Don Draper/Dick Whitman
Born approximately 1926.
Lived in Ossining, NY, with his wife Betty and their two children, Sally Beth (Sally) and Robert (Bobby). In June of 1963 their third child, Eugene Scott Draper (Gene) was born.
Upon the end of his marriage to Betty, Don got an apartment in Manhattan. As of November 1964 Don lives at 104 Waverly Place, Apartment 3R, near the corner of Sixth Avenue.
Don’s first advertising job was in-house for a furrier (where he met Betty on a modeling job; Don the copy writer, Betty the model). His boss at the furrier was Teddy, an old Greek writer. Roger found him there. He was in night school at the time, at City College of New York. Don earned his degree from City College over several non-consecutive years of night school.
Relationships & Affairs:
- Betty Hofstadt Draper Francis: Don married Betty in May, 1953. This marriage ended in December of 1963. Sometime between December 1963 and November 1964, Betty married Henry Francis.
- Graphic artist Midge Daniels. Conversation indicated it had gone on for about five years. Ended summer of 1960.
- Rachel Menken: Met March/April 1960. Began a passionate relationship over Labor Day weekend, 1960. Ended in November. Rachel subsequently married Tilden Katz.
- Bobbie Barrett: The wife/manager of comedian Jimmy Barrett, Bobbie and Don had an affair from late March through late May of 1962.
- Joy: Don spends a few days with this wealthy heiress at the end of September, 1962.
- Shelly: A stewardess, they connect for one night in April, 1963.
- Suzanne Farrell: Don has a romantic affair with Sally’s former teacher from September through October, 1963.
- Allison: Slept with his secretary Allison once, in December 1964, and then acted like nothing happened.
- Meaningless sex: Don had an ongoing “relationship” with a prostitute named Candace in late 1964. In March or April of 1965, he slept with a woman in the ad industry and a waitress named Doris.
- Dr. Faye Miller: A psychologist consulting with Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, Don began a relationship with her in June 1965 and broke it off in October.
- Megan Calvert: Don slept with his secretary once in August, 1965, and then began an affair with her in October, resulting in a sudden and impulsive marriage proposal.
Dick Whitman was the child of a prostitute who died giving birth to him. He was raised by his father, Archie, a drunk, and Archie’s wife Abigail. They had a son, Adam, when Dick was around 8-10 (?). Archie died from being kicked in the face by a horse, and Abigail soon “took up with another man,” who may be Uncle Mack, and whom she may or may not have married. They moved from Pennsylvania to (Indiana?) after Archie died.
Archie Whitman was a farmer. Their house did not have indoor plumbing.
(Production notes indicate that the Whitmans lived in rural Pennsylvania, although this location has never been mentioned on-screen.)
Abigail died years later of stomach cancer, and Uncle Mack died as well.
Dick played football in high school.
Dick joined the army and served in Korea, where he switched dog tags with his senior officer, Don Draper, immediately after Draper died in an explosion.
In approximately 1952, Don was a used car salesman.
His half-brother Adam believed him to be dead until spring of 1960, when he spotted a story (with photo) about Don Draper in Advertising Age, and sought him out. Adam was working as a janitor at American Calculator in the Empire State Building, and lived in a single room occupancy (SRO), which he hoped was temporary. In October of 1960, Adam hung himself in the SRO.
The NvK script indicates that Dick/Don is 23 in 1950 (Korean War flashback), and 33 in 1960. This seems to be about the oldest he could be to have missed serving in WWII–even at the tail end of it. So, Don born in 1927?
Okay, the Advertising Age supplement says that Dick/Don is 36, not 33. Would that be at the time of season 2 or season 1? 36 in 1960 makes him well old enough to have served in WWII–and for more than just the tail end of the War. Did he get some kind of farm deferment? Why was he then allowed to go to Korea? Wouldn't the same deferment be in effect?
The Ad Age supplement is explicitly 1960. Roberta has been working on a post about this…
I have?
Oh, about the timing stuff… yeah, it's a clusterfuck.
I thought you meant the Ad Age thing. 'Cause, not.
If he was around 26 in the Korean War he would have been 18ish in '42 and 20ish around '44. 20 was the draft age during WWII. However, if the character was in college during WWII he could have had a deferment for certain degree programs, especially in '44/5. Since he was an officer in Korea he might well have been college-deferred for WWII. Or, alternatively, he might have been enlisted in WWII and that may be used as storyline in the 2nd season?
