The comments made regarding Peggy's skirt length were quite amusing. Clothes from that era, particularly for ladies, were indeed designed to show off "assets" i.e. bustline, small waists, and legs.

I actually like the fashions from the early 60's. The outfits were well coordinated and usually accompanied by a string of pearls/gloves/hat.

IMHO, despite their lack of status or job titles, the ladies looked more polished back then than many executives do today.

I just talked to Don Cherry who sang the opening song, "Band of Gold" and I think he may add to his website, www.doncherry.us

I know that Don's voice is as good as it has ever been ...

I would like to now who is the artist/singer that sings the song for the TV ads for the show. Part of the lyrics say: "I treated myself, like I said I would" Can anyone help me??? The song has a 40's 50's great sound

Thank you

Frank

EXCELLENT! I LIVED THIS STORY. YOU'VE GOT IT RIGHT.

GOOD JOB!

Great Show! Great idea!.

What a refreshing type of television.

If this show goes away I'll be pissed. It is fab from A-Z

The song used in the promos is "You Know I'm No Good" by Amy Winehouse.

Frank, the singer in the ads is Amy Winehouse - a bad girl in her own right. Her album is on iTunes. She's a huge hit in England and has recently made it across the pond. The whole album is "vintage" arrangements and very, very frank lyrics.

What is the name of the theme song or who does it? And it is NOT Amy Winehouse.

I want to know what cd the last song from the first episode is from. It starts when the lead goes home and starts with strings - it ends the episode. Anyone know?

Even though I'm a sucker for period pieces, I love this show. I have a background in period costuming & I have to say that this show has it dead on! You can get lost through the haze of smoke & booze, but Mad Men has an excellent story line, set design, writing & costuming that I rarely see outside of the movies. I've already got my DVR set to record all episodes. And I think this might be the one time in my life where I have watched a "period piece" show (or movie) where I couldn't find any faults.

Thanks for this wonderful look inside this crazy world!

Glad to see we are not alone in our praise for this show! I'll be glued to the TV come Thursday night for episode two!

I had stopped watching television. One day I came across this commercial and decided to give it a try. I love this show.

Mad Men is the only show I watch.

Michele77: the song is "On the Street Where You Live", by Lerner & Loewe.

Would love to come to work everyday in a suit, when a salesman or woman comes in nowadays with the obligatory logo polo, dockers and $30 shoes from target/Kohls

it makes me mental. When you do come in suited, you get snide remarks all day, who died? Who's communion? Whatta ya got a date? as if a suit is good date wear!

Wearing a suit, to me, says I respect you! and i want to earn your trust.

I agree mike0209. We seriously need to bring that back. I am in my 20s and wear a suit to work as often as possible.

I caught this show for the first time last night and was absolutely blown away by the writing and performances. The line about the "young, handsome naval hero" running for President, who turns out to be Dick Nixon instead of JFK. Looking for Jews at an all WASP agency to present a campaign to the Jewish account. Great, great stuff. My only complaint has to do with wardrobe, and to a lesser degree, sets. They did have the sunburst clock in the boardroom, which is used often to evoke a 60's mood, and always works. The women's clothes were OK, sort of generic 50's/early '60's. But so much more can be done with the men's suits. Everything should be narrower. Jackets and especially ties. If they ever move the action to the weekend (suburbs and weekend cookouts), watch the Dick Van Dyke Show, especially Jerry Paris, for everything sartorial, for both sexes. Deep V two tone cardigan sweaters for the men, pedal pushers for the women.

One of my favorite early 60's movies is 12 Angry Men in which jury foreman Martin Balsam sports a polyester short sleeved shirt with little elastic banded sleeves, worn with a tie. Classic. That's the level of detail I'd like to see on Mad Men, to match the absolute perfection of the dialogue.

The comments made to and about the women, particularly Peggy and Ms. Menken, were absolutely outrageous. If this is an accurate portrayal of that era's attitudes toward working women, no wonder the feminist movement resulted! It really made me think, and what I'm thinking is, Thanks to all our feminist pioneers!

The office red-head office manager with the nice tits is great. I would have loved to have been a younger man back then!

