.....Gavin.....Despite the genius in designing the other sets, I've said many of the exact same things about the Draper home seeming old-fashioned and out of step with a young sophisticated couple in their position. Even Don and Betty Draper’s wardrobe choices seem incongruent with the style of the decor.…

I even said almost exactly the same thing about the bedroom (that headboard’s gotta go!) and the bathroom, as well as using "Rob” and “Laura” Petrie's house as the comparison model!

I remember complaining during Season 1 about the Early American furniture in the Draper living room, even down to the afghan on the back of the sofa, as well as the knotty pine cabinetry, plaid wallpaper and rickety cafeteria table and chairs in the kitchen. None of it seemed to fit the profile of such a young, modern, upwardly mobile ad executive and his wife.

I argued that Betty would not be likely to have inherited the furniture, because her father is still living in the house he shared with his late wife, and Don Draper didn't own a stick of legacy furniture due to his impoverished background. In light of that, I argued that there is scant likelihood that the house would have ended up looking that way.

This is certainly open to debate, but I get the impression that all the elements mentioned above were generally eschewed by young marrieds at the time as being very old-fashioned.

It's not that these styles were by any means cheap or poorly-made, it's just that they really belonged to the generation before them, and were not the trend in terms of a young couple's first purchase of home furnishings.

Season 2 saw a few updates to the Draper living room, including a sleek new couch and throw pillows, as well as some modern pieces and accessories, making it appear more similar to the style of the Petrie living room.

With all of that being speculated and opined, there are many people who post here during the season who are from the East Coast, but I am not one of them. I grew up in the suburbs on the West Coast, and our house looked more like a cross between Pete and Trudy’s apartment and Bert Cooper’s office, than Don and Betty Draper’s home in Season 1.

The Jet Set was the first time I felt at home watching Mad Men. As you can or will see from that episode, the zeitgeist on the West Coast in 1961-2 appears quite dissimilar to what was happening on the East Coast – at least that’s my impression from watching the series and reading the comments.

After posting about this a couple of times, and reading the subsequent comments, I kind of chalked up the Draper decor to being a regional style preference for that part of the country, for a suburban couple, at that time. It would be nice to know for certain…..

East Coast Maddicts old enough to remember can probably shed a lot of light on this, and I’d be very interested in hearing their comments on the subject.

I'm sure Don had little or no input on decorating the house. That would have been left to the little woman. Besides which, he'd have nothing in his real background to give him a clue about what an upwardly mobile exec's house should look like. Don would have thought decorators were a waste of money, at least early on. Not everyone's home looked like something out of House Beautiful. There was a lot of eclectic mix going on in most homes.

I'm born and raised in NY (in 1952, and definitely not Manhattan) and the colonial furniture looks familiar to me. Our bathroom originally had maroon and black tile with white accents and white fixtures. Dad tore out the plaster columns around the fireplace and put in real stone, putting wood planking on the walls. The couch was a scratchy gray wears-like-iron fabric, my mother made her own drapes (heavy fabric in a maroon and gold and cream pattern), and her china cabinet had a glass front, two side pull open doors with three deep drawers (for all those cocktail aprons and seasonal decorative tablecloths.) End tables were wooden and our original television set was housed in a wood floor cabinet. The coffee table was made from a brass tray brought back by my great uncle who had been in Morocco in WWII. He also brought a footstool shaped like a saddle but that got smashed to smithereens after a few years of kids leaping off of it a la Superman.

In reply-My father was a fireman, AND we had 11 kids, AND we lived in New England...but my folks had the 50's turquois bedroom with the white French Provincal ...(the triple bureau, vanity, etc) a curved white damask tufted sofa from Henredon and the satin cranberry swivel chairs flanking the sofa. Even the kitchen had the 2-wall Parisian Street scene artists mural. Green Acres with taste and a budget.

Betty came from money...she should KNOW her house is a dump.

The hotel rooms Don romps around are better than his own....maybe that's why the sex is better!

