We already discussed Don’s relationship with Connie Hilton being that of a son and father. And certainly the father/son issues of Wee Small Hours have escaped exactly no one’s perception.
I love how, on the “Inside Mad Men” video on AMC’s site, Matt Weiner says that Don really means it when he thanks Connie. As if we couldn’t tell. Dude, the guy teared up. Jon Hamm was amazing in that scene, and there could be no doubt in the audience that Draper was moved to his core, moved in a way he perhaps had never been before.
And Hamm was equally brilliant when being rejected by Connie. “What do you want, love?” “YES!” Don’s floundering, his longing to have pleased, is so adolescent, so innocent, that it breaks the heart. He performed for Connie in a way he never could for Archie. I imagine he tried, in many, similar ways, for Archie (well, without the art department’s help) when he was a kid. I imagine his continuing need to please an unavailable father fueled his drive to succeed, his creativity, even his charm. But Archie, as we saw in Seven Twenty Three, would never be pleased by Don, and somewhere Don believed he’d given up. Until Connie.
But what I want to talk about is what happened in between the two important interactions in this episode between the son and his surrogate father.
Don fired Sal.
A Basketcase pointed out in comments that Don would not have fired Sal before having signed a contract. Good insight, but it got me thinking. I’m sure that Don takes the contract seriously (people who don’t take them seriously don’t refuse to sign them), but is that really the motivation for what he did? He had the MSG option”MSG wanted Paul off the account; Don told them Paul was off, kept him on and told him to keep a low profile. He could have done the same for Sal: Lee Garner wasn’t exactly going to be checking the Sterling Cooper payroll.
Here’s what I see: Don is told that he’s an “angel,” and that what Connie values is “goodness.” Mind you, Connie said the campaign should have goodness, but he also wants Don reading the Bible; surely “angel” is another religious reference.
I believe that Don fired Sal to please Connie. Don fired Sal to be “good.” Don, like most people in 1963 (and many people today), probably like Sal, believes homosexuality is sinful and wrong. He is willing to look the other way, he is willing to allow that people, that he, that Sal, that Roger, that all of them, do bad things, until suddenly he has a loving father telling him that goodness matters.
Roberta and I were discussing the religion of the characters. I have never forgotten that Don gave the “Jesus” speech to Belle Jolie. Don may not be religious, but he speaks the language of belief, and I’d bet you anything that if he filled out a form asking for his religion, he wouldn’t say “none.” He has a casual, uninvolved religion, but it’s rooted in his childhood, and it’s the young Dick Whitman that Connie touches, it’s the young Dick Whitman who wants to please this new father, and be good for him.
So it’s the young Dick Whitman who drives out the sinner.
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Smiler, I give you permission to say "est."
Don has come up short twice in Connie's opinion. First when he asked him what do you want? Don asked for business. Second Connie wanted the Moon campaign and got hamburger.
Don needs to think bigger and his one liners are getting old. "It's not a good time, change the conversation" etc.
As for Roger I hope PPL cans him. He's a has been threatened by Don now doing it all.
I just wonder what is gonna happen when Don goes out at night for Hilton then Hilton calls Betty asking for Don? The preview shows a sour faced Betty next week.
Deb, it was the 'kinder gentler' version 1980s of "est," "The Forum". LOL
Best two weekends and an evening I ever spent!
That was about a month before finding out I had a brain tumor and, I think, an experience that helped equip me to "dance" with that whole episode and its aftermath.
Connie Hilton was Catholic, yes. But he was also divorced and remarried twice which allows us to conclude that his take on Catholicism was not strict.
I just wonder what is gonna happen when Don goes out at night for Hilton then Hilton calls Betty asking for Don?
I was wondering the same thing. Don is really begging to get caught.
I can't remember what it was like in the early 60s with regard to angels, but, when Connie said Don was his angel I took him to mean that Don was somehow a messenger from God–not that he was any particular gift from God.
I think that meaning of angel is more recent–we tend to think of angels as guardian angels, personal spiritual guides. I think it is largely forgotten that God often sends angels to do some pretty vigorous smiting.
