I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus
Underneath the mistletoe last night.
She didn’t see me creep
Down the stairs to have a peep;
She thought that I was tucked up
in my bedroom fast asleep.
Then, I saw Mommy tickle Santa Claus
Underneath his beard so snowy white;
Oh, what a laugh it would have been
If Daddy had only seen
Mommy kissing Santa Claus last night.
~Music and lyrics by Tommie Connor.
Dawn: Umm, guys, hello? Puberty? Sort of figured out the whole “no Santa” thing.
Anya: That’s a myth.
Dawn: Yeah.
Anya: No, I mean it’s a myth that it’s a myth. There is a Santa Claus.
Xander: The advantage of having a thousand year old girlfriend. Inside scoop.
Tara: There’s a Santa Claus?
Anya: Mm-hmm. Been around since like the 1500′s, but he wasn’t always called Santa… but you know, Christmas night, flying, coming down the chimney, all true.
Dawn: (Starting to smile with childlike wonder) All true?
Anya: Well he doesn’t traditionally bring presents so much as you know, disembowel children, but otherwise…
Tara: The reindeer part was nice.
~Buffy, Episode The Body.
When a child first catches adults out — when it first walks into his grave little head that adults do not have divine intelligence, that their judgments are not always true, their sentences just — his world falls into panic desolation. The gods are fallen and all safety gone. And there is one thing about the fall of gods: they do not fall a little; they crash and shatter or sink deeply into green muck. It is a tedious job to build them up again; they never quite shine. And the child’s world is never quite whole again. It is an aching kind of growing.
~John Steinbeck, East of Eden.
I find the choice of closing song to be brilliant on too many levels to count. Christmas songs ARE nostalgic by nature. For every new Christmas song your favorite American Idol puts out on his or her new CD, three at the very least will be standards that all of American Christendom has heard every holiday season in memory. All these songs by default carry with them the Ghost of Christmas Past. I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus is about a simpler time when people could chuckle at the child thinking mommy would kiss anyone under the mistletoe other than daddy. It carries with it the ideal of a together family unit with the parents happily conspiring to give the children a perfect Christmas. And, it provides an image of parents so in love that they share an embrace when no one is watching. The gentle punch line of the song is that this child really has no worries when it comes to daddy finding out about, ahem, where mommy kisses Santa.
Sally Draper knows there’s no Santa, not even a very human daddy in a Santa suit, and her mother really is kissing someone other than her father. She’ll allow her little brother to believe, but she wants Don to know she’s all grown up and is in on the adult conspiracy. That doesn’t stop her from hoping to be wrong, from the way her letter is addressed to the way she tells Don her hopes, while dismissing those hopes with a studied casualness meant to hide how very much it matters to her. She says she knows better than to expect Don to be there, but there seems to be a question mark, a feeling that she wants to still believe in Santa and Christmas and Daddy. Glen, with possibly the best motives if not intentions, is there to tell her that her parents will never back together and that Betty’s new marriage is threatening to Sally. “Doing what?” asks Sally, showing she’s still so very much a little girl. Think Baby Gene was a bitter pill, Sally? You just wait. Glen isn’t the kid maliciously informing others that the man in the red suit is a lie, he’s the kid who doesn’t want the pretty girl to be made to play a fool, not as long as he can help it. He didn’t know how to help Betty, but he’s older and wiser now. Glen, for you Buffy fans, may be love’s bitch, but at least he’s man enough to admit it.
Then we have Don, who decidedly will not be kissing mommy this year, nor will be adding slides to the projector. Betty asked him in The Wheel why he couldn’t make her family his family. She admonishes him for not being there with the kids, building memories, on that Thanksgiving. Don rather disingenuously acts as if the choice is out of his hands since the dinner is not being had in his home. Of course, by the end of that episode he realizes it is his choice and that there is a penalty to be paid for missing those moments. Don sitting alone on the holidays was the poignant ending of that episode and the first season. Matt Weiner and the voice of Christmas Yet To Come, who sounds eerily like Dylan, telling Don Draper his future if he does not repent.
