I didn't notice that and now I want to go back and look. I don't remember there ever being an ethel - I thought it was always Carla. Does anyone else remember an Ethel???

She is right, Betsy....and very observant. The Drapers have had two different domestics between Season 1 and 2. The most recent is named Carla.

Please tell your daughter there is a difference between a maid and a domestic worker, too. The Drapers have domestic help who come one or more days per week to complete specific duties, including childcare. These women are different than the uniformed maids you see working and serving food in Pete Campbell's mother's home. The duties of these maids do not normally involve caring for children.

I think Ethel is an elderly neighbor who serves as occasional baby sitter. Carla is the woman who helps Betty around the house, with the cooking, cleaning, and kids. She appeared in both Season 1 and Season 2, and if you're an avid TV viewer, you'll recognize her as Captain Sisko's mom from Star Trek Deep Space 9

Sorry, grinandbearit....I beg to differ with you on one point....Don and Betty did not have negro/african american neighbors in Ossining in 1960...
Ethel provided domestic help to the Drapers, just like Carla.

Actually, Ethel was not African American. In the episode "Shoot," the lady who was watching the kids is white and she's the help the refer to, I believe. So, she could very well have been a neighbor. There's a scene where you see an older lady snoozing in the den while Sally and Bobby run through the room.

Carla is played by the African American actress Deborah Lacey.

Sorry, greytone but Carla and Ethel are two different people. Ethel is an elderly Caucasian woman who is seen dozing as the children run through the house, and should have been watching them when Polly ate the neighbor's birds.

Carla, as someone else noted, is African American and is played by Deborah Lacey -- who also played Captain Sisko's mother (as a young woman) on Deep Space 9. Carla appeared in one of the latter episodes of Season 1, but was also referred to in earlier episodes. Her role in Season 2 was a little larger, and much more transformational, IMO. I recently had the pleasure of interviewing her, so I do know the difference between the two characters.

@Grin: Happy New Year! This is off- topic....Is that the legendary Dinah Washington in your avatar?

grinandbearit...
We agree that the two women are different....
I hope we also agree the Drapers have had two different domestic workers....
I didn't check on the name of the first woman and apologize for assuming her name was Ethel...
As soon as I confirm the first character's name, I will post it....

I just replayed the Shoot episode (mentioned earlier) and the woman's name is definitely Ethel.

Hey Visan. Thanks. Right back at ya. And yes, it is the lovely and talented Dinah.

@greytone:
I don't agree that the Draper's have had two different domestic workers. Carla first appeared in S1 (episode 11, 12, or 13), but had a more prominent role in S2. I don't think they showed any other "domestic" workers the first season, although they did make references to Betty having "help," and also referred to the domestic worker as "the girl," as in "let the girl take care of it. Do you remember which episode you saw the "other" domestic worker?

Ethel was the old lady asleep in the chair the day Polly attacked the neighbor's birds. I doubt she was the "help" that Betty referred to because they wouldn't have referred to her as "the girl."

Betty's family (the Driscoll/Hoffstadts) has a domestic worker named Viola. Maybe you were thinking of her?

grinandbearit...
Our conversation has made me want to find the subsantiating information, so I've had to retrieve my set of DVDs (which I had loaned in an unsuccessful effort to increase the fan base) and I began to watch each episode again. It was just as enjoyable and I saw lots of new things and verified others...

Your post this morning is correct; I did hear Don refer to 'the girl,' and heard the Drapers speak of Ethel the first time in "New Amsterdam." Yes, I saw Ethel sleeping in the chair in "Shoot" as zebra said.

I'll keep watching today because I also verified the character Hollis has been played by two different actors. Paul greeted him first in "The Marriage of Figaro." and he was wearing a completely different uniform (including a hat!) than the elevator operators appearing in the series' premiere episode. The first actor was uncredited, so all Hollis' appearances have been credited to LaMonde Byrd. It may be that the same thing happened with the Carla character. I believe that's what I'm thinking of; I could be mistaken.....After all, I just as convincingly said there was a gun in Don's desk drawer when he took the money to his brother. lol

Wasn't the other elevator guy Sonny -- the one who Peggy got fired?

Yes, you're right about the actors in the pilot being different. The pilot episode was filmed in New York 6 months to 1 year before the rest of season 1. Not everyone was available by the time the show was picked up and moved to Los Angeles for filming the rest of the season.

I think there were even 3 different Bobby Draper's in season 1, if I'm not mistaken.

hi all! happy 2009. the draper's maid is the every-classy carla. in the last episode, when slutty betty chomped on a chicken leg in the dim glow of the open fridge doo, i wondered, "what would carla think if she saw such behavior?"

can someone remind me of the name of the housekeeper at betty's father's house?

as many of us have said before, those two were some of the only sane, sensible characters in the series.

Hi bocaratonfan! The housekeeper at Betty's father's house was Viola, played by Aloma Wright.