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The show sucks take it off the air.
I just want to say that I love this series, from the opening credits to the comments at the end from the everyone. I remember the 60's well, and it is so on target it is scary (the 60's could be scary believe it or not). As far as the last episode I loved how Don's immediate boss thought of a way to reverse Pete's firing without undermining Don's authority. I don't think that would happen in today's world. Keep up the good work, this is the only series I look forward to watching.
I love this show! It reminds me of my childhood and growing up. I miss the quality of life. When men were men and women were women... it's not PC for me to say but I don't care. We need more Drapers and Sterlings putting the Petes in their place.
Way to go Weiner, my hats off to you.
I love the show, but i could have never lived like that. How can you sit there knowing that the father of your kids is out with another woman? I would have killed him.
I love this series; the actors, costumes, props, subject matte. You've go a hit with me!!
Thank you for development good entertainment on TV.
Why would someonone on the staff write that Don was 'videotaping' his daughter's birthday party with his new camera? Has the word 'filming' been lost to us? Want to be authentic? Read the copy before you post it, please.
Defintely a generational divide exists today - like I wrote before - older generations honor a "CODE" of behavior that doesn;t exist anymore in our "ME, ME" culture - same can be said for going to war - our generation does not have the stomach for our world today.
I also love John Slattery as Sterling - he's a very entertaining presence whenever he's on the screen.
Hey Robert - how about changing the channel instead of imposing your will on those who love this show. What are you like in your twenty's? Clearly, you don't get "it". I think Punkd is on now....that's right change the channel sparky.
I agree with Robert - What Sterling did for Draper was amazing and NEVER would have happened in today's world - Draper's face when he heard this was priceless
When I saw Robert Morse's name in the opening credits, I couldn't help but be reminded of his role in "How to Succeed..." and how ironic it was that he was cast in this show! Whoever thought of this ought to get a bonus. I love this show and am reminded of that time--I was in 7th grade, and Kennedy, the "race for space", and knowing how to sing the latest ad jingles were all the rage. (I can still remember many of those words and tunes!) Can't wait to see what happens!
Well said Lorraine. I could not agree more.
For Grace Wilson - the women did not know for the most part. There was a code (see Lorraine's comment)
The constant cigarette smoking by almost all the characters, along with the greasy hair on the male characters are so overdone they create a distraction to viewing this otherwise good program.
From what I recall (as a smoker) while working in an office environment in the early 60's, there was no where near the amount of smoking as depicted here. Most males discarded the greasy hair when they entered the workplace.
Make the show more realistic by getting rid of some of the smokes & grease!
Of course generational divides still exist today. Progress--technology--knowledge--circumstance--all inevitably lead to the next generation being further separated from the preceding generation.
I don't see Draper's dislike of Campbell as a generational schism...I think he's feeling the heat of competition. Campbell makes up with ambition where he lacks in experience; and Draper, obviously dispassionate about his life in general--is intimidated by this nuance of determination.
Draper makes for a good anti-hero. He's struggling with major issues, however, seems powerless to effect change, "...I'm not too comfortable being powerless..." (or something along the lines of that)
Lorraine I think you agree with Jade (the comment is above the posting name)
Yeah - thanks Tim - also can't wait til next week to see Draper face his past
Also, what guy of our generation would ask a woman if she "Slept all day and bathed in milk"? That guy was hilarious
Beautiful gorgeous look.Dead on.Scary how even the food looks period.I met Matthew Weiner on "The Sopranos"-I was filling in for the on-set scenic artist and worked on "Rat Pack" and "Sentimental Education" episodes.Matt was one of the kindest people -very welcoming -as I was the "new girl".Phil was one of the two DP's - this show is truly beautiful- the story line is fascinating and the drama/comedy mix is fantastic and unpredictable.Makes me miss the good old days when it was ok to play spaceman with a plastic bag over your head.I just wish that you were shooting in nyc but I guess we can't have everything.Again-congratulations-all best-Jessie Walker
This whole blog proves that generational divide exists. Just read the comments.
In re - watching the epi I think that if Pete didn't mouth off to Draper he may not have fired him - maybe he should have shut up
What a great show and episode! There is a generational divide today in the business world. I worked for a small television station selling advertising just out of college back in the late eighties. My boss was an old guy who had worked as an executive for CBS back in the 1960's and he was just about to retire. The show reminds me a lot of him. He drank like a fish but he had a presence and decorum in his conduct. We called him "Pappy" behind his back but we all loved him. I remember one time, after losing a client, him saying: "what happened to the good old days when you just took a guy to lunch, had four martinis, shook hands and you had the deal" Back then we were required to wear suits and ties. One time me and another guy forgot to wear our suit coats at a meeting. Pappy called me into his office afterwards and chewed me out for 15 minutes. This incident always comes to mind when I see the behavior and attitude of entitelment of the 20 somethings in today's business world..flip flop sandals and jeans with holes.....and "give me a corner office now" I'm being tongue and cheek
Draper and Sterling were critisizing Campbell for not being in the service. Why was he not in the service? There was Compulsory Military Traing, in other words the draft. back then. There was no war but there was a peace time draft. I graduated from high school in 1956 and joined the Navy. I did so to avoid being drafted into the Army.
He wasn't in the service because he was in school - and he had connections (Duh - his family) But like I said before men like Draper and Sterling were "REAL MEN" who served their country and didn't bitch about it - and the public honored them and their mission (unlike during Vietnam and today). Our "ME" generation does not have the stomach for the world we live in today. (Let's be friend - yeah, right! - here's a bomb to go with that martini)This whole issue goes to the core of a generational divide.
And note to Betty - stop whing and being a bubblehead a take care of that hot man/wounded soul you have at home!
I think between my current generation of young professionals (20s/30s) and their parents – many of whom served or protested against Vietnam – actually have a closer relationship than many generations past; since we both faced wars, politics we may disagree with, and want to try and change the country from continuing in a certain path during our “go-getter, I can still change the world mentality years”. I at least feel that my parents – born in the early ‘50s – and I have more in common than the splits of generations shown in tonight’s show. Where I think there’s a huge generational divide is between today’s teen/pre teen generation and older generations… They’re growing up in a world where a dial-up internet connection’s too slow, less than 89 stations and you need better cable, and they’re savvier on MySpace than in a room with actual people. I think the intergenerational divide will increase especially between my generation – that can remember one computer per elementary school classroom – and those in my 19-year old brother’s age bracket – who, in the 3rd grade, each had their own computer in class and were already learning Power Point. Technology is a huge differentiator.
So when Don and Roger Sterling take their shoes off before entering Cooper's office, and Don gets an inch shorter and Roger gets three inches shorter, as he steps out of his "lifts"... Jon Hamm's take was dead-on, abso-lutely subtly perfect. I roared and fell in love with this show for the fourth time.
I love this show!!! The best show ever!!!I love all the characters and the story... It's awesome!!!