The only thing that could have made that prophecy more accurate is if there was a knock on the door and it was a cop saying the neighbors had reported an intruder.
Peggy might be bold and she may want things that the older generation fears and people in her neighborhood don’t know enough about to even long for or imagine, but she is a “good girl” at heart. More nice than naughty, just in case anyone’s making a list and checking it twice. She might have had a baby out of wedlock, but she also honors her mother and loves her family. She may sleep with men, but she doesn’t necessarily want people to know that, not even her latest boyfriend. She tells Joan early on that she’s not a virgin, but she has more in common with Sally telling Don she knows Santa isn’t real than she does Betty’s friend the “party girl.” Sally smokes cigarettes behind closes doors and Peggy smokes, well, another type of cigarette behind closed doors. Peggy and Sally both do variations on “What did you bring me from your travels, Daddy?” Peggy might tell the guy pegged to play Santa that she doesn’t believe in him anymore, but she also makes it clear that she’s really sorry about that — and still at least hears his advice, even though she doesn’t heed it.
I loved this little exchange, by the way:
Peggy: Thank God! I don’t want to have to worry that every time I hurt your feelings you’re going to start drinking again.Freddy: Then why don’t you stop hurting my feelings?
Peggy: I’m sorry.
I loved it because:
Freddy eloquently, and in a way that speaks to why he still has a way with a slogan, told Peggy that she’d once again said something hurtful. She’d apologized for the first incident the day before, but it came across as defensive and slightly shocked that she’d said what she was thinking. Now her words seem to imply that he’s some fragile alkie that has to be coddled. He is the man who discovered her and now she is all but saying that he is not only not her equal, but flawed enough to preclude a real communication in a job where words matter lest he climb into a Scotch bottle.
He is also a man clearly familiar with The Twelve Steps, including the ones involving personal responsibility, taking inventory, and making amends. Peggy was distancing herself from her words and implying Freddy was in the wrong for worrying her. Freddy told her she had to own her choices and give him the respect of letting him do the same. This time her apology was sincere and for the right reasons. He might be flawed, but he still has things to teach her. (Edited to suggest Meowser’s recent entry, and the comment section, for more discussion on Freddy’s successes and missteps with A.A.)
Lastly, the exchange was one that he wouldn’t have had with anyone else in the office, and you know Roger is going to say some jackass things. Peggy was a girl when she came to SC. She looked up to Don and she looked up to Freddy. She’s fiercely defended both of them and it’s clear she continued to advocate for Freddy. He is the guy who gave her a chance, albeit in the most sexist manner possible under the circumstances. He took pride in her accomplishments, albeit while calling her “Ballerina” and “Precious.” She has extra power to hurt him and they’re close in a way that allows him to express that. It’s the rarest form in intimacy in the workplace, and this is a place that knows from intimacy in the workplace. They might never sit down and talk about what they mean to one another, but they probably just did anyhow.
Poor Allison also had to deal with a man in a suit not living up to the hype. Joey called him pathetic, but that’s what men do sometimes when they’re jealous of other men — happily point out flaws. It’s not that he doesn’t have a point and it’s not that Don’s increasing age and feet of clay haven’t been mentioned by beatniks, readers of O’Hara, and hitchhikers, but most women tend to be all up in his kavorka. Whatever she was expecting from an encounter from Don, and you know she’d imagined it, a Christmas bonus an a Limit Your Exposure/This Never Happened conversation was not it. The man is surely the king of the wink, wink, nudge, nudge conversation.
Couch quip on second viewing after Allison says she needs in a hour in case she has to get some food in Don: Yeah, Don wants to get something in you too, what with it being the season of giving and all. (I’m a sad, sad dirty-minded, gutter-dwelling person of dubious comedic skills — and I WILL be here all night.)
The theme of the episode for me was about disillusionment, the loss of innocence, and — as almost always — loneliness. Don was the guy in the lonely apartment, but Sally, Peggy, and Allison were also dealing with the loss of something they can never get back. In Peggy’s case, we know that’s not her virginity, as she seemed to have temporarily reclaimed it. Maybe it’s a Christmas thing.
