Yes, bocaraton, the comment from Pete's father "we gave you your name" really bugs me. What does it mean? Pete is very much the second-class citizen in his family, just by the complaining he does about his treatment compared to his brother. I take it there are only two sons, Pete is the older and the younger is spoiled.

The only thing I can think of is that he is his mother's child, not the father's. Pete was 26 in 1960 (his own comment to Don in the pilot episode). The only scenerio I can think of is the mother was married before and was either widowed or divorced. She remarried, and the new husband adopted Pete, giving him his name. Because the mother, though society, must have married someone disreputable or unacceptable for her societal standing.

It would explain Pete's need for approval from his "father", Don, and anyone else. Pete seems to always be acting like he is "somebody", but he doesn't really feel it or inhabit it in his psyche. Otherwise, Pete wouldn't waste his time proving his sense of entitlement to himself, women, bosses or anyone else in the nearest vicinity all the time.

Pete's theme song should really be "Looking for Love In All the Wrong Places". Oops, too bad, think that's from the soundtrack of "Urban Cowboy".

Pete would have been born in 1934. Yes, perhaps the mother was married before - or an unmarried sister of the mother "gave" them her child to adopt and raise - something is not right about the father's attitude. Also, when Pete mentions how they paid to keep the brother out of trouble (I think the brother ran someone over with a car) - the mother just turns away and walks out. It seems like much more than just being disappointed about his career choice. The father acts as if he did him a big favor "giving him his name". Maybe that's how the rich from old, distinguished families treat their sons...but it's strange.

Possibly Pete is a whore-child like Dick/Don .... and we are seeing the contrast, similarities, variations in how these rich and poor families react.

WLW: man, that's a good angle! I think you're really onto something. Why else the constant irritant of these two characters (Don/Pete) so often? Same story, just a variation on the theme. Remember Don saying to Pete "you've been given EVERYTHING" - because there seemed to be just a flash of hurt on Pete's face. Maybe Pete was thinking "if you only knew". But Pete is in the dark about his own past, I think, whereas Don knows exactly what he's from and who he was (don't think Don knows who he is now, though).

Hey, I think we're onto something! The phrase "given everything" has a darker, hurtful personal meaning to Pete - who's heard it constantly from his parents, how "lucky" he is, he should be grateful what they have done for him, etc. (subtext: we could have let you stay in the nursery at the home for unwed mothers, let you be adopted by some other family, be a no-name nobody like everyone else)...to Pete, it means more than "you come from a privileged background" - it means, you were born dirt, we brought you up and made you what you appear to be - don't ask for too much. No one has any idea about Pete's real origin as someone's "bastard"..

@bocatatonfan, it would explain Pete's constant need to "earn" his approval and worth from men above himself. It could also explain Pete's love/loathe behavior with those men (father, Don), and why he also desires to bring them down - they've tormented him emotionally.

It would also explain Pete's anger at his father-in-law's gift of the Park Ave apt. Pete doesn't want to be "beholden" or grateful anymore to anyone. Because actually Pete's father-in-law was very warm to him ("I consider you like my son"), and Pete had absolutely no emotional reaction at all. The one older man who offered Pete help (financial for the apt, Clearasil account) gets no response. It was like anyone showing Pete they cared was completely foreign to him.

yes jamm, good ideas. Pete has no idea what it's like to have a loving, supportive father. His own father belittled and demeaned him, withheld affection, attention and approval. A son like that often spsends his whole like trying to win what he will never achieve - dad's love and approval. It does explain a lot of Pete's behavior.

I don't think the remark about "we gave you your name" is referring to adoption. Those high society types in the 1960's did not feel that their children deserved having everything. Even though they could give their children, they knew they shouldn't. VERY, VERY different than today's society who give their children everything and anything and go into debt to do it. Those in the 60's felt that by giving their children everything, the child never learned how to be successful on their own. Pete's Dad was trying to send the message: I gave you a name to get you in the door, but the rest is up to you. In other words, don't rely on my money, rely on your name to get what you want in life.

luv, I do see what you mean, and agree, but in a show that pays lots of attention to appearance and the visual, I can't overlook the total lack of physical resemblance between Pete and his parents - they are totally difference types. There must be some reason for that. Look how much attention was paid to casting a don draper lookalike for young dick whitman's depression-era father? And the youngster Dick also resembles the mature "Don Draper" we all know and love.

@luvmadmen, I see your point. But where does Pete get used to the idea that he "should" be given things?

