October 31, 2009 By: Roberta Lipp Category: Themes & Motifs
Am I the only one who didn’t get this reference? I’d heard that Matt wanted the Draper residence to have a red door; that was important to him. So is this why?
I just can’t wait to see how the assassination is dealt with. It’s one of the biggest mysteries in television history, but it’s a true fourth wall mystery.
I’ve been married a long time. You get plenty of chances.
— Don Draper, Out of Town
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October 31st, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Historically, a house with a red door is a sign of welcome. It dates back to Colonial times. For weary travelers, a house with a red door was a place where you could be welcomed and served refreshments and/or provided a bed for the night. It’s why Red Roof Inns have red roofs (and I think “Red Door Inn” was already taken). It’s akin to the pineapple.
October 31st, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Wow, what a stretch! I love it. A red door has soooo many meanings. Feng Shui meanings and welcome meanings and there is even the Passover story meaning. I have a red front door, too. I was going for the Hickory Hill look. Not.
What I thought about as I read this entry was that next season, no matter what year we find ourselves in, Don and Betty (assuming they are together) will be in a new home, in a new neighborhood. Much more upscale for a man who earns $75K in 1963 dollars.
I’m a loooong time reader, first time poster. Happy Halloween, Basketcases, and thanks for letting me play. xo
October 31st, 2009 at 6:07 pm
“What I thought about as I read this entry was that next season, no matter what year we find ourselves in, Don and Betty (assuming they are together) will be in a new home, in a new neighborhood. Much more upscale for a man who earns $75K in 1963 dollars.”
I’ve been thinking that is a possibility as well…
October 31st, 2009 at 6:12 pm
GoodSally, thanks for playing!
And yes, Deborah keeps saying that the Drapers have quite obviously outgrown their neighborhood.
Also the red door meaning welcome, and sure, Passover (let all who are hungry come and eat)–well that certainly appeals to the hobo-pleaser who bought that house.
October 31st, 2009 at 6:19 pm
knock knock knock
T R I C K
O R
T R EEEEAT
…just saying.
October 31st, 2009 at 6:32 pm
And here I thought it was a reference to the film American Beauty. (I’m not American so I get to miss American historical references. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it.)
October 31st, 2009 at 6:33 pm
We’re all expecting that November 22, 1963 will fall on the season finale next week- but the show frequently moves ahead weeks at a time each episode. So what if they set the assassination as the cliffhanger for tomorrow night’s episode, and deal with the direct aftermath for the whole finale?
We’ve waited all season for this day, and come up with lots of theories for how it’ll be depicted. With that long to prepare, Matthew must have a trick or two up his sleeve, to present it in a way we never expected.
October 31st, 2009 at 6:47 pm
I promise I will not do a play by play at my door but three trick or treaters who came to my house were accompanied by a parent (I guess) wearing Scout’s ham Halloween costume from To Kill a Mockingbird.
that was great!
a two year old yoda just walked right into my house. she doesn’t quite get the whole set up yet, apparently. lol.
October 31st, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Who plans to ask the now famous “And who are you supposed to be?” question to trick-or-treaters tonight?
October 31st, 2009 at 7:12 pm
(Responding to #7’s post)
Elizabeth Rice, who plays the role of Margaret Sterling, is credited as appearing in 3.12, but not 3.13.
Make of that as you will.
October 31st, 2009 at 7:28 pm
Interesting discussion. Elizabeth Arden has a Red Door for her salons. A sign of welcome? Episcopal Churches are famous for their red doors, which I believe symbolize the blood of Christ and that everything behind the door is sacred.
October 31st, 2009 at 8:05 pm
#8 That’s creepy considering what happened to Scout when she walked home from the pageant in her ham costume!
October 31st, 2009 at 9:18 pm
In 1966 you know, Mick sees a red door,
but it must clash with the awning or something because he wants to paint it black.
Is the ham costume insensitive to people with swine flu? Seriously why so many hams, but no Hamms??!
October 31st, 2009 at 9:18 pm
Hey, my house has a red door! (kind of a deep burgundy color)We painted it to match the shutters 11 years ago– I think if we ever get a new house, I’ll always want a red door!