Oh- and that is WAY too much drapery in the dining room. Does Betty realise that the divorced lady down the street has a home nicer than hers?

In 1960- the Nelsons got an update, as did Donna Reed and even the Cleavers.
The Drapers need help...I think I should go over there someday.

.....Gavin.....Sounds good - let me know how it goes {:)

Gavin, if you go, would you please, for me, break into Don's desk in the den and find out what he keeps in that locked drawer? Betty won't do it, and frankly, it's killing me - I gotta know. I agree completely, by the way, on the Draper home decor. That kitchen alone is just ugly - I hate that plaid wallpaper. Also, although he looked just swell, I really think Don should not have to use pink towels - he should have his own manly colored towels to wrap around himself while he shaves.

I agree...never liked their "Early American" (is that what it was called...or maybe "Colonial"??) furniture, etc. I know it's perfectly nice furniture, but, being raised around contemporary styles, I guess I have a fondness for that.

I hope that in the coming season they have re-decorated more in the modern vein.

I'd like to see sectional sofas, much more modern (goodbye "pine" cabinets) kitchen in general, and, yes, z....get rid of that hideous plaid wallpaper! I used to think that maybe Betty and Don weren't the original owners of the house, so they were at the mercy of the decor for a little while anyway (only excuse for living with all that ugly crap)...but, it's past time to put their own taste into things. Or maybe they just have that taste...oh well...

I agree with Dry...use Rob and Laura Petrie's house (ultra modern and sleek and wonderfully "60's") as a model and give the Draper home a redo!

Not Modern!
They are not modern people-and they are few years older than the Petries. Leave that stuff for Pete and Trudy.

The Draper home should look more like Patty Duke's home or Gidget's. Traditional, but in a 60's slant. Clear colors, suites of furniture, simple antique satin draperies with boucle upholstry. Google Dunbar furniture for an idea of what I mean.

The kitchen COULD be nice-but that pine needs a coat of cream enamel. I've seen plaid kitchens that actually work. The biggest problem in the kitchen is that Betty likes to keep EVERY item of food, washing-up liquid, measuring cup and bakeware within arms reach. Does anything ever get put away?

I noticed last night-the bedroom walls are peach, the carpet is powder blue and that headboard is royal blue Mix in some cast-off Sheraton mahogany and 3 lamps that my grandmother would have thrown out in '51. Ventian blinds and sheer priscillas(pulled back at different levels) Yeeech!

All very good points but given Don's new status and income, the Drapers almost certainly will be moving to the country club "estates" where much of their house interior will be very much in vogue.

Their current furniture will be, "can't we just leave it with the house, the way we got it?" So with the help of a new friend or two of Betty's from the club to recommend an interior designer, everything should be tres chic. And totally outdated five years later.

One reason Betty didn't have an interior designer in the past is that Don never gave her the money and frankly, doesn't want another man in the house when he's not there. (Remember the a/c salesman's visit and Don's reaction.) He's perfectly comfortable with what she selected or what was left by the prior owners.

Betty may know better although how much better is debatable given leaving Bryn Mawr to go modeling. Living on dribs and drabs of modeling while sharing an apartment with whatshername probably didn't help. Yes, she'd seen elegance but when they purchased the house, she didn't place herself on that level and probably didn't at the time have the self-confidence in her abilities to push Don to spend the bucks.

Sorry-don't buy it.

Betty is a high maintenace girl...the clothes, the hair, the horse.
She didn't offer her friend one evening gown, but an assortment. That beige wool collarless coat she wore to the stable cost a weeks salary, even in 1961. Don ain't cheap with the dosh.

I think since it doesn't effect Betty directly, it is not on the radar. That hall and stairway look like a dormatory.

The interior will change only when the outside world forces its' way into her home-and begins making judgements.
Betty is emotional quick-sand and my LEAST favorite character.