I agree that the lapels, ties, shirts collars are not narrow enough for the 60's. Also, not one male is wearing a hat which was de rigeur in the 60's. Skirts were straighter by the mid 60's, so in 1959 I am guessing they were still flared. It is fun to watch my youth on tv. . . ..

I also agree with the last two comments, the mens suits are off just a bit. Im an expert on early sixtys mens suits and find certain things off, such as shirt collars, they are to big, and where are the sharkskin suits? The ties and tie knots need to be much narrower, remember thin was in back then. There are a couple of other things that I found that were slightly off, but otherwise the show is awesome. This is the best series that watched in years and its really great to see a show from this period which I have a passion for. Keep up the good work!

The thing to remember about the men's suits, though, is that the show is about people who -- though in a "creative" field -- are also in a corporate environment.

Skinny lapels, ties, etc. certainly began appearing in the early 60s, but the show's characters are not on the cutting edge of fashion. They come from conservative sociological backgrounds themselves and have to deal with corporate executives who still have a distrust of creative types. The skinny touches infiltrated the mainstream by the mid-60s, but not quite at the time the show is set. Look at photos of JFK as President: he didn't look like a character from the Mod Squad.

One of the nice touches is that the more junior executives have some skinnier lapels and fashionable touches and colours, while the more senior executives are still in rather grave 3 pieces. This makes a lot of sense: the young guys would have been buying cheaper contemporary attire en masse to oufit themselves for work, while the older guys would have settled into a wardrobe they'd been collecting for years. Clothes lasted decades in those days -- especially expensive ones the senior executives would have. Also, the younger guys could have been spending money on fashion -- the older fellows had mortgages and wives and children to deplete the clothing budget.

But, yes, there aren't nearly enough hats around. Obviously they wouldn't be worn inside, but they should make an appearance in someone's hands occasionally.

On the whole, though, the show's beautifully shot, and the dialogue's very good. Some sound work is necessary, though, as there are certain asides that I can't make out even after replaying them a dozen times at high volume.

The depiction of the treatment of women seems rooted in prevailing attitudes of the time, but I find it difficult to believe that every single man acted affirmatively like a jerk. The men's behaviour seems written to shock the audience and compares poorly to the writers' very sophisticated treatment of the almost oblivious polite racism and anti-semitism of the time and place.

The devil's in the details -- and they got small details all wrong. When one character asks his "mistress" "What's that?" (referring to the small portable TV another man had given her), that was all wrong. Television sets were first available between 1947-49 and my family had our first set in 1954-55 -- and we were a blue collar family. An advertising executive in 1960 would not have to ask "What's that?" -- and he probably already had a set of his own. But it would not be a small portable set -- TV sets in 1960 were console models, like a piece of furniture. Also, the secretary with the pony tail was typing on an IBM Selectric, which was not yet available in 1960. We had electric typewriters, but they had moving carriages, unlike the Selectric. And we DID NOT type on a single piece of paper like this character. Everything had to have a carbon copy -- usually at least two copies. There were some Xerox copiers out there, but we still made carbon copies of everything we typed since Xerox copies were expensive. It's so annoying when film makers are too lazy to do their research -- it almost ruins the film or show for me.

Big fluffy skirts are dead wrong for New York in 1960 except for children (or maybe certain evening dresses for older women). If you don't believe me, check a fashion mag from 1960 -- I don't mean Vogue -- any fashion mag. So even using the unlikely excuse that she would not have worn the latest fashions, young fashionable NY wife would have shopped at Lord and Taylor. Skirts had been narrow for several years by this time. Right; other comments about men's suits. These guys look like insurance salesmen. Ad guys (especially creative) would have been narrow; lots of silk. Look at the Dick Van Dyke Show. Inexcuseable. Office interiors are good, but, their home is a horror. Frumpy furniture, cluttered kitchen, print wallpaper?? No fashionable couple in suburban New York would have lived in a place that looked like that. Again, Dick Van Dyke Show. Also, women may have been treated less as equals than they are now, but men were not rude like they are in the show (this is not the world of Tony Soprano). Also, attitudes are all wrong. They weren't grim, bored and sarcastic -- that's from now. Most had fought in WW2 or Korea, so work was relatively fun for them. They drank at lunch and after work, not all day in the office. Also, being rude to a client was not likely to be a feature of any meeting unless you wanted to be fired in front of the client. This could have been a great show if you'd done your homework. Too bad.

