"Mad Men" and "How to Succeed. . ."

Ken Tucker's thoughtful critique of Mad Men and its liberal sprinkling of cultural markers made me think of some of the hints scattered like handkerchiefs in Othello's path this season: Marilyn Monroe has just sung happy birthday to the president in Madison Square Garden, the music on the radio ranges from schmaltzy all-strings Theme from a Summer Place to Brenda Lee, Abstract Expressionism has triumphed in the marketplace though no one knows what to say about a Rothko, and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is Broadway's hot ticket.

A Funny Thing was pretty terrific -- hats off to Stephen Sondheim -- but Mad Men has more in common with another show popular on Broadway in 1962, the Pulitzer-winning How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying, music and lyrics by Frank Loesser, a jubilantly satiric presentation of office life on a New York street rather like Mad Ave. Like How to Succeed but with, of course, major differences, Mad Men sneakily celebrates what it overtly lampoons. (You might switch around the verbs in that last clause.) Perhaps the best reason to connect the two is the fact that Robert Morse, who played the lead in How to Succeed (on Broadway and in the 1967 movie), is ensconced in the chief exec's office here. Finch (Morse's moniker in the musical) was in a hurry to get to the top, and here he is, forty-six years later, still there, though now he is "Cooper."

It's almost time for Sandy Koufax's first no-hitter, Marilyn's demise, the replacement of Jack Paar by Johnny Carson as host of the Tonight show (October 1), the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the arrival of the Beatles.

-- DL

Comments

[Julie Melcher]

In addition to the historic events you mention, I wonder if the show will note the introduction of the birth control pill.

[DL]

Hi Julie. In the first season -- perhaps even the first or second episode -- Peggy goes to the doctor, who, after examining her, smokes a cigarette and agrees to prescribe birth control pills for her, cautioning that this does not mean he endorses promiscuous sex. (He also makes a crack about one of the secretaries at Sterling & Cooper.) The first season takes place in 1960 and this episode occurs early in the year. It surprised me, because I had always understood that the pill was not introduced until 1963. Further developments reveal that whatever it was that the doctor prescribed for Peggy didn't do the job.