Mr. Gavin Hastings, allow me to introduce you to FrenchFan. I believe you both have intense feelings regarding Betty Draper. Perhaps you would like to retire to that ugly plaid kitchen and discuss her many charming and not so charming qualities. There is booze in the cabinet, Heineken's in the fridge, chocolate chip cookies in the cookie jar, and Utz potato chips on that hideous countertop. Please, make yourselves to home. Ignore the little pitchers with big ears - Betty and Don do.

I'll bring the smokes! Real ones.
Sorry not to mask my feeling, but of all the characters she is the one with the flashing lights and orange cones surrounding her!

I'll look for the pitchers! If they are elves with literally "big ears" someone on the set really did their homework.

From the get-go, I liked "poor Betty" and disliked Joan. Since that time I have flipped. Joan is heroic.

.....Well, Mad Men fans are nothing if not passionate.....

So, you think "cream," then, for the kitchen cabinets?

(Heee.....)

I took another look at the Draper living room last night, and I'd say they did a pretty good job of updating and yet maintaining an eclecticism.

It's a step in the right direction!

Now, if we can just get our hands on that plaid wallpaper......

.....Gavin....You're a Brit, right? "Pitchers with big ears" is a masked reference to children born of an era where the expectation was to "be seen, and not heard...."

(Memorieeeeeeessss....like the corners of my mind......)

.....P.S.....I'm in "Joan" mode right now, too.

(Matt just loves that whole "flip-flop" thing.)

How about Heywood-Wakefield...my mom loved their pieces and I still have a few...a china cabinet and a telephone table... They are classic and mid-century modern, I think. I don't know enough about furniture, but I believe that's their classification. (?)

I think they would fit great in a Draper House Redo...JMHO. I think an eclectic decor (neither all traditional nor all modern) might suit...anything but what's in there now!

The coffee table in Anna's house looked to be HW...not sure, of course. Her decor was more along the line that might look good in the Draper house...although it is a Colonial (?) on the outside and the floor plan.

Maybe they should just move and get a whole new set up.

.....Oh, now I'm going to cry.

I adore mid-century modern more than anything, and it must be so hard for Amy Wells to hold back from just laying it on thick.

Her attention to detail, in terms of not creating an over-the-top work of perfection in every room, like a normal suburban home, is commendable.

Check out this interview with Amy Wells from InteriorDesign.net.....

http://www.interiordesign.net/article/CA6618158.html

Wow, what a cool article...

I agree, Dry, must be sooo hard for AW not to just go wild and decorate to "over-the-top perfection" since she has access to all those "goodies"!

Yes, Heywood-Wakefield is fantastic...I esp. love their "stepped" side tables...in the Champagne finish...gorgeous stuff. I wish I could find one of those Anna Draper coffee tables...that was choice.

Dry-"Big Ears" was a character from a childrens book, later transfered to television. very popular in the 50's/60's.

SCfan-the blonde Heywood was already passe by 1962. The company moved into more a Sterling Cooper-ish look. I still vote the Patty Duke Show look, traditional, yet sophisticated. Or better yet-Family Affair-ish.
They better hurry and redo: the show is fast approaching the Mediteranian/Spanish, Italianate,and everything in velvet days!

.....You must see this.....

Amy mentioned the house in The Jet Set as having been actually located in Tujunga, which is northeast of L.A., rather than Palm Springs, where it was depicted as being located.

She also mentioned something about it being linked to Frank Sinatra, which is always interesting!

Googling the phrase got me Frank Sinatra's house in Palm Springs. Not the same thing, unfortunately, but they are so similar, it really is hard to tell.....

However, any fan of mid-century modern is going to love this.....(drool.....)

http://www.sinatrahouse.com/

Check out the little martini glasses! (The title font is straight out of the Bewitched intro.....)

.....Heywood-Wakefield does have a bit more "Deco" going on than the Danish Modern that came after.

I've inherited a few pretty fine furniture pieces from family, among them Danish Modern, and I have to tell you it's the Danish Modern that's still in one piece and going strong.