October 31st, 2009 at 9:27 pm
In the pilot (script), there was something about the house having a red door, just like all the others in the neighborhood.
Of course, the color red also has several other connotations: stop, danger, warning, fire, blood; but also love, passion, warmth, excitement and desire. Interestingly, it’s often used in corporate communications to elicit more immediate responses from customers and other targets: NOW, BUY, SALE, etc. How appropriate that the ad man has used it to adorn his house of cards. He’s selling the idea of a perfect house, perfect family, perfectly normal life. Apparently the entire neighborhood is buying that story — and they’re selling it, too.
October 31st, 2009 at 9:36 pm
#13, LOM, lol.
October 31st, 2009 at 9:40 pm
I thought Scout’s ham costume was the cutest thing ever, but the chase gave me chills.
October 31st, 2009 at 9:50 pm
Taiga – but Boooooo saves the day.
LOM-
Is the ham costume insensitive to people with swine flu?
How good of you to care. no doubt, if swine flu hits around here, someone will find this person, hang them, then claim all are… cured.
ahem.
I like nights like this. A gay couple came by with their son. They took a thousand pictures of their little boy across the street b/c that person really does it up big time. My next-door-neighbor’s almost teenage daughter had a major fro so I asked if she was cleopatra brown. her friend said, “she wishes.”
kids from about 5 diff. places that I know – Korea, Puerto Rico, Iran, Russia, Thailand, (self-identified) rednecks drove a haul of kids in from the country and followed them in the truck down the street with the hazard lights on while the kids trick or treat (they should park, but there’s a lot of things I should do, too, that I don’t.)
Red is also for good luck in China.
October 31st, 2009 at 9:52 pm
SFC you’re a bit a music maven, right? This might be more significant than I thought. The lyrics are about a guy depressed about his love’s death. Funeral imagery, obsession with blackness, etc.
Here’s a verse Matt Maul will get a grin out of:
No more will my green sea go turn a deeper blue
I could not forsee this thing happening to you
If I look hard enough into the setting sun
My love will laugh with me before the morning comes
I thought live-blogging the trick-or-treating was an excellent idea, an idea before it’s time,
but now it’s too late where I am.
West Coast updates??
October 31st, 2009 at 9:58 pm
At the end of last Sunday’s episode, the preview showed Don & the kids apparently watching the TV intently.
During that whole November weekend in 1963, millions of families numbly did the same thing.
So, I’m guessing that the show will address the events of 11-22-63 tomorrow night.
Also, the title of Episode 12, “The Grownups,” made me think of the adults in the Draper/Hofstadt clans, gathered around the kitchen table, in the wake of Grandpa Gene’s death.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:07 pm
Morpheus? Is that you?
Of course I know you meant those rednecks should pork their truck, right? Had to be a typo.
Tried last night to live-blog a movie, someone ask the Sister Moms if we can l-b Night of the Living Dead.
It’s not too far OT: it’s on AMC right now, it was made in the 60’s, it has feminist and racial subtext.
Unrelated to MM would be the flesh-eating ghoulies and overacting,
October 31st, 2009 at 10:14 pm
well, if they think it’s too ot and you and others really, really, really want to do that, I could provide a venue.
but first I have to remove some links. lol.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:16 pm
finish above attempt at humor, (after last comma with). . . .
{insert theatrical ham joke here}
SmilerG – I caught that too with family Draper and there’s a clip of a really haunted looking Don in shirt sleeves walking thru SC. The shooting being during work hours right?
And back to the esme, Booooo turns out all right, good gig as mouthpiece for the Corleones.
October 31st, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Links?? Is that a piggie breakfast pun?
Never ever remove Nina Simone. Never. Evah!
If you mean thursday’s venue, that thread’s too long mon amour my browser gets stuck with all the reloading.
{ HA! That does not read very well. but it’s true!!!}
October 31st, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Sorry but have to post quickly thay are re-running NotLD and in the first scene at the grave yard if look real closely in the right corner of the screen when the brother and sister are approaching the the trees you can see way way way way in the background the hill that the house I grew up in is located on. . . . ready. . . set . . NOW!!!!!