So I heard, "you are like a son to me" more as "I can provide the firm guiding hand you so clearly need" and "you are my angel" as "God sent you to me as a test." Don, unfortunately, hears "I am the son he wishes he'd had; he loves me like a good father loves his son."
Connie sees himself as a missionary–not only for America but for God. I don't think Don can even imagine that.
I never thought of it that way. I don’t think Connie has that much influence on Don, but now I must think again. I saw it more pragmatically: Don could’ve hidden Sal if he’d known about the problem right away, but after Lee’s blowup, he had to perform more invasive surgery.
The B family still holds on to a vision of Don leaving SC, taking Peggy, and hiring Freddy Rumsen, Sal and Joan. By then it’s 1964 and to celebrate the success of the new agency they charter a fishing boat for a three-hour tour .. .
a three hour tour. I’m a huge Gilligan’s Island fan too.
Sal was fired because Harry messed up on a monumental scale. I do on some level sympathize with Harry. At one point, I had a title and was in over my head, but thankfully my actions never lead to someone being fired.
Great insight on religion! I’m getting a theme here: there’s a lot of mention of Judaism in S1, a lot of Catholicism in S2, and now it’s Connie’s Protestant (Evangelist?) beliefs. If it’s Dick Whitman that Connie touches, I wonder how much his only mother figure, Abigail, played into his life. She was definitely the religious zealot in Dick’s life.
Connie’s beliefs surely have that Bible Belt ring–maybe it’s the accent.
But he was Catholic. And Norwegian on his father’s side….
Boy, I don’t know. I’m having a hard time connecting up Sal’s firing and Connie’s religiosity. The horse was way out of the barn by the time Don got involved. Not firing Sal at that point surely would have jeopardized the LS account, and Don knew that. (Still he didn’t have to be such a bastard about it.)
I do think just as Peggy ran into Don’s buzzsaw because of her unfortunate timing, Sal got fired (or wasn’t UN-fired, I guess we should say) because Don was still an emotional wreck over Connie’s rejection, so he wasn’t ready to mount a fight with Roger over it.
So in that sense, it seems clear that the way it went down was Don’s reaction to Dick’s emotional pain. Just not so sure I see the religion angle in it.
I sense that Dick/Don had long ago rejected Abigail’s religion. A religious person would not “live like there is no tomorrow, because there is no tomorrow.” And he certainly wouldn’t say “the universe is indifferent.” Are you saying that underneath Don’s rejection of religious belief lies a deeply religious young Dick Whitman?
If that’s the case, it must be doubly difficult for Don to come to grips with his new daddy’s religious fervor. I did think “angel” was an odd term for Connie to use. If a woman said it, it wouldn’t seem out of the ordinary. For a man to call another man his angel? Hmmmm.
Will Connie insist that Don start taking his own children to church? The Drapers, like so many people in their social class especially during that time, strike me as Easter-and-Christmas-only Christians.
(and Empress, connie is catholic)
Interesting post. Just not sure I agree with it.
Gypsy Howell, thanks for that clarification. I just always thought Connie’s religious talk as more Evangelist/Christian Coalition, but I guess I’m using today’s assumptions.
Interesting idea, Don may well have been thinking of Connie when he fired Sal, but I don’t think it was about trying to conform to a religious standard. I would think Dick attended a lot of revival meetings in his youth, and he did have that baptism scene in the ocean last year. So he definitely has that “good ol religion” at least on some level. But for Don its more a personal thing. Don has a history of hitting people where it hurts most when someone has hurt him, and I think Connie’s rejection of the ad campaign more the likely source of his behavior.
@ #20 & #21
What kind of word-salad are you making here?
Interesting post, but how does trying to be “good” jive with basically pimping Sal out? Don pretty much told him he should have slept with the client to keep his business. Plus, Catholics are pretty live and let live from what I’ve seen. It’s Protestants that tend to be judgmental.
Good idea, but I’m not seeing it.
“Do you ever pray on a difficult problem?”
Connie’s religion is cultural; Don and Betty’s, if they have it, is incidental. Don would have run from his own, as he did from everything else in his early life. Betty — I don’t know about Betty. When religion is important, it proceeds from a strong relationship with a parent figure.
