Yes... I totally miss the ability to go "off the grid". In a similar note, I miss the days before answering machines... you know, now we have to RUN to the phone before the machine picks up on the 4th ring. There was an episode of MM where the phone was ringing and Betty didn't pick it up until about the 7th ring... just casually walked over and answered the phone. At home, we're diving over couches to get to it "in time".

I also miss the cocktail at the office. We have had a lot of folks "retire" lately these days so there have been a lot of mid-day send-off parties. I work at a law firm so our send-off parties come with a bar... it's amazing how well we all get along after a few drinks.

Well, on the flip side, back in the no-cell-phone days if you were driving away on vacation, and your car broke down in the middle of nowhere--and there was a lot more "middle-of-no-where" in those days--you were stuck. You just had to wait there and hope someone came to help. No way to phone for help.

Would you like to be waiting out on route 66 for someone to come and help you? And maybe that someone would rob you instead?

Likewise, if you got lost while hiking in the woods, there'd be no calling in hopes of getting rescuers searching for you. If your kid really hurt himself while you were out camping, there was no calling in 911.

If the plane that was going to take you on vacation was stuck on the runway and going to be late, you couldn't call and tell those planning to pick you up to come later. If you were lost on your way to meet friends for dinner, you couldn't call them or the restaurant for directions--or check the GPS function on your iphone. Nor, if you went to the market, could you call up the husband/wife and find out that toilet paper was needed ASAP.

I know this thread is supposed to be about the joys of what was lost, and I'll certainly post some of those, but I'm not so sure I really want to go back to pre-cellphone days. You're remembering no-ties-to-the-office, I'm remembering the fact that people spent a lot of time worrying about things that, thanks to cellphones, you no longer need to worry about. Just sayin'

and let us go back to the Mad Men days when a company contact trying to reach you actually leaves a message stating his or her first and last names.

And let's go back to proper and decent telephone manners in a business environment, period.

People are afraid to give their names, it appears -- and don't tell me "This is Mary at XYZ Incorporated...please call me at 555-5555" -- uh, maybe there are 2 or more Marys at XYZ. How about you leave your extension number, also? So which Mary am I reaching???

And sometimes a receptionist is virtually impossible to reach, thanks to the way these dang voice labyrinths are set up when you call.

"For the atten...dant...please...press...ze...ro...." and all you get is a general voicemail mailbox. Great. No live voice no nothing.

I also detest it when the only way to reach somebody is via a general mailbox and nobody seems to check it for messages! Maybe some important client's left an urgent message in there and that mailbox is the only way they've got to reach your company? Think a little, people! Plus it is also COURTESY to call the person back!

Waiting for Thirteen's promised posts...so I don't assume she just likes arguing for the sake of it. Just sayin'.

I would love to be able to be "unreachable". True, you can turn off a cell phone, but everyone knows you have it on you and are choosing not to answer, so it's not really the same thing.

I would love to see the quality and workmanship of clothing return (don't worry, I'm not getting my hopes up). If you notice, and I love that they are being accurate on this point in the show, people don't have a LOT of clothes. They have high-quality pieces that they wear and take care of. Not stuff they throw in a hamper and then toss in a charity bin when a button falls off or a zipper breaks. I love that we see Betty re-wear dresses frequently, and that Pete's too-blue suit is a staple for him.

So much is better now than it was then, but it's fun to imagine we could bring back some of the good without it tracking in the bad.

Old School manners are all but lost. Writing little thank-you notes after a visit. Tipping you hat at people to greet them. Opening doors for people.

My mother and I were recently going through a box of items from my great-grandmother's desk. There were notes that she wrote to her parents when she was in college in 1920. Oh, the beautiful penmanship, the sophisticated use of language! It was gorgeous. My now-deceased grandmother was of probably the last generation to write little notes and letters and send them through "snail mail" purely for the sake of keeping up communication in their relationships. The art of letter writing is pretty much gone, and it's terribly sad. I treasure the sweet notes I received from Grandma after a weekend visit when I was in college, thanking me for coming. They are precious.

Technology can be used for good or ill. Don could not live in todays world. CallerID has made all cheaters change how they operate.

I worked for the telephone company, so all the new technology was available to employees at a discount. I was single, too, so I used the technology to weed out dating undesirables. Dates who called me and lied about where they were calling from could not tell I could immediately see their attempt at deception. They could never tell why they were dropped like hot potatoes.

Without incriminating myself, let me also say their telephone bills provide quite a bit of information, too. One guy moved (from San Francisco to Oakland) before returning a diamond ring I accidentally left on his nightstand. He was hemming and hawing about 'not being able to find it.' To this day he cannot figure out how I got his new address and was able to leave a note on his car windshield threatening to go to his job and deliver a larceny complaint to his employer unless he 'found' it and returned it to me. I had my ring within hours. Never heard from him again.