October 31st, 2009 at 10:50 pm
oh, nevermind. let the lipp sisters weigh in.
I have a game if anyone wants to play.
A friend of mine asks me to do a show with her from time to time. don’t ask me why. she’s probably bored. (on the radio.) so the other day she told me she wanted me to do a show again. One time we did a pre- “christmas” show with Tom Wait’s “Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis,” Burroughs doing “What Keeps Mankind Alive,” Jill Sobule’s version of “Merry Christmas from the Family,” and Etta James’ “This Time of Year,” and, yeah, eventually, some of that stuff from Vince Guaraldi’s Charlie Brown Christmas.
soooo, how about suggestions – a progression of 3 songs that move through an idea or seem like they go together or go through a little moment… like, Tom Waits’ “Alice” to Solomon Burke’s “Flesh and Blood” to Neko Case’s “Wish I Was the Moon.” (these are all on youtube, I’m too lazy to link right now.) Or the Langley Children’s Choir version of Desperado to Neil Young’s Western Hero to Richard Thompson’s Shoot Out the Lights.
anyone want to play? too off topic?
how about a theme like…
Jack Kerouac is trick or treating at the house with the red door but nobody’s home. (whatever this means.)
October 31st, 2009 at 10:51 pm
can you rewind that one, please?
October 31st, 2009 at 11:12 pm
esme- I’m not worthy to be playing this one with you. Believe me I am not in your league here for sure but here’s a shot at your theme:
Willie Nelson’s –”On the Road Again”
Bow Wow Wow’s –”I Want Candy”
The Whispers’ –”And the Beat Goes On”
theme: Beatrix Kiddo places an order for lumber at Niagara Falls.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:13 pm
@13 less of me-I watched the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade. Someone walked by wearing a suit and a hat (not quite right for Don, but close enough), with a pack of cigarettes and holding a martini glass. I said to myself, “I’ll bet he’s going for Don Draper or Roger Sterling. He has white hair so it’s a little hard to tell.” When I got a view of his back, sure enough there was a sign that said, Don Draper.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:22 pm
Despite the fact this movie was made in1968 in western PA for about the cost of an Isaly’s chip-chopped ham sandwich and an IC Light, this lead actor is actually pretty decent.
And I don’t remember seeing him ever again in any other film ever.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:26 pm
lol RetroGirl,
philosophically,
if a tree falls in a forest and there’s no one to see the sign in its branches, is it really supposed to be Don Draper??
October 31st, 2009 at 11:36 pm
interestingly, walking undead nudity is strictly prohibited at AMC I guess.
or the digital re-master really blows. Blurring black bar covers naked zaftig zombie tush*. BOOOOOOOOO!!!
the prisoner looks good, but The MM withdrawal will really blow too, I fear.
gypsy howell! how many episodes left?
*alliteration just for vous cherie. hee,hee.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:48 pm
Military-Industrial-Complex gets injected in here after the break. NASA too I think. Those nasty high radiation gamma bursts are gonna be the death of us all. . . er. . . I mean un-death of us all.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:59 pm
Theme – -The Lovely Lipp’s look in and say, “what the sam hell has LOM been doing in our blog??”
Tom Petty’s — Mary Jane’s Last Dance
Billy Idol’s — Dancing with Myself
Don Henley’s — Talking to the Moon
and WTF — Pat Boone’s — Wang Dang Taffy-apple Tango!
I should probably quit, George Costanza recommended getting out on a high note.
November 1st, 2009 at 12:06 am
This run for the truck plan has major FAIL written all over it.
November 1st, 2009 at 12:17 am
Zombie barbecue dialogue:
“arrrAHHH-GGH *burble* UUUUhhhh, chomp chomp, Urp- ohAAAH.”
translation: “The ribs are mighty tasty but the offal is awful.”
November 1st, 2009 at 12:20 am
my bad, that last one should go in the Food post of course.
Great line coming up — “yeah they’re dead, they’re all messed up”
November 1st, 2009 at 12:46 am
Hasn’t MW said in interviews that ‘there’s nothing more to be said’ about the Kennedy assassination? My impression was that he’s not planning to bring to heavily into the story line.