The generational divide thing is again, an illusion. Sterling thinks that the men from WWII had a code of honor that is better than the code of honor of Korean war vets, which Pete's genration is totally lacking because they lacked the combat training in which this code is developed.
But that is not as true as it appears, as Sterling mused every generation thinks that following one is a load of crap, considering this, you know that they are not lesser people, just different people.
Remember, the latter generations are the way they are because of the way previous generations were, not in spite of the way that other people were.
Don Draper really has some class issues, and that is what really bothers him about Pete and he writes him off because of it. I wonder if he knows that Pete has already been written off by his class (to a greater degree) and while he is a threat, it is not because of his class position, it is because he is ambitious and pretty good at his job, not to mention the chip on his shoulder.
I liked the Robert Morse character as well (How To Succeed... indeed, it was a treat to see him) He knows that there are more things at stake than the pissing contest between Don and Pete and put the kibosh on it.
They talked about honor, but you saw how dishonarable they were when they had to give Pete back his job.
AUTHOR:
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DATE: 08/10/2007 02:28:06 PM
I love the show. It has renewed by interest in tv, since the sopranos, sex and the city, six feet under have ended. HBO really drop the ball on this one by passing up on Mad Men and putting John from Cincinatti (sp)
How about more Peggy and less Betty? If I wanted to watch drivel about unhappy housewives, I'd tune into ABC.
I am mesmerized by this show. It brings back so many memories, good and bad. I enjoy watching the seperation between the sexes. Not that I approve of what is going on, but it certainly defines why women acted the way they did and why the "womens' lib" movement became so necessary. After reading all the blogs, so many people dislike Betty. She acts boring. But that was a reality for many women back then. I am glad to see that AMC has put this kind of show out there for the current generation to see. This is what it was like. There was no "equality" in the household, in the bedroom, in the office. Me Tarzan you Jane was the standard. I like that this shows the men's vulnerability between themselves because you would never see it in public or in front of women. The kids today should take a good hard look at their roots.
I have fallen in love with this show, and being in my late 20s, it has inspired me to learn more about this segment of important Americana. It's amazing to me how women were treated back then and makes me appreciate alot about today's professional environment. On a critical note: I want to see more of Sterling Cooper and a little less of the housewives's ennui.
Great show. Really great show. I was there, but I was a kid, so as this all transpires, sometimes it knocks the wind out of me, because my mom/dad, said or did these things almost verbatim! The props, wardrobe, mannerisms, all to a "T"
Great job cast/crew. I'm in!
This was a dandy, just when it looked to be veering off into "bad soap" territory, the last 30 minutes were outstanding. The whole showdown with Pete and Draper, and the office visit to Mr. Cooper were well played.The last discussion with Sterling(who is EXCELLENT)and Draper really starts to bring into focus some of the issues I have been waiting to see talked about.Looking forward to the next one. And yes, Robert, change the DAMN channel if you don't like it.IN MY HUMBLE OPINION I still think the writers are checking out the comments here from time to time. Just a hunch.Cheers! MM:)
I love how even the smallest of details from that era appear onscreen. It's as if an old issue of Life magazine or Look magazine was transformed into live action. Thanks AMC!
I think this is one of the best series on tv. It's how I remember it! Right on ABC.
AGH! I missed it!!!! Is there somewhere where I can see the episode? I'm in MM withdrawal! I can see all the back episodes of my favorite ABC shows over on ABC.com; why can't I do that on AMC? The concept is brilliant: I can watch my favorite shows when I want to, and all I have to do is sit through a 30 second commercial. ABC wins because its the same commercial about 4 times in a row. So, yeah, I get the message...and I get to see my show!!! It's a WIN WIN situation!
I have been watching the show and enjoying it very much -- I love the fashions of that time period. One small error showed up, though, which stands out because the show is in general so well-researched. In the episode previous to this one, Don's wife said she went to Bryn Mawr College. In this episode, she tells her psychiatrist that she was in a sorority.
I am a graduate of Bryn Mawr myself -- the college has never had sororities! (It is an all-women's college. We still haven't gone co-ed. However, it is ironic that Peggy is shown as a "desperate housewife." One of our school mottoes is "Our failures only wed." We were a pioneer in women's education at a time when women were not allowed to take serious courses of study at Ivy League schools. Still, in 1960 I'm sure there were plenty of students going for their "MRS" degree.)
Whoops, made a mistake there myself -- it's Betty who is the desperate houswife, not Peggy!
Bryn Mawr still didn't have sororities, though. :-)
>Is there somewhere where I can see the episode?
AMC generally reruns MM eps. during the week--check www.zap2it.com for TV listings. If you have Comcast "On Demand," the eps. are available there, as well...
Indeed, it was no joke that women in those days went to college to get their MRS degree. I was one of them. But, since my Mom was a teacher, I wanted to have it ALL. Home, kids and a career. It was part "fem mystique", part Jack Kerouac and part Jackie Kennedy. Madison Ave played all that up and we gals and our volkswagons were on our way.
The divorcee did not want to ask Betty if she could bring her kids over to her house that nite because Betty had mentioned before that her husband wanted "quiet time" when he came home from work. Also, Betty got to snoop in this "odd" person's bathroom and found the birth control thingy. At the psychiatrist all she could talk about was this woman. She was identifing with her (alter ego) or was jealous. Or afraid of her becoming a threat to her marriage. Betty is no dummy.
I knew lots of Bettys. Almost all subjects other than domestic ones were ignored or were forbidden. "Uptight" was the word.
"Grease" was the word too. A "little dab 'ul do ya" slogan gave men a chance to look groomed but stay unwashed. The average number of baths a week back then was about twice a week.
Betty's fascination with the divorced Helen stems from Betty's fear she could become Helen. All she has to do is call Don on his philandering and blackout drinking. Happened to my mom. My dad was in TV and our family was first on our block with a divorce. As for MM - > What A Show!! Who knew? Real people!...hiding behind my TV? This level of authenticity, however is a challenge. Did they have thermoplastic cups in 1960? Weren't wooden spoons, like the one Betty uses for the punch, mainstream after hippies made country stuff marketable?...and isn't that an IBM Selectric 2 (mid or late 60s) Joan describes as "easy enough, even for a woman?" Kudos, fem viewers, for nailing the Bryn Mawr flub, but bigger props to the creator and staff who have nearly brought back the 60s and blessed the ghost of Mad Ave with something it rarely had; good writing. Damn! The web site has an interview with John Bernbach! Gotta go!
Re: Mad Men
I am absolutely crazy about this show! I love not only the content but also the detail...thank god we have a large flat screen tv because I'm looking at everything on the desks, the kitchen, the clothes, the hair. It just cracks me up how much everyone drinks and the smoking every minute for every occasion. Did we really live that way? The Surgeon General's report put a real damper on that party. You have created a superb show...I'm hoping this will go on and on. Casting is over the top! HOpe there are enough viewers to keep it on the air. Thanks!
