Not true about smoking restrictions. There were none. Smoking on airplanes was not banned until 1987 so of course there was smoking on trains. There was smoking everywhere - restaurants, theaters, grocery stores, even in hospitals etc. in the 1960s.

I know they had smoking sections, but I specifically remember a Twilight Zone episode from 1959 "Willoughby" where he is taking the *same train* from NYC to Jersey, and there is a "No Smoking" sign clearly posted in the background.

IIRC, this was just the NY to NJ train where it was banned.

Maybe they had smoking cars and no smoking cars, IDK, but it was not a free-for-all like it is portrayed. There were designated smoking sections, at best. Nazi Germany banned smoking on trains in 1940, so again it was not a free-for-all.

But this isn't about criticizing me, it's about things you've noticed that are anachronistic (out of the time this show is supposed to represent). Are you saying you haven't noticed *anything* that is off the mark?

About smoking. I commuted to the "Big Hassel" for 22 years starting in the late 60's. There were designated smoking and non-smoking cars on the Connecticut and New York lines.

As to other anachronisms: I don't let them get in the way of enjoying the stories. And, how could anyone expect Matt Weiner or the writers to get everything absolutely 100% correct. Even historians can't do that.

I say 'BRAVO' for doing as much as they can. The script is key here. The trappings are 'atmosphere' -- and they've done an excellent job -- even if they flub it on some things.

i worked in an office in 1990, just 18 years ago, and it was a free for all of smoking. i hated it. our state just banned cigarette smoking a few years ago. i used to call on a doctor in the early 80's who still smoked while he saw patients! as far as the nazi thing goes, that's why they were nazi's. they were just a little crazy. ;)

maybe in the twilight zone, that's how the character knew he was in the twilight zone. smoking was allowed and the no smoking sign was one more thing to point out that something was wrong.

wryter1, I agree that there's no such thing as historical perfection. I don't let the anachronisms detract from the story either.

This is just for fun!

So please contribute some anachronisms! I'm sure there are many more than the three I noticed. . .

Red-striped wallpaper? Check - one of my grandmother's friends had it in her entryway, somewhere in the late 50s, early 60s. I remember because I was young enough to think of it as candy-cane wallpaper.

Interesting point about bank accounts for children - mystery author Rex Stout (Nero Wolfe stories) together with his brother developed a school banking program in 1916.

I began working for General Motors in 1977. Everyone smoked in the offices, conference rooms and plants. The stench of cigars in the conference rooms was terrible! There was smoking on all the airplanes, though the "no smoking" section was in the front and the "smoking section was in the back. I'm sure the depiction of the smoking was accurate for the time period in NYC.

I don't know where you ever got the idea that one couldn't smoke on commuter trains, in the 1960s, but you're wrong. You could smoke on the Long Island Railroad, as well on the commuter trains that went to Westchester County ( where Don lives......the Drapers live in Ossining ) and on the commuter trains that went to Ct., where Gart Williams, the lead in "A STOP AT WILLOUGHBY".

I am at a complete loss as to why some posters here keep thinking that everything in MM and now, a TWILIGHT ZONE episode is in New Jersey, but I'm beginning to laugh every time I see that. WHAT IS IT ABOUT JERSEY? LOL

"THE TWILIGHT ZONE" has always been one of my favorite shows and in particular, "A STOP AT WILLOUGHBY" is in my top five list.

Mr. Williams lives in Ct., just like Rod Serling did. The Serlings lived in Westport and the stops that whiz by and that the conductor calls out, on this episode, are the same that Rod, himself, would have seen/heard, taking him frolm Manhattan to Westport.

It really was a good choice of Twilight Zone shows, though......Gart Williams is an AD MAN/MAD MAN, in the show!

An extremely bad anachronism, in the first season of MM , was the suggestion that Pete and Trudy would borrow the down payment and get a mortgage for the co-op. That's just NOT the case! YOU COULD NOT GET A MORTGAGE FOR A CO-OP IN ANY OF THE 1960S, IN NYC! You had to have the entire amount, for the co-op.

Not only that, but no co-op board would okay someone like Pete, a Dyckman on his mother's side and a nothing on his father's, who was making a paltry $75.00 a week.

The interior of that co-op is also all wrong. It would have looked more like Pete's parents' living room. Also, what they were buying is known as a " CLASSIC SIX" and both Pete and Lovely would have known that, as well as knowing whether the maid's room counted or not.

I don;t know if the bank account, that was being talked about, was a savings of checking, but Auburn Annie is right about children's accounts going back to 1916. In the early grammar school grades, all children, in NYC, were helped to take out a savings account, at a bank near each school, to help teach them to save. I should know, I had one.

In the 1960s, you could smoke anywhere on any plane;. smoking sections came later.

There were smoking sections in movie theatres, though and I think that this was so from almost the beginning of movie theatres.

