Basket of Kisses

January Jones talks to AMC about last week’s episode, the fainting couch and more…

The Daily Beast calls Betty Draper “TV’s most misunderstood leading lady.”  Down under, The Vine trawls eBay for Betty’s style.

Was the mention of Dr. Lyle Evans on last week’s show stealth advertising?

Motorcycle USA reports that Honda was not product placement, and examines Honda ads from the period.

GFY gives kudos to Christina Hendricks at the Creative Arts Emmys.

Christina Hendricks is modeling for… London Fog. [Don't limit her exposure. -K]  She is also the cover feature for Capitol File’s fall fashion issue.

Christina Hendricks says some viewers expect her to act like her character Joan in real life, and partially blames social networking sites. She joins Basketcases everywhere in promoting Vincent Kartheiser for an Emmy nod.  Also, she is having difficulty convincing her Dad that she is “there” yet.

Elisabeth Moss has Emmys advice and more for Parade.

John Slattery talks to the L.A. Times about directing, acting with Talia Balsam and more…

Jared Harris says the cast plays a guessing game about future script developments.

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This week’s blink- an-eye- and -you’ll-miss-it tidbit: Phoebe’s reference to “The Parent Trap,” Walt Disney’s 1961 comedy about twins with divorced parents. This is in no way to be confused with the remake starring jailbird Lindsay Lohan, but the real deal, starring the gifted British actress Hayley Mills, who did double duty as the twins: tomboy Susan (who lives in California with her dad, played by Brian Keith), and girly Sharon, (who lives with her mom in Boston, played by Maureen O’Hara).

Although “The Parent Trap” was released in 1961, when Sally would have been about 7, it was very popular, and it’s quite possible that if she didn’t see it then, she would have had a chance to see it on television or as a revival in a commercial theater in the years that followed. In the sixties Walt Disney had a regular weekly program on NBC, “Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color,” that aired on Sunday evenings, which was required viewing for any self-respecting kid of the era. The show prominently featured serialized versions of his productions, that due to their length often took two or three weeks of viewing. In any event, “The Parent Trap” was popular enough so that it remained in the consciousness of grownups like Phoebe, who used it as a possible explanation for the motivation behind Sally’s aborted haircut.

I can’t remember exactly when I saw “The Parent Trap,” but it was one of the very first full-length feature movies I saw, and despite its contrived, sometimes corny plot, it remains one of my favorite childhood memories. Whether she actually would have seen it or not, it obviously has a special resonance for Sally and what she’s going through right now. First, and foremost, it’s a movie about divorce, something that’s kind of strange, when you consider that it’s a Disney picture and was made in 1961. As we witnessed in Season 1, divorce definitely wasn’t acceptable for society at large circa 1960- 1961, but by 1965, while still not mainstream, it is certainly becoming more commonplace. The fact that “The Parent Trap” has the Disney stamp of approval makes an adult topic like divorce okay for kids to watch–and this is years away from all the kid “self-help” books, tv programs, etc., about difficult subjects, so this is a tremendously important reference for Sally.

Also, like Sally, the twins of “The Parent Trap” have two attractive, glamorous parents: the urbane Brian Keith, an actor who had previously played mostly tough-guy roles, and after “The Parent Trap” then went on to star in many family-related productions, including the long-running “Family Affair”; and the striking Maureen O’Hara, who, adds a decided note of class and elegance to the role. She’s definitely not your average looking “mom.”

However, unlike Don and Betty, “The Parent Trap” has a happy ending, mom and dad get back together. And unlike the twins, Susan and Sharon, Sally has no alter ego to aid her; she’s on her own. Cutting Sharon’s long hair so that she looked like Susan, worked in “The Parent Trap;” who can blame Sally if she gives it a try?

You know, I quipped last week about my last koldtbord attracting possible smorgasbord enthusiasts to our shores. The funny thing is, thinking I should link to the meaning, maybe find a different take on the definition, I Googled and the third result was my previous entry. I just realized, in light of this episode that I Googled sounds like something someone might due during a hot episode of a spy show from the ’60s. And away … we go!

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.
~Kahlil Gibran

Masturbation is our first and natural form of sexual activity and if that’s inhibited or damaged, then we suffer for the rest of our lives.
~Betty Dodson

Sally plays Solitaire: Sometimes you do have to Google, and trust me that I mean use a search engine, things that you feel a little creepy about. I thought it might be informative to this entry to read about children and what Sally was doing on the couch. It was just sad. For those of you who think Betty was a bitch again, you’re right, but she’s not alone on this even today. I kept on finding sites where parents were freaking out because their little angel was caught masturbating. One parent made a point of mentioning his four-year-old daughter was physically disciplined for it — “the thrashing of a lifetime.” I was pretty much too appalled to read on. The universally held advice from people who don’t recommend beating or exorcism is to tell your child there is nothing wrong with it, but that it’s something they need to go do alone. Make sure there are no prying eyes:

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I am planning on writing a series on what MM characters watch on TV, but I have to start with Sally on last night’s episode! I wonder if Betty will ever let Sally watch an episode of The Man From U.N.C.L.E. again?  First the facts:

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was a spy series which aired on NBC from 1964-1968.  It originally started as a starring vehicle for Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo, lead agent for U.N.C.L.E., whose arch enemy was THRUSH. (I can still hear the theme music).  But within months, the producers discovered that Solo’s handsome partner, (Russian) Illya Kuriakin, was a huge force of nature that no tween or Beatlemaniac could resist!  (Cue Sally!) 