What I want to say is twofold: one, there is a difference between religion and faith. Two, people of faith (as opposed to people “of religion”) are comfortable with it, have a kind of intimacy with it that does not typically express itself in knee-jerk evangelizing.
Connie needs Don to know how important his God is to him. That doesn’t sound like faith to me; it sounds like religion.
Faith is personal, like my tiny niece’s habit (learned from her Grandma, now shared with every adult in her life) of praying every night before bed. Faith is simple, like the guy I know who — asked the title of his favorite book — will say, “the Bible”, then drop the subject.
People who have faith don’t care whether you have it or not. Nothing can make them feel any more or less loved.
People of religion? I am not sure I understand what drives them, what they need. I don’t think it’s love. I know it isn’t secure.
I think I should pray for them, though.
Amen.
#5, I haven’t done the detailed recap yet, but I’m pretty darn sure that the sequence was: (1) Connie calls Don a son, (2) Don fires Sal, (3) Don is rejected by Connie. Kind of I built this post around that assumption.
Anne B.
Amen as well. Thank gosh I have found a place to really think. You guys are all fantastic and have such great insights about the show and life. Thanks for sharing!
I suspect the prospect of losing a $25 million account put the fear of God in Don more than Connie did.
And as a Catholic, I agree with others.The whole Bible thing is misplaced. Catholics don't read the Bible, by and large, and ones of this era read the Baltimore Cathcism. My older relatives can recite it word for word and they're stumped when The Bible comes up on Jeopardy.
If Connie were from the Bible Belt, or even a Morman like JW Marriott, this would be a logical conclusion but a twice divorced Catholic who was married to Zsa Zsa? Uh-uh.
Catechism, sorry. (Been too long…_y
I remember being in a seminar about 20 years ago. It was one of those “in your face” two weekends & an evening deals, that came out of the 70s.
One of the presenters, spoke of a previous session and a woman there who just didn’t like him from the start of the seminar, even though they hadn’t previously met.
The guy had a somewhat long face and slender, long nose. Turns out, the woman, when she was a youngster, walked to school each morning and home each afternoon, passing a house with a picket fence – behind which – was a Collie dog, who’d push its snout through the pickets and bark, frightening her.
One of the seminar leader’s notions, was that people aren’t necessarily reacting to what’s happening right now, but rather to something happening now that gives them an uncomfortable feeling, which reminds them of how they felt in reaction to what had been going on, in an unresolved event from the past.
In this case, her reaction to what he was presenting in the seminar, was bringing up feelings of fear/discomfort/helplessness for her, which reminded her of similar feelings she felt as a child, with the Collie behind the fence.
Looking at what dynamic might be behind Don’s treatment of Sal, it might also be a similar case of Don reacting – not necessarily to what’s happening now – but to feelings now that are reminiscent of ones arising from long past events.
The loss of the Lucky Strike account could be used by Roger/Bert/PPL to stir-up and/or reinforce Don’s feelings of failure or inadequacy, which would result in a ‘trip to the wood shed,’ for Don/Dick.
Why people behave the way that they do and how they got to be that way, is an unending source of fascination – on Mad Men and in real life, I think!
I always did wonder why, if seemingly every gay guy within Sal's airspace "just knows" that Sal is gay, wedding ring be damned, that absolutely nobody at work ever suspected it (aside from maybe Joan, who knows what end her bagel is buttered on and would never have said a word about it, and Kurt, who works right under him so ditto) and no client ever said a word about it until now, either.
Yeah, I know people weren't very sophisticated about sexual orientation then, but still. This is New York, and in those days New Yorkers (and San Franciscans) knew a lot more about those things than the rest of the country. Even the clients from outside the area have had to deal with the "oddballs" in the business. Remember Smitty's remark about Kurt to Ken: "Oh come on, don't tell me he's the first homo you ever met in advertising." That Sal lasted as long as he did without running into any harassment is pretty amazing, when you think about it.
