I don't know that Joan is attracted to Don exactly, but in 5G, where Peggy admits to Joan that Don was sneaking out to see Midge while Betty & the kids wait in his office for their portrait appointment (except he wasn't with Midge, he was with Adam, but Peggy didn't know that) Joan says something to the effect of "well… that explains why he never hit on me."

As if she had been hoping a little bit that he would.

Or, maybe it's just that he's the ONLY man in the office that never hit on Joan.

Anyway, I love the honest relationship they have, even though you only see little glimpses of it. Joan's the only person I can remember (with the exception maybe of Roger in his more acerbic moments) who elicits a heartfelt, honest laugh out of Don – in the hospital with Guy, and that hallway scene.

If you think about this, it makes sense. Roger is handsome. Saying this would make her seem less threatening to that man's wife, yet more interesting as a person.

Which she is anyway.

Well, what does she go for? I still don’t know, and I would like to.

Considering that Joan has been with Roger and Kinsey in the past I'd say that she goes for men with witty colourful personalities and boyish humour. I actually thought Joan was nicely-matched with Paul. Just remembering their cute little cha-cha-cha makes me smile.

@36, Teen idols? I don't know. But children born in the 1950s and early 60s had parents from almost two generations. A lot of people born who were young adults in the Great Depression did not marry until the WWII years or after the war, and they started their families in their 30s (after the war through the mid- to late 1950s). Another set of parents of baby boomers became young adults in the late 1940s through the 1950s, and they were quite different in their tastes, style and attitudes and more tuned in to Ricky Nelson, Paul Anka, Frankie Avalon, Elvis Presley, than to Sinatra, Perry Como, Bobby Darin, and Tony Bennett. The youngest of this parental group were teen fans of the 50s idols! (Often a person could tell the age of the parents from the kids' personalities and behavior, too.)

I thought the no-go of Joan and Don was because Don didn’t dally in the office – am I wrong? Ah, that assumes Don is holding off an attracted Joan. I'm not so sure that kind of attraction is there. Joan watched Don move up at the company so she's seen his persona and talent evolve over 10 years. I think they have a very warm bond of mutual respect and a certain empathy, without being sexually attracted to each other. Joan knows most of Don's secrets (not Dick's secrets) and she's seen his moves, so she also is forewarned about Don's behavior as a casual lover.

I sense that Don genuinely likes women, likes being with them, and likes give-and-take with a smart, confident woman at the top of her game, whether or not it leads to sex. It's one of the sad things about his relationship with Betty, that initially he must have been attracted by something like the flirtatiousness that she showed in Rome, yet in their marriage we see him stifling that in her.

Teen idols were all the rage in the late 50s & early 60s. Did they influence the taste of older generations?

I thought the no-go of Joan and Don was becuase Don didn't dally in the office – am I wrong?

Mr. Milner was my icon of "handsome" at ages 10 to 14. (His traveling companion George Maharis as Buz Murdock, had Draper-like magnetism, but that's OT.)

If you've never seen Route 66, want to know more about how the 60s felt and lived, and are looking for something great to watch during the MM interim, I highly recommend that you check it out on DVD. This series was mold-breaking television that has held up well over time.

@33, Gypsy, I saw that as a jab, too.

As for "I don't go for handsome", wasn't that Babylon, just a scene or two prior to the Joan and Roger reveal?

That's funny – I took that line to be a wicked little jab at Roger from Joan, who's basically telling Roger that in a Don-vs-Roger Handsome Match, he loses. (And as we know, Roger is a little bit sensitive about how he matches up with Don in attracting the ladies.)