"Sukiyaki" - the song that was played - was released in Japan in 1961 ... it became a #1 hit in the US in June 1963.

So, hearing it in a Japanese restaurant makes perfect sense.

(I have a chapter about "Sukiyaki" and its cultural significance in one of my books - Realspace.)

What'd you make of little Sally Draper mixing drinks for the grown-up card party? I cracked up, because early in my exec. secretary career, at a party at my boss's house, his daughters were the bartenders. No big deal, except the oldest was 7 and the youngest was 4 !! I had to laugh about that when I saw this scene.

PaulLev.................it was a CHINESE restaurant!

Just because they played a Japanese song, while Don was in it, doesn't make it one.

The waitress was wearing a chung sam, which is a traditional Chinese dress and no waitress would have worn one. As a matter of fact, I don't even know if there were any Japanese restaurants in Manhattan, in 1962, and if there were, they were far and few between and not very well known.And if memory serves, there certainly weren't any in the area around where SC was located.

You're right about the home movie stuff. He would have had a big bank of 4-6 floodlights, maybe even mounted on the camera. The camera had a very soft whirring sound--not really loud. Rather pleasant, actually. I just got rid of the old 8mm family camera--it was a beautiful old machine, with a spring-loaded wind-up motor.

I don't recall smoking sections on NJ-NYC commuter trains, but I do recall "Non-Smoking" cars. Smoking was the default setting!

I had a bank book in 1961 in second grade. I remember getting $90(!) for my first holy communion from family friends a relatives. Later, when Esso went on strike, my father had to borrow $100 from me--ungrateful brat that I was, I never let them forget it. I regret that now. That would have been a weeks wages back then.

I don't know about the other anachronisms, but I smoked on and off until 2000 and I used to take the Metro-North into the city (used to be called ConRail, I think, the same company, different line than Don Draper) all the time from the late 70s through today (when I'm back east). At one point, most cars were "smoking" by default and there would be nonsmoking cars for those who didn't. Then they changed to one or two smoking cars. It wasn't until like the mid-90s or so that you couldn't smoke at all.

PeggySue: My point still stands, even if the restaurant was Chinese. The song would have been known by anyone with Asian family or connections - certainly it was known in Taiwan in 1961.

No Chinese restaurants, I ever ate in, in NYC, ever played music. Granted, I didn't manage to eat in every single Chinese restaurant, but my guess is that "SUKYAKI" was background/mood music for the T.V. audience and though I love the song and the mood of the music fits the scene perfectly, it appears to have confused some watchers, who think that Don was in a Japanese restaurant. The mention of the Pearl Harbor bombing probably reinforced that erroneous assumption. .

I never quibbled ab out when the song was released in the USA.

As much back and forth squabbling regarding Chinese vs. Japanese, really shows how politically correct our society is today. In the 60's most Americans could not tell the difference between Chinese and Japanese. All Asians were called Chinese and I bet most restaurants were owned by whites that made these terrible cultural mistakes. So, maybe MM and Weiner did it on purpose to show us how they stereotyped all Asians as Chinese back in 1960. Nice job, MM writers and Matt - you came across loud and clear!

The real significance of Sukiyaki playing in the background, if you ask me, is that the singer/songwriter of that megahit, Kyu Sakamoto, died in a terrible plane crash (albeit not until 1985) on Japan Airlines Flight 123. The plane freefell for 20 minutes and during that time, he had time to write a farewell note to his wife.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Don Draper is going dowwwwwn.

In the 1960 movie, "The Apartment", everytime Shirley MacLaine enters the chinese restaurant, they play music (live music at that! - the guy at the piano). So it must not have been out of the realm to have music in a chinese restaurant, recorded or live unless Billy Wilder didn't care about "realism" (but, who cares?).

Is it just me, or am I missing something here?

Not to be culturally insensitive, but I could not tell a Chinese person from a Japanese person, from a Taiwanese person if my life depended on it. So, to me, the visual and musical effects achieved their purposes here.

I had mentioned in a post in another area, that to look for incongruities and anachronisms means you're looking at the needle and not the haystack. Or focusing on one tree in a forest to the extent that you miss the beauty of them all.

The enjoyment of the series, to me, is not focusing on the finite, but the entity as a whole. What mood does it paint? What does it say about the character in a given situation?

Perhaps, if Matt & Co. had used a Buddy Hackett look alike doing his Chinese Waiter routine, none of this would have come up.

"You wanna Wonnnnnn tonn soup, Thlee eglooll...
Okay you roun eye iriot!"

Yup, that would do it for me. But, I deferr to Matt & Co. and say the atmosphere you created here did the job it was supposed to.

Oh, and another thing. I ate in a number of Chinese and Japanese restaurants during my Mad Men days in New York.

Many of them played a catchy little tune in the background, which I later learned was called "Chop Sticks."