It's an interesting idea, though, that Don read this situation as, "Oh shit, if this is coming up now, this is just the tip of the iceberg — eventually everyone's going to know about Sal, and then we're screwed."
Meowser, I think the thing is that people who choose to know do know, and people for whom such a thing doesn't exist (like Ken), don't know.
AND I don't think it's very different today, which is why coming out is such an important political action.
Deb, this is incredible.
[...] Basket of Kisses | Don and his father(s) [...]
Interesting as always.
I still think that the fact that the MSG account was (at that point) so small PPL wanted to dump it, while LS "coould put the lights out" at S-C was the more obvious influence — regardless of Don's contract. But (as I usually add), MM is so loaded with subtext that I don't rule it out.
Moreover, in the DVD commentaries, Matt has mentioned more than once that he saw Don as coming out of a religious revival-type background (presumably from Abigail). And after he got his Tarot reading, he went out for the self-Baptism in the Pacific, with the revival hymn soundtrack. I've tended to consider it one of those things from which Don has been trying to escape — but remains marked by it as much as he is marked by his violent father.
I thought that Connie's rejection in the "pitch meeting" or whatever it's called – is because that meeting was pure Don Draper. Connie (from their first meeting) has a connection to Dick Whitman – hardscrabble roots, plain speaker, naturally brilliant business-mind (no Harvard MBA!). Connie sees himself in Dick/Don. When Don tried the flashy Draperesque show (being something he is not) – Connie was disappointed.
elle, that's a take on it I hadn't considered. Very interesting. And Jimmy, same to you; connecting up the pissing in the trunk is kind of brill.
@#11 – deborah, yep, you're right, I mixed up the sequence there. I was thinking Sal got fired after the Hilton pitch.
So, that leaves 'Don Is A Bastard' + 'LS Is A $25MM Account' = 'Sal Gets Reamed Out & Fired.'
I'm still struggling with the religion aspect – maybe later episodes will clarify that for me better.
As always, thought-provoking post whether I agree with it or not. You're giving me hours and hours of entertainment here!
Don firing Sal has to do with the fact that Don, when upset, kicks, and he usually kicks down.
The only thing this has to do with Connie is that Don told the man flat out he was a trunk pisser. He peed in the trunks of people he felt were his betters simply to lash out. Now when he pisses, he doesn't have to be sneaky.
If you're Peggy or Sal, you better get an umbrella.
Great post. Religious guys in hats always creep me out.
Don firing Sal has to do with the fact that Don, when upset, kicks, and he usually kicks down.
Which, I would imagine, is a real Archibald Whitman Maneuver.
For those who might be interested in the true "make-up" of Conrad Hilton, the Biography Channel has an episode on him called "Conrad Hilton: Innkeeper to the World"- you can get it through Netflix and/if you have an Xbox or the other contraption that let's you download it instantaneously, you can watch it instantaneously. I watched it 2 weeks ago just so I could understand the man and the character better. Yes, Catholic, raised modestly in New Mexico before it became a state. His father owned a dry goods store, which he helped run before he got into the hotel business. He started off by buying sort of a flop house in Texas. Remember, his son Nicky Hilton married Elizabeth Taylor for a brief period? Fluent in Spanish because of his Mexican neighbors. He nearly lost his businesses a couple of times during the great depression, but he persevered. Interesting fact: He opened a lavish Hilton Hotel in Havana, Cuba w/a grand celebrity filled opening party, and Castro & his regime waited it in the mountains or somewhere for it to be completed before they revolted and took it over w/n months. Fascinating!
Hmmmm… I thought a lot about this, and, while it's logical, the firing scene doesn't play that way. Don doesn't come across as firing Sal out of righteousness or self-deluded sense of doing "good." He's a cynical self-serving cold-hearted bastard here, with no empathy for a loyal employee.
And much credit to Jon Hamm for that. A lot of actors, even good ones, would have refused to play it that way. If they're big enough stars, they even have scenes like that re-written (maybe along the lines that Deb suggests, which is, as I said, logical for the story and characters) so that their character doesn't look bad. Or they'll play it in a way that softens what's really happening. Hamm doesn't do that, and neither, I think, did the writer and director. I don't see it as Don trying to be the "good" young Dick, but just Don being a dick.
