Every week, AMCtv.com honors the Talk forum and blog commenters by quoting them in the weekly "What You're Saying" post, then awarding those who have commented as registered AMCtv.com users prizes like a Mad Men poster or coffee mug (limit one per person).

For many fans, Mad Men is more than great television. It's a walk down memory lane. The show's costumes, hairstyles, sets, soundtrack and smartly executed references to historic events trigger very specific memories for certain viewers. Because of that, many Maddicts see Mad Men as a polished reflection of their own -- and their parents' -- life and times. Check out the forum topics below and join a conversation about girdles, curfews, and telephones that rang and rang and rang.

• A Mad Men Summer - 1960s Style: A lively discussion of how fans spent their summers back in the day

• What Do You Wish Would Return From Mad Men Days: A celebration of the fedora (among other things) and a longing for a return of the lunchtime cocktail

• On The Street Where You Lived: Anecdotal reports about just how different life in the suburbs was 50 years ago (Ossining and elsewhere)

•What Things Did You Do Back In the Early 1960s That Were Unique To That Time: Asbury Park, The Million Dollar Movie and baby oil for suntan lotion

Log onto the Talk forum to join a conversation or start a Mad Men topic of your own. As always, your comments throughout the blog are welcome.

Whisky a Go Go, a music club at the corner of Sunset Boulevard and Clark Street in Los Angeles, opened on Jan. 15, 1964. Named after a Parisian discotheque, the Whisky was an instant hit and played a major role in the rebirth of Sunset Strip. Steve McQueen and Jayne Mansfield were regular customers; The Beatles stopped by on their first American tour. (President Lyndon B. Johnson reportedly made a reservation at the club at his daughters' suggestion, but was a no-show.)

Club founder Elmer Valentine hired up-and-coming musician Johnny Rivers ("Secret Agent Man") to serve as the Whisky's headlining act for the first year. After Rivers' contract expired, Valentine continued to book bands big and small -- Frank Zappa, The Who, The Byrds, The Kinks... In 1966, The Doors and Buffalo Springfield gained early exposure as the club's house bands. (When Jim Morrison gave his famous obscenity-laced performance of "The End" here, the band got fired.)

Continue reading "1960s Handbook - Whisky a Go Go" »

On Sep. 18, 1964, ad man Emerson Foote shocked Madison Avenue when he stepped down from his $150,000 position as chairman of McCann-Erickson. "I will not have anything to do with any advertising agency which promotes the sale of cigarettes," said Foote, a former chain smoker and a member of President Lyndon B. Johnson's Commission on Heart Disease, Cancer and Stroke. Foote's announcement came eight months after the release of the Surgeon General's report linking cigarettes with lung cancer. "I happen to agree with the Surgeon General's report," Foote said.

Foote already had a checkered history with the tobacco industry. During the '40s, he handled the American Tobacco account as a partner at Foote, Cone and Belding -- he was considered one of the few ad men capable of handling George Washington Hill, the famously irascible president of American Tobacco. After Hill passed away in 1948, however, Foote, Cone and Belding resigned the $12 million account -- reducing the firm's billings by 20% -- due to "general disagreement over policies." It was the largest account any agency had ever voluntarily resigned. American Tobacco passed its Lucky Strike account on to BBDO and its Pall Mall account to Sullivan, Stauffer, Colwell & Bayles.

Continue reading "1960s Handbook - Emerson Foote" »

On Jan. 11, 1964, Surgeon General Luther Terry issued a landmark report titled "Smoking and Health," which conclusively linked smoking with lung cancer, among other diseases. "Cigarette smoking is causally related to lung cancer," the 150,000-word report concluded, estimating that average smokers were nine to ten times more likely than non-smokers to contract lung cancer. The risk for heavy smokers, it found, was twenty-fold.

In a country of nearly 70 million smokers, the report was a bombshell. Cigarette sales plummeted in the first quarter of 1964 -- an estimated $45 million was lost in January alone -- and the Federal Trade Commission announced hearings to impose trade regulations on cigarettes. Meanwhile, cities and states began raising cigarette taxes and formulating local regulation of cigarette ads.

In April, in an effort to preempt harsher regulations by the FTC, the top U.S. cigarette companies released an eight-page advertising code outlining a list of self-regulating measures. The code assured that "cigarette advertising shall not represent that cigarette smoking is essential to social prominence, distinction, success or sexual attraction." More specifically, companies agreed they would no longer use athlete testimonials and would refrain from appealing to people under the age of 21.

Continue reading "1960s Handbook - Surgeon General's 1964 Report" »

Hugh Hefner opened the first Playboy Club in Chicago on Feb. 29, 1960. For a private membership fee of $25, keyholders could stop by for music, food and cocktails served by the club's signature "bunnies" -- hostesses and waitresses dressed in satin corsets, bunny ears and bushy white tails. The Chicago club was an instant hit, and Hefner quickly expanded to New Orleans, Miami, St. Louis and Phoenix.