I hear you wryter1, I have trouble as well. I got yelled at by a counter help guy because I called a dish "Lo Mein". He sternly told me that I was at a Chinese food counter and the dish is called "Chow Mein", not "Lo Mein!". I didn't mind being corrected, but he acted like I was being racist....:oO I am too scared to use the wrong term and offend anyone that I just say ..."give me the stuff with soft noodles in it" to avoid being yelled at again.

To quote a certain character from the series: "Mr. Campell, who cares?"

Let me one up you all: I know of a certain "Japanese Steakhouse" nearby that is run by a Chinese family. I was stunned that they would do that, as Chinese and Japanese still happen to be sworn enemies because of the Japanese occupation during WWII. Reason why they did it? They said Japanese steak houses can charge more money for food than Chinese restaurants can!

But please, more anachronisms, forget about petty race issues.

I agree, that the reason it was Kyu's song they probably chose was because of his unfortunate death in a plane crash in '85, a bit of irony.

The translated lyrics someone gave me for the song make it very appropriate for the state Don's in. It's a very sad song, although musically, it sounds cheery.

OK, though. Any more anachronisms? In the episode where they are squirting each other with teh spray-on deoderant, they come up with a concept for selling it as high-tech and space age. Didn't that episode take place before Gagarin made the first manned space flight? Pretty sure it was late '60 or '61, and it was def. before an American was in space, IIRC.

So there weren't even any real astronauts at that time anyway. Why would they sell deoderant like that, unless they were trying to sell themselves as commies or sellouts, or sell it as something a "cosmonaut" would use?

I'd like to see Mad Men deal with some cereal accounts (they seemed so big - always running during Sat morning cartoons).

So far, they've dealt with the big 3 (airlines, atuos, tobacco but no alcohol), and then local (retail, banks). Would like to see them cover other areas like food, pharmaceuticals, alcohol.

I really thought they'd slip one alcohol account in there with the way everyone drinks!

jamm54, regarding "Would like to see them cover other areas like food, pharmaceuticals, alcohol."

At one point Don did mention Stouffer's... a well known restaurant chain in Cleveland, Ohio who, in 1954 developed a line of frozen foods. By the sixties the brand name was known nationally (with or without Don's help, lol).

Don's brief comment got my attention because I retired from Stouffer's in 2000 after almost 20 years as manager of their frozen food outlet store in the town where I now live.

As far as finding things out of time/place/space, I'll leave that to the "needle" watchers and just enjoy this series.

I was there, being 25 in 1962 and working for a large insurance company - my first career job - but with many of the same dynamics of MM.

Who cares - Chinese vs. Japanese. That was SOME scene. Don was really fighting with himself. Did you see the way he looked at the waitress - the eye contact?? You felt it. Have you ever seen such perfection in a man??? He is the 21st Century's Cary Grant.

No, I missed the Stouffer's comment (love their frozen food), but it'd be fun to see them do an ad campaign for that, and still think they should cover alcohol. Maybe Don does "help" Stouffer's down the line - LOL - that'd be a hoot for you to watch. Of course, I was addicted to Swansons Pot Pies and Chicken Dinner for many years.

Stouffer's had restaurants in both NYC and Chicago, in the 1960s and '70s ( it's even mentioned in a song from "HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING ) , so people knew the name ex the frozen foods, too.

Okay, I'll explain it yet again. The waitress, in the Chinese restaurant, was wearing a chung sam. This dress is a traditional Chinese dress and would never be worn in a Japanese restaurant, of any time period. As a matter of fact, I was a bit surprised to see the back of the chung sam, since the opening at the back was rather unusual.

You can see girls wearing these dresses in the movie "THE WORLD OF SUZIE WONG", BTW.

This fashion was also a bit in and quickly out, for American women to wear to cocktail parties, around 1959/60. A variation of the dress made a fashion comeback in the mid '70s and again, in the fall of 2003. You can easily recognize it by the Mandarin collar, nonfunctional frog closing in the front, and slits at the hem.

I'm surprised that the women in Ossining aren't shown wearing capri pants, Bermuda shorts, Capizios, and Popagallos.

Yeah, remember Laura Petrie's capris? I read a review in a magazine at the time the show was on TV that said Mary Tyler Moore in her capris was the only reason men watched the show with their wives (who were presumably only watching the show to see Dick Van Dyke!) He was nice looking but no Jon Hamm, right ladies?

yes, PeggySue! Capris and Capizios were my idea of the early 60s! Also didn't women stop wearing those full skirts much in favor of the straight skirt? I don't know much about the working world at that time though.

OK, so only myself and two others have anachronisms? This is supposed to be a big list. Please contribute anything you notice that is out of time.