Cell phones have made cheating easier, too, because my brother used to fly into town claiming to be visiting his 'mother.' He can now be anywhere because he has trained his wife to always call his him on his cell phone. Fewer and fewer homes continue to pay monthly for 'landlines.'

When one door closes, another one opens.....

BTW...after three decades of being tied to telephones and technologies, I rarely use the telephone today, don't have an answering machine and you will never see me wearing one of those 'bluetooths' or carrying an ipod or blackberry. I can walk away from technology but I believe my grandchildren will consider it part of life. My nine year old grandson has a cellphone, for goodness sake! Not the way I would do it.....but, his parents do make him write me letters.

Oh, hanna, the notes! I have a bagful of handwritten letters my mother sent to me when I was away at college, as well as notes from my younger siblings, cards from high school friends - including a series of hilarious letters from one who spent the summer babysitting a local dentist's hellions; I'd forgotten what a hoot and a half (to borrow an expression) she was and is.

Most precious to me are notes from my grandparents, especially my maternal grandfather who died during my senior year. Those I put in the safe deposit (yes, really.) They were brief and scribbled on dime store notepads in pencil, shaky handwriting, and always included "a little something" to buy myself a pizza. One of these days I'm going to get myself a scanner and pass these along to my siblings (and remaining aunts and uncle who would also appreciate them.)

Oh, Auburn Annie - I feel the same way. My maternal grandmother and I had a very close relationship, and she would always send a little money to help me buy gas for my car or books for my classes when I was in college. She developed cancer (a brain tumor) during my junior year of college and passed away shortly after I graduated. The difference in the notes (handwriting) from before she was sick and after is heartbreaking, but I keep a note from both the "before" and "after" period in my prayerbook (which was a Confirmation gift from her). - Sigh - It's good to remember her, but it's sad that people don't write notes like that anymore.

I'm trying to bring the tradition back in my family. I've been writing notes to my brother lately, who's in the Army at Fort Bragg, NC, on the opposite side of the country from me.

I wish we could go back to the fashion and style of the era. Clothing was soo sharp and sleek- Not all gunked up with fru fru baubles, frills and meaningless slogans and logos. I love the fitted clothing, the Jackie Kennedy style clothing for women and the narrow ties, and slim-line suits for men.

THe show is so visually rich with simple graphics and tasteful set design! I watch it for the thrill of an intelligent, compelling script, brilliant character development and the lush visuals. I wish we could go back to the era of smart television-pre reality show. Thank you Madmen writers and cast and crew for restoring my faith in aesthetic production design.

The pre-dinner cocktail hour. There is such a stigma attached to drinking now.

I think the only thing I'd like to see come back is more formal dressing. I temped in advertising for a month two years ago and it was very, very casual. There were people in denim on days other than Friday!

I now work in online media, and cannot possibly be without my BlackBerry or social media (the latter is even more important). Without social media, the site could not possibly exist!

When I was a child, I could not interrupt my parents when they were talking to other adults - unless someone was bleeding or the house was on fire!

I certainly could not 'talk back' to them, unless I was ready to face serious repercussions (and I don't mean a 'time out').

Today I see a lot of kids who dominate their parents, interrupt adult conversations, and beg for (and usually get) things they don't really want. And, the parents don't seem to think twice about it.

What happened?

What do I wish would return?

This is going to sound sexist...

But I love the women's hair, makeup, shoes and underclothing from this era.

I like a woman who really gets all "femmed up", one might say.

I love bullet-cone brassieres, a girdled-in abdomen, curled hair, classic musky French perfume,

The 1970's brought the "natural look" and fresh perfumes and bra-less-ness to women.

In so doing, Woman unwittingly gave away 50% of her charm, femininity and bargaining power at the chess game between the sexes.

Waiting for Thirteen's promised posts...so I don't assume she just likes arguing for the sake of it. Just sayin'.

Well, I do like arguing--but your wish is my command. First, and most of all, I miss the optimism and excitement people had for the future back in the early 60's. I miss the fact that astronauts were heroes, and people were fascinated with space, and wanted to go to the moon. I hate the fact that when people write sci-fi now and present to us a future, it's usually dark and ugly and mean, rather than filled with brave ideals, great-hearted protagonists and hope for the betterment of mankind.

I miss the way the print medium in the early 60's hit a kind of wonderful, literary watershed with all kinds of magazines featuring fantastic short stories of every sort; incredible authors like Truman Capote appearing on the horizon, and everyone, it seemed, reading. I miss seeing newspapers in everyone's hands at breakfast, and I very much miss the fact that there were few tabloids in those days, and that news journalism back then was viewed as a very serious profession of research, fact finding, and offering the public serious and important information--not as entertainment.

