Sneaking Sally through the Alley
A friend of mine wrote this to me (each paragraph was a separate facebook comment), and I had to share it:
I love Sally. Usually the eldest daughter is “the good one” with some errant boy who is reactive. At first I thought they were going to go the traditional route-but then Sally went a bit south and I was impressed.
I think it is very common. If you have a depressed mother who is repressing her rage- why wouldn’t the daughter be “reactive” to have a chance at being “happy”?
October 29th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
What happened to Sally’s anger issues? Are they resolved or is there more to come?
October 29th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
#1 Probably went to the same place the Ken/Pete war or the Peggy/Duck romance went. Pushed aside for Draper marriage drama.
I agree about Sally’s character, tho. Eldest daughters and mom can really take it out on each other.
October 29th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Eldest daughters and mom can really take it out on each other.
I have no idea what you’re talking about.
October 29th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Deb, are you the eldest by any chance?
October 29th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
I’m the eldest girl. We have an older brother. And three younger sisters. And a younger brother.
There are many.
October 29th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
Sally always makes me think of Zooey Deschanel’s character in Almost Famous, like what she could become.
October 29th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
That’s a lotta Lipps!
October 29th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
Your friend makes an excellent point and is very insightful.
October 29th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
Not only is Sally the eldest girl, she is the only girl among three children. This adds a whole new dynamic. There is no sister, no partner in crime, no one else to share mom’s expectations or frustrations. As the only girl among four, I echo your point, Donny Brook. “Eldest daughters and mom can really take it out on each other.”
October 29th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Eldest daughters and mom can really take it out on each other.
I have no idea what you’re talking about.
Me either.
October 29th, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Eldest daughters and mom can really take it out on each other.
Oy.
October 29th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
I’m the second daughter, 3rd child, and my poor sister was the one who had to “break in” mom. I have to remember to thank my sister again; I owe her a debt I can never repay.
October 29th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Thanks Deb.
October 29th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
In my family, I’m the eldest daughter. Theres only my younger sister and I…and heh, my sister was the one that tore my mother apart.
I’m not putting myself on a high horse, I have my fair share of chaos I’ve caused my mother but my sister and her have butt heads.
With Sally, I just see her as a smart person and what we’ve yet to see is her sharp perception which she may use later on in life. She’ll see the way her parents are, her brothers, peers, late Gene…hell, she might one day find her father looking at/speaking with a certain way with Miss Farrell…in which she probably won’t ignore.
October 30th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
(love the phish reference)
October 31st, 2009 at 10:30 pm
BTW, am I the only one who’s thinking of “Sally Go ‘Round the Roses” by the Jaynetts? It was a hit right around this particular time of MM.
November 3rd, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Let me be the first to “get” the Robert Palmer song reference! (Sorry, Samantha, Robert Palmer did it first in about 1975.)
I think they’ve done so much more with Sally because they have a fine young actress in Kiernan. Her scenes with Grandpa Gene, and in reaction to his death, were so great.
One thing seems clear, and that is that Betty doesn’t understand Sally’s spirit or nurture it in any way, and that’s sad.
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:35 pm
Sally is probably the most believable and dimentional child character to be in a tv series. She is in a dysfunctional family, though that phrase what not used in the Mad Men time period. Dysfunctional parents raise dysfunctional children. Sally is angry and lonely, I think, and as was common in the sixties, television is considered an adequate babysitter. I remember those days well. Just as nobody worried about children bouncing all over the seats of moving cars, nobody worried too much about the fragile psyches of children or about their self-esteem. The child-centered home came later. It was not quite the old “Children are to be seen, not heard,” theory, but in the sixties, kids were not the center of the parental universe.