Although all the furniture is well-made, the Danish Modern are the only pieces in which the wood hasn't dried out and become brittle and porous, they seem to RESIST chips and scratches, they haven't lost an iota of their sturdiness, and look nearly as new as the day they were born.

Really makes you appreciate that kind of workmanship, with all the Ikea flotsam floating around.

No disrespect to Ikea - they are great for their own reasons....

Or sinister and evil like The Borg, I can never decide.

Dry-Thank you! That house is a dream....

The "Then" version, only. The look is so clean and stripped down to the elements....the "Now" look thows back in all the things post war modern left behind.

.....While we're on the subject, might as well take another look at this from the AMC site.....

http://blogs.amctv.com/mad-men/2008/08/inside-mad-men-8.php

.....Don't mean to flog this to death, but this article from Architectural Digest, about the history of the Sinatra house, is pretty interesting reading, also.....

http://www.sinatrahouse.com/press1.pdf

I enjoy all the articles you post links to, Dry...very interesting...that Frankie knew how to party----and how to be a great host, didn't he?

That house is just gorgeous!

P.S. so true about the quality of the lacquer/shellac (or whatever was used), on vintage HW pieces...doesn't hold up. I've looked at the HW site and their "classic reproduction" are quite expensive...wonder if they reformulated that finish, the original does indeed turn flaky and the color does not stay true. The pieces we inherited, we had to refinish...actually got the color pretty close, however.

Here's a cool link, Dry...but, I imagine you've already been there!

; - }

http://vintagedanishmodern.com

SCfan- after the war Heywood finish was DuPont Dulux.

I never learned how to insert an addres-but Google: Sprindale Furnishings. Millions of pieces and the text is a hoot!

I really am a Don Draper...limited computer skills/no ATM/mobile phone or microwave.

Well, Gavin, I know just enough about computers to get myself into trouble...and then I try to remember each step that got me in the hole--- and then try the steps in reverse (works sometimes!)---what a double-edged sword technology is!

I will check into that info on the post war Heywood finishes....thanks.

I think my mom purchased her pieces while my dad was first sent overseas and probably before 1942...not sure, however. I do know they did flake and did not hold up well (the finishes)...but the wood underneath was as good as new to refinish. I'm not sure I'd want an entire house full of HW...but the few pieces I have fit in great with my eclectic decor. They give everything else a "solid" air.

Gavin, I think that cocktail table shown in the Living Room page on that Springdale Furnishings' site is like the one Anna Draper had...or it's very similar...love it.

Thanks for the info.! That site is great just for the fun factor. I love the way they word things..

Just looked at that pic from The Mountain King again...I think Anna's table has different legs...but I still like it.

.....Great info and links.....thanks, both of you.

Dry, if you have one of those curved glass china cabinets shown on that danish modern site, you are luuucky....that is gorgeous!

Of course, it's priced upwards of $945 on that site...so if you inherited one of those, that makes you super-duper luuuucky.....

I think I have an explanation for the tawdry decorating style of the Draper residence. Each room represents a segment of their lives.

The living room, of course, is the public face they want the world to see. During the break from the first season to the second, it underwent an “update” and the décor moved into the ‘60s; much like the Drapers tried to “update” their relationship and present the picture of a happy marriage. In “Three Sundays” the whole family is in there, trying to act happy. Sally even asks “why are we in here” and Betty answers “because we live in here.” Then, while Betty and Don are dancing, Bobby plays with the stereo, ruining the mood. No more happy family.

The kitchen, with its 1950, even late 40s décor, represents the time when the Drapers married and when their children were born, probably when they were their happiest. Unfortunately, the happiness didn’t last long. The kitchen is where the family is nurtured. I will be curious to see if it has been updated during this last break.