***
Out of curiosity, can anyone make out if the bills are of the right vintage or not? They look so crisp!
49 Responses to “The Year Without A Santa Claus.”
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What a great post!
The original version of "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" was performed by Jimmy Boyd. It was released in 1952 and initially sold 2.5 million copies, reaching #1 on the pop music charts. Boyd was signed to Columbia Records by Mitch Miller, who died the other day, at age 99.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQMkp-pC81I
When Allison opened the card containing the $100 bonus from Don, it made me think of the $100 Christmas gift that Fred MacMurray gave Shirley McLain in the 1960 film, "The Apartment".
I think Don's gift was heartfelt, but I didn't get the same impression of Fred's gift to Shirley, which was accompanied by a rather cold suggestion that she go buy herself an alligator bag at Bergdorf's. (if you recall that scene, I think you'll agree)
Oops! MacLaine
Fred MacMurray was so brutal in "The Apartment." He gave me chills.
One thing: this is Don's second Christmas living away from the kids, presumably. But in 1963, he probably thought Betty might still change her mind. In 1964, they are divorced and she has remarried. And while he says the situation is "temporary," it has now dawned on him that it isn't.
So, if Don is Peggy's Work Dad, maybe Freddy is her Work Grandpa Gene.
Beautiful article; it tied so many of the loose ends in my head together.
(First time posting, but I LOVE Mad Men and this blog. It's such a wonderful resource and great to listen in on such intelligent conversation.)
Does anyone else think that Don was quite generous in his bonus for Allison? It would be almost $700 in today's money, according to "dollartimes.com", and for someone who was recently meeting with his accountant about his getting-ever-tighter finances, that's a lot of money.
I think he does have a lot of respect for her and will continue to keep it…although, who knows, what with the preview clip of him asking her what she's up to for New Years.
I believe Don's gift was both generous and sincere. He had taken pains to let Allison know he was giving her a bonus regardless of any belt tightening bonus freezes by the company. Although the card and cash had been prepared ahead of time, it still felt icky when he handed it over 'the morning after.'
Yes, it was very, very icky. I was cringing when Don grabbed Allison's hand in his apartment and, by the time we got to handing over the bonus, my cringe had magnified at least ten-fold!
As far as we can tell from the last episode of the last season, Henry whisked Betty & Baby Gene off to Reno before Christmas. So Sally & Bobby probably did see their Dad that season. Then Mommy came home with late Christmas presents–including a Brand New Stepdad.
It seems that Henry's only child is a grown-up daughter. Had he fantasized Betty giving him a son? Maybe he's put those plans on hold for now. And maybe he'd hoped to see in the New Year in his new home–not Don's old one. I don't think he's a bad guy & he's another one who missed Santa. (And we never even got to see the Jolly Christmas Dinner with his Lovely Mom!)
I miss Spike!
Excellent post. The whole Don/Allison thing was icky and continues to be. Even my boyfriend who very rarely watches was saying "don't do it" when it happened. I hope something happy happens soon because the loneliness so far is getting very hard for me to watch.
This post got me to thinking. The office party for Lee's benefit was exactly like the show parents put on for the kids at Christmas time – having them write letters and put out cookies for Santa, decorating the tree after the kids go to bed (in some families), hanging the stockings – all down to the "surprise" present. Lee's phone call was more of a traditional "letter to Santa" than Sally's actual letter was. He was basically saying, "I've been good (to you) all year; am I going to be rewarded for it?"
Nice post GD.
This is the first episode where I thought little Glenn WASN'T creepy — I thought he was sweet and protective, in his weird-affect kind of way. He wasn't trying to hurt Sally — he was just telling her how it was going to be for her, and giving a little advice as a person who'd already been through a lot of it. He was acknowledging her feelings. The vandalism was kind of chivalrous, in his child-like way. And oddly, Glenn has always been the chivalrous sort, albeit inappropriately at times.
