Basket of Kisses

Don
Don is on the city-bound, flipping through Life Magazine, checking out the Volkswagen “Lemon” ad. A man greets him. As Dick. Dick Whitman. Don looks puzzled, smiles, does not correct him, chats with him (his name is Larry Krizinsky), and takes his card. Definitely relieved when Larry’s cuts short the “reunion”. “Old Dick Whitman, what are the chances?”

At work, he has a Secor Laxative meeting (which has been postponed a few times) where the boys give him essentially nothing, except for a few lame laxative jokes. In all seriousness, the jokes lead to a discussion of the merit of brand self-effacing humor, like the Volkswagen ads. Don, on all counts: We are not amused.

Don sees Rachel at the office and at her store, where they kiss. See Rachel.

The next morning, Saturday, is the day of his daughter Sally’s birthday party. Betty is on task, dressed and in entertainment mode, with her list ready for Don, starting with the building of the p-l-a-y-h-o-u-s-e. Sally is six (not three, but whatever). Don gazes at the new cufflinks on his nightstand and starts his day. He builds the playhouse and drinks beer. Francine comes by early to help ready the appetizers, gossip about the guest list and admire Don in his playhouse building sweaty glory.

Don performs all his duties, makes guests comfortable, takes movies, and eventually goes to pick up the birthday cake. He drives around with the cake for hours, at one point parks at the train station while the train goes by, and returns home quite late (it’s dark but the kids are still up) without a word but with a big dog for Sally.

Pete
is back from his honeymoon. The boys try to get details from him on the elevator ride up to the office, but Pete is a reverent husband. Once in the office, everyone, notably the women, greets him with warmth and enthusiasm. He opens his office door to find a Chinese family eating, and a chicken walking around. “Who put the Chinaman in my office?” Big guffaws over this practical joke. Ha. Ha. Ha.

On his way to the Secor meeting, he makes a point of telling Peggy that he’s married now, extracting an “It never happened” from her.

In the Menken’s meeting, Pete notices Don and Rachel flirting (see Rachel). With a blatant tone of anti-Semitism, remarks on this to Harry, and the two discuss the mystery that is Don, and move on to talking about women and the kinds of relationships a married man can have with them.

Joan and Peggy
Peggy deals with Pete’s return from his honeymoon (see Pete).

Around the proverbial water cooler, Joan returns Lady Chatterly’s Lover to Marge (or the unnamed secretary next to her) and then Peggy borrows it. Joan persists in condescendingly positioning Peggy as virginal, despite the fact that Peggy asserts herself.

Rachel
Back at S-C for a meeting. She and Don flirt over his broken cufflink. After hearing the marketing research, she calls the team to the carpet for having never been to her store. Don assures her that he will correct this on that very day. It’s a date. Don walks her out, and they flirt some more over a free-range chicken.

She is in a different outfit for Don’s arrival at Menken’s. “This is my closet.” As if to punctuate that remark, she walks Don over to the men’s accessory counter where she picks out and gifts him with a set of cufflinks. Little medieval knights, as it turns out. They tour the store, eventually working their way up to the roof. Where she talks about her childhood, introducing him to her big dogs, and where they kiss. After the kiss, Don tells her he is married. She ain’t having it, and asks that he assign someone else the account, and that he also be responsible for the cover story.

Betty
She spends most of the day organizing Don and the party. (see Don for most of her day) She is quite kind and cordial to the spectacle that is Helen Bishop and her pants, but when it is pointed out that Helen and Don are standing near each other outside, Betty breaks it up by sending him to get the cake.

Her hands start to go numb as she is cutting the replacement cake (Sara Lee, furnished by Helen ). Much later, as Don come in, she is unable to remove her rubber gloves from doing dishes.

The party guests
Francine and Carlton and their kid Ernie
Janet and Henry Darling
• They are sweet and in love
• Both are uncomfortable with the misogynistic jokes being told
Nancy and Chet Wallace and their unnamed daughter
• He tells a tasteless joke despite his wife’s attempts to stop him
• He ‘raises a glass’ to Don for running away
Jack and Marilyn Farrelly and their kid Kevin
• Kevin had polio
• Jack smacks Ernie for knocking over a drink
Helen Bishop and her son Glen
• Helen adeptly handles Carlton’s overtures

Extra children: There are three boys and two girls that are not specifically assigned (do Francine and Carlton have a daughter?)

Food for the adults
Mint juleps
Stuffed celery sticks
Date nut bread
Cold turkey
Waldorf salad

Food for the children
Peanut butter sandwiches

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