I dont like ties, they are uncomfortable.

Frank,

The 50's song you refer to in the Madmen Smoke Gets in Your Eyes episode is, "On The Street Where You Live" -- the artist is Vic Damone.

There's one glaring omission in the wardrobes of the women. No fashionable housewife would be caught dead without an apron. She had fancy ones for cocktail parties and the like, and plainer ones for everyday work. Women of Betty's class would wear an apron that matched her outfit.

Aprons were the very symbol of female servitude back then, and when women's liberation came along, aprons (and torpedo bras) were the first things to go! Get some aprons on these gals! I'd lend you some from my vintage collection, but...

Comment made on one of these blogs was the "Making of". If you have Comcast cable. The making of and behind the another shor one are on On Demand where all episodes are also.

i don't like ties either but men wouldn't be coaught dead withour one at work.\

All songs and info for each episode can be found on this website.\

Very well done show and it brings back both good and bad memries

I've dealt with vintage and antique clothing for decades now, as a consultant, and in retail, and the fans run the gamut: historically accurate ocd types, fun-loving folk who want to add to their wardrobe, theme maniacs......I love them all, too. BUT in the real world, there is not just one skirt, or shirt, or hairdo per year. People living in an urban setting would be exposed to a myriad of styles, while new arrivals would be reflecting their own socio-economic background. In an office setting, where role-playing is all important, in a year when the end of a decade still reigned in industrial design, many different silhouettes would show up. Menswear would most certainly reflect individual economic strata, but for the most part, copycat looks would prevail. Top admen on Madison Avenue would be influenced by a Eorupean line, and at their tailor's discretion. Younger men would certainly try to mimic their idols, but fitting in was all important. Not everyone was in a pencil skirt, with French Curls, since women could stray a bit from the uniform look so cherished in this environment.

Give the designers some kudos for their exhaustive research. Let the story evolve without contemporary needs and wants to drive it. Enjoy this show! 1960 is not "The Sixties".....it's a year when the world was trying to grow, and America was strutting its stuff. The decade that follows this year hasn't happened yet, so work with this moment, guys.

I was also curious about the Selectric typewriters; the models I see all seem to be Selectric IIs, which as I recall were not available until the mid-70's. Likewise the lack of carbon paper. But let's face it -- in a series this ambitious, there are bound to be anachronisms...it's not as if they have either the staff or the budget of a major holiday movie. Ultimately good storytelling is about evoking the mood of a place and an era, and capturing the imagination -- not strict verisimiltude. I'm really enjoying this program, and am looking forward to more.

HollyWOOD. Hollywood movie. What were my fingers thinking?

The costume designer is Katherine Jane (Janie) Bryant, late of Deadwood. She has a reputation for thorough research.

Men wearing hats, particularly in places like Manhattan, was standard in most industries and explicitly required in conservative ones like law, accounting and banking. Advertising being a more creative arena, you could get away without one more easily.

This changed rather quickly when JFK was inaugurated without wearing one. There are photos of him walking with Jackie down Pennsylvania Avenue, at the White house, etc. Hat sales plummeted in 1961 and disappeared from daily use by the 1970s.

As for the sexist attitudes, a classified ad section from 1960 would have separate job listings - "Help wanted, Men" and "Help wanted - Women". Companies' pay structures explicitly paid men about 30 - 40% more than women in the same position.

This created two factors supporting traditional one-earner families. One was that women couldn't hope to buy a house or otherwise become financially secure on their earnings, making marriage a better bet in that area. The other was that it enabled men to have enough income to support a family, by shifting womens' earnings to them.

The costume designer is Katherine Jane (Janie) Bryant, late of Deadwood. She has a reputation for thorough research.