Yeah, I'm not convinced that the vandalism itself was for Sally's benefit. My impression was that Glenn and his buddy were just out trashing houses for kicks, and when they got to the Francis residence he made sure to be the upstairs man so Sally's room would be spared/he could leave the lanyard. I'm happy to be proved wrong in future episodes, though.
I enjoyed the post. I like the Jimmy Boyd/Mitch Miller version better than the one they used over the credits; Jimmy gave the strange song an intelligent reading, so it seemed less weird. Jimmy's realization in the song was that there was no Santa Claus and that parents "do it." Another reason the song selection was spot on.
Has it been mentioned that Don did not even mention Alison's name on the card? I also thought at first viewing that Don initially put in one 50, then added the other 50 that morning, after the deed. Otherwise, just take 100 out of the bank. The two 50s seem creepier.
Melissa, I'm convinced that this was a deliberate attack specifically on the Draper/Francis house, not part of some random vandalism throughout he neighborhood.
For one thing, it seems pretty clear from their conversations that Glenn was trying in his own 11-yr-old way to help Sally out– he was responding to her saying she hated her house and wanted to move.
Secondly, the boy who was with him seemed inexperienced in this sort of thing. We know Glenn has a bit of experience with the concept of "breaking and entering" (albeit, into the Draper's backyard playhouse) but I'm not sure we can pin on him a general behavior of vandalism.
I became a bit of a Glenn fan in this episode.
Was it ever discussed that Betty's neighboorhood friend, Glenn's mother got divorced and re-married?
I am rewatching the 1st season, and it's so funny to see how disgusted Betty and the other neighboorhood women were with the "outcast" divorcee that moved onto the block!
Stephanie, I'm pretty sure this latest episode is the first time we find out that Helen has remarried.
You know who I'd *love* to see? Francine. I wonder what Betty and Francine's relationship is like now. I can imagine that Betty has decided both that Francine is beneath her now (now that she's married an upstanding Rockefeller aide), and simultaneously that Betty is ashamed of her divorce and hasty remarriage. I bet it's an interesting dynamic, either way.
#16 I too would love to see the repercussions of the divorce and re-marriage on the neighborhood. Francine, especially. Betty still has to go to the supermarket, get her hair done, etc.
As for the Rockefeller connection, we haven't seen the devastating blow to the campaign, as Goldwater and the conservatives got the nomination. It had to have been a disappointment to Henry. Also, wouldn't he have been extremely busy during the primaries?
I don't think Betty is ashamed of her hasty remarriage – she may be sticking it to everyone. She one-upped Don Draper.
I'd love to see a friendly gathering of all the neighbors. And then see the whispered exchanges in corners.
Everybody knows that Betty met Henry, dumped Don & married Henry in a hurry. (How much of a hurry? We're not sure yet.) Don's wanderings were not well known; Betty told Helen the first time she kicked him out, but she mostly does not share intimate details of her life. And Don's identity is definitely not known; letting it out would damage Betty's social & financial standing. (He's still paying for the house. And surely, child support.)
So it's evident that Betty found a husband she liked better & traded up. She probably did not give it up before marriage–but does everybody believe that? And, if she really traded "up"–why are they still in the old house? That odd fact would add to the whispers.
But I'm sure everybody is all smiles when talking to Betty!
Blown away by this post and the thought of Glenn as Santa. Coming into your home and leaving "gifts"? And having a loaded prior relationship with "Mommy" – who gave him a gift long ago?!? Oh, my head! And the advice to "ask for something big now." Even the fact that their encounter is at the Xmas tree "store" – in the Ossining-like town I grew up in, the Xmas tree place was also where you visited "Santa" and got your picture taken.
Also – Glenn is Don in training. The broken home; the rage. The wounded boy that beautiful-angel Betty can be touched by, but can also betray.
Finally – I'd have to watch again, but doesn't the height-of-ickiness between Don and Allison start with him pulling her ONTO HIS LAP? And the resonance between her holding Sally's Santa letter and her holding Don/Daddy/Santa's card with the $100 – yeesh!