I remember my sisters pining for Illya;  David McCallum was quite the dreamboat back then!  He was as hot as The Beatles, and I like that MW and company latched onto this pop culture phenom of the time (BTW McCallum is still adorable as ‘Ducky’ on NCIS) Here’s the clip from the episode Sally was, uh, enjoying;  “The Hong Kong Shilling Affair”

The Hong Kong Shillig Affair (5)

And I’m sure the fact that the UNCLE episode dealt with an Asian theme was no coincidence either!  Bravo to a great episode! And yes, I still love you, Mr. McCallum!

I’m rejecting my habit of exploring one or two themes at length and I’m instead testing what it feels like to talk about a little of everything. In honor of Peggy, let’s call it a Koldtbord.

I really enjoyed this episode and I think it’s going to get a lot of discussion both immediately and in the more distant future. I’m not even going to attempt to cover all of it.

Faye: I really don’t like Faye. I understand that her job is manipulation – and that this is in the job description of most people in the show – but at this point she simply seems disingenuous and mean. There also seemed something calculated in the way she told Don what “type” he is in Christmas Comes But Once a Year, but for what reason? Power trip? She is every bit as contemptuous of these women as the men were in a similar scene with the Belle Jolie account. She comes across as a fox in the hen house and since I think the secretarial pool has been called hens before (Freddy?) I doubt this is an accident. I couldn’t help but feel she was leading these women to a vulnerable place and then exploiting them.

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The diagnostic criteria for Asperger’s assumes that the person being assessed feels entitled. Just because you like monologuing, and have trouble understanding the difference between monologuing and a conversation, doesn’t mean that you will monologue if something painful happens every time you try to do it. Just because you love flapping your hands and jumping up and down doesn’t mean you will do it, if every time you do it your parents scream at you to stop. The diagnostic criteria for Asperger’s assumes that you are seeing a person who has not received a punishment for ASD behaviors. Because when people are punished for things, they stop doing them.
- Amanda Forest Vivian, “Mad Men and My Dad”

Amanda Forest Vivian, who runs the outstanding autism-related blog I’m Somewhere Else, is a young autistic woman who adores Mad Men. She also believes that both Peggy and Pete reside somewhere on the autism spectrum, a concept that didn’t exist in the 1960s. And as a fellow autistic adult (albeit one not diagnosed until well into adulthood), I am inclined to agree with Amanda. (more…)

As part of Don and Lane’s “distraction” in “The Good News,” the duo heckle the screen at a showing of Gamera. This got me to thinking that a great spin-off for Mad Men could be a movie review show based on Mystery Science Theater 3000 called “Mad Men Flask Theatre 1965.” In it, a drunk Don and Lane would provide esoteric pop-culture references to the period flicks they pan.

But seriously, one of the things I noticed about the movie list Don and Lane have to choose from is that each of them arguably parallels Lane’s storyline in the episode (about being a stranger in a strange land and the toll it’s taking on his marriage). Send No Flowers, of course, is a direct reference to Sandy’s flower order mix-up. But the others seem pointedly related to him as well.

•  Zorba the Greek – an uptight Englishman travels to a foreign country.
• The Umbrellas of Cherbourg – a movie which demonstrates that absence doesn’t always make the heart grow fonder.
• The Guns of August- a documentary chronicling how a series of missteps lead to world war.
• It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World – Well, this could apply to ANYONE on Mad Men.

Of course, the film they do see, the aforementioned Gamera, is about a prehistoric turtle which explosively comes out of its shell in a large foreign city (this sure sounds like Lane to me).

And because I like to push the envelope, Lane’s comment to Don about the charismatic lad he knew around whom people flocked and who ended up dying in a motorcycle accident reminded me a little of Lawrence of Arabia (too much?)

Don and Lane see a Japanese monster movie. The obvious thought is that it’s Godzilla vs. the Thing, which came out in 1964. Since it was easy to see old movies in New York City in 1964, it could also be an earlier film.

However, a number of experts on Japanese monster movies insist it’s Gamera (1965), a clear anachronism.

What we need to resolve this is clear screenshots, preferably side-by-side comparison. If anyone has that information, we’d be happy to publish it.

In “The Grown-Ups”, Betty tells Henry that her favorite movie is Singin’ in the Rain, the iconic musical of 1952.  Given the Cinderella elements of Singin’… this wasn’t a surprise to me.  Betty has grown up with the princess ideal as her blueprint for life.  The  sub-plot of “Singin’…” involves starlet Kathy Seldon who eventually becomes a star and wins the hero, whose name by way is Lockwood—Don Lockwood

So if Betty was around 20 when Singin’ in the Rain came out, I believe she’d still be young enough to be enchanted, and possibly influenced, by the “Beautiful Girl” sequence.  Here you see the Rudy Vallee-esque crooner singing the praises of all the ‘Beautiful Girls” around him, and their perfect fashions for each occasion.  Looks like Betty took these fashion suggestions to heart!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E06HZ7AosrA
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