Men wearing hats, particularly in places like Manhattan, was standard in most industries and explicitly required in conservative ones like law, accounting and banking. Advertising being a more creative arena, you could get away without one more easily.

This changed rather quickly when JFK was inaugurated without wearing one. There are photos of him walking with Jackie down Pennsylvania Avenue, at the White house, etc. Hat sales plummeted in 1961 and disappeared from daily use by the 1970s.

As for the sexist attitudes, a classified ad section from 1960 would have separate job listings - "Help wanted, Men" and "Help wanted - Women". Companies' pay structures explicitly paid men about 30 - 40% more than women in the same position.

This created two factors supporting traditional one-earner families. One was that women couldn't hope to buy a house or otherwise become financially secure on their earnings, making marriage a better bet in that area. The other was that it enabled men to have enough income to support a family, by shifting womens' earnings to them.

The costume designer is Katherine Jane (Janie) Bryant, late of Deadwood. She has a reputation for thorough research.

Men wearing hats, particularly in places like Manhattan, was standard in most industries and explicitly required in conservative ones like law, accounting and banking. Advertising being a more creative arena, you could get away without one more easily.

This changed rather quickly when JFK was inaugurated without wearing one. There are photos of him walking with Jackie down Pennsylvania Avenue, at the White house, etc. Hat sales plummeted in 1961 and disappeared from daily use by the 1970s.

As for the sexist attitudes, a classified ad section from 1960 would have separate job listings - "Help wanted, Men" and "Help wanted - Women". Companies' pay structures explicitly paid men about 30 - 40% more than women in the same position.

This created two factors supporting traditional one-earner families. One was that women couldn't hope to buy a house or otherwise become financially secure on their earnings, making marriage a better bet in that area. The other was that it enabled men to have enough income to support a family, by shifting womens' earnings to them.

The costume designer is Katherine Jane (Janie) Bryant, late of Deadwood. She has a reputation for thorough research.

Men wearing hats, particularly in places like Manhattan, was standard in most industries and explicitly required in conservative ones like law, accounting and banking. Advertising being a more creative arena, you could get away without one more easily.

This changed rather quickly when JFK was inaugurated without wearing one. There are photos of him walking with Jackie down Pennsylvania Avenue, at the White house, etc. Hat sales plummeted in 1961 and disappeared from daily use by the 1970s.

As for the sexist attitudes, a classified ad section from 1960 would have separate job listings - "Help wanted, Men" and "Help wanted - Women". Companies' pay structures explicitly paid men about 30 - 40% more than women in the same position.

This created two factors supporting traditional one-earner families. One was that women couldn't hope to buy a house or otherwise become financially secure on their earnings, making marriage a better bet in that area. The other was that it enabled men to have enough income to support a family, by shifting womens' earnings to them.

The costume designer is Katherine Jane (Janie) Bryant, late of Deadwood. She has a reputation for thorough research.

Men wearing hats, particularly in places like Manhattan, was standard in most industries and explicitly required in conservative ones like law, accounting and banking. Advertising being a more creative arena, you could get away without one more easily.

This changed rather quickly when JFK was inaugurated without wearing one. There are photos of him walking with Jackie down Pennsylvania Avenue, at the White house, etc. Hat sales plummeted in 1961 and disappeared from daily use by the 1970s.

As for the sexist attitudes, a classified ad section from 1960 would have separate job listings - "Help wanted, Men" and "Help wanted - Women". Companies' pay structures explicitly paid men about 30 - 40% more than women in the same position.

This created two factors supporting traditional one-earner families. One was that women couldn't hope to buy a house or otherwise become financially secure on their earnings, making marriage a better bet in that area. The other was that it enabled men to have enough income to support a family, by shifting womens' earnings to them.

When the commercial for the AMC channel plays they play a song with lyrics of "I'm the one - Yes the one" Who sings that and what is the title?

I think the fashions, hair & make up are amazing! Let's not be tooooo picky. Ms. Bryant and her crew are doing a fantastic job! It is so refreshing to see women dress & carry themselves like ladies! Dressing up has all but vanished! I have a Cape/Dress Suit in my Boutique I would love to see Joan wear!! If only I could contact Ms. Bryant!