Oh, this show. Oh, this blog. I feel like an old flame is back in town.
Forgot to add – yes, the bonus was a given from before, and it was just the timing and the delivery that made it terrible – but was anyone else reminded, strongly, of Don's gift to Adam?
I think that the creepiest part about Glenn is that he is both endearing -and then suddenly doing something highly inappropriate.
I can sympathize with the way he feels–but I find his ways of coping with it highly troublesome.
He is a loose cannon, and it makes me very worried for Sally.
Great post.
#18:
Henry has rather plainly bit off more than he could chew in the financial support of the former Betty Draper. Don humiliated him over the house and they are still living there. It is hard to imagine that this will not come up again.
#20:
There have been a lot of reminders of S1 already with the return of Glenn, the inappropriate gift of money, the return of Freddy Rumsen, the emphasis on the importance of the Lucky Strike account, the opening at Thanksgiving and probably a half dozen thing that I missed. What has been great is not just the call-backs themselves, but how often it has led to characters finding the proverbial shoe on the other foot. Consider:
- Glenn now has an attachment to Sally that is a secret from Betty.
- Peggy is now the patron of Freddy.
- It is the salesmanship of Roger, and not the creative genius of Don, that is keeping Lucky Strike happy.
- It is Betty, not Don, who is the unwelcome interloper at her In-Laws Thanksgiving.
Following that trend, I do not think that Allison is going anywhere. She is not going to give Don the easy out of resigning, nor is she going to accept that "this never happened".
She is not going to give Don the easy out of resigning, nor is she going to accept that “this never happened”.
I don't know… for all his shittiness towards Allison, do you really think she's going to make a big deal about it at the office? I think that's unlikely.
I suspect she'll suffer in silence, like she's supposed to. But then again, maybe she won't be quite as quick to help Don out of a jam (shopping for his kids and wrapping the presents… making sure she covers for whatever inappropriate behavior he engages in… providing convenient excuses for him to leave uncomfortable meetings… that could all be over.) I could see her taking a "eff you too, Mr Draper" kind of attitude, in a subtle way, and reverting to being only as competent and solicitous as any other secretary might be, and not one bit more.
I guess it depends on how much 'in love' with Don she thinks she is — was it just a momentary lapse of good judgment on her part that lead to a five-minute stand with a sexy boss, or has she been dreaming and pining away for him all along? The former, I hope.
Turn your attention to Joey, Allison! He's really cute, and interested in you. Or, there's always Ken Cosgrove, wherever he is– you had a thing for him once, as I recall. (and he for you.)
(shopping for his kids and wrapping the presents… making sure she covers for whatever inappropriate behavior he engages in… providing convenient excuses for him to leave uncomfortable meetings… that could all be over.)
Oh, and how could I forget "… shlepping his keys down to the Village in the middle of the night while he's passed out in his doorway."
Next time, it's "Send a cab to the office to pick them up, Mr Draper. I'll leave them at the front desk. Happy Christmas!"
#15 Stephanie:
I am rewatching the 1st season, and it’s so funny to see how disgusted Betty and the other neighboorhood women were with the “outcast” divorcee that moved onto the block!
Betty actually didn't seem disgusted at all. Francine and the other housewives were the ones that had issues with Helen Bishop being divorced, her long walks around the neighborhood, etc. Betty in contrast was quite kind to Helen and even defended her a couple of times when Francine made comments. It was only when things got ugly in the supermarket (when Helen made the comment, "What's wrong with you?") that Betty's relationship with Helen turned hostile.
I don’t know… for all his shittiness towards Allison, do you really think she’s going to make a big deal about it at the office? I think that’s unlikely.
No, Allison strikes me as the discrete type. It is just that we really don't know her motivations yet. Maybe she slept with him out of pity, or maybe she slept with him because he was more powerful than she was. Both of those are certainly possible.
However, it is also possible that Allison did it because she is single, on the verge of 30 and is in a job with limited options for advancement. If she is going to be feeding him and wrapping his kids presents anyway, then it would be a lot more comfortable to be doing it in Ossining.
