....i read she'll be in the next episode. how sweet she and paul are still dating....

i thought she was way too young and sweet for him, but maybe he's a nicer guy than we gave him credit for....

carla is married with children, isn't she?

i love the very satisfied and triumphant way she and betty looked at each other as they were suveying the dinner party table....

Sheila was really sweet and so pretty! Also read she'd make another appearance soon. Good! Loved her "girl group" flipped 'do! And liked how she reacted with class to Helium Joan's tactlessness!

...that photograph of her on Paul's desk is in the Scrapbook on the Blog section.... totally adorable!

....yes. some say it was like a one-night stand......that paul blabbed, so it was over.

Did Joan and Paul have a fling in the past? Paul may be wealthy huh?

Did anybody else notice during the party scene at Paul's, he is drinking from a proper wine glass or snifter, and everybody else - at least Peggy and her date - are drinking from mason jars!

About Carla, does she just help out on special occasions? I wondered why she was not around during Betty's meltdown the next day. Maybe she just kept the kids out of Betty's way, hmmm?

Remember the scene from the first episode, I believe, when Joan is showing Peggy around and tells her that hopefully Peggy will avoid some of Joan's past mistakes, and when Paul says hello, she pointedly remarks "Like that one."

Dry: I just saw the photo of Sheila! She's too cute! And I was thrilled that she's making another appearance soon. Good!

She IS cute. Her sweetness (& voice) reminds me of Regina Taylor, who was so good in I'll Fly Away & is now in The Unit.

...well i don't know paul very well yet, but i still say she is too sweet for him.

i just always thought paul needed someone to smack him around a little.....

remember when he said to joan, "the meaner you are, the more i like you."

we'll see.

I believe Carla is married or at least had someone to go home to. Don offered to drive her home/to the train (I forget which) and she turned him down.

It could be that Carla only works certain days of the week and Betty may have told her not to come back the day after the party because she'd worked so long the day of the party.

Domestic help like Carla worked in one or more households for a specific number of days per week.

The Bettys of her generation hired these ladies to do specific tasks in the home, more often than not leaning toward helping with the heavy tasks like mopping, laundry, windows and bathroom cleaning. They would be available, sometimes, to help with the type of dinner party Betty had in "Night to Remember." My mother did domestic work and had several clients, working at each home two or three days per week.

This employment arrangement was the window whereby I learned quite a few things about how to run a home. My mother probably passed what she learned on the job to our home. In this way, I learned to set a formal table, create a themed menu, arrange furniture in a room and was the yardstick used when I concluded my family wasn't exactly rich. Last season's clothes and surplus furniture were recycled through our home, and sometimes the leftovers of large catered affairs fed us.

Most domestics went home to families, and in this way distinguished themselves from maids, who normally lived on the premises. My mother worked as a domestic and it is one way she sustained our family when she was widowed.

I don't know how much money (per hour or per day) these women were paid in wages, but I remember the impact they had during the days of civil rights. When domestics joined the (Birmingham/Rosa Parks) bus boycott, the well-run homes of the white elite came to a screeching halt. I'm sure the battle was resolved quicker because they were pressured for resolution even when they returned home.

Betty was an exceptional hostess and is a fair employer. Carla has always been treated cinematically with dignity and respect. Weiner had the good taste to allow her to help with the dinner off screen. It would have kicked up a reaction if he had shown her actually serving or waiting on the dinner guests. After all, the story was not about her, it was about the other guests.

Thanks for asking about these ladies...

Hi chocolatecherry! I am hoping that as the MM show progresses we will see more of characters like Sheila and Carla.

Sheila would be perfect as a Civil Rights activist. To me she represents the future of the movement during that time.

I am very hopeful that the MM writers will concentrate on the VERY important history of our Country to come during the early 60's, while including the fictitious stories of our characters.

Carla, I think is of the older generation of African Americans represented during the early 60's. I don't know what her role will be.

Eventually, there should be more primary roles for African Americans on MM.
The fantastic legacy of Dr, Martin Luther King and The Civil Rights movement can't be ignored.

Memories:

When I was growing up, my parents employed a Carla. First we had Louise who lived with us when I was a baby (1945-47). I don't know what happened to her, but eventually she left & my brother & sister came along. Virginia was our next domestic & came every Thursday, plus helped out when my mother had parties. So did her husband. She was very strict with us & really let us have it if we didn't pick up our rooms, etc. My mother was fine with this. She also prepared our Thursday meal (always meatloaf). I'm sure she worked for us for over 15 years.