As an innocent Jewish Angeleno refugee, I slaved on a Honeywell Datamatic D-1000 (circa 1958), punch cards, vacuum tubes, and all, in 1979 as a college internee for a firm in Midtown Manhattan, and previously that year, did lots of delivery work for a commercial film distribution company also in midtown. On reflection, I encountered many of the then mellowed aging equivalents of the characters portrayed in Mad Men. These real life characters, in turn, saw their past triumphs, being overshadowed, by emerging technolgies, and social flux, and the quickening of those emerging technologies being displaced by newer technologies, and all the fallout associated with that change. For they too had to adapt or die. A frightening prospect,
I'm hooked even added a photo to Facebook and have included it as part of the things its right after XM Satelite Radio.
I loved the Sopranos but this is like Sopranos + a cafe mocha from Tim Hortons with extras all around!
I think this is the best show I have seen in a long time and I love how it deals with issues that we in many ways are still dealing with today.
The actors are fantastic especially Elisabeth Moss! They are so original and unique you can't help but not like them, I love learning from each episode about them their likes and dislikes et al. January Jones does a great job...I love how she keeps her character in line.
FAVORITE SCENE:
Draper decides not to return home with the cake...he did exactly what all of us at one time or another have thought about doing.
I love how the show keeps it real and polite its fun to watch! I especially love how the characters are like my age and how different their generation lived compared to ours.
Please don't take this off the air!
Keep the episodes coming...
LS/ls EAA/ELA
Does anyone know where I can get those lowball glasses with the thick platinum rings -- think that's the set in Draper's office?
this show is great. I'd like to see more advertising stuff (concepts,etc.), though -- always a highlight of Bewitched, which this already seems like (without the witches, naturally)
I am 70 years old. The first time I saw the show, (the birthday party) I felt like Ralph Edwards was standing in front of me, saying "This is your Life". This show is so right on! i.e., the cigarette smoking, the drinking at the kids' parties, the working place and neighborhood affairs, , the dominant males and the submissive females, the clothing, the hair, everything. My life and the lives of my friends and co-workers in the suburbs of Dallas in the early 30's was so like that. Even to the point of my husband and my psychiatrist conferring after my appointments, I found out years later.
A part of me feels at home, watching the show and part of me cringes and feels like crying. I WILL definitely keep on watching. I thank God that I put that time behind me and moved on to a healthier, happier life.
Oh yes, I forgot to mention that my computer skills were utilised in a refrigerated room and I wore a company provded US Military Surplus Extreme Cold Weather Parka that had seen better days even then. Those things were some of the last holdovers from the late fifties. There were still a few that were dazed by the exchange of their humble comptometer for an adding machine, even in the late seventies.
Kim! If you go to the ON DEMAND icon, choose the ENTERTAINMENT icon, and then scroll down to the AMC Mad Men icon, you'll have all the episodes and two special features from which to choose. Hope that helps.
I was hooked on this show after the first 10 minutes of the pilot. My husband works nights and I called him and said we have to watch this show. We DVR it so we can watch it together (although I will watch the episodes as they air by myself first). I love the underlying tension of all of the characters.... everyone's life is on the verge of change and they feel it but they don't seem to know what is coming. Great writing, wonderfully shot and yes I love the Robert Morse casting. As someone born in the early 60s I remember the gender divisions well. At family parties, the men were in one room doing their thing, pool or cards and women were in the kitchen or living room and keeping an eye on the kids. This show is wonderfully written and acted and shot. It is a reason to watch TV in the summer.
I was hooked on this show after the first 10 minutes of the pilot. My husband works nights and I called him and said we have to watch this show. We DVR it so we can watch it together (although I will watch the episodes as they air by myself first). I love the underlying tension of all of the characters.... everyone's life is on the verge of change and they feel it but they don't seem to know what is coming. Great writing, wonderfully shot and yes I love the Robert Morse casting. As someone born in the early 60s I remember the gender divisions well. At family parties, the men were in one room doing their thing, pool or cards and women were in the kitchen or living room and keeping an eye on the kids. This show is wonderfully written and acted and shot. It is a reason to watch TV in the summer.
I love this show!
Just discovered it, and watched all four episodes OnDemand.
Can't wait to see the next episode now.
I grew up in the Sixties, and so much of this is spot on!
The way that women were supposed to be back then...and men had all the power.
I remember the grownups always having a cigarette, drinking coffee all day and alcoholic drinks from happy hour on through the night.
This is such a great show.
My Dad started at Leo Burnett with cigarettes, cereal and beer. in 1959 he moved to New York and did cigarettes,
Peace Corp, more beer. His collection of materials was recently donated to Duke University Library where it is available to researchers. When I heard a recent "Fresh Air" broadcast about Mr Weiner, I thought, "Wow, he really should talk to my Dad!! I am a bit reluctant to post my Dad's name here but I know he would be glad to talk to anyone from the show and I'd be glad to forward any communications.
Hi,
If you'd like to join a group and share your thoughts about the show, please feel free to click on the link below:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MadMenAMC
>Does anyone know where I can get those lowball glasses with the thick platinum rings -- think that's the set in Draper's office?
I'm afraid I don't know where to get them today...except that I remember having those glasses in our house when I was a kid in the early 70's! (And they probably were purchased back in the early 60's).
Hm, maybe you can find a used set on eBay?
Kim
>Does anyone know where I can get those lowball glasses with the thick platinum rings -- think that's the set in Draper's office?
I'm afraid I don't know where to get them today...except that I remember having those glasses in our house when I was a kid in the early 70's! (And they probably were purchased back in the early 60's).
Hm, maybe you can find a used set on eBay?
Kim
AMC you're doing an outstanding job with your creation of Mad Men. I have fallen hopelessly in love with this show and the dreamlike era that it conveys to us every week.
The premise of advertising in the 1960's is wildly fascinating, (think of the wonderful episodes featuring Darrin Stevens and Larry Tate in Bewitched) and the actors namely Jon Hamm, January Jones, John Slattery and Robert Morse are all cast quite perfectly in their Mad Men roles. Don Draper is so intriguing with his brooding discontent and Roger Sterling is the properly clever man of the world.
I love how this show so successfully reminds us that we once lived in a more refined and courteous time. But at the same time it saddens me to see just how far we've veered from this as the "ME" mindset has seemingly raised havoc in both the professional and personal realms today.
I must applaud the writers and producers of Mad Men for generously taking us back in time and for letting us reflect upon both how far we've come as a society as well as sadly how far we've failed on so many counts.
Excellent show. The writers may want to play up the Nixon/JFK contest, for after all there is a parallel theme: Nixon came from humble beginnings (like Don Draper) and JFK came from money (like Pete Campbell). Indeed, Nixon, like Draper, had to rely on his wits rather than family connections.