On Dec. 8, 1963, the Playboy Club opened a New York City location, staffed by 140 "bunnies," at 5 E. 59th St. -- less than a block from Madison Ave. Around 60,000 New Yorkers bought keys before the club even opened, and the opening night was a glitzy affair, attracting stars like Zsa Zsa Gabor, Rudy Vallee, Carol Channing, Tony Perkins and Ed Sullivan.

Continue reading "1960s Handbook - The Playboy Club" »

Pop singer Harry Belafonte may have been the first musician to sell more than one million copies of a record and the first black man to win an Emmy, but none of his achievements spared the "Banana Boat Song" singer from racial prejudice in the '60s. As his career burgeoned, Belafonte became one of the most vocal civil rights activists in the entertainment industry. His anti-apartheid album, An Evening with Belafonte/Makeba, won a Grammy in 1965.

One of the more highly publicized racial incidents in Belafonte's career took place near the end of the decade, in 1968, when Belafonte taped an hour-long NBC special with British pop star Petula Clark. When Clark, who is white, touched Belafonte's arm during one of the songs, an executive with the company which sponsored the special, demanded a re-shoot. "It was the most outrageous case of racism I have ever seen in this business," Belafonte said. After the incident hit the press, the executive was subsequently fired.

Continue reading "1960s Handbook - Harry Belafonte" »

On Nov. 23, 1964, the New York Times published a list of Republicans who were being considered for the 1965 New York City mayoral race. In a city dominated by Democratic voters and led by incumbent Robert Wagner, a Republican victory was considered a long shot. However, John Lindsay, a U.S. Representative for the 17th district of New York, was seen as a strong contender due to his bipartisan appeal. Called "a thorn in the side of his own party regulars," the Congressman had broken with party lines upon numerous occasions, whether by supporting Medicare or voting against a bill that would have allowed the postmaster general to impound obscene mail. Better yet, Lindsay was popular with his Manhattan constituents.

On Jan. 28, 1965, Lindsay announced he would only agree to run if the Republicans selected him as their nominee by Mar. 1. Any later, he feared would not provide enough time to garner sufficient finances and voter support. On Feb. 26, he met with Republican Governor Nelson Rockefeller and urged him to choose a candidate by Mar. 1. When Rockefeller stalled, Lindsay pulled his name from consideration. On May 12, Rockefeller finally announced that Lindsay would receive his "enthusiastic support" (presumed by many to mean financial support), prompting Lindsay to officially announce his run.

Continue reading "1960s Handbook - Congressman John Lindsay" »

Before he was known as Muhammad Ali, 22-year-old Cassius Clay stunned the world by defeating heavyweight boxing champ Sonny Liston in a Miami bout on Feb. 24, 1964. Clay famously trash-talked his opponent before the match. "I am the greatest," he said. "You nothin'. You scared. You a chump, a sucker."

In a UPI poll of ringside reporters, only three of 46 believed Clay had a chance against the returning champ. Many mistook the upstart's pre-fight, weigh-in pulse of 120 (as opposed to his normal rate of 54) as jitters. Indeed, the boxer's odds in Las Vegas dropped from 7-1 to 8-1 soon thereafter. Come fight day, though, Clay won the bout in the seventh round then gloated. "Hypocrites! Whatcha gonna say now, huh?"

At a press conference following the fight, Clay announced that he had joined the Nation of Islam and was renouncing his birth name in favor of Cassius X -- which then evolved to Muhammad Ali. Boxing fans, however, did not acknowledge his new identity, with most reporters continuing to call him Cassius Clay for some time.

Continue reading "1960s Handbook - Cassius Clay and Sonny Liston" »

On Jan. 3, 1964, Barry Goldwater, a conservative  U.S. Senator from Arizona, announced his candidacy for the presidency against incumbent Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson. Six months later, he won the Republican nomination. In his acceptance speech Goldwater proclaimed, "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me remind you, also, that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue."

Though his statement rallied staunch supporters, it rattled many politicians -- Republicans and Democrats alike -- who feared that Goldwater's reactionary views would alienate Americans and handicap social progress. Goldwater had a track record of opposing civil rights reform and social welfare programs. Most worrisome to Goldwater dissenters was the candidate's casual openness toward nuclear arms use.

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On Mar. 8, 1965, Martin Luther King, Jr., issued a call to clergy members to march with him in Selma, Alabama, in support of equal voting rights. After watching demonstrators get beaten and tear-gassed by state troopers on national television, Reverend James Reeb, a 38-year-old white Unitarian minister from Boston, heeded the call. "He couldn't stay home and do nothing when he was so much needed there," his wife, Marie Reeb, later told reporters.

The following day, Reeb joined around 2,500 demonstrators in a march along Highway 80 in Selma. The event took place without violence. However, several hours later, Reeb dined with two fellow white ministers at a popular black establishment called Walker's Cafe. As they left the restaurant, they were attacked on the street by four white segregationists -- Namon O'Neal Hoggle, William S. Hoggle, Elmer L. Cook and R.B. Kelley. Though the two other ministers escaped without serious injury, Reeb suffered multiple skull fractures. An ambulance transported the unconscious Reeb to Birmingham, 90 miles away, but the head trauma was fatal. Two days later, Reeb died with his wife at his side.

Continue reading "1960s Handbook - Reverend James Reeb" »