Melville, I honestly don't think there's anything nice or sweet or empathetic about doing something cruel out of self-righteousness. I really think that Don is trying to be "on the side of angels" here, in an attempt to please his surrogate father (and we see how that backfired on him), but that doesn't soften the scene in my eyes.
If Don's behavior to Sal, and previously Peggy, has anything to do with a father figure, it's more likely that in his worst moments he's modeling his real father Archie Whitman – lashing out at someone weaker and dependent on you. How many times did that dynamic play out in the Whitman household? As far as we've seen, Don's never done that to his own kids, but his "kids" at work sometimes bear the brunt of it.
(I like the car pissing analogy, but in that case he was pissing "up", not down. Unless you're saying that for Don/Dick, everyone is "up" compared to him.)
Lots of daddy issues roiling around, either way.
Wonderful post, Deborah — very thought-provoking and well-articulated.
But I disagree with your premise. To me, Don is acting not out of deference to his "new Dad" (which I agree Connie is) but rather out of the fear of two things:
1) At a practical level, Lucky Strike is the 800-lb. gorilla with its $25M in billings. Don fears losing the business, period. The MSG/Kinsey situation is not comparable for that reason IMO.
2) He fears Sal's homosexuality because he doesn't understand it. Sure, he seemed to be accepting of Sal after Baltimore, but was he really? No, he just dealt with the issue the way he deals with many in his life — by not dealing with it. But as soon as he actually had to try to understand it, talk about it, make decisions in its context…well, he simply banished it from his immediate sphere.
As I have thought about it more, Sal's firing has become a watershed for how I view Don — not so much because he's homophobic (hell, everyone on the show is) but because I have rethought what makes him connect with certain people. I used to think his (apparent) affinity for Peggy and Sal was because they all held deep secrets. Now I think it's much simpler — he likes (tolerates?) people who come from very modest beginnings and are working hard to improve themselves against the odds. He views Peggy's and Conrad's arcs as similar to his own, albeit all three in very different stages of development. I used to think he felt the same about Sal, but now I realize he viewed Sal as simply having a disease — fine, as long as it didn't get in the way, but intolerable once it did.
Thanks again Deborah for the post.
Sir Hillary, I appreciate your insight, especially your thought about dealing by not dealing with it. I also think you're right that Don appreciates humble origins. But add to that, he really likes creativity. Remember what he said to Peggy in episode 2.01; "they" think monkeys can do what "we" do, and they hate us for it. His loyalty has been to the people who can create. Somehow, that's what's lost to him this season.
Nice angle. I'll nuance it by going back to something I commented on earlier.
Before Don yelled at Peggy in 723, he'd been subtly accused by Roger and, more importantly, Bert of being ungrateful. Which is Don chastises Peggy for.
In Wee Small Hours, Connie chastises Don about "looking for love." Just as with Peggy, I think Don sees himself in Sal in that Sal was "looking for love" with a client. I KNOW that's NOT how it happened, but Don, filtering Sal's explanation through a stereotypic prism, clearly doesn't believe him. In another bitch session, Roger tells Don that he's had his "head in Hilton's lap." This unusual turn of phrase struck me as an interesting parallel.
#36 Melville – I think this is spot-on. I haven't been able to really interpret where Don is coming from in the firing scene, no matter how many times I watch it. Only that he feels capable of passing judgment on Sal's version of the story because he's seen first hand that Sal has a) engaged in homosexuality, and b) cheated on his wife.
The "you people" thing really throws me because it's seemingly a moral judgment, as in "you homos can't keep it in your pants – don't tell me you resisted". This coming from someone who drove a client to take a 6-month cruise to get away from him and the firm. But then Menken's billings never kept the lights on.
As for the second part, you're so right. Can you imagine someone on MM asking to have a scene re-written to make their character look more favorable?? It reminds me of a story that an actor from the Sopranos used to tell about David Chase.
They were filming a scene and the actor said to Chase, "I don't think my character would say that/do that." Chase, without hesistation, responded "What makes you think it's your character?"