Finally, the bedroom is the private segment of their lives, where Don and Betty reveal their true selves (if not to themselves or each other, at least to us). Those stupid Priscilla curtains and blinds and even the lamp by Betty’s side of the bed look like they came straight out of 1935-1940. Which, of course, is when the Drapers would have been children. Again, in “Three Sundays”, after Don has the outburst in the kitchen and breaks the robot, he goes to the bedroom. Notice the shot of him sitting on the bed, facing the curtains; the color appears drained and for an instant I thought it was a flashback to Archibald Whitman. If that shot had been in black and white, it could have been from some old 1930s movie. And then, of course, Don and Betty have their shoving match there, reverting to childish/abusive behavior. When Bobby asks Don “what did your Daddy look like”, and Don says “like me, only bigger”, I doubt that Archibald was actually physically bigger than Don; in Don’s mind, though, he (Don/Dick) is always a child and Archibald is always the big father.

I don’t think that the Drapers will move to a bigger house, even with Don’s raise. Don is a man who prefers to travel light through life, and I don’t think he would want that much baggage; he resents what he has now. I don’t think he will even tell Betty about any increase in salary or bonus. He obviously hoardes money; he had all that cash that he gave Adam. And when he visited Anna in California and remarked on her view, she said “well, you paid for it”. What does that mean?

Mambo Deb-Very good! We should all hang out shingles and start taking patients for psych evals.

This show has SO many levels....and everything means something...or does it? I prefer to watch as you do; sensing motivation and really listening to what people say.

I don't think the Drapers will move-at least not until the mid-1970's. They will select the "executive ranch" as it will be very cumbersome to tote that oxygen tank up a flight of stairs!

.....Mambo.....That was a very interesting theory.

In re-watching Three Sundays with new eyes the other day, many of your same thoughts presented themselves, and were bubbling in the back of my mind, including Archibald Whitman being "bigger" only in little Dick's mind.

However, I would never have come up with all that. You expressed thoughts I could only just form.

Whether it was intentional or not on the part of Matt Weiner (and let's face it, nothing is unintentional with him), the rooms really do seem to "speak" of the things you said.

When I saw that beautiful white couch at the beginning of Season 2, I just KNEW something was going to happen to it, and not just because it was white.

Gavin....."We should all hang out shingles and start taking patients for psych evals."

Well, it's a hoot.

Wow, Mambo...great thoughts...love your analogies.

I think what Anna meant by saying Don "paid for" her sunporch might be that Don had been sending her money over the years and she used it for her home improvements!

Yes, SC, I think Don has been sending Anna money all these years, too. That's one reason there isn't much for Draper home improvement.

Plus he used 5K of his secret stash for hush money for poor old Adam!

Interesting reading guys. Especially liked that Frank Sinatra site DryM. I am quite fond of the Dick Van Dyke house. My theory is that since they are a young couple they are more into drinking, parties of course Don working, Betty shopping and drinking wine then they are worrying about their house. I think they do the minimal at this point in their lives and the show reflects that.

.....OMG!! Who can forget about Sal and Kitty's apartment!

And the adorable matchie-matchie outfits!!

Sigh.....He's such a sweetie.....

And he's so screwed......

.....That $5K was IT, in terms of his "emergency money." The emergency he dreaded so terribly, for so long.....

As to Anna "Draper," remember DD/DW offered to care for her security in life, via his (the real Don Draper's) own military benefits.....

Hence, he "paid for it," when she bought a house for Anna "Draper" in _______ Beach, California.

That's so right, Dry...I recall him telling Adam as he placed the 5K on the table before him..."this is everything" (or similar words)...so Adam would know he had given him his last dollar....

Then later that night, Betty asked him about the new vacation house she wanted....and he had to tell her they would have to keep using the one they had been, because they weren't able to afford one of their own right then.

And then the money ended up going to the State of New York, didn't it?

Maybe I'm wrong, but didn't the money Don gave to Adam (which Adam did not use, obviously) come from bonus money Sterling-Cooper gave him? Where did it end up?