Despite Don's caddish behavior, I sincerely doubt that he has the self-control to resist the prospect of sex with a side of nurturing over any length of time. To me, that means the sexual relationship will continue as long as Allison is willing.
Don's history also suggests that he has a very hard time telling people close to him "no", even when "yes" is a lie. The second (or is it third) Mrs. Draper is probably going to be the first woman with whom Don happens to be sleeping who tells him she wants to get married. Fidelity is, of course, another matter. Everyone working at SCDP is probably aware of both of those things.
We will see what happens. These early episodes are always a little disorienting as the ground for the new season gets laid. I am just not sure Alexa Alemanni is getting pushed back in the ensemble.
Excellent post GD!
So I kind of pictured Lee Jr. as “Bad Santa” or maybe reverse Santa. On short notice he announces he is going to check in and see how “the kids” at SCDP are doing – with sort of who’s been naughty and who’s nice checklist. He doles out fear, admonitions, gropings and lots of humiliation on Roger. The Santa image to me primarily comes from the anticipation of Bad Santa’s arrival. Roger asks where he is and like a very helpful and beautiful chief elf, Joan does all the prep in anticipation of the big guy’s visit.
Like it or not, the “gift” of his business is keeping SCDP afloat and he knows it.
#24 gypsy howell, I'm thinking we're going to learn that the "somebody" Allison was "supposed to meet" after dropping off Don's keys included Cosgrove.
Aaron Staton has been listed in the opening credits and in Season 4 group photos – he's going to be back in the picture and now it makes sense that he's coming back as Allison's boyfriend, perhaps going all the way back to their "Nixon v. Kennedy" hijinx.
Allison couldn't bring him to the SCDP Christmas party – way too awkward if not totally inappropriate – but could meet with Peggy and some of the old gang (excluding Campbell) for some after party Christmas cheer.
Thanks for the kind words!
I think Glen's choice of the Draper house is deliberate. The fact that he called ahead to make sure they were out seems to indicate that. We talk about how Sally is going to be part of the new, more liberated generation, but it occurs to be that Glen, petty crimes aside, has an interesting destiny. On one hand, I can see him as a really terrific husband and father — the kind of guy who remembers b-days. On the other hand, I see him as someone who might spend the rest of his life rescuing women, making up for when he couldn't save his mother or Betty.
The bonus was huge! I wonder if that was a concession for the viewers who might think not realize the worth of money back then. Perhaps they didn't want the post show buzz to include "and then Don gave her an insult of a bonus."
I thought of another Santa mentioned obliquely in the episode — LBJ! He was able to pass Medicare, and other goodies that we still treasure today with his Great Society programs. Before Johnson, so many programs we take for granted didn't exist.
cossatot — maybe, but on the other hand it seemed like she was making plans to meet Joey later, who had been recently flirting with her. Hopefully Allison has two cute, interesting men in hot pursuit of her, and she can forget all about her five minutes with Don.
I'm coming around to the idea that Don really did feel pretty shitty about the whole thing, but just has no idea how to communicate his real feelings to anyone.
Well, we'll see next week, won't we?
@25framesaminute,
OMG! OMG! OMG! I was going to respond that that would make Geoff (or however you spell it) The Grinch — and then I recall Faye saying to Don that she couldn't leave until Geoff and Bert Cooper figured out how to take food from children so — yeah.
What an intereting post, I’d have never ever thought of Glenn as being Santa of a sort.
Betty may have married “up” in terms of career connections and family upbringing (though considering Don’s family it would be pretty hard not to marry someone with a better upbringing/rep) she obviously wasn’t marrying up in term of money since Henry seems to be unable to purchase the Draper house (see his slight wince when Don suggeted he buy the house). I think Betty if/when she moves will have to take a step down in terms of her home and lots of little luxuries, so I wonder how much others, who aren’t aware of Don’s background, will really see her as trading up. I, like others, really hope we get to see the Junior League/neighbors reaction b/c though HF has better connections she is a “scarlet woman” of sorts now.