Remember when he tries to blackmail Don because he wants his job, he says "Why can't you GIVE this to me?" Then Pete goes on to say he's earned it, blah, blah.

But, Pete's first reaction to an obstacle (and his attitude seems to reinforce this) is: GIVE IT TO ME.

Not that he has to earn it, but that it should be given to him. Of course, he alternates quite a bit on those behavior value systems (receiving/earning) throughout the episodes, depending on the situation (work, sex, family).

I agree with luv -- I think you may be digging for something that's not there. Pete's father's statement seemed evident to me that names are very important -- Bert Cooper admits as much when he un-fires Pete. At the end of the day, he can't look exactly like his parents because, well, they're actors; not family.

That said, you don't have to be illegitimate to be a black sheep of the family, which Pete most certainly is. Perhaps his lack of physical resemblance is part of that as well.

@bocaratonfan, and boy do we love Don Draper!

"At the end of the day, he can't look exactly like his parents because, well, they're actors; not family." - clayton, we all know they're not his actual parents - but casting unrelated people who resemble each other, to "act" as family members - it's done all the time. Making Pete a run-of- the-mill back sheep (why? because he didn't become a lawyer?) - what's the motivation?

@luvmadmen/Clayton: you're both probably right, because we're talking about a very different parental generation (Pete's mother/father),

And being the black sheep of the family (see: "From the Terrace", "Young Philadelphians") doesn't always mean illegitimacy. Sometimes you were simply disliked for no legitimate reason. Or your parents were cold (again could be a generational thing). And there are favorites in families, too.

jamm, We love Don but we don't trust him! That 1960 look for a "suit" like Don has to be one of the best eras for male dressing and grooming. Sleek, simple, but so elegant. Reminds me of Cary Grant in North by Northwest, made in 1958 or 1959 (he also played a Madison Ave man).

@bocaratonfan, he is sharp looking! And iI feel a wistfulness/nostalgia seeing Don Draper. It's like looking at my dad again (Don's haircut, slick on and part) - both my parents are gone now. So.....

jamm, luv, clayton and all who are "talking" here - this is great fun and thanks for commenting on this questions I raised! That said, the genius of the show's writers, producer, etc., is the ambiguity, the mystery, the veiled references, the double meanings....all of which draw in and capture the viewer's imagination. This is the only series I have watched in years - and it is addictive! What I'm wondering is, would Don have worn cologne or any scent? Remember when Midge told him to shower because he stinks, and he said "I'm supposed to - I'm a man"? Now that would be a turnoff, no matter how good he looks.

You'd think Don would wear Old Spice, at least - it seemed to be the only accepted "scent" any man would wear after shaving, and not be considered effeminate.

I don't know if men using deodorants was the norm for 1960, I'd be too young to be aware of it. This peculiarity on Don's part may be the norm or a holdover from his rural upbringing. If anything, Betty would be the first to clue him in, you'd think.

I think 1960 men showered daily and used deoderant, but not always cologne - maybe aftershave (like aqua velva). That's what my father did, and I don't recall my father ever smelling bad. The first men's colognes I remember came out in the later 60s and just like the "long" hair styles for men, they were at first controversial as somehow "unmanly".

Oh yeah, bocaratonfan, my dad alternated Old Spice with Aqua Velva - haven't heard that name in years. I think it was "Old English Leather" that came out big in mid sixties (anything from Britain for the "British Invasion").

This has been fun!

I think we are ALL a little too anxious for Sunday 10pm.

If you remember at the end of Long Weekend; Don tells Rachel his mother (a prostitute) died at birth. His father & his wife took him in. Then his Father died when he was 10yrs old (kick in the head by a horse) & the stepmother & the fella she took up with raised him. "I was raised by those two sorry people"

So the fact that they had dark hair was probably of minor significance. Adam's hair was red....milkman?

It's a nice theory & if it comes to fruition then my apologies...but its only a few days away.

"Good things come to Obsessive Compulsives who Fixate"

I think MM writers are setting us up for another ad campaign with the remark by Midge to Don "go shower you stink". I think they are going to hit us with a new deodorant ad. Somewhere in one of the episodes, I think I remember hearing something said by Midge, maybe...that I thought of a deodorant ad slogan "get a little closer". I think that was a old Ban commercial? But, maybe Ban was a 1970's deodorant. I was young, so I don't remember exactly what year that was. Anyone else out there catch something similiar?