I had "Priscillas" on my living room picture window in the 60's. It was a bitch trying to keep them draped properly. Also, Early American furniture and knotty pine was very popular (then) and kind of square.

The glassware the Drapers use (when Sally fixed the drink for her Daddy) is the Libby gold leaf ("Swanky Swig") that I have been collecting for years. In honor of Mad Men, I took lots of them out of storage and use them every day now. My daughter took 6 tumblers in a wire rack home with her and I gave her a another set of 8 ice tea glasses. Fun!

We had/have those gold leaf iced tea glasses, too, Jambler! They are the coolest...and that wire holder is fun...I need to find one of those on Ebay because ours got lost.

I think the money Don got in the bonus is the money he gave to Midge to buy herself a new car (since she wouldn't go to Paris with him)

Stupid chick....

Jambler- We still have the priscilla sheers in the front bedroom windows-full criscross!...They kind'a make me cringe...BUT from the outside-nothing says "happy home" like that treatment!

I don't think there was any explanation as to where the money Don gave Adam came from; it was just "there" in his desk. Implying, that he always has a stash of money, for maybe a quick get-away or future blackmailers, perhaps. And when he told Adam "this is it", I don't think Don meant that that was all Don had, but that was just all he was going to give Adam, and Adam should hit the road (Don thought Adam was going to be a leach or a blackmailer). Which was heartbreaking, because Adam didn't want his money, just Don, and Don couldn't see that. I think Don still has, and will always have, a stash of cas.

And, SC, what did you mean about the money going to the state of NY? I've either missed or forgotten what that was about.

Well, Mambo, I may well be mistaken , but I believe that when Don had that change of heart about Adam (looking at the old pic of them together that was from that box Adam sent him) and called his hotel, the desk clerk told him he'd hanged himself and that he'd left an envelope of money which went to the state.

Anybody remember exactly how that went?

Yes, I thought the scenes between Adam and Don were great...that guy is a really good actor.

I think you're right, SC, about the money that Adam left behind. I remember now.

From the looks of that dive he lived in...seems to me that landlord would have taken the money...it being cash and no way to trace it and all....oh well, I guess he was honest...or he entered the room along with the cops and couldn't! lol

.....Jambler.....Someone else here was looking for those exact tumblers. When I google "libby gold leaf," I get a slightly different pattern, though.

And "fun" was just the word I was thinking too. Do you serve highboys (made only by your young daughter) topped off with vodka and a token splash of Libbey's Tomato Juice, on Sundays, in the living room? To Perry Como music?

As to the money, yeah, now I remember that the $5K given to Adam was DD's emergency "Dash Stash" in the event his cover was blown.

The bonus was "run away with the mistress" money.

Adam's suicide is quite the burden to carry around. Not sure if we've seen all that it will do to DD in the long run.

God I love Perry...

or rather...."I do love him so" (in the tone of Burt's reverence for his cows!)

Enjoy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eeyGaTvHmk

Oh, and here's one where he shakes a leg with Peggy Lee.

I don't recall ever seeing ol' laid back Perry move this fast before....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbNRHuyuPSA&NR=1

"....Sing to me, Mr. C....sing to me....."

aaahhhh memories!

Who knew the guy could dance, too??

quick note to D&S...

there are some very funny clips of banter (is it safe to say that word now?) on that same site between Perry and Dean Martin when he was on Perry's show...plus some great singing by Dino in between their chatting, too. I thought of you when I viewed them....

Yes! Libbey Gold Leaf! Even if that isn't exactly the pattern the Drapers have, the very thought of it conjures up memories of my parents' cocktail parties in the obligatory custom-paneled basement party room. That along with the also-obligatory drunk-hanging-onto the lamp-post bar light. And the crystal decanters. And the martini shakers. And the barware with unfathomable purposes. And weaving my way through clouds of smoke to see my parents' friends in their silk wiggle dresses and Brooks Brothers suits.

