This is a fascinating idea. Thanks for raising it. I, too, noticed that Sally clings to Don. And I suppose that now Betty is clinging to Gene. Still a little early for her to have any real influence on his personality. As Don points out, we don't know who he will grow up to be. As for the various simultaeous parties (Derby party, dinner party, smoke-in), to me they didn't really represent different strata of society. I could be convinced otherwise.

There really was a Balkanization of the culture that began at this time and probably continues somewhat to this day. Because of media's permeation of the culture, I think that everyone is somewhat exposed to all the ideas that float around within the culture, certainly moreso than in the 1960s. But still today, people believe what they want to believe and usually circulate within their own affinity group.

Don, on the otherhand, seems to circulate freely throughout all the various groups of the time with relative ease. He doesn't feel out of place and always seems to make friends, no matter how hostile they may be towards him. The Beatniks come to mind as a hostile group. The Jetsetters weren't hostile to him, but were pretty weird. Conrad Hilton. Rachel Menken. The motorheads building their hot rods in San Pedro. Like Ferris Beuhler, "They all adore him. They think he's a righteous dude."

OMG, that is so freaking awesome, so funny, and so true relating Don to Ferris Bueller! LOL! There truly is a similarity there-- both are clever, quick-witted, charming, and good at manipulating others to do what they want without them even noticing, etc. In Don's case I think this is probably due to him growing up feeling unwanted and like a perpetual outsider. So he taught himself to be chameleon-like, to blend in, mimic, and mingle with whomever the present company is. It's also a survival skill. An abused child with a violent parent learns not to stand out in any way. No one would want to catch Archibald Whitman's attention.

I know that Betty is greiving. But she constantly pouts and whines. She is so hateful to the children.She told Bobby to slam his head against the wall and has little sympathy for the girl.It is easy to see where this heading. Sally runs away and joins the hippies when she is 15.. .Neurotic
Betty sits around popping valium. Don keeps his women on the side, if he does not leave.

I tend to cut Betty a little more slack. How would you feel if your husband continually cheated on you while you stayed home with the kids all day? I think that would take a toll on one's mental health, so I can understand Betty sort of losing it over time. She has a lot of anger and resentment built up, and that manifests in her daly dealings with the kids. Her attitude is caused by Don's conduct.

I tend to cut Betty a little more slack. How would you feel if your husband continually cheated on you while you stayed home with the kids all day? I think that would take a toll on one's mental health, so I can understand Betty sort of losing it over time. She has a lot of anger and resentment built up, and that manifests in her daly dealings with the kids. Her attitude is caused by Don's conduct.

I agree, dondraperesq, I recall in an episode of Season 1, when Don and Betty were in bed and she cooed to him (paraphrasing here) "I live for this ~~ I think about it all day long "...meaning their intimate time together.

I think she started out loving Don and still loves him ~~ but, he has hurt her deeply with his affairs (whether she knows about others besides the Bobby Barrett one, who knows?) and she feels betrayed. And, as many other posters have pointed out, she has had a lot happen to her in a short period of time and is traumatized.

@dondraperesq: I agree that Betty has a lot of anger and resentment building up over Don's cheating. When she was telling Don how the neighbor's husband was an adulterer, she looked like she was about to reach for a knife in the kitchen. Don will never see it coming. He's just that arrogant.

Sorry, Betty will never win mom of the year awards from me. I'm about 2 years older than Sally. When Betty complained in an earlier season about being outnumbered by her then 2 kids, I lost it.

At that same point (1962) my mother had 6 going on 7 kids (eventually 9) with NO housekeeper/maid AND a 6 day a week part-time job and I don't remember her ever snapping at us, ignoring us, or being as cold towards us - and neither were any of the neighborhood mothers, that I saw and we were in and out of each others' homes all the time. BTW where are the neighborhood kids? This is the boomer era, there ought to be a ton of kids. On our short street (fewer than 30 houses) we had 31 kids in the six houses nearest to us. We all felt sorry for the one only child on the street whose mom had died very young.

Yes, she'd sigh at times and say - in response to the umpteenth "MOM!" - that MOM had run away and joined the circus. We were shooed outside to play but told to stay out of the road (not to go play in traffic - that we said to annoying younger siblings.)

One thing I meant to add to my original post above: Don really personifies that favorite Japanese saying of Bert Cooper's: "A man is in whatever room his in at the moment." I always found that quote fascinating, even if a little relativistic.

No one is saying Betty is "Mom of the Year," certainly not me. All we're saying is that there is a reason behind her troubled mind. Aside from the fact that she is married to a philandering fraud with no family of his own, her beloved if crazy father just died. She is feeling very alone in the world with a baby she did not initially want to have. That would be pretty stressful, I would imagine.