B. Cooper- that Chase quote is a keeper!
It was heartbreaking to see Connie punish Don for not giving him the moon. You could see both Don's professional disappointment and confusion as well as Little Dick's breaking heart.
As for Don's sudden homophobia, in "Jet Set", Joy's father directly hit on Don and Don had no reaction. I also remember MW commenting on it saying it wouldn't have been the first time a man hit on Don. That's why it didn't surprise me that he accepted Sal's homosexuality in "Out of Town." It would be natural to assume that Don was well aware of homosexuality and it didn't particularly bother him personally. And I'm still not sure that it wasn't just Don cauterizing the wound in firing Sal just to be done with it and not have to explain to anyone what happened.
As for Connie's use of the term "Angel" and his Catholicism, it's hardly surprising. We Catholics often pray to the angels and saints for intercession, and in effect, these late night phone calls and meetings are a form of prayer for Connie. Can't explain his Bible obsession, tho. Brenda is right, Catholics really don't read the Bible, although in every Mass there is an Old Testament passage, a New Testament passage and a Gospel passage on which the sermon is given.
This is a wonderful posts and you have all provided so much food for thought; rich food. Also thanks for the info about Catholics, I never knew they didn't read the bible much. Is that another reason why so many Protestant denominations seem to dislike them so?
[...] Basket of Kisses | Don and his father(s) [...]
38 Sir Hillary Bray- I do think there's one person at Sterling Cooper who isn't homopphobic, Peggy. She seemed uncomfortable when he was in her apartment, but she was polite, and was more flustered than anything else. She still wanted to go to the concert with him. Also, she was willing to give him a way out, in case he wanted to take something else to the concert.
RG, I think Peggy suggesting that Kurt might prefer to take a man to the concert was one of the most progressive things I've ever heard on Mad Men. It is eons ahead of "tolerance."
I was raised Catholic & remember reading Bible stories. They were parts of the Old & New Testaments retold for children. It's not that Catholics are anti-Bible; you will find Bibles in Catholic homes & Scripture is part of every Mass. But Catholics are not Fundamentalists. They believe that parts of the Bible are symbolic. For example, they do not believe the world & everything was really created in 6 days. Catholic schools–elementary through post-Graduate–have no problem teaching Evolution.
My mother converted after marrying my father, a New Englander & a son of Irish immigrants. But he died young & she moved us back to Texas. She was a lifelong Democrat, but JFK's election was especially meaningful to the family–back then, the political conventions were interesting. (We also followed the struggle for Civil Rights on TV; my grandmother remembered when the Klan was active down here. Of course, they hated Catholics & Jews as well as Blacks.)
But we got an Irish Yankee Catholic President! The day he was shot, I went to the high school library, where I worked every day; the librarian told me the preliminary news. That was before there were TV's everywhere. Later that day, the principal came on the loudspeaker to tell everybody the President had died & everybody could go home.
I've always hoped that the cheering I heard from my overwhelmingly Protestant* classmates reflected their joy at leaving early.
* Our family & the Mexicans & a family from Louisiana were just about the only Catholics. And there was a Jewish family, which I thought was very cool.
not_Bridget: That's a disturbing story about your classmates. I share your hope…
Re: the premise of this thread, I have yet to be convinced that Connie and his "goodness" spiel had anything to do with Don's firing Sal. My own take was that Don was projecting his revulsion at his own promiscuity onto Sal – who was, of course, guilty of nothing of the kind. When I saw the disgust on Don's face, it reminded me of how shocked he'd been when Bobbie told him that he, Don, had a "reputation."
I think Don chose to disbelieve Sal's story (not a fully conscious choice, perhaps, but a choice nonetheless), and used the occasion to distance himself from his underlying unease about his own extramarital affairs, and "purge" himself of that shame.
#22 Brenda—- I totally agree with your comment.
Also, as someone who was raised Roman Catholic in the 60's, I recall the Baltimore Catechism my elder siblings brought from their Saturday classes at the local parish. Was the Baltimore Cathecism a small white book?