He wasn't an office in Korea; I mean, the real Don Draper was an officer who was there because the Army was paying for his college. Dick Whitman was a private who volunteered "to get away."
Well, i'm not clear on his *not* being an officer, unless i missed the part when that was stated in the series. I'm just outlining the real-world potentialities for the criteria presented. He(Whitman) might have been prior-service enlisted from the WWII-era, a career enlisted soldier, a junior officer, or a recent(Korea-era) enlistee from the perspective of possibilities(as long as the writer/s follow real rules and procedures in that era of military service). Unless it was specifically said that he was a recent inductee and a private soldier it leaves open these other possibilities for further developments in the series.
Unless it was specifically said that he was a recent inductee and a private soldier
It was.
Right, Deborah. If I remember correctly, the real Don Draper even asked what ridiculous notion made Dick want to be there. I got the sense Dick Whitman hadn't had too much military service beyond basic training. When the real DD asks if he knows how to shoot a gun, Dick/Don's response is I can for what training I've had, or something like that. His whole demeanor suggested that he was a relatively new recruit with very limited knowledge of life in the army. Had he served prior to Korea, I think he would have had more weariness–he'd be more hardened toward military life, and had a better knowledge of protocol. It seemed like the real Don Draper had to tell him everything. Someone who'd been in the service prior to that wouldn't need that kind of instruction.
If Dick/Don was of age during any part of WWII, I can't imagine him not taking that as an opportunity to get the heck out of dodge. That's what young men did then. If they could serve and they wanted to leave home, that's what they did. In my own family, there were several relatives who even lied about their ages because that was their ticket out of the South. What was Dick/Don's circumstance that made him different from the other young men of the era?
My question exactly, Hullabaloo: where was Dick during WWII? As stated above he was more than old enough to serve, and the part about "wanting to get away" wasn't clear to me. Away from what? Or who? If not a soldier/sailor/Marine, was he maybe a crook or hood of some sort before Korea? As an adoptee he wouldn't have qualified for the Homestead Exemptiom from service during the bigger war(WWII).
Therefore- he's got some "missing time" between say age 16(1940ish) and Korea(1950-3). If he stole Draper's ID he most likely never went to college at all. What did he do during the '40's?
My other thought is that he *might* have been in the merchant marine, given his seeming worl-weariness. Because of his demeanor i assume he's well-travelled or at least had more living in his time than just farmwork. Rural farming is hard work but it hardly creates a complicated soul.
Could it be possible that Dick is younger than the real (dead) Don?
Jeff, Roberta blogged about the timeline here.
FYI: My father was born early 1928, graduated high school June 45 and was drafted. Not sure of date of draft – his 18th birthday Jan 46?
He served overseas in Phillipines. Upon his death we learned he was considered a WWII Era Vet. Got a certificate too.
This week’s episode alludes to him selling cars in (we’ll say) 1952, since he says “that was the ’49, this is the 1950… the car is two years old.” Am I seeing this wrong, because this messes up the whole WW2/Korea timeline.
Oh Gods, you're right; it keeps getting worse.
Jumping ahead a bit.. Which episodes should I watch to learn how certain employees of Draper's agency "learned the truth" about Don's past? I've missed quite a few of the first season.
HandEDave, only 2 Sterling Cooper employees (that we know of) know about Dick/Don. One is Pete Campbell, the other is Bert Cooper. Rachel Katz (nee Menken), a former client of Sterling Cooper knows a little about Don's upbringing, but doesn't know his real name is Dick Whitman.
The Dick Whitman/Don Draper backstories are contained in episodes 5G (episode 5), The Hobo Code (episode 7), Long Weekend (episode 10), and Nixon vs. Kennedy (episode 12) of the first season.
Oh, and in episode 11, Indian Summer, Pete intercepts some mail of Don's, which is how he finds out about Don's past.
I apologize that my first post at this fabulous site is to take issue with another comment, but I simply can 't let this go unremarked upon:
"Rural farming is hard work but it hardly creates a complicated soul."
toby,
My father was raised on a farm in NC before and during the Depression. He and his 8 siblings were very aware via movies, newspapers, radio, passers-by that a very different world existed beyond the tobacco rows. He bolted for Europe during WWII, then left the South for good for NYC and eventually its suburbs, where he never really fit in yet neither could he return. His was among the most complicated souls I have ever encountered, yet so were those of some who stayed on to farm. Never underestimate the extent to which urbanites are under the spell of pop culture and ideology or the conflict experienced by rural folk whose lives remain perhaps more connected to both the very real and the manufactured.
