Thank you for your comments donnaann,

Mr. Weiner has left the building.

Illustrators were and still are an interesting breed. But, they were not on agency staff. Perhaps and episode with Sal using one might work.

Also, from the viewpoint of an art director turned copywriter; please don't use all caps in your post.

They make it very difficult to read. Notice that I said please.

Are you Erte's daughter? Oh, different time...

Are you Andy Warhol's daughter? Oh, I gues not.

Oh, you're the album guy's daughter--that psychedelic guy, suddenly slipped my mind. Mack, Max?

But regardless, they were all illustrators, am I right? Just so I know what an illustrator is.

Peter Max.

Watch the caps. We're not deaf.

sorry about the all caps, but i'm not a typist.
you are right about the staff, these illustrators were all free lance & lived in Connecticut. they were a group of men, close friends as well, & all believed that drawing was the basis of illustration. therefore, they were all very sucessfull in the world of illustration. they were the top 10 illustrators in the world.
i realize now that my childhood was very special, for a long time, i thought everyone's dad was an artist.
i hope Mr. Weiner will pay attention to my blog, as i said before, the illustrators brought the ideas of the mad men to life.
their story is just as important, as they dealt with the art directors of the agencies on a daily basis. i went to NY with my dad many times to meet with art directors. one time we went to a record company & i went home with a stack of albums, Bonnie Raitt, Van Morrison, The Rolling Stones, The Who, etc. this was 1969, when some of these musical geniuses were just starting. i am still listening to them today.
Mr. Weiner, i hope you are listening. you are missing a huge part of this story. i know, i was there. the illustrators were all unique personalities & would be a wonderful addition to your show. you could do alot with these characters. they were amazing men!

Does anyone know if the 2 guys brought in on episode 2 of the second season were artists? I think at least one was. They said they worked together.

Oh donnaann,
Your story is so interesting and I hope you get Mr. Weiner to listen. Don't worry about the all caps. I know you had something to say and it was important to you and to us all. Will you reveal who you are? Best wishes, Nora

donnaann,

Thanks for writing on the forum. You should know the liklihood of Mr. Weiner responding to your post is very small.

If you'd like to send him a message you can send it to:

Mr. Matthew Weiner c/o
AMC Viewer Services
200 Jericho Quadrangle
Jericho, NY 11753

On to your post -- isn't Sal an illustrator??

Yes, Sal is a graphic artist. Illustration is a part of what the art department does.

All of donnaann's other concerns were covered by the character of Midge in Season One, though the show preferably chooses not to harp on about real life people as it is a fictional program and cannot pander to all of the millions of fans who watch. We should be so lucky we identify with anyone at all, instead of constantly demanding an entire production stop and listen to "me, me, me."

60'schild

The two guys brought into be interviewed in that episode were a 'creative team' of artist and writer.

This was starting to be a big thing in the early sixties and lasted up until the end of that decade. I don't remember much of that going on in my last decade in New York.

The stereotypical 'team' consisted of a Jewish writer and an Italian art director. It seems that a lot of those combo teams were turning our really creative stuff. But, WASPS like myself could fit in with either.

I'll stop going off tangent at this point and reaffirm what donnaann said: there were loads of great illustrators living in Connecticut all the way from Greenwich to the Wilton/Weston area. And they were undoubtedly the best. Talented people do tend to gravitate towad each other.

By the way. Sal is an art director who can draw extremely well, but he's not quite of illustrator calibre.

You'd be surprised at how many advertising art directors couldn't draw much above the level of stick figures. Their talents lie in the visual concept and layout areas. Many times, TV storyboards were sent out to be drawn by illustrators ~ sometimes even comic book artists were hired for that.

I was about to say that Midge was an illustrator, wasn't she? She was probably brought into SC at one point for a project and this is how Don met her. In episode 1, season 1, she was working on greeting cards.

I was directed to this commentary while researching Men's fashion illustrators from the 60's. I sell vintage magazines and have been trying to decipher some of the signatures of wonderful illustrations within classic Gentlemen's Quarterly magazines from the 60's. Try as I may, I have found a paultry amount of information on the illustrators as well as the photographers, both of whose style is well-worth adoration.

This being an old thread, I don't hold much hope for any response but would be grateful to know more about the "Sals" of the past. PS - His character is developing wonderfully slowly and he has just the right amount of subtle nuances - revealed like a petulant stripper.