I'm a little confused by the generation gap suggested by the title of this blog. From a demographic point of view, Don and Pete belong to the same generation, that is, the "Lost" generation of Depression era children born between 1927 and 1946 (the only generation not to have elected one its members President). I get the point about Don being old enough to have fought in Korea, and Pete being too young, but there can only be (at most) about 9 years between them, and probably more like 7 years, if Pete really is 26 in 1960.
Thank you, your writers are extraordinarily talented! It reminds me of the wonderful shows we had during the 50's. It helps me to understand more about how this period impacted my life. I was victimized and helpless and did not understand why. Your show is cathartic. The costumes, props, attitudes...for all young women today, this is a must see to learn how it was for their mothers and grandmothers. This is the only show I truly look forward to watching! Please keep it going.
Thank you, your writers are extraordinarily talented! It reminds me of the wonderful shows we had during the 50's. It helps me to understand more about how this period impacted my life. I was victimized and helpless and did not understand why. Your show is cathartic. The costumes, props, attitudes...for all young women today, this is a must see to learn how it was for their mothers and grandmothers. This is the only show I truly look forward to watching! Please keep it going.
Ironically, just before the show aired for the first time, I had a conversation with friends about I would have loved to be an ad man in the 1950s. The ad world just isn't the same these days. Although, I'm making an effort to bring back the martini lunch! Keep up the good work! I love the show.
Can someone comment on or explain the deal with Helen's boy peeping on Betty's peeing? Is this kid going to be trouble down the line? I'm not a psychologist...
That was a very unnerving and unusual scene....
To Jade:
Yeah, buddy, I am sure that as long as you were white, a man, and heterosexual, life was so much better back then!!!!!!
____________________
Posted by: Jade | August 09, 2007 at 11:12 PM
I love this show! It reminds me of my childhood and growing up. I miss the quality of life. When men were men and women were women... it's not PC for me to say but I don't care. We need more Drapers and Sterlings putting the Petes in their place.
This show is absolutely fantastic! Smart writing, fascinating characters, amazing sets. I can't wait to see how the stories develop and where the characters go. Please keep this first-class series on the air. What a treat it is!
A brilliant show and I am hooked. A sly parody on life in the early '60s with subtle touches of humor. It is the truthful/drama side of Leave It To Beaver. Now we know what Ward does at the office!
To Tim:
I was freaked out by Helen's son, too. I noticed that Betty didn't mention the incident to Helen, either. Is that part of 1960s courtesy? Betty even seemed flattered by the boy's inappropriate attention - cutting a lock of hair for him. Also, at Betty's visit to the psychaitrist, she certainly exhibited an attitude of superiority to Helen rather than the fear she initially showed.
Maybe the boy is just acting out due to lack of a male presence in the household.
I must be the only one who likes the character of Betty. I see her as sensitive, and kinder than the other women around her. I believe she is going to come into her own. And it really IS unfair to dismiss housewives as uninteresting people. I grew up in that time period, and the women in my neighborhood did all kinds of interesting things as well as raise the kids. They were never as one dimensional as they are portrayed now. And remember, without Betty at home holding the fort, there would be no Don Draper.
I just want to say I love this show!!! I hate to somewhat say it but I'm addicted to watching. I think everyone is doing a GREAT job.
Amanda in Iowa
although i was born in 1962 i recognize so much of the props - the big hair, the clothes, toys, even the lampshades!! i recall my parents lighting up at the dinner table while we kids were still eating!! and what a kick to see a pack of "Kents" in the bathroom drawer - my Mom's brand!!
the show is great and i hope it's not just a filler for the summer months!
Please make another season. Mad Men has filled the dark void in my heart that the The Sopranos left. I need more episodes to think about to pass the time while I'm at work. I'll buy crappy merchandise, Ill pay for the AMC channel, whatever I need to do for you to make more.
I read a comment that they thought the constant smoking is unrealistic, but having lived in that era, I can tell you it is right on point. Everyone drank and smoked just like that, at least among the crowd I remember. Everything in the series is right on target and absolutely accurate down to the minutiae detail. I don't know where the production people got all the props, but they all looked like the house I lived in and houses I visited. Wonderful show! Keep up the good work! It's a winner.
I read a comment that they thought the constant smoking is unrealistic, but having lived in that era, I can tell you it is right on point. Everyone drank and smoked just like that, at least among the crowd I remember. Everything in the series is right on target and absolutely accurate down to the minutiae detail. I don't know where the production people got all the props, but they all looked like the house I lived in and houses I visited. Wonderful show! Keep up the good work! It's a winner.
I do not watch television but a friend recommended Mad Men to me and I must admit I love it. For the first time I actually look forward to the new episodes of a show. This is a great show and I am very impressed by it.
"and what a kick to see a pack of "Kents" in the bathroom drawer - my Mom's brand!!"
Wow, it just struck me now. That was my mom's brand too. Dad smoked Salems. I don't recall advertising for Kents but I wonder if they marketed that brand specifically toward women. That's interesting too. During the design of this show, someone asked the question, "What brand of cigarettes does Helen smoke?"
I enjoy this show. I dont love it yet. But it is def intriguing. I'm 28 and I can relate with some of the creative snobiness that is brought forward in some of the episodes. Being in the media / post production world it happens alot here too sans the overly open smoking; obviously. But there is alot of behind the back "i am better than he is" and the constant struggle to acertain creative power. Sabotage of course it is common this series is def. a gem waiting to be polished.
Hey kids - live-blogging of Mad Men tomorrow night at www.newcritics.com - please join us!
We'll smack the neighbor's kids around and rifle through their medicine cabinets, toss off noontime highballs and cue up the Bob Newhart LP's. Oh yes we will.
Brilliant writing!
Awesome characters!
Love the family ... Drop dead gorgeous Don (movie-star quality), pretty Betty (Grace Kelly) and adorable Sally (a little Shirley Temple).
Please keep the show coming. I hope to be watching for many many seasons.
"Mad Men" was everything i expected it to be, full of blatant misogyny
as an excuse for the subtle misandry...
Anyone with a brain will get the subtext of this show (men are bad
and real men are real bad)........
I found myself accidentally watching "Mad Men" recently.....Reminder
to self, dont do that again (unless you're feeling in a world of self
loathing of if you are not a man and you are just a man hater or
learning to be a successful man hater)...
The name of the show tells it all (the need to denigrate men is deep
in many)........
No need to provide balance.......just label all men mad...........
The new form of sexism is the kind that despises men and refuses to
acknowledge the unique contributions of men...
This is exactly
what I expected from your show...
thanks for not disapointing...
I will make note to continue to follow my instincts with regard to sexist
programming that if directed at women as it was directed at men would
be
intolerable.........