Not a historical nitpick, but a general irk of mine, they film the series in LA, for some reason, instead of NYC. IDK, maybe there are more nostalgic locations in that area. Anyway, they have this shot outside (I think it is when Betty goes to talk to Glenn), and it always bothered me because it didn't look right. Watching it again the other day, it looks like they digitally added snow!

IDK why they didn't film it on a soundstage with real snow or the synthetic stuff.

I read on here in the Q & A with Marten Weiner (Glenn) that he was roasting alive with all that winter gear on and that his dad said that when you're hot and sweaty it photographs the same as when you're cold! Poor kid...sitting in that car for hours (I assume) in all that hot hot hot coat, etc. That's show business, I guess...

Smoking cars on the commuter trains out of Grand Central Station were definitely the default during the early 1960s. And then there were the Bar Cars. I had the sincere privilege of working with a real Mad Man during the 1980s and 1990s. This guy was a Manhattan born-and-bred denizen of the ad and publishing business, the son of the one-time publisher of the now-defunct McCall's magazine (get some of their 1950s-1960s issues on eBay; they are exquisite). The guy had a heart of gold, and had an incredible sense of humor. He would regale me with tales of the Good Old Days of the 1950s and 1960s; not only were there the obligatory three-martini lunches, but there were the after-work drinks at places like P.J. Clarke's on Third Avenue. Then, on the way back to Greenwich, Stamford, Darien, Westport, etc., there was the Bar Car on the train. My friend told me of his core group of five ad agency pals who would imbibe their way back to Fairfield County every night. One became a respected film director. The others, all dead in their fifties.

One bad anachronism ( maybe "GOOF", writ large, would be a better term ) is that Betty never rolls down the window, nor open the little vent window, when she smokes in the car.

I don't remember anyone NOT at least opening the vent, when they smoked in a car.

TELETYPE: Even though Don's (et al) focus is on multi-media advertising venues for most of the clients shown in Season 1 and 2 to date, there should still be a teletype machine (if not a couple) somewhere in that office for handling their newspaper advertising.

No agency would be without one, even though that's not the focus of this show's "type" of advertising. Of course, Menken's full or half page advertising would have come from Sal's dept, and been picked up by the local newspapers. But they would still have use of teletypes for other kind of newspaper advertising.

That Bar car is still alive and well on one limited evening trains...I would take it occasionally when I'd go see my parents in CT on weekends...it's a party on Fridays!

MESSENGERS/DELIVERY: actually I'm surprised by the lack of inter-business foot & delivery messengers.

MAIL BOY: delivering or picking up inter-office mail/memos as part of the background, usually several times a day. And in a advertising agency dealing with deadlines of every sort? Many, many times a day.

Time for Peggy to practice her flirting skills?!! We used to with both the messengers and mail boy.

ADVERTISERS: TANG. I sure hope they get to do something tied to NASA/Astronauts.

Wasn't "Tang" the first product to tie itself into the space age/astronauts? Or did they already do that with "Right Guard" deodorant, and once again I'm showing I have no memory cells left?

Jamm54, Tang, absolutely! And how about Space Food Sticks several years later? They were foil-wrapped chewy energy bars in flavors like peanut butter and chocolate. Tasted like pulverized sand, but they had that NASA cool thing going for a little while.

Cardiac telemetry with 3-pin color-coded electrodes (1st season when Roger was in hospital): No.
You're about 20 years early for that.
Next time, check with some of the old-time docs.
Great show in every other way.

and...did people say "appropriate" and "insensitive?" didn't those terms gain currency a bit later on?
anyone remember?
solo checkiando.

lastly (for now):
It's remarkable how modern it all looks, 48 years later.
Think of how a similar series set in 1912 would appear to people watching in 1960.
It would seem to them more like the 19th century.
We've seen a lot less change than our grandparents have, altho we usually believe the opposite.

Hi jamm54

It was my experience that in most agencies the size of SC that the type was sent out for composing/printing. And that was up through 1990.

Of course, there could have been type machines in other agencies, but art directors -- even junion art directors -- wouldn't waste their time on setting type. They spent enough of their time pasting the type down after they received it from the typsetter's business.

Newspaper ads, usually black & white were done as 'slicks' and then sent off to the newspaper for insertion.

demolino, you are right about the cardiac leads. I did notice the intravenous glass bottle hanging over Roger, I remember when all IV fluids were in glass containers. It could have been IV nitroglycerin, which I beleive still is mixed in glass (it's been a few years since I worked in critical care). I don't know if IV nitro was used during that time period to treat an acute MI, do you?

wryter1: would SC have been placing any ads in the newspapers that were not display ads? That's why I was thinking of the teletypes.

I know we'd get the slicks/veloxes from agencies for displays via FedEx or our drivers, but surprisingly agencies were even doing single column print ads (wonder why they bothered - it's pocket change for them).

wryter1 do you remember the process for 3-color ads? It seems like it was such a big deal when computers came along and enabled the papers to put more color out (in photos, ads). But before then, I thought you could only have about 3 colors (red, blue or yellow) in a print ad - or am I forgetting ALOT of stuff?