#33 Thanks. For each Santa, there is an anti-Santa. Anspaugh and Bert were pretty harsh.
#24 I was also thinking Alison was either meeting Cosgrove afterward or Joey. I would be great if she eloped with Ken, as Don pines for her.
@ 11 gypsy howel-I agree with you 100% about Glen. Everything makes sense when viewed through the eyes of someone that age.
Welcome, Rebecca, don't be a stranger.
SmilerG
I just saw "Promises, Promises"on Broadway. It's the musical (originally 1968) based on the movie "The Apartment". The revival is for all of us Mad Men fans. There's a character named "Peggy Olson" in the play…coincidence?
gypsy howell – on rewatch, I'm with you now. The first time I saw it, I missed the brief scene where Glan calls the house and nobody's home.
#32 gypsy howell – The one person Don does tell his true feelings: Anna Draper. He does feel pretty shitty about Allison, but even shittier about his lonley Christmas. "I don't hate Christmas. I just hate this Christmas." I think he'll be in California sometime this season.
On reading this, I suddenly realized how perfectly fitting Anya's Santa story is for "The Body," the episode where Buffy and Dawn confront the ultimate end-of-childhood reality, the death of their mother (Sorry, still a Buffy addict after all these years
)
Great explication of Glen's motives, and of the Peggy/Freddy relationship.
@ Chris #19
have to watch again, but doesn’t the height-of-ickiness between Don and Allison start with him pulling her ONTO HIS LAP
Perfect! An exact, perverse Santa/Bad Santa image.
Yes, and we can go further with the Don/Allison Santa thing: She reads the letter to Santa Then Don tells her she’ll get a bonus and she says something like, ‘Good, I didn’t want to have to write a letter to Santa.’
@Melville,
Buffy forever!
@SmilerG,
Last time I saw The Apartment was years ago and I definitely need to check it out again.
I think Joey might be disgusted by Don, but I also think he knows the guy has charisma and looks, and that bugs guys with less of both.
@Gypsy Howell – I wish we could see more of Francine! It'd be an interesting scene, probably a stand-off. Betty's in a strange place, having moved up socially, yet having had to divorce to get there. I think Betty and Francine would both think they were the superior of the other.
That's why I want the scene!
Another quick note about Mitch Miller. In addition to being a pop record producer, he was an accomplished classical oboist.
You can hear a nice example of his work, with Charlie Parker, on the jazz album, "Bird With Strings".
"I Didn't Know What Time It Was"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yx2rJthMXJw
Wow, what a post. Great stuff, GD.
I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus is about a simpler time when people could chuckle at the child thinking mommy would kiss anyone under the mistletoe other than daddy.
But evidently the reverse wasn’t true, as depicted by the very circumstances of Don’s birth, and…pretty much Don’s entire adulthood. Somehow “I Saw Daddy Kissing Santa’s Elf” wouldn’t have been half as amusing. (Besides, lots of mommies did kiss other men besides daddy, even then; they just had to do it a lot more furtively.)
And maybe Joey envies Don’s money and success, but I don’t think he envies how Don lives outside of work.
Also, isn’t Glen 13 now, maybe even 14? (He was said to be 9 in Marriage of Figaro.) Sally is 10. I don’t know that his interest in her is romantic; that’s a pretty huge age difference at that age. I kind of see him more as a mini-Travis Bickle, the sociopath who wants to set the innocent girl free because she represents his last shred of hope.
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#24, #34 I just saw the episode again. Of course, it's not impossible that Ken, or someone else from old SC, was going to be included, but Alison most definitely tells *Joey* and two others (man and woman) whom I didn't recognize by name at the office party that she will join them at some restaurant or bar afterwards. She says first "in half an hour", then changes it to "Make it an hour, I might need to get some food into him" or something like that – that's where Joey comments "pathetic". So it's a bit of a stretch to think that there was some pre-arranged date with Ken or anyone else; it seems to be more an impromptu extension of the party that some of the SCDP workers are going on to when the party was ending.
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