Maintaining a black book with "lots of numbers"

Inviting a prostitute over for drinks with a client

Explaining the psychology of the pretty girl versus the ugly girl in the studio to Peggy during a brutal audition for a radio spot in Season One.

I get your self-loathing angle, and I have known guys who would try and play up their butchiness and homophobia to hide their homosexuality. But when I look back, those guys didn't do too much dating and went out of their way to hang out in all-male situations. Macho they might have been in sports, but you didn't have to look too hard to figure out things.

Interestingly, most of my women friends in high school knew who all the in-the-closet jocks were. Many were not surprised at who came out.

No gay man would go through so much trouble or have logged so much time getting to know women as Mr. Ken Cosgrove has.

Sal will find love, but he has to find a way to love himself enough to get what he really wants. Gay rights didn't really even get started in the US 'til the late '60s. We have a long time before we see him being upfront about being gay.

Honestly, if I were Sal, I'd never want to get in a relationship with anybody in that office.

Hi FreddyRumsen!
I have to agree with GuySmiley. I don't think Ken is gay. He did go to Sal's for dinner, but, remember Sal's wife Kitty was there too. I don't think Ken expected a cozy dinner with Sal. I could be wrong...I have been before when it comes to MM plots!
I actually got a big laugh out of Ken's announcement to Pete when Pete came back from CA and asked what was new, and Ken blurts out: "Kurt is a homo". The timing was perfect!!

Hi Guy Smiley!
I love your name and picture! Wasn't Guy from Sesame Street? My 24 year old son remembers him.

That cracked me up when he says, "I'd love to go to L.A....I'd get to drive a convertable!" That's such a grown-up frat boy thing to say. He's the office Ken doll :-p

I don't think he's homosexual. Ken has a sensitive/artistic side he doesn't get to express often at S.C. because he's an account exec, not a part of Creative. I would also take into consideration the fact that he's originally from a small rural community so he probably grew up with very traditional and biased attititudes. I know because I grew up in the same kind of setting, and no one would ever talk about homosexuality except in kind of a hushed or mocking tone. Then you move to NYC and it's quite the opposite story. But still, it's 1962 and the Civil Rights Act isn't passed until 1964...homosexuality (like Peggy's child out of wedlock) is still a very taboo thing.

He seems such a frat boy, I'm surprised he hasn't yet brought in a football to toss around. (That gives me an idea: a Sterling Cooper sports league. That would be too hilarious). But it also has to do with what he feels he has to do to be accepted as one of the guys. I think he takes it further than the rest of them but it doesn't mean he's in the closet.

I would love to see Sal in some sort of a romance next season. Just not with Kurt.

Well, in that case, they better change the title of the show to "fag men"

No. Sal is primarily a pimp. "I've got numbers. I've got LOTS of numbers." Ken is torn between being the player and an occasional yearning for what he percieves to be wedded domestic bliss. Ironic, given that his template for this hallucination was a spaghetti dinner a Sal's! Ken's character has yet to be fleshed out though. The actor's agent needs to get moving with Weiner & Co., because the character is underutilized and is essentially a backdrop in the landscape. Ken's got the looks and obviously lots of us are interested in more of Ken.

When a friend of mine (gay) and I were talking about Sal, and that dinner with Ken, my friend was convinced that Ken is in the closet. Hmmm....I don't see it, but what do I know? I, too, think Ken has a sensitive, creative side (his writing, the response to the Rothko painting, the wistfulness and appreciation of Sal's home and wife), but I can't see him as being gay. Even when Pete came back, and Ken's first words out of his mouth were "Kurt's a homo", I didn't detect any strong negative emotion or repugnance behind that statement. Sounded more like stating a fact, "Wall Street burned down today"......

Personally, I think Ken is an undercover sex freak. I remember when he ran Peggy around in that office during season one. Without hesitation, he kissed Paul's girlfriend Sheila and very, somewhat arrogantly, introduced himself to the hot, new secretary when she arrived. I do not think he is gay.

Sad to say, if anything, I think Ken is the sort guy that would be shagging your wife or girlfriend when you were not around.

Kitty is a secret lesbian - so when SHE finally comes out of the closet, it's Sal who will be surprised.

Kitty will have a scorching affair with Mrs. Schilling, who has been hiding her sexuality under an extra 200 pounds so she will not appear attractive to Mr. Schilling and have to perform the marital duties of a wife. (Mr.Schilling has begun to tire of having to climb on top of her and plant a flag after the long,tiring ascent.) The rejected Mr. Schilling will develop a crush on comedian Jimmy Barrett, who will then dump his wife/manager Bobbi to wed the potato chip magnate. (in 1964, it would have to be just a Committment Ceremony.)

Bobbi, who, as we have seen this season, is somewhat indiscrimiate in her sexual choices, will decide WTH and go for Joan, who is by now so turned off to men after the continued sexual cruelty of Dr. Weird, that she will give Muffdiving a try. "No muff too tuff" becomes her new slogan.

Ever on the lookout for a catchy phrase in the ad business, Peggy (yes, our little Peggy, nobody is safe here!) takes this to heart and starts a huge national ad campaign that turns half of the country onto this new craze. Lickety split (you should pardon the expression) A gazillion American women decide to give the other white meat a try.

This leaves men like Don Draper high and dry and quite concerned when he comes home to find Betty listening to the Indigo Girls. Would anybody like to continue this silly plot or do we end Season three right there?

Flowerpower:

You are funny!!!

Flower power, I didn't know the ENTIRE cast of MM was in the closet? If so, Don really is in trouble. Thanks for the laugh...Cheers! ;o)

Good comments, and again, I am not sure by any means, I am just getting this weird sense. I was scrubbing through the first season looking for some trivia for the MM Costume party and I was watching any Ken scene I saw in this context and yes there were some scenes where he was pretty aggressive but the kicker was that they were all very public shows, intended to "prove" how macho and straight he is. And when I re-watched the scene where he chases "Allison" down at the election night bender and makes a big show of guessing her panty color and pulling her dress up, if you watch his face, it showed complete contempt for women. That scene reminded me exactly of the type of things that my high school friend would do in front of people, which in hindsight was intended to give the impression that he was not gay. The scene at Paul's party where he was hitting on the drunk girl at the party was again very public and safe because he knew she was so drunk he could walk away and not have to go through with it. I'll give it up if I can find one scene where he is shown truly alone with a woman where he is doing something sexual or even intimate. just wondering....

Oh and flower power don't forget about the lipstick lesbian scene (one sided) at 23:32 in episode 1.10 "Long Weekend" between Joan and her roommate. I had forgotten about that one.

Betty and Helen Bishop become much closer. They decide to knock back a few and Helen reveals that while in college she experimented.

Then we get a flashback scene from her...

Betty blushes and says she had always wanted to be with a woman, but she couldn't risk ruining her pristine reputation.

Helen: What about your reputation now?

Betty: Screw it!

Helen: I guess I'll have to find a babysitter for Glenn...do you have any ideas? Is there anything that really turns you on?

Betty: Well, there's this thing called the spin cycle...What about you?

Helen: Long walks.

(Betty: blank stare)

Helen: Ok. I'll go find the detergent...

On a side note, we really need more flashbacks from other character's lives pre-1960. At this point, I know all I need to know about Don...

Good one, TrudyisAnnoying!

Okay this is pretty weird , I just noticed when you click on this thread, the pop-up ad on the right side of the screen changes to "Is Your Man Gay?" - pretty funny if not a little Orwellian