Thanks to Matthew Weiner and AMC for creating MAD MEN! I am hooked. My DVR is set for all future episodes. Several of my friends are now MAd MEN devotees. Modern television is filled with trite reality programming and MAD MEN is such a refreshing change! The costumes, sets and automobiles are 'right on' and transport me to a happier time. Please don't let MAD MEN meet the fate of other wonderful television shows such as "American Dreams" and "Homefront".
To Akhi:
Calm down. Don Draper may be a product of his time but he's a complicated and interesting character; I don't get the impression the show is misognyistic - those were the times as many bloggers will attest. Try not to look at the show as a comment on society but rather an interesting study of human psyche and you might enjoy it more.
Yes, we're stacking up those Bob Newhart LPs and smacking around the neighbor's kids tonight at newcritics, where live-blogging of AMC's gorgeous but frustrating Mad Men series commences at 10 EDT. So mix up a high-ball, light your Lucky and swing on over to Madison and 50th for the week's usual snark and cultural rumination. See you there - www.newcritic.com
Not sure how long this fixation will last. Mad Men -is- fascinating, but it's also -relentlessly- disturbing if one is socially sophisticated enough to see all the Adult Children, traditional authoritarianism, co-dependence, double-binding, paradoxical injunctions, etc., etc., we suffered through then that's no more than repackaged now.
The writers must be reading the lists of traits of the personality disorders in the APA's diagnostic manual again (the way they did with "Desperate Housewives"). Fellini and Bergman trod this road again and again in their films, and there's clearly an audience for this degree of "introspection by proxy."
One might want to consider, however, that a steady diet of seeing oneself in the mirror will ultimately make one pretty uncomfortable, whether or not they -admit- they are seeing themselves in the mirror.
I gotta think the writers would do well to reward the viewers with something besides a steady diet of repressed, white-collar self-loathing. A little clever humor here and there would go a long way.
In the early 60's. I worked as a secretary in a well known ad agency in Chicago. Boy, I can really relate as the sexual innuendos were rampant. I would enter a private office and the account execs would start their banter under their breath. Funny, at that time I thought it was flattering, and was not offended.
Later on at another job, I had a boss who was having an affair. His wife also worked in the same office and I knew her quite well. Of course, I kept it private and he never knew that I knew, but I enjoyed overhearing him on the phone with his lover.
I love the smoking scenes since we could smoke at our desks then. In fact, I accidentally started a fire on the 76th floor of our office building by throwing a match in the wastebasket, which was promptly extinguished. The show brings back a lot of memories. I love it!
I love this show! I look forward to it every week. I have to say that the constant infidelity disturbs me. If I were Betsy and I knew my husband was stepping out on me the way Don does, I'd leave him. Of course, it's a different world today with more opportunities for women. I couldn't be happy just being the good little housewife who settles for a man who can't be faithful and isn't satisfied with his life.
The IBM Selectrics seen in many scenes were not introduced until 1961. If anyone wants to see the inspiration for the design of the office, watch 1959's "The Best of Everything," which based its office design on the headquarters of Pocket Books. A similar design can be seen in 1960's "How To Succeed in Business..."
The generational divide doesn't make sense.
Don/Dick is 35. There's no way he could have avoided the draft for WWII-- he may have served in Korea but he should have served in WWII. We might have to stop and do the math, but nobody in 1960 would. People would just assume a man who was about 35 was a WWII vet. Don HAS to be. The only other option was if he were never in the army at all, but we saw him in army uniform with his kidbrother-- who's 10-11 years younger. When Don/Dick was 19, WWII was in swing.
Take it from a dispassionate adult who was there: If you're younger than 68 or 70 today, don't believe half the hype about 1960. Most of what you think about 1960 is simply the product of advertising, and "Mad Men" is just another form of that advertising.
For a guy like me, whose birth year enabled him to become a "bridger", with one foot in the gray world of pre-war "survivor" America and the other foot in bright post-war "baby-boom" America, I can only say that what has now become of what we were handed in 1960 is nothing short of tragic, a truly great embarrassment, made somehow "pretty" by the massive and pervasive forces of advertising. The incessant whining about the most inane of inconsequential silliness today is enough to drive an actual thinking adult stark raving mad.
The contemporary "Information Age" allows us to focus on minutia, on the small details, the anecdotes, without ever beginning to understand the larger context in which they occur. This enables us to pick and choose the details we want and make up our own context, to fill in the blanks any way we wish, any way that best suits our purpose of the moment, that best supports our own agendas. When viewing the past in such select, pre-determined ways, the anecdotal exceptions, common to every society since Adam and Eve, thus become the "norm". It never dawns on us that, while we, with the advantage of a half century of science, can wag smug fingers at naive 1960s smokers, that they would have viewed today's many tens of millions of obese citizens as shamefully grotesque. Today, we incredibly pay premium prices for the "privilege" of advertising a brand name on own clothes, pay extra to be able to watch commercials on "advertiser-supported" TV, buy our nearly free drinking water at ten times the price in plastic bottles made of oil, etc. -- without ever considering that the "naive" citizens of 1960 never came within a thousand miles of us on THOSE stupid scales, and dozens more. Yes, advertising, especially after a half century of sophisticated refinement, can sell us literally anything, even half truths about 1960 America and the utterly inane of today.
In 1960 I was almost the same age as the main young characters in the "Mad Men" series, a series that takes place as American business and wealth was suddenly exploding exponentially, and for very good reasons. Advertising had been with American capitalism for more than a century, but by mid-20th century it had reached a level of "maturity" that proved you could sell the enormous and unbelievably insatiable post-war generation just about anything, and it proceeded to do just that. Given the silent stoicism of their parents, it even sold them their wants and dreams, their rebellion and narcissism, their beliefs and lifestyles, their illusions and delusions. Today we call it "marketing", and it is probably the most sophisticated and advanced social science we have. In pre-war times, it was called, more honestly, "propaganda", but even Goebbels, much less the KGB, never imagined what was possible with such methods when very slickly married to mass media technology. Today we heap scorn on "propaganda", and praise, even honor, on "advertising", never considering that it all employs the exact same principles - now all tightly bundled in the artful science of "marketing".
These days "marketing" permeates every single aspect of our lives. Every form of business, politics, religion, entertainment, education, government, academia, even our legions of special-interest groups, now uses it to advance their own self-serving propaganda, to further their own self-serving agendas. They ALL can sell us literally anything they wish to sell, because we have all been trained very well to have someone else do our thinking for us. Advertising even led eventually to the twisted notion that the role of the Fourth Estate was no longer to "discover and report the Truth", but to "make a better world" (however one wants to define that). It is mostly responsible for the fact that over half of what Americans believe anymore is, as described by Princeton philosopher Dr. Frankfurt, just "Bullshit". Today Truth is pretty much whatever anyone wants to believe, whatever makes you feel better about yourself. And nothing upsets Americans more than being told the hard unvarnished truths about themselves. The first rule of advertising is to never tell your target audience the truth about them, but rather to reinforce the positive aspects of their self-image, even if it's ALL total "bullshit". This has become so much an integral part of the total American cradle-to-grave educational experience that we have all become... fake humans. The Myth is FAR greater than the Truth.