I miss seeing reasonable people on news programs debating topics courteously and thoughtfully, rather than the screaming and often stupid pundits that I see today, put on because shouting matches get ratings.

I miss everyone listening to the radio, usually the same stations given your age, and the way it gave us new songs, new music and a way to connect. I miss having a local record store and flipping through bins for new albums, I miss having a local independent bookstore where the owner knew my name and knew my tastes and would engage me and other customers for hours on the newest books or authors we'd read--and would recommend to me new authors and new books.

I miss a hell of a lot, actually.

Oh, and all the above from the MadMan days I'd bring back if I could. :-)

You'd love it, rasputin1963, unless you had to wear it or fix it or maintain it. I'm just old enough to be thrilled with the arrival of pantyhose circa 1966/67 so I could ditch that blankety-blank panty girdle. The perfume is still around but I don't wear any because it gives me headaches. My hair wouldn't hold a curl if my life depended on it. I have slept on metal, plastic and foam curlers in the vain attempt of having some semblance of curly hair, even for an hour or two plastered in place with a full can of extra-strong hold hairspray. Not even my grandmother's patented "wrap it in cotton rags" do held a curl longer than it took to unravel. Sigh. Believe me, THESE are the good old days.

Wow, Thirteen, loved that post. You hit on almost all the things I would have covered and said it very well.

Aubum Annie said: "I have slept on metal, plastic and foam curlers in the vain attempt of having some semblance of curly hair"

Ye gods the curlers! (shudder!) Talk about flashbacks from a very bad trip! You evil woman you! How could you bring back such nightmares! ;-)

I can't think of a woman alive who wants to go back to sleeping through the night with curlers in her hair rather than staying in the here and now, quickly styling with a hand-held blow-dryer and a brush. Of course, I used curlers to do the opposite--straighten my hair. It wasn't long enough to iron straight.

Hair-wise, I miss nothing, nothing, NOTHING from the early 60's and I would never, ever, ever want any of it to return. I hope it stays forever gone and buried, from the hairpins, to the clips, bands, sticky-lung-destroying-hairspray, curlers, salons reeking of chemicals, hot-and-huge-awful hairdyers, smelly dyes (I didn't dye my hair, I was much too young, but jeezus, everyone old enough was streaking or coloring their hair), that ridiculous style of bouffant which required all this crap, and, most especially Dippity-do. Good riddance!

I was brought up to have good manners, and most people around me have them too, so I neglected to mention this. Now that I think about it, yes, we are too informal today. My fiance's best friend's son calls us by our first names. This would never have happened when I was growing up (in the 1980s and 1990s!!!). Parents' friends were Mr. and Mrs./Ms./Miss unless they were very, very close friends. Only then, were we allowed to call them Uncle and Auntie Firstname.

I second all your thoughts about manners, writing (and I want to include reading. Nuts to the post-literate age) and children having respect for adults. I actually remember when a whole class of kids would be quiet long enough to learn something!

I miss femininity and I don't mean the hair curlers. We had a certain standard of "ladyness" that we were expeceted to live up to. A lady did not yell, swear, chew gum or drink out of the bottle. She always carried a handkerchief, even if it was only a kleenix. We sat with our knees together and we were treated with a certain deference as long as we acted like a lady. We had reputations to uphold. God, I sound like a Victorian! Today we have Madonna and Amy Winehouse as role models. Scary!

After posting that I realized the word I really wanted to use: that indefinable and elusive grace called "Class". Where did it go?

After posting that I realized the word I really wanted to use: that indefinable and elusive grace called "Class". Where did it go?

I'm with Rasputin on this. I loved it when women enhanced and flaunted their feminity. In the office today, women are just just like the guys - for the most part. (every now and than some young girl shows up with make up and high heels; all the guys notice).

I do hear your pain, Auburn Annie, but at least know this: when you were going to the trouble and pain - it was noticed and appreciated.

Incidentally, between applying the mousse and carefully blowdrying my hair, I'm sure it takes me a lot longer to get myself presentable than Don's application of the brylcream. How about we bring that back?

I enjoyed my childhood during the 60's.
- The teachers actually had more control over their students then, because they were allowed to punish children if needed. Now, if you look at a student the wrong way, they threaten to have you reported.
- We were taught to respect our elders and ourselves. Kids today use curse words that I don't even use. I actually heard a child call her mother a bitch and the mother did NOTHING. My mother would have slapped the wax out of my ears.
- All the children in the neighborhood played outside until the street lights came on. Now, they need curfews to tell under-aged children when they have to be home, because some kids are out after 12:00 a.m. (where are the parents?)
- We were only allowed to watch tv after we did our homework, and even then it was limited. And we had to be in bed by 8:30. A friend of mine allows her under-aged children to stay up as long as they want and watch "R" rated movies with her and her husband.
- My parents did a good job in sheltering me from all the negative events from the Civil Rights movement, because I was totally clueless as to what was going on. The only thing I remember is the death of Martin Luther King - I was 7 at the time- because we walked along with the crowd behind the casket at the funeral and to the original burial site. It wasn't until then that I realized who he was and what he died for. Most of today's children have had everything given to them, so they don't appreciate what their ancestors and the soldiers who served in all the wars have died for. It's sad.