P.S. Yes, I agree with cici23. Dick/Don's parents in the flashback are not his real parents. He was taken in by those people. The fact that Dick/Don's step father looks like Dick/Don is just a coincidence. I caught Jon Hamm on the Early Show this morning. How a guy can look so sexy with a five-o-clock shadow at 9:00am, is amazing!! He is such an eye candy, slicked hair or not. :o))

Hmmm. cici and luv pose an interesting possibility about those not being young Dick's real parents- but I am not convinced. But we will just have to see how it pans out! Very good idea about the deoderant campaign - and I think "get a little closer" was for Arrid Extra Dry - does that ring a bell? One thing I remember about slicked back hair for men (Brill Cream - a little dab'll do ya) - men who used "greasy kid stuff" as they called it - didn't wash their hair very often and it really looked awful and dandruffy after a while. Standards of personal cleanliness were not the same 50 years ago. My dad kept his hair very short, didn't use "product".

About who not being his real parents ? I thought we established in an earlier post.... his mom died in childbirth and the step-mom raised him.

I thought there was still some debate on the guy in the flashbacks being his Dad or Step-dad. And if Adam was his half or step brother.

But that is what I thought Cici. That the real dad was dead and the "dishonest man" that the hobo refers to - is actually Dick's step-dad.

Just still trying to fit the timeline together on the whole thing. Particularly how old Dick was when Adam was born.

kdb, it is Dick's real dad in the episode where the hobo appears. Also, think in this episode the hobo asks Dick how old he was (7?) The "dishonest man" the hobo refers to in the episode is Dick's real father.

You have Dick's mother information correct: Dick's prostitute mother did die during his birth, and Dick was given to his real father and his wife (Dick's stepmother). They took him in.

Later in the series, Dick/Don mentions that he was 10 when his real father died. That left him with the stepmother (pregnant with Adam by Dick's real father) who apparently had already taken up with a new man by the time of Adam's birth. She still had Dick with her, when his half-brother, Adam, is born. Probably the only reason the stepmother kept taking care of Dick was because Adam and Dick were true blood half-brothers (same birth father). Otherwise, she would've probably booted Dick the moment his real father died.

I still think the parents they show with Dick are not his real parents. If he was a whore child (in the literal sense), the woman usually didn't know who the father was. If they considered any woman who was not married and pregnant, a whore - then the woman would know who the father was and maybe that is the case. If he was Dick's/Don's real father then Adam would be his half-brother. Dick would have had some connection as a half-brother to Adam and I didn't see that in Dick's/Don's eyes. Adam considered Dick his brother because they grew up together. Dick just saw Adam as an unfortunate child who had crappy parents. Ask anyone who is adopted and they will tell you the strong bond they have to their new family members. Or kids who had a step father when they were very young. They will tell you that they consider the step father as their real father because they grew up with them always being there. "I could be wrong now, but I don't think so, cause it's a jungle out there". Oops wrong show, that's Monk.

I think the jury is still out on the relationship connection between the parents in the flashback and Dick/Don. Is the father real or step?

Oops, just saw on another blog, that I am wrong. Don and Adam share the same father according to the Mad Men DVD extras. Bummer...I really thought Don would have another relative out there to bring in some color to his character.

Who says there isn't another Whitman "whore-child" (hate that phrase) out there somewhere? I don't think you're off the mark in thinking there might be other relatives. Don/Dick's past is pretty convoluted with a LOT of missing chapters to not have that possibility facing him somewhere down the line.

Rural marriages in the thirties weren't exactly practicing birth control. It's hard to believe Don/Dick's real father didn't have siblings. My parents came from large midwest families (mother from a family 6 and my father from 10).

Right on, jamm54!! The uncles and aunts of Dick/Don's world, yeah! That would be a good addition. You know how relatives come out of the woodwork when they find others are successful. Ask anyone who has ever won the lottery.

Okay, I believe this is how it went. Don/Dick was born to a protitute with Don's father that we see when he was 10 years old. (Flash backs) The mother dies and Don/Dick is given to the father. The one with the dark hair just like Don/Dick. Then Don/Dick's father( dark hair) gets kicked in the head by a horse and dies then his step mother takes up with another man. Then Adam comes along and they tell Don/Dick to come & see his new baby brother. Don/Dick says "He's not my brother"and he's right he really doesn't have any blood ties to Don/Dick, but Adam always looked up to Don's his real brother. That is until Adam finds him again in New York and crushes his love for him.That part was so sad to see. So unless Don/Dick's father or the pros's family have any family to pop up ( hope they do) Don/Dick is all there is. He hope's that is how it will stay.