I extracted a few lines (below) from a recent little article about a nice, intelligent and energetic woman I knew in the early 1950s when I was still quite young and, naturally, a smart-ass teenage boy who knew it all, but still never realized then, just how much this woman contributed to almost everything important in my universe. This woman always seemed to be everywhere at once, and she always seemed to be able to just make things happen, to very effectively juggle twenty things at once, always with a winning smile and a perfectly-placed crack for bright smart-ass school boys - who always quickly fell in behind her easy guidance and direction. I never once saw her get cross, much less loose her temper. Although it was not her profession, she was one of the best "teachers" I ever had.
++++++
Tuesday was Margaret C.'s birthday. She turned 87.
Back in the fall of 1956, when her oldest son Al Jr. enrolled at ((an all-boys prep school in Maryland)), Margaret began her long relationship with the school. ((Most of article discusses her decades of persistent work at the school and volunteer efforts all around her community.))
All nine of Al & Margaret's sons attended ((the private prep school)). Their only daughter, Margaret ("#10" as she is sometimes known), attended ((an all-girls prep school in Maryland)).
Six grandsons are graduates ((of the school)), as is one great grandchild. One other great grandson, Tommy -- a junior, is the starting quarterback on this year's varsity football team, which USA Today ranks 20th in the nation.
Margaret lost her husband Al in the year 2000. They had been married a few days short of 60 years. "I could not have had a better marriage," she said. "Whenever something had to be done, it got done. Neither one of us made a big deal out of it."
((Note that she and Al had been born into World War I America, had grown up as children during The Great Depression and the Dust Bowls, and had married in 1940, on the eve of The Great World War. After finally putting that war behind them, they began helping to re-build Europe and Japan, and, fearing that the next Great Calamity was always just around the next corner, they just kept going, building America. It was then that Margaret and Al, and many tens of millions of their contemporaries, quite obviously made their greatest contribution to the nation - its flood of young Americans born into a whole new bright shining world.))
Why did they give so much to outside organizations? "We enjoyed it," she said. "We enjoyed working with other people." Her philosophy? "I really don't have one," she said. "I just try to treat people the way I want to be treated."
+++++++ (end article extract)
In many ways this woman was very remarkable during the decade on both sides of 1960, but in most other ways she was actually quite common; she was simply everyone's mom - the same smart woman who had worked so very hard to help win the awful war I remembered so well as a little boy, and then, like everyone else in those days, just kept on working, really, really hard. There were many millions just like her everywhere.
She was and remains today of a very different time, a time when Americans had FAR different values and accomplishments than they now have, a time before decades of all the self-serving bullshit propaganda rewrote history, reality and simple truth. But since the days of her prime, she and her husband have become the most brutalized group in our history - primarily to serve the pathetic self-interests of the children who followed them. Those who cannot measure up will ALWAYS lower the standards -- and also those who set them.
Ten kids.... All with first-class educations... I attended school with three of this woman's children, but I didn't realize until years later that her work at the school helped pay the expensive tuition for all of them, year after year, from 1956 to 1969. All ten of her kids graduated from private high schools, and all of them were reasonably successful in life. She never palmed off a single one of her responsibilities to anyone. She was always ready to pitch in and help with challenges that always arise in any community. She is justifiably just as proud of herself and her family today as she was in 1960.
The World War II generation didn't waste time whining or worshiping moron celebrities or agonizing over the whys and wherefores of normal life; they just got things done. On a Truly Grand Scale. They kept busy doing things like curing diseases and plagues, fighting in Korea, feeding the world, building the National Defense Interstate Highway System, including millions of suburban houses that finally everyone could afford to actually own and the highways and beltways between and around most major cities and the cars to drive on them, by having and raising very healthy and happy children, lots of children. With almost no help from government or women's organizations those women succeeded in raising the healthiest generation of children in human history. Children are really tremendous consumers, and their needs and wants helped feed the greatest and most rapid economic expansion in history. The World War II generation of Americans also succeeded in raising the best educated generation of kids ever. Together these men and women built the America that we have taken for granted ever since. Jack Kennedy was the last to tap into what these remarkable Americans had to offer when he asked them to put an American on the moon before the end of the 1960s. They met that challenge, too, and then, gradually running out of steam, turned things over to their kids - the "baby boomers", the most spoiled kids to ever walk on the planet. It's been a downhill slide ever since.
The first thing that is necessary to know about the "baby-boomers" is that their numbers were really, really huge. The US population at the end of WW II in 1945 was half what it is today, but increased by 26,000,000 in just the next decade, and by an additional 30,000,000 by 1965, even as death rates remained consent. Americans' mean age was dropping by the month. Second, their parents were responsible adults who did not fill their kids' heads full of whining about their own difficulties, their past and present struggles, about what it had taken to get everyone where they arrived in 1960. They kept quiet about such things and simply bestowed everything that they had missed on their children. The huge numbers of post-war "baby-boomers", then, thoroughly convinced that the world began with their miraculous arrival on the scene, were allowed to take everything around them for granted, as gifts of God just for them, because, naturally, they were "special", intended to just "be happy". In such a permissive environment naturally grew truly monumental childish traits, traits which most carried with them throughout their lives. When it gradually became apparent during the 1960s that the kids could use a little restraining, it was too late. By then, the children, in their infinite wisdom, were not interested in anything their parents had to say, because they already knew all the answers and could find nothing but faults in the world their parents had created for them. Essentially, that world now offered far too many choices, far too many options that had not previously existed for young Americans. And there was almost nothing to fear.
So the "baby-boomers" naturally passed on their worst traits to their own kids, who inculcated it all on even more childish levels. Now not an hour passes without men like me getting nauseous listening to some American whine about things that are, in truth, truly infantile. Today, we Americans are so thoroughly self-involved that we shamelessly build whole universes on the web to trumpet our glorious selves to the entire world. But the truth is considerably less glorious, full of really huge voids that might otherwise resemble substance. Today it's almost ALL appearance, with almost no real substance. We no longer even produce enough of our own children to keep our society going and have to import millions and millions of Third World people to take up our enormous slack in the very most fundamental function of any society - its future survival and viability. It takes an average of 2.2 children per woman of child-bearing age to sustain our society, but native-born American women have half that number of kids. Over 53% of our women, and steadily rising, between 18 and 48 have never been married and have never had children; as a group they are, in effect, highly privileged "men in drag", no longer earning their "special" status, or even the respect and deference that were once their just due. Despite all their claims of "special" status, and all their self-induced "problems" which they incessantly blame on men, American women are actually just more slobs in the arena, but enormously privileged slobs.