I'll be 50 next year, God willing. The more I think about it the more I'm glad that I grew up when I did. You couldn't pay me to be a child today. I do appreciate the values that my parents taught me.

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I'm having a hard time coming up with a reason I'd want to return to this time period. Everything was about pretense and maintaining the status quo at all costs.

What woman would want to sublimate her thoughts to every man both at home and work? Or be married for subterfuge's sake and wonder why her husband never seemed to be "in the mood"? How about having to cope with all those petticoats, garters and girdles on the toilet? Smoke-filled airplanes and restaurants, rampant daytime drunkenness and drunk driving, and the children's cartoons that made jokes of it? Male doctors who lectured female patients on morality? Blacks who were hidden away in inferior schools on the other side of the tracks, terrorized openly by whites? Children who were treated as accessories by bored parents or abused because it wasn't "normal" to be childless? Neighbors who felt they had the right to slap your child for small transgressions? Having to give away your newborn child because it was unacceptable to raise a child if unmarried?

Ye gods... I'm thankful that today I can dabble in the frivolity of the sixties, the fashions, the hairstyles or decor without turning back the clock completely!

I agree with Immarilyn, a pre-dinner cocktail is a good thing. Also, I don't mean to sound sexist, but I think the 1950's/60's ideal female "sex-symbol' --with real hips and breasts--is far more attractive than current stick-figured fake silicon- breasted women we see in the media today.

I want that perfect style coming back. I can't bear those young guys wearing double sized t-shirts at office, or large and coloured jeans. I always wear tailor made slim fit dress shirts and slim fit suit. When you work in a place which deserves dignity and good looking, you need to wear appropriately, you need your hair to be clean a your face needs to be shaved.

I want that perfect style coming back. I can't bear those young guys wearing double sized t-shirts at office, or large and coloured jeans. I always wear tailor made slim fit dress shirts and slim fit suit. When you work in a place which deserves dignity and good looking, you need to wear appropriately, you need your hair to be clean a your face needs to be shaved.

I want that perfect style coming back. I can't bear those young guys wearing double sized t-shirts at office, or large and coloured jeans. I always wear tailor made slim fit dress shirts and slim fit suit. When you work in a place which deserves dignity and good looking, you need to wear appropriately, you need your hair to be clean a your face needs to be shaved.

I want that perfect style coming back. I can't bear those young guys wearing double sized t-shirts at office, or large and coloured jeans. I always wear tailor made slim fit dress shirts and slim fit suit. When you work in a place which deserves dignity and good looking, you need to wear appropriately, you need your hair to be clean a your face needs to be shaved.

I want that perfect style coming back. I can't bear those young guys wearing double sized t-shirts at office, or large and coloured jeans. I always wear tailor made slim fit dress shirts and slim fit suit. When you work in a place which deserves dignity and good looking, you need to wear appropriately, you need your hair to be clean a your face needs to be shaved.

I want that perfect style coming back. I can't bear those young guys wearing double sized t-shirts at office, or large and coloured jeans. I always wear tailor made slim fit dress shirts and slim fit suit. When you work in a place which deserves dignity and good looking, you need to wear appropriately, you need your hair to be clean a your face needs to be shaved.

I want that perfect style coming back. I can't bear those young guys wearing double sized t-shirts at office, or large and coloured jeans. I always wear tailor made slim fit dress shirts and slim fit suit. When you work in a place which deserves dignity and good looking, you need to wear appropriately, you need your hair to be clean a your face needs to be shaved.

I want that perfect style coming back. I can't bear those young guys wearing double sized t-shirts at office, or large and coloured jeans. I always wear tailor made slim fit dress shirts and slim fit suit. When you work in a place which deserves dignity and good looking, you need to wear appropriately, you need your hair to be clean a your face needs to be shaved.

I want that perfect style coming back. I can't bear those young guys wearing double sized t-shirts at office, or large and coloured jeans. I always wear tailor made slim fit dress shirts and slim fit suit. When you work in a place which deserves dignity and good looking, you need to wear appropriately, you need your hair to be clean a your face needs to be shaved.

Those no cell phone days were not that long ago. 10 years ago most people did not have cell phones and they were more expensive than today.

EVERYTHING.

The world, my culture, my civilization. Those of you under 50 cannot imagine how different the world is now. And how repugnant and offensive it is.