60's child:
the nitroglycerin tablets were used. i'm not sure about the drip; you couldn't titrate it except thru a pipette.
the other scenes--in the doctors' offices--i think are pretty accurate.
and i'm glad the psychiatrist acts like a professional.
it would be cheap writing if they have him screwing mrs. draper.

demolino - The terms "appropriate" and "insensitive" were regular adjectives then as now. Do you mean in reference to behavior in the office? I must missed any scenes like that.. Also,
The psychiatrist was not very professional or ethical for telling Don all about Betty's sessions. When did confideniality start?

jamblermm--i mean in reference to the office; i know the words existed.
you're right: HIPPA ("confidentiality" in plain english) didn't really kick in until the 1990s, and really not until this decade.
the psych is professional by the standards of his day. we wouldn't want to be judged by the standards of 2050.

Hi Jamm54!

I don't really remember the processes for 3 and 4 color ads. The color separatons were usually done at the printers.

Gotta remember here, that I was a writer and not completely tuned in to what the art directors had to do.

Also with the black & white ads; in looking at their client list I would doubt that they'd be placing anything but display ads.

demolino, right again. HIPPA did not exist until the legislation in the late 1990s.
In the MM setting the husband paying the Psych. bill evidently had the right to find out if he was getting his moneys worth.
Betty one uped Don after she found he was calling the Psych. and decided to tell the Psych exactly what she wanted him to pass on to Don. Pretty clever.

demolino, right again. HIPPA did not exist until the legislation in the late 1990s.
In the MM setting the husband paying the Psych. bill evidently had the right to find out if he was getting his moneys worth.
Betty one uped Don after she found he was calling the Psych. and decided to tell the Psych exactly what she wanted him to pass on to Don. Pretty clever.

Sorry for the double take!

Hi 60'schild!

Nice to see that the doppler effect is alive an well on this forum.

Repetitive 'impressions' are a big part of the success of advertising, so please double-post often.

Hi wryter1, if I keep double posting everyone will know how techno-challenged I am and probably vote to remove me!! Or I'll be fired like poor Lois if Don Draper reads this!

i almost never defend the medical profession, but i just now saw the 1st episode on dvd, where peggy is in the gyno's office.
the doctor's comportment would NEVER have been acceptable.
not then, not in 2500 bce, when hippocrates was in practice.

and the unremitting loutishness.
ok. they didn't have the suffocating political correctness we have today. but i can't imagine that a gentleman in any age--shakespeare's/billy the kid's/hugh heffner's-- would have behaved the way the junior mad men do.
i was a child, like most of the posters seem to have been.
correct me if i'm wrong.

Oh yeah- take it from a woman who worked in offices from the time I was in college - the men were louts and it was accepted. Examples: calling the women Sweetheart, Baby, Honey, as is "Get me a cup of coffee, Honey" and when we fetched the coffee, we usually got a nice pat on the backside for it. On one job I rebelled at coming in a half hour early to make coffee. So, the all-male department had to find a "girl" from another floor who was willing to do it. Cause guys could not nake coffee, see. And certainly could not serve it to a client.

Things I remember being asked during interviews:
"Are you married? How many kids?, Planning on having kids? What does your husband think of you wanting to work?" "What will your husband say if you have to work overtime?" and, "Gee, you sure have the bedroom eyes."

demolino, according to my mom (in her late 60's now), doctors, even OB/GYNs, routinely spoke to women like that in the late 50's/60's.

bummer. watching mm, i'm usually impressed by how much freer life was then. but maybe not for women.
still, forgive me, but i wish i could have been there--if only for a while.

I remember my mother telling me that she was overdue with one of us (late 1950's/early 1960's). She had gained a lot of weight, and when she went for a check up and complained about being uncomfortable and late, he said "well, an elephant is pregnant for a year!" That was acceptable because as my mother and her friends said, this MD was a p---k in the office,and great during delivery. His partner was the opposite evidently. He would tell his delivery patients to : "stop crying", but he was kind during prenatal visits...go figure!
When I was in college for nursing, (in the early 1970s) I remember my first experience in the delivery room. I had an OB/GYN explain as he was performing an episiotomy that he was giving the patient a few "husband stitches". Later, I asked my instructor what he meant. She explained that this was a common practice to tighten up the area stretched during the birth process. I'm sure this is still a practice, I don't have an issue with it, just that the MD was crass enough to say that to a bunch of wide eyed nursing students!!

madman35mm, I know you started this post on Aug. 5th, but I have a question. When Betty asked Don to film the birthday party he asked "do you want me to only film Chief Tiny Tim or the whold group", or something very similar.
I believe he was refering to the child at the party on crutches who had polio, one of his friends children. Nice huh?
I wasn't sure where to ask this question. Your post about the camera seemed OK.
I know Don had consumed many beers and whatever else he was drinking, but doesn't that give a clue to how cruel he can be?
Anyone else out there remember that line?