Today our kids suffer from far more maladies than those who grew up during the Great Depression did, and they are much less educated than those of the 1960s. We can't even properly maintain, much less improve, the vast national infrastructure we were handed gratis. Now, when certain things critical to American life can no longer be ignored or delayed, we prefer to turn the job over to foreign companies that will collect the costs, and much more, not from them, but from future generations, while deftly placing the greatest burden on our poorest citizens. Americans have become so adverse to meeting their societal responsibilities that they are even willing to pay foreigners for the right to drink their own tap water, drive on their own roads. We even have to turn over very significant portions of our military functions to very expensive hired mercenaries to help fight our wars, mercenaries which could one day be employed by others against us, commercial contractors who have every incentive to prolong our wars as long as possible so as to maximize the flood of taxpayer money flowing to them. It's really difficult to get more stupid than THAT.
America has become a grotesque perversion of its former self, one that now routinely contradicts its own principles of equality, fair play, justice -- by allowing all sorts of self-anointed "special" people and groups to proliferate like a plague, while they focus on little more than chasing money with which to buy more toys. Regardless of the label -- advertising, marketing, propaganda -- this science has taught lemming Americans how to accept literally anything, even utter nonsense that completely defies simple logic or common sense. Even our social "sciences" have become ridiculous charades all designed to find ways to shift responsibility for everything away from the "victim" and onto someone or something else by any stretch of rational thinking possible. Being a "victim", of course, is so very enticing simply because it very neatly absolves the person of responsibility. For truly enormous portions of our population, becoming a "bona fide victim" has become the ultimate objective in life, in a society driven to return everyone to the comfortably safe womb where they can vegetate in luxury. Now we willingly give up our freedoms to both government and business, build our own prisons, in the interest of "safety and security", of having someone else assume our responsibilities for normal life. Their conviction that they are now faced with "new kinds of threats" is the product of their own abject ignorance, coupled with their grandparents' adult belief that some things are best addressed quietly without creating panic or using fear for cheap ulterior objectives - including feeding the wants of companies making mega bucks in the "security" industry through "informational advertising".
We provide college educations to almost twice as many women as men, yet our women still need a whole industry of fantasy fiction to feed their ancient mythical romantic delusions, a half dozen TV channels and perhaps fifty TV programs all designed to enable them to literally wallow in their self-anointed eternal victimhood, even as they become our best educated primary breadwinners -- while our men grow dumber and more ignorant and useless, and less masculine and less productive, by the day, infatuated only with ever more expensive toys. Americans today are the world's most delusional grown-up children, who derive almost all of their positive self-image and self-worth, even their very gender identity, their machismo or desirability, vicariously or with manufactured engineering. They inhabit an almost totally fake society, one grotesquely still operating mostly according to guidelines laid down long ago for a totally different reality. Even their strategic view of the world -- foreign affairs, military planning, diplomacy, etc., -- is still based entirely on thinking done for them by their grandparents for entirely different world realities. They continue, for example, to inexplicably support an anachronistic "NATO" that ceased having a justification for existing almost two decades ago, and which today accomplishes nothing more than keeping the US taxpayer footing the lion's share of fat, rich Old Europe's defense requirements. We recognize and establish relations and trade with communist Vietnam, while still seeing the mouse that roared in tiny communist Cuba. The armies of whiners have been able to pick and choose the nice things they like, and simply reject or ignore the hard things they don't like. And they stopped doing serious objective thinking over a quarter of a century ago. Advertising, in all its various manifestations, has made Americans the planet's "Dumb and Dumber" comic caricatures, voraciously gobbling up anything that can possibly be bought.
The world of 1960, of course, did not offer a utopia. Like all societies in the Real World, that one, too, had challenges not yet met. Chief among those major problems were the racial divide and rural poor, problems which the World War II generation, through leaders like Jack and Bobby Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and many others, were attempting to correct. Then an unfortunate war in Southeast Asia came along to form the catalysis for the baby-boomers' first great temper tantrum. The war required young males to be drafted for a dangerous responsibility, and the baby-boomers reacted like five-year-olds refusing to pick up their toys. Blacks and women were quick to join the escalating fray, and soon we had what has since been called a "social revolution". It was all essentially a childish temper tantrum, far more vicious, violent and destructive than it had to be, full of simple self-serving "solutions" to enormously complex "problems". The "baby-boomers" simply forced their privileged view of the world onto everyone else, damned the costs or consequences, and primarily for their own self-interests. The quick-fix, short-cut generation had made its statement. Then, once the draft had ended, very many of them retreated back to their safe college campus wombs, from where they set about revising history and promulgating their propaganda for the next forty years -- on someone else's dime, of course. These enormously privileged and spoiled oracles had significantly re-shaped society to suit themselves, but not, of course, at their expense.
After college in the early-'60s I was, by then almost past the age limit, drafted into the Army for Vietnam and spent most of the rest of my life serving my country overseas, where I, educated both in psychology and sociology at very good universities, got to know very well dozens of different cultures around the globe. Today I do not hesitate to judge my own as no better than mediocre, and declining rapidly. Our women, especially, are my greatest disappointment, because for the past half century there is nothing they decided they wanted that was not handed to them. As a group they are now quite simply the most pampered, most protected, most promoted, most privileged, and most powerful group to ever walk on Earth, yet sadly the only thing they can do better than any other group is whine. Incredibly they even continue to enjoy all society's advantages that were intended for the benefit of their far different grandmothers.
On a societal worth scale, American women today come in no higher than about twentieth place, and our "men" not much higher; both groups steadily decline with each passing decade, still coasting on the self-image created for them by the very same World War II grand-parents they incessantly malign and denigrate. Despite all the asinine self-serving propaganda that followed them, the women of the 1920s-1960s easily accomplished five times more than those of today, were enormously stronger and more capable. And no one ever made a Big Deal of it, least of all them. Many of them were extremely competent, knowledgeable and effective teachers, scientists, inventors, even company founders. The same is true of our men. It was a time when responsibilities were FAR more important than entitlements, a time when substance still easily trumpted appearance.
The women in those days were full partners in society's Grand Bargain, and more than held up their end of that bargain, more than earned the respect that was their just due. Marriage and family was then a way society tied to ensure the best environment for having and raising healthy children; today it's a way individuals seek to maximize personal profit through an easily dissolved business partnership while farming out ever more of their parenting responsibilities to others. Today America, while still arguably "The Richest", is not anywhere near "The Greatest" that it was in 1960 -- when the nation gradually began to be turned over to spoiled-rotten children who became convinced that they were all "special" and that God alone had placed all that tremendous bounty there just for them to milk for all it was worth for as long as they wanted to play in the sandbox. Advertising, propaganda, marketing,... literally changed who they were. Americans, once the universal global ideal, have since become insufferably obnoxious and ignorant has-beens, with very little, beyond the nerdy remote-control push-button elements of their military, that is real enough to support their ridiculous chest-thumping bluster.