A thought on the Drapers' house: Don and Betty are Depression-era children. Don especially so. People didn't just toss furniture and redecorate as frequently as they do now. In the early 1960s, decorators were not as ubiquitous, either. Especially if you came from a background like Betty's, in which family "treasures" were handed down from generation from generation. A Rob-and-Laura Petrie home would have been seen as somewhat tacky and nouveau-riche among Betty's peers. A lot of what would be Betty's own furnishings are still being used by her father and his wife. This bars her from the heirloom-WASP decor she might otherwise have had. Perhaps she is waiting to inherit the good stuff.

Also, both Don and Betty are more concerned about outward appearances. Hence, their impeccable grooming and wardrobes outside the home. The new, albeit vomit-scented, Cadillac. The horse. The country club membership and all the other exterior accoutrements of Cheever Country. I'm not going to do as good a job in analyzing as MamboDeb, but the interior of their home matches their own respective interiors: Messed up, mismatched, neglected.

Cattychick I agree with your comment about Betty waiting to inherit the good stuff. A lot of people from "old money" are not as concerned with being up with the latest decorating trends; it's "benign neglect". And I think that people who grew up with domestic help (like Betty did) just don't see the clutter and mess.

The description of your parents' parties made me smile. We have the old home movies from my childhood (converted to VHS; now they need to be on dvd, but that's another story) and the party scenes are like you described: the paneled den, women in tasteful sheaths and heels, men in dress shirts and ties, a cigarette in one hand, a drink in the other; the year the twist came out is hilarious. My father used to make cute title sequences, like "New Year's 1961" or "The Jersey Shore, 1963" using props like sea shells or Christmas decorations and splice them into the footage. I think I'll go watch some.

Catty and Mambo..love the cocktail party memories!!..

Did your parents' cocktail parties include (as my parents' parties did) them and their friends jiving to "Papa Loves Mambo" like Peggy Lee and Perry C. above?

Sooooo nostalgic!

There's something about Perry's voice, along with Dean Martin's, and Frank S.'s that just screams '60's!!!! I hear them sing anything and I am instantly transported!

Looks like they don't have the "Make Someone Happy" one for Perry above anymore...oh well..

here's one of Dino....funny and some good singing too...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMQFsjs21OQ&feature=related

that link not working, evidently...hope this one does...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMQFsjs21OQ

if not, ???? sorry...

....I give up...

.....that damn YouTube...!!!!!

SCfan - Know what you mean about YouTube!! Thanks for the videos! Sinatra, Martin, Davis - My parents played their stuff so much at parties, that, as a little girl, I thought the Rat Pack were family friends. They had a 45 of Chubby Checker's "The Twist." My dad would (and still does) sneak in some Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman whenever possible. Unlike poor Sally, I was NOT asked to serve cocktails at my parents' parties.

Mambo Deb, you brought back great memories of the family films. I too have them on VHS now - and yup, need to convert them to DVD!

Does anyone remember the canapes at those cocktail parties? Stuffed mushrooms, little weenies, sliced ham rolled up like rugs around pieces of cheese? What else was served?

We never actually witnessed any parties; we were put to bed before anyone arrived. Sometimes Mother would even get a baby sitter to attend to us kids while the the guests were there. If you're old enough, I'm sure you remember how it used to be; adults interacted with adults, kids with kids. Now the lines are so blurred, not to the better, I'm afraid.

The food? Gosh, I'll have to think about that. I remember bourban balls, they were basically chocolate truffles made with bourbon, very exotic at the time; the kids could only have one because we might get drunk! I also remember my Grandmother putting out pimiento stuffed green olives; her fingernails were exactly the same color as the pimiento. And crackers with little pieces of cheese or ham on them. I remember when Chikin in A Biskit crackers came out; they were for parties only!

The music from that era was so "grown up", wasn't it? My parents listened to lots of Broadway show tunes and jazz, not at parties, just in general. I have my father's old records and I'm slowly converting them to dvd.