November 1st, 2009 at 12:53 am
Maybe not HEAVILY, but it’s clear it has to come up. He had Roger’s daughter’s wedding set for the following day.
November 1st, 2009 at 12:55 am
OOOOO- the mother and child reunion is only a moment away.
Too late. The little one dropped trowel on her.
BRAVO has Hannibal Lecter about to be eaten by really big hungry
pre-hams.
And I always marvel at the make-up they hid Gary Oldman under in that movie.
I first saw his name in the credits and could hardly believe it was him in that wheelchair.
***Not quite off-topic because Gary Oldman played Lee Harvey Oswald in Ollie Stone’s JFK which hinted at a possible assassination conspiracy involving the CIA front company United Fruit whose representative incidently was scheduled to meet with Mr. Fantastic Mad Man Donald Draper on the morning after his Shoebox of Horror showdown with the steely Betty D. but the meeting was cancelled because he expected to be in Norwich snugglin’ sweet Suzanne. New off topic game: Six degrees of Jon Hamm.
Undead all gone, time to go.
I’m going to comment once in the “Don Still Has Secrets” thread (which probably will not make many friends and may lose a few) before I get banned for cyberly self-gratifying myself in this thread tonight. The published word is like a drug, I do declare.
Thank you Lipp sisters and all ships at sea. I promise to take my lithium tomorrow.
November 1st, 2009 at 1:30 am
The next episode is titled “The Grownups”.
It made me think of something I read in a Kennedy biography. Two of Kennedy’s friends were talking (both famous – I can’t remember – maybe Dave Powers or Ted Sorenson) in the days after the assasination.
One said, “We’ll never laugh again.”
The other said, “We’ll laugh again. But we’ll never be young again.”
(I’m paraphrasing here from memory – but you get the point… enter the grownups…)
November 1st, 2009 at 8:07 am
Maybe he likes Elizabeth Arden?
November 1st, 2009 at 8:07 am
# 38 Rachel in CA:
Hasn’t MW said in interviews that ‘there’s nothing more to be said’ about the Kennedy assassination? My impression was that he’s not planning to bring to heavily into the story.
I agree with you completely. I remember Matt Weiner saying in an interview that the Kennedy assassination was not going to be a big part of this show. He said something like we know it, its been played out, etc. I think he could have the story line go right to the day after & Margaret Sterling’s wedding day/or lack thereof?
November 1st, 2009 at 10:01 am
#41 elle, that’s a great insight into a possible meaning of “The Grownups.”
Thanks for the welcome, Roberta!
What I meant by red door as a passover reference (from gardenweb): “Red doors are favorites of Christians because in the early days of the church, doors of homes were smeared with the blood of a lamb as a sign that the required sacrifice had already been made. The Lord promised he would passover those homes and not visit those with the 10th plague (killing the firstborn male in each house). So, red doors signify that safety lies therein. It is a welcome.”
November 1st, 2009 at 10:12 am
Actually, the red doors on Christian churches are not the blood of lamb…but the blood of Christ, and yes, symbolizing sacredness behind the doors.
November 1st, 2009 at 10:22 am
#45: Yes, I’ve heard that, too. I’m referring to the Biblical passover story in which the blood of a lamb is smeared on the doors of the houses of Israel so that the plague of the killing of the first born passes them by:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+12&version=NKJV
And, not to get too heavy about it, but Don is a first born son. And we have an assassination coming up, that will be played out on Mad Men in some way…
November 1st, 2009 at 10:23 am
Here’s a shiver for Mad Men fans: the curse of Tenskwatawa. http://htxt.it/akQf
November 1st, 2009 at 10:24 am
A Church in Secaucus New Jersey that I found on the web explains: St. David’s Episcopal Church in Laurinburg, NC on its website asserts: “Red Front Doors. The red doors symbolize the blood of Christ, which is our entry into salvation. They also remind us of the blood of the martyrs, the seeds of the church.” &
Churches in other denominations sometimes use red doors too. Immanuel Lutheran Church explains its red doors at its website:
“Red doors. These doors are symbolic of entering the Church and getting to our Heavenly Father through the blood of Christ”
November 1st, 2009 at 10:30 am
#46 GoodSally. OK. Got it. Blood of lamb not in a Christian meaning- but as a symbol of Passover – another religious meaning, interesting… Maybe Dan Weiner can enlighten us into his purposeful intention of having a red door on the Drapers’ house? And yes, my front door is painted red for no religious reason, but simply because I like the color.
