That last scene reminded me of the last scene in Alan Rudolph’s Choose Me. Lesley Ann Warren is sitting in the bus from Vegas, next to her new groom, Keith Carradine–an escapee from the looney bin.

In her eyes, the dawning thought: “What have I done?”

Hey, I was 12 in 1962 and looked 45 and I still do (I wish!) And by the way, I agree with Meowser, Henry is about 45. Wouldn’t that be about the age of the real Don Draper?

@101 — BlueLight, By the early 60s cat’s eye and harlequin glasses were going out and more rectangular and oblong shapes (very much like styles now) were coming in, with very dark frames and pearly pastels for the ladies. You might have seen Olive still wearing harlequin glasses in 1963, but not Hildy.

Have a great Thanksgiving all, I’m going on vacation today and will be in St. Martin all week so I won’t get to read any of these awesome posts and comments for a week. Hope you all have much turkey and triptophan induced naps.

Indeed. Take a look at a high school yearbook from that era. The high school seniors look like bank presidents.

And that reminds me of something all of a sudden! There are no women wearing harlequin glasses in Mad Men. That was still a going fashion statement into the mid-Sixties.

“I don’t think Henry is that old. People looked older then.” That is so true! I have a cookbook from 1956 — Mary Alden’s cookbook for kids or something like that — There are pictures of the children who tested the recipes and these 12-year-olds look like 45. Why was that???

When does S3 come out on DVD?

Henry definitely jumped the gun; hope is isn’t so “premature” in other areas. Perhaps he figured he–or another attorney friend–would just write up the agreement he wanted. Then Don would sign it. The divorce could exclude child support & give full custody to Betty–without even visitation; I doubt even Poor Betty would agree to that. Henry definitely wanted Betty to take no alimony or any other financial settlement for herself. Thus, she would be beholden to him–with a quick marriage her only choice.

After Henry got Betty situated in Reno, he probably returned to New York. How long would it take her to realize she was not in Ossining any more? Reno was full of lawyers who could help her get a fair settlement from Don. Even including their fees, since Henry’s “allowance” probably wouldn’t cover them.

Or maybe Betty realized in that lawyer’s office that she would take Henry’s help to escape, then arrange things herself. After all, “her people” supposedly know how to handle money.

Maybe she’ll even learn to ride Western style. She’d look cute in cowgirl duds–& might even learn to smile. http://www.wantedcowgirls.com/images/RenoBrowne-1-2.jpg

(OK, we really need Fanfiction: Betty’s Adventures in Reno.)

Pissing contest goes like this:

- Henry tells Betty not to accept any money from Don.
- Don sends child support checks anyway.
- Henry tells Betty not to cash the checks, and she doesn’t cash them.
- Don keeps sending checks anyway and wants to know why they haven’t been cashed.
- Henry tells him not to bother sending checks.
- Don keeps sending checks anyway.

Betty, who probably wants as little to do with Don as possible, is on Henry’s side of the argument. But it would continue thusly even if she wasn’t. Hence “pissing contest.” The phrase has nothing to do with whether or not the kids are objectively better off with the extra money (yes) or whether Don is thinking of his childrens’ welfare (also yes). It’s still an exercise in head-butting between two males (since Don could accomplish much the same thing by establishing trust funds for his kids and/or slipping them cash when he visits).

And I still say that if money was what Betty cared about most, she wouldn’t even think about leaving. Who cares how poor he was starting out, since he’s far from poor now, even not counting the bonuses and spiff from the S-C sale? And she helped him build that; it’s a fortune she’s walking away from, because she wants something he can never give her.

I also don’t think it’s unconditional worship she’s after. Henry has already called BS on her a couple of times, once when he didn’t show up for the fundraiser and she threw the box at him, and once when she called him about the hangup call and he told her not to toy with him. The difference is, Henry knows how to call BS on her without belittling or condescending to her. So he’s boring as toast, big whoop. She’s probably had enough of Mr. Excitement for one lifetime.