The Two Dons

So you’ve got yesterday’s Don Draper, faded and opaque in a light summer suit, about to cross Madison Avenue while the new 1968 version of Don (as last season ended in the summer of ’67 with Nancy Sinatra singing “You Only Live Twice“), more sharply defined and perhaps a bit more aggressive, stepping up to the curb. The old Don is saying, “Whoa…did I just pass myself?” The new Don is saying, “Whatever, let it go…this is now and I’m running the show.”

Sooner or later Don is going to have to start growing his hair a little longer, or at least the beginnings of modest sideburns. By ’68 even straight-laced ad execs had started to loosen up and unbutton from the early ’60s button-down style, which was half-inherited from the JFK attitude and half from Sloan Wilson‘s The Man in the Gray-Flannel Suit.

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  • http://nevermindpopfilm.blogspot.com/ Colin “Fitz” Biggs

    Is that Roger and Peggy in the background underneath the stop sign?

  • http://twitter.com/myownhausfrau myownhausfrau

    So after this new season, won’t Don be optioning short stories, marrying Julia Phillips and moving to LA…?

  • George Prager

    The producers should watch Irvin Kershner’s LOVING and get some ideas.

  • http://twitter.com/TVMCCA Terry McCarty

    Artwork makes Jon Hamm-as-Don look a bit like Cary Grant circa CHARADE.

  • http://twitter.com/jasctt Jason T.

    Hoping this season bounces back to greatness. Last seasonn was a mess and DD’s second marriage was a mistake and not just for him. The show went down in S3, shot back with a fucking GREAT S4 and then a mostly off S5. I will keep watching but it isn’t on the level of BREAKING BAD anymore. Real shame Jeff can’t get into that classic. It’s the long running American noir of our times.

    • Joshsleeps

      Are you kidding? Last season was perfection realized – the first season truly worthy of mention in the same breath as The Wire or The Sopranos. Every episode was so finely wrought, thematically vivid, perfectly executed.

      • http://twitter.com/jasctt Jason T.

        Different strokes, sir. I’m still a fan. Just the shine is off a bit now. I agree, the first season was perfect and S1, S2 and S4 were all perfect for me. They’re up there with the best shows although I don’t think anything can ever top S4 of THE WIRE.

        • Joshsleeps

          Agreed on S4 of The Wire. Nothing can touch that.

      • Peterzee

        Agreed. I think a lot of what happened last season was incredibly subtle.

  • PatJim

    Joy! When period detail bullies impose on the Mad Men dialogue.

  • Peterzee

    In a cast shot of them in character from a month or so back, it looks like Roger’s got the sideburns workin’…but I can easily see Don becoming a man out of time, trying to hang onto his Draperdom. You’ll never find a shot of David Ogilvy or Bill Bernbach with muttonchops or Carnaby Street Day-Glo ties; Don will hold out like a sonovabitch. That may be his tragedy. He can’t let go of this artifice he’s built.

    • IRRITABLE BOWEL CINEMA

      I pretty much agree. The ex-military guys that got into early 60′s advertising, (my father being one of them), wore their Brylcreem to the grave. Ogilvy, however was known for his sartorial splendor, and did loosen up on the hairstyle slightly over the years.