November 1st, 2009 at 10:32 am
#46. GoodSally. One more thought. Don Draper is a first born son, yes. But JFK is a second born son.
November 1st, 2009 at 10:41 am
#48 Suzanne — good explanation of red church doors and what they symbolize, thanks.
Re Don and first-born son, etc., MM has been parallelling the Kennedy story all season, and Basketcases have been picking up clues — the four chairs and the AquaNet commercial, Joan’s blood-stained dress, Don at the dais making his speech while Betty looks on in a same set-up as the speech JFK gave in Fort Worth before the assassination, etc.
Weiner has said he doesn’t want to deal with the assassination directly. He gives us all kinds of whiffs of that moment, though, so I was just wondering out loud about Roberta’s question about what we might make of that red door, and tying that first-born son, passover idea to the JFK assassination and how Don has been a stand-in (at least in Basketcases’ minds) for JFK and the coming assassination.
Something convoluted like that. Maybe it’s day-after-Halloween sugar plunge. :>
November 1st, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Ok, I finally wrote my Ibsen post on Mad Men. I’m ready for my peer review now, no pun intended.
Mad Men: Three Ibsen Plays
November 1st, 2009 at 2:01 pm
#51 Good Sally. Totally agree. Lots of hints this entire season as to what is coming: JFK’s assassination. However, based on Matt Weiner’s statements, I am not expecting a head on episode about the MM characters’ reactions to JFK’s assassination. But something, more subtle. I also love “the thinking out loud” component of this blog. I’ve never been a blogger before this site, which I think is fabulous b/c of all the intelligent, insightful and “thinking out loud” remarks. My “Elizabeth Arden” comment was exactly that – a thinking out loud remark. As much of a stretch as some of our thinking out loud comments might be- it makes this whole blogging experience for me, which most of the time is simply reading other people’s blogs, truly fun. It is a credit to the Lipp Sisters & this fabulous (and in my opinion the best I have ever seen on TV) show that we all come here & try to pick apart Matt Weiner & his writers’ intentions. Bravo Lipp Sisters, Bravo Basketcases & bravo Matt Weiner & team Mad Men!
November 1st, 2009 at 2:12 pm
well, lom, I think that geekgasm (lol) indicates that live blogging not-mad men without an “open thread” just for the purpose of “tangential to a particular topic”might not be the best idea.
we all live and learn.
the comment on the Don Draper thread was excellent, tho.
November 1st, 2009 at 3:09 pm
you gave up the musical game.
I was alone in the digital wilderness, I had to amuse myself as a self-actualized androgynous cyber-identity.
Virtual selves have needs too.
oh riverdaughter, I’m perusing the dissertation via the zip drive now.
November 1st, 2009 at 3:15 pm
yes, I got sidetracked and couldn’t really stick with flesh-eating zombies. and I now have to get sidetracked again, or, rather, attend to my real existence.
in some ways, it will be a good thing when this season is over because I have a lot of work to catch up on.
November 1st, 2009 at 7:29 pm
I wanted to amend my #41 post (not that it matters!) so it has the proper names/attibution:
“When President Kennedy was killed, my friend Mary McGrory said to Pat Moynihan, “We’ll never laugh again.”
And Moynihan, who later became a U.S. senator, replied, “Mary, we’ll laugh again, but we’ll never be young again.” ”
from:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A47166-2001Sep17
November 2nd, 2009 at 11:46 am
Sorry if I missed it – but a red door for homeowners means the house has been paid for. http://la.curbed.com/archives/2008/07/red_door_a_sign.php
November 2nd, 2009 at 8:32 pm
The house in American Beauty has a red door, too.