P.S. the boy on crutches was wearing an Indian feather headress. Hence, Chief Tiny Tim...

Sukiyaki was a Japanese song, not Chinese.

The Chief Tiny Tim comment was not cruel, it was humorous - this was 1960, not the PC world of today where no one has a sense of humor. People used to laugh at themselves and at each other back then. No one sued for hurt feelings.

There are some things the writers put in the dialogue that are wrong, but I don't care. I love this show because they get more right than they get wrong and there is so little quality on TV today that it's a joy to watch this show.

Some of the expressions used show the age of the writers - "inappropriate" is one that stands out - no one would have said that in 1960.

I'm having trouble with the references to salaries on the show (though the fact that I am posting here should indicate that I love the show immensely). Pete Campbell tells his wife that they can't afford the apartment; that he only makes $3500 a year--I think that's less than $25k in today's money!!. Now, just 2 years later, we know that Harry and Cosgrove are making well over $10,000 ($225/week and $300/week). Pete seems to be recognized as fairly senior for a young AE...wouldn't he be in this neighborhood as well?

Another anachronism: in Season One, Joan says to Peggy "You know what they say. The medium is the message." I don't think this phrase was coined, much less used by the general public, until 1964.

Several in last night's episode. Colleague says to Don Draper, "But wait -- there's more!" Not an expression used in the sixties.

Two REALLY BAD ONES: Last night, when showing all of the women putting on all their girdles and underthings -- there's Peggy pulling on a pair of PANTYHOSE. There were no pantyhose in the 60's!! Women all used garters and stockings.

Also, all of the office desks have IBM Selectric electric typewriters on them. In 1962, they would have been using standard Royal non-electric typewriters.

In A Night to Remember (I think), in the Draper dining room Francine asks Betty how she is. Betty says "I'm good."

In The Wheel, in the SC office, Duck is offered a drink and he refuses it saying "I'm good."

Today, "I'm good" is a common response in these two sorts of circumstances, but this is a very very recent development, like in the last decade or two. It absolutely wasn't used by anyone in the upper spheres of society in those days. It was the equivalent of "ain't". They would've said "I'm alright" or "I'm fine".

The IBM Selectric was, in fact, introduced in 1961 and could plausibly have been in use as shown. I seem to recall the first episode has a scene where a remark is made about the "new technology" being designed to be easy enough for a woman to use as the new Selectric is shown.

In the show about the BELLE JOLIE lipstick campaign, three color mock-up sketches are presented, advertising the project.

One of the models in the posters--- the one they happen to linger on--- is unmistakeably the likeness of British supermodel Jean Shrimpton.

In 1966? You bet. But in 1960? Unh-unh.

Some of the things the characters say strike me as not of their period. "I'm good" has been mentioned. There are a couple of others, but now I can't think of them.

I also was a little mystified as to why "Sukiyaki" would be playing in a Chinese restaurant. In 1961.

Some of the lines I hear the men use sound a good bit like modern "sensitive New Age male" lines.... lines my father (definitely of the MM generation) wouldn't have used. Maybe it's just me.

I stumbled on this because we have just started watching Mad Man Season 1 on DVD and I was struck by a couple of anachronisms that I don't think were mentioned yet.

Betty refers to her kids going on a "playdate" and that they should put the youngest in a "playyard." Surely these silly words were coined in the 1990s. Only the 90s could have come up with the foolishness of playdate, right? And we all know that it was a play pen, not a playard (which I believe is copyright Graco).

I saw two other anachronisms while watching season 1 (I'm still watching). There appear to be a number of IBM selectrics throughout the office. They didn't come out until 1961, and this is clearly 1960.
And in one of the episodes the boss refers to the 'military industrial complex' in a joking reference. That notion was first coined by Eisenhower in his exit speech in Jan 1961.

Several people have commented on the Selectric typewriters which were not used in the early 60's but I saw an even bigger blunder one of the first times I tuned into Mad Men. It's note worthy that before I watched for the first time, I'd heard lots of raving about the authentic look of the show. Hmm must be from people who are not old enough to remember.

The big gaff I saw was a Selectric typewriter on a MAN'S DESK. OMG, no man would ever have had a typewriter on his desk! All secretaries were women and no man in the sixties ever typed his own letters.

Take it from me, I worked in the sixties.

In an earlier episode of this season, Betty and Don were in their kitchen and she was fixing him something to eat, either with, or on, Ritz crackers. The package of crackers was in the waxed paper "tube" which I know was not how Ritz were packaged in the 60s.