I recall a very colorful illustration from a cathecism book showing Satan's descent into hell. Satan was the angel banished from heaven for defying his Father; this is how I first heard of the story as a 5 year-old.
(Satan was big with Catholics in the late sixtie's with "Rosemary's Baby" and all.)
Catholics don't view angels as saints. We all see Don is not a saint.
But is Don going the way of the fallen angel for defying his "fathers"?
Is he going to be banished as well?
My daughter is getting confirmed this spring, so I'm knee deep in catechism stuff right now. Thanks for the clarification not_Bridget, didn't mean to imply that Catholics don't read the Bible at all, we do, just not the way Protestants do, especially Evangelicals do.
#50 indieretailer, you are correct that Angels and Saints are two totally different things. Angels have never been human. Doesn't matter how many bells you hear ring, they've always had wings
Saints are humans in heaven who have done extraordinary things in life.
But if Don were to be a fallen angel (demon), more likely he'd be one of the Nephalim from Genesis. The ones having sex with all the humans!
The Baltimore Catechism was published in the late 19th century & went through many editions. Wikipedia says it's not used much any more. I think my Saturday Classes used this edition: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pantufla/sets/721576…
Vatican II made many needed reforms but the Latin Mass was pretty cool. You used a Missal to keep track–a book with the texts for the standard masses, plus the parts that varied with the calendar. Usually, colored ribbons were sewn into the binding so you could flip back & forth. Latin was on one page & the English translation on the facing page. Good to "study" during the dull bits….
gypsy howell, I think Don pisses period. When it's the rich he pisses in their trunk (goes behind their back–like say, filling a boss full of martinis and oysters and then making him climb the stairs) and when he does it to someone's face, it's always someone who has to take it because they are lower than him.
I too think that the dressing down that Don gave both Peggy and Sal had a bit of the Archie/Dick dynamic to them.
Peggy had it coming from Don IMO. She has this propensity to bring a red herring then try to push her real agenda. She did it with her Mother when she bought her the Admiral TV then sprang the news that she was moving to Manhattan. We know how that went over with her Mom. Then she brought Don the Baby gift but her real agenda was to ask for a raise to help pay for her new lifestyle in the City. She also brings in the Coffee ad but really wants to get the scoop on the Hilton account.
Sal on the other hand was in the same position Don was in on 7-23 with Don in the driver's seat this time. Sal is still in the closet of denial and Don is telling him I know something about you (and your double life). Don didn't fire Sal he just affirmed what was already done by Lee Jr and Roger.
Some smart reviewer said it was "obvious" that Don was implying that it was Sal who made the pass, and Lee Garner who rejected it. I must have over-identified with Sal; I totally missed that, but in retrospect, OF COURSE. Don knows Sal likes boys, he, like most people, thinks gay men are insatiable and over-aggressive.
Interesting point about Peggy's MO, hapynzap. It does seem like a pattern. I'll start to watch for it now.
And yes, Don didn't fire Sal He just didn't UN-fire him. Could have been a whole lot nicer about it though.
It would be a lot easier for Don to picture Sal, whom he knows is gay and for all he knows goes cruising every night, making the move on Lee Jr, than to conjure up in his mind that this good ol' southern boy is gay and made a pass at Sal. I thought that's what the whole "who do you think you're talking to?" thing meant. But then in the next breath, he was also implying that IF Lee Jr wanted sex, Sal should have acquiesced ("Depends on the girl and what I knew about her").
My guess is Don wasn't sure who did what, and didn't particularly care to figure it out. He was disgusted that another problem landed on his desk (and once again Roger tells him to handle the client – Say, isn't that supposed to be Roger's job? Oh that's right, Roger's still trying to figure out what his job is.), and he wasn't in the mood to go to battle with Roger & Lee Jr over it. It was a no-win situation for SC, although of course Don could have been much nicer about it to Sal.
After all this discussion about the scene where Don fired Sal, my mind drifts to the hallucination that Don had about Archie — the joke that Archie told about the hillbilly, and "the party" — the "Deliverance" dynamic (male-on-male domination) surfaced in my mind. Maybe I need more coffee… it is early here.