn’t know what year it is, but he’s a white man, and her blackface doesn’t wash off. (tags: class race madmen) [...]
thanks for this perfect discussion & description of existing interrogation. You've turned it out better than any talks I've seen. Also thanks for citing my text on it. Your's takes it way higher.