I had noticed the pantyhose error, and also the time Betty told Don that Billy had done something mischievous involving the "stereo." This was in the first or second season, so was way too early for suburban families to have stereophonic record players, let alone refer to them as "stereos." Although sterophonic recordings were available then, I think only real audiophiles bought them, and I don't think the word "stereo" was used until 1964 at the earliest. In my family it was the record player and to my grandparents it was still the phonograph. Other people called them hi-fis, but never stereos during the early '60s.

I think the reason it's so much fun to find anachronisms in Mad Men is that it's so superlatively successful most of the time! I love it.

It was great to view the photos in the Season 3 Scrapbook, but I think I found an anachronism. The copy of Don Draper's employment contract lists the corporate name of the agency as "Sterling Cooper Advertising L.L.C." However, the Limited Liability Company Law in New York was signed into law on July 26, 1994 and went into effect on October 24, 1994.

Someone questioned the Japanese song played in the restaurant where Don auf'd the Mohawk client. The reason a Japanese song was selected was to echo the theme of "Pearl Harbor" (sneak attack, betrayal). And the song was very familiar to me and I can in fact sing it (probably not very well) because it was a Top 40 hit in my teens and WABC radio here in NY sent out a mimeo'd copy of the lyrics and a translation to any listener who sent in for it. I have looked it up and the year it was a hit was 1963.
Rather than whether this would have played in this restaurant, a bigger problem is that it was not known here in 1960.

On to other nits:
Season 1- Don's cab pulls up outside Menken's seen from inside the store. Menken's "shares a wall with Tiffany" which is located on the SE corner of Fifth and 57th. (This location belonged to Bonwit Teller, btw.) And the entrance on Fifth is clearly the one pictured.
AND IT'S WRONG!! Fifth Avenue was two way in the early 60s, as were ALL NY avenues.
Don's cab is going south and pulls up on the east side of Fifth. It should be going north and Don could have gotten out on the right side of the cab. Instead we see a one-direction flow of traffic on the avenue.

Another geographic nit:
Season 1 When Pete and Trudy are seen in the back of a cab and Trudy wants to go by their new apartment building she wants the cab driver to "turn up Park." And then she looks out the cab's left rear window at the Armory.
The Armory is a whole city block- Park to Lexington, 66th to 67th Streets. It's on the east side of Park. For a cab traveling up Park visible through the right rear window, Pete's side.
There's no way Trudy can be looking out her window at the Armory unless she's already on Park traveling south.
I don't know if I explained that adequately but it's wrong.

Season 1-- In the oyster bar prior to Roger's famous technicolor yawn, he and Don joke about Desi Arnaz's having divorced Lucy "twice." A MYTH. They were divorced only once. I was a big Lucy fan back in the day and can remember when they got divorced, which was huge news and there was no talk about it being a redivorce. I don't believe Don and Roger would have made those comments then.

These are tiny nits, not anachronisms. It's a great show.

I don't think the paint was as saturated as it appears. These are very new colors; eg., the aqua and chartreuse. Martini glasses were much smaller in the 60's.

I've spotted two anachronisms in Season 4:

In episode 1, as Don makes out with the girl in the back seat of the cab, a police siren can be heard in the background. The tone of the siren changes to the "whoop whoop" one hears when the police car nears in intersection. This was not a feature of sirens until the 80's.

In episode 2, in on Roger's office a bottle of Stolichnaya russian vodka appears on the cart. Stoli was an import from the USSR and was not available until the early 1980's.

Great show, and lots of fun!

I've spotted two anachronisms in Season 4:

In episode 1, as Don makes out with the girl in the back seat of the cab, a police siren can be heard in the background. The tone of the siren changes to the "whoop whoop" one hears when the police car nears in intersection. This was not a feature of sirens until the 80's.

In episode 2, in on Roger's office a bottle of Stolichnaya russian vodka appears on the cart. Stoli was an import from the USSR and was not available until the early 1980's.

Great show, and lots of fun!

I've spotted two anachronisms in Season 4:

In episode 1, as Don makes out with the girl in the back seat of the cab, a police siren can be heard in the background. The tone of the siren changes to the "whoop whoop" one hears when the police car nears in intersection. This was not a feature of sirens until the 80's.

In episode 2, in on Roger's office a bottle of Stolichnaya russian vodka appears on the cart. Stoli was an import from the USSR and was not available until the early 1980's.

Great show, and lots of fun!

I've spotted two anachronisms in Season 4:

In episode 1, as Don makes out with the girl in the back seat of the cab, a police siren can be heard in the background. The tone of the siren changes to the "whoop whoop" one hears when the police car nears in intersection. This was not a feature of sirens until the 80's.

In episode 2, in on Roger's office a bottle of Stolichnaya russian vodka appears on the cart. Stoli was an import from the USSR and was not available until the early 1980's.

Great show, and lots of fun!