I have always thought Don's farm background is an exquisitely powerful reason-enough for his complexity.
The ACTUAL stuff that is used on Don Draper's hair!
http://themoment.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/30/loo…
Could it be possible that Dick is younger than the real (dead) Don?
I think so. Anna Draper mentions in the flash back of "The Mountain King" that Dick had used her husband serial number to get a drivers license. This means Dick would have to assume real Don's information/history, including birth date when he established his new identity. Like Betty possibly shaving a few years off her real age, Dick probably added a few years in his employment information to make things consistent with the real Don's information to successfully take over Don's identity. He's too smart of a guy make let a stupid mistake like that ruin everything.
Greetings! My dad, born in 1926, was denied serving because of his "role" that was important to the WWII effort: FARMING. So I agree with an early post: farmer deferment. Dick didn't avoid WWII by choice. But as the "First Son" of an American farmer, my Dad — a healthy stud — was NOT allowed to join; rather, stay back and farm. FYI: My beloved dad, now deceased, forever carried this "stigma" of NOT being a WWII vet; blow to his self-esteem; i.e., never felt he was quite "good" enuf, because he didn't serve WWII. He wasn't part of the VFW nor American Legion, he missed out on this "fraternity"…and so, he worked double/triple overtime as a magnanimous man to make up for this "deficiency." I mention all this, because a farm deferment in the midst of a county FILLED with "missing" 18-year-old boys…was a fact. That's why my Mom found my Dad to date! Mom said, "there were NO boys to take you to the movies" during WWII. Thx for reading this post all the way thru!
Anna met Dick/Don in 1952, according the the scene where Dick is selling cars. She's already been looking for the real Don for a while, maybe up to a year? That would put Dick in Korea between 1950 and 1951. The war started in June 1950, and it sure seemed that the real Don had been there for a while by the time Dick gets there, plus there are hints in the scene in the military hospital that Don's time was nearly up – he's pretty close to going home before the explosion. So – maybe it's 1951?
I always assumed that the real Don Draper was older than Dick (he certainly seemed much older and more worldly than Dick, who almost literally 'just fell off the back of the turnip truck' into the war zone), and that Dick assumed Don's birthdate when he assumed his identity. Being younger, say 18-20 in 1951, would explain why he wasn't eligible for service in WWII.
gypsy could well be on to something … in Feb 1962 Don is 36 (his response in the drs office). could he have appropriated the real Don Draper's age?
this makes the timelines used previously irrelevent … Don's actual age could be even younger. How much older do we think the real Don was than Dick? That could easily account for the funny gap in the timeline.
I have given up on trying to figure out Don's age/birth date. There are so many inconsistencies in each episode.
5G(?): The Advertising Age supp said he is 36 in 1960, dating his birth to ~1924
Nixon vs. Kennedy: The above is probably Dick's age and not real Don's age because from Pete's snooping, the real Don "should be 43 years old, in which case you look remarkably good." We also learn from Pete that Don and Dick were in Korea in 1950.
For Those Who Think Young: The doctor mentions Don is still 36 even though it's now 1962.
The Mountain King: Dick tried get a driver's license with real Don's serial number, so the license says real Don's age. Also, we learn in that episode that Anna and Dick every Christmas together before he married Betty. Dick mentions Sally is 8 when he and Anna are on the porch, so Sally was born in 1954. Assuming Anna first tracks him down at the car dealership 1951/1952, the would have spent probably 1 or maximum 2 Christmases together before he married Betty.
Out of Town: We have confirmation that Don's driver's license has real Don's birthday, as he flashes back on Dick's real birthday. I guess no one at Sterling-Cooper does a background check and takes his word for it and so does Advertising Age. I wonder if this will have consequences when real Don is suppose to hit 65 and he starts collecting social security.
In "The Gold Violin," Anna says she and [the real] Don were married for seven years. It's not clear whether that includes all the time she's been looking for him.
Don was 10 when his father died.
One possibility no one seems to be considering is that Don lied to the Ad Age reporter in order to make himself appear older. Most journalists back then took you at your word — that's why, before the Internet, you'd find inaccurate (younger) ages for actors and actress. Don may have wanted to appear older, or may have wanted to further obscure his real past.
(I think someone did suggest that Don may have simply been giving the real Don's age.)
Actually, I did see that Empress Rouge offered the possibly that Ad Age had simply taken Don at his word. The "age 36" in Ad Age can probably be discounted