Today it's all about "rights", "entitlements" - thousands of them, that are all somehow magically bestowed at birth. No one has to actually earn anything anymore, not even "respect" or "trust". No one ever mentions living up to their responsibilities. The hard stuff is, as for all children, for "someone else", usually some "sucker". In 1960 it was still all about "Us"; today it's all about "Me". I call it The Age Of Narcissism. In elections that have become silly advertisement-driven popularity contests, we elect "leaders" we expect to slavishly follow our brilliant and all-knowing lead.
When compared to Americans of 1920-1965, our generation today literally disappears in their giant shadow. In the sweep of human events, we are inconsequential, except in the negative, still steadily wasting away what we were handed, slaves to advertising designed to keep us buying whatever anyone wants to sell. If there is justice over time, history will see through all the self-serving propaganda and NOT be kind to us. And then perhaps someday, before it is gone forever, America, if it still retains some small measure of self-respect, will erect a giant memorial to the Margaret C.s and her Greatest Generation for all the wonderful things they handed to their children by 1960. It was not THEIR fault that their kids pissed it all away.
Today we are still driving cars on four rubber ties powered by an internal combustion engine just as Americans did a century ago - even BEFORE the "ancient" World War II generation came along to make enough of those cars for everyone to own. We took the World War II "walkie-talkie", made it smaller, put up a million ugly antennae, and called it a cell phone - enabling us to lamely pat ourselves on the back for developing a whole "new" technology. All we have done since about 1970 is tweak around on the edges of the great innovations, discoveries, genius and damned hard work and sacrifice that went before, or gamble with other people's money to gradually concentrate the nation's wealth in the hands of fewer and fewer "elite" Americans - and package it all with marketing that sells it as something FAR more than it actually is. We long ago dropped the torch that was once called "The American Spirit". We have become the insatiable consumers, the engine the drives the global economy to provide us all that we can possibly buy. And advertising keeps us that way, at least until we have finished throwing away all the wealth we inherited on our own childish wants of the moment.
But now someone else has picked up the torch.
++++++++++++++
One day all the pampered little American children woke up and looked around and presumed that all those nifty goodies around them were gifts from God that would just keep on giving. All they had to do was milk it for all they could in order to continue the Good Life forever.
But others knew better. They had actually read the un-edited history of America during the first half of the twentieth century. They had not been brainwashed by all the decades of self-serving advertising, propaganda and marketing. They knew that God's role in all that tremendous bounty was actually fairly minor, that at times God even seemed to be opposed to the whole idea. Those actually responsible for it all somehow had gradually battled their way out of the abysmal depths of the soup kitchens of the Great Depression and devastating Dust Bowls for years and years only to see the light at the end of the tunnel clouded over with the threat of an awful global war. Then they just continued to grit their teeth and went and fought that war, at truly stupendous cost to nearly every American.
And when they had finished that war, they just kept on working, really really hard -- fearful that very soon, just around the corner, something else would again come along and snatch it all away. By the 1960s they were still working, frantically building, creating and innovating, as if racing the clock, desperately trying to give their kids everything that had been denied them, and much more.
And their children were becoming teenagers, young adults, "growing up". The kids had no idea at all what great misery, sacrifice and really hard work -- what seemingly endless blood, sweat and tears -- had preceded them or what great achievements that misery and sacrifice and hard work had eventually accomplished. All they cared about was "being happy". The hard stuff was for "someone else". Their kids were in love, with themselves.
One of those who did read carefully America's uncensored history of the first half of the twentieth century was a young woman from northeast China. Following the ashes of the "Cultural Revolution", at the age of 26, the eldest of eight children in a poor soldier's family, she left home in 1981 and went to Hong Kong, where she thought perhaps she could make a career out of paper. She ended up creating an industry out of thin air.
Now 50, Zhang Yin (Cheung Yan) runs a network of modern, highly respected, environmentally-conscious plants throughout China that makes packaging for some of the world's major global corporations, such as Coca Cola, Nike, Sony, Haier and TCL. The flag ship for what is now her major holding company is Nine Dragons Paper - the company she founded in 1985 and for which she still serves as chairman and chief executive.
How did she do it?
By astutely and adroitly exploiting what spoiled Americans didn't want.
She started her career in waste paper trading in Hong Kong in 1985 and has stuck with the paper industry ever since. In 1990 she set up America Chung Namp, Inc. (ACN) in the US. Her ACN now provides nearly 80 percent of the raw materials for her Nine Dragons Paper. "The key to the success of Nine Dragons Paper is ensuring the long-term and steady purchase of high-quality waste paper in large quantities," Zhang says.
And, of course, NO ONE can produce high quality waste faster than Americans. ACN, a Chinese company operating in the US, has ranked as the largest US exporter of raw materials for paper-making and the biggest container exporter among all US industries for the past six years in a row. China imported a staggering 12 million tons of waste paper in 2005, nearly half of the world's waste paper available for export. China, mostly Nine Dragons Paper, imports all that waste paper and dramatically increases its value for export. With her subsidiary ACN, she waded into the America caldron and showed Americans how they once led the world in such things. In short, she has out-done Americans at their own game, using their own waste.
Furthermore, in China, Nine Dragons Paper puts an average of 2-3% of each project's investment into preventing pollution and carefully monitors its waste water discharges 24 hours a day. Her huge company employs thousands of people in good-paying jobs in actually productive endeavors - endeavors that are also actually good for Earth. Neither she or her employees has ever cut down a single tree.
Last year she was China's richest Billionaire.
This year her wealth has increased 125%, but her position on China's "richest list" has slipped to Number Eleven - due to China's rapid creation of other industries also formerly led by America, including energy. (Yes, one of China's richest billionaires made his wealth in SOLAR energy.)
And she did it all without advertising. No one ever told her that she was "special".
Zhang Yin who would have been right at home in America in, say, 1935, or 1945. She probably would have, even then, named her company Nine Dragons Paper. But now the US only interests her for what it chooses to throw away - and for how much money she can make, and Chinese jobs she can create, from Americans' spoiled laziness.
Zhang Yin is also the proud mother of two.
Imagine an American buying a pair of expensive Chinese-made Nike shoes that comes in a Chinese carton made from the glossy American beauty magazine bought last year and then thrown away. Zhang Yin didn't do anything that an American could not also have done, and done easier. Perhaps she was just hungrier. Perhaps it was as simple as not having any easy excuses for not accomplishing what was always there for her to accomplish, on her own. Perhaps it was that she didn't have readily available others to blame if she failed, or if she never even tried. She certainly didn't need extra advantage in high school, an all-expense-paid top university education, affirmative action, special government programs, hand-outs, lawsuits, quota systems, or anything else the "perpetual victim" generation now demands as inalienable birthrights. Whining is not even in her universe. Zhang Yin has "The American Spirit" of America's World War II Greatest Generation firmly in her grasp. She and her country are very rapidly replicating what the Greatest Generation left to their kids.