I've spotted two anachronisms in Season 4:

In episode 1, as Don makes out with the girl in the back seat of the cab, a police siren can be heard in the background. The tone of the siren changes to the "whoop whoop" one hears when the police car nears in intersection. This was not a feature of sirens until the 80's.

In episode 2, in on Roger's office a bottle of Stolichnaya russian vodka appears on the cart. Stoli was an import from the USSR and was not available until the early 1980's.

Great show, and lots of fun!

I've spotted two anachronisms in Season 4:

In episode 1, as Don makes out with the girl in the back seat of the cab, a police siren can be heard in the background. The tone of the siren changes to the "whoop whoop" one hears when the police car nears in intersection. This was not a feature of sirens until the 80's.

In episode 2, in on Roger's office a bottle of Stolichnaya russian vodka appears on the cart. Stoli was an import from the USSR and was not available until the early 1980's.

Great show, and lots of fun!

I just noticed that in the most recent episode, "The Suitcase" - when Peggy is in the ladies' room there is a mechanical hand dryer on the wall, as well as a paper towel dispenser.

Now I'm not old enough to have been around then, but I'm pretty sure those weren't common, if they even existed at all. Didn't they just have those dispensers with the rolling spools of cloth in restrooms?

In the most recent episode, September 9, "The Summer Man," Don popped the top of a beer can. No such invention existed in the 1960s. Every beer can needed a can opener. Also, Don said that he likes sleeping alone, stretching out like a skydiver. Stretching out during skydiving did not exist in the 1960s. Then, the sport was simply jumping out of a plane and using a parachute.

@madmen35mm

"In the episode where they are squirting each other with teh spray-on deoderant, they come up with a concept for selling it as high-tech and space age. Didn't that episode take place before Gagarin made the first manned space flight? Pretty sure it was late '60 or '61, and it was def. before an American was in space, IIRC.

"So there weren't even any real astronauts at that time anyway. Why would they sell deoderant like that, unless they were trying to sell themselves as commies or sellouts, or sell it as something a "cosmonaut" would use?"

Sorry to come so late to the party. I'm pretty sure this is not an anachronism, though. The Mercury astronauts were announced to the press in 1959, and I'm sure that made a big splash. For instance, an article from Time:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,864563,00.html

@Susan, poptops and skydiving both existed in 1965. poptop Buds were from '63; skydiving from the '50s.

@ kahawa on October 14, 2009 7:39 PM

"I had noticed the pantyhose error, and also the time Betty told Don that Billy had done something mischievous involving the "stereo." This was in the first or second season, so was way too early for suburban families to have stereophonic record players, let alone refer to them as "stereos." Although sterophonic recordings were available then, I think only real audiophiles bought them, and I don't think the word "stereo" was used until 1964 at the earliest. In my family it was the record player and to my grandparents it was still the phonograph. Other people called them hi-fis, but never stereos during the early '60s."

Um, the pantyhose isn't an error; they were available. Also "stereo", "console" and "hi-fi" were all in use back then. In fact, not every stereo was a console; some were portable. Check out this 1960 model:

http://cgi.ebay.com/1960-RCA-Victor-Portable-Stereo-Phonograph-SES1-4-Ad-/400146001145?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d2a8f6cf9

@ Martyoz on August 1, 2010 11:17 PM

"I've spotted two anachronisms in Season 4:

"In episode 1, as Don makes out with the girl in the back seat of the cab, a police siren can be heard in the background. The tone of the siren changes to the "whoop whoop" one hears when the police car nears in intersection. This was not a feature of sirens until the 80's.

"In episode 2, in on Roger's office a bottle of Stolichnaya russian vodka appears on the cart. Stoli was an import from the USSR and was not available until the early 1980's."

Taking the second one first, The Russian vodka and Cuban cigars were illegal imports, from Greece as I recall in the plot, hence Roger's lust for the forbidden booze. If it were legally available, he would have stocked it already.

As to the siren, I remember electronic sirens in the '60s; not sure what year but they were rare. If you could hear them anywhere in the USA it would be in NYC, I guess. But Federal electronic sirens have been in production since the late 1950s:

http://lesliee.sasktelwebsite.net/sirens.html

I just started watching Mad Men. In Season 1, Episode 1 (series premiere): During the meeting with Lucky Strike, the seats are Eames Aluminum Group Management chairs on *5-star* caster bases. In 1960, these chairs were made with 4-star bases; 5-star bases were produced much later (I'm guessing starting in the 80s or even 90s), when manufacturers started making rolling chairs more stable, to mitigate safety and liability concerns.

The above (Eames Aluminum with 5-point star base) happens again in S1, E9 (Jim Hobart's chair). I imagine this will happen quite a bit more. The 4-caster bases are hard to come by.

I'm not sure if anyone has commented on this, but in the office, there is a modern 2x2' suspended ceiling with recessed fluorescent lighting like you'd see in new construction today.