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Mad Men, cameras, 1960s

bensonga

Well-known member
Just watching the first episode of season 6.

Don Draper, with Leica as a client, has a closet full of Leicas (not Pentax) and says "Stop by my office and I'll give you one". Question for the Leicaphiles, which model would have been in his closet?

Photographer at the ad agency, shooting portraits of the partners with a Rollieflex TLR. Assistant to photographer, as Joan (in a purple suit) steps onto the staircase: "Are you shooting color?" Photog replies, "No, but I wish I was."

The new season is off to a great start! :clap:

Gary
 

bradhusick

Active member
He gives his doc friend an M2, says it's the best one, and it will take him all day to read the instruction manual. Draper gives him no lens! Doc says, "Thanks for the toy."

Good luck taking photos with no lens. :)
 

bensonga

Well-known member
LOL! Proves how little those Madison Avenue ad men knew about the products they were promoting. ;)
 

fotografz

Well-known member
LOL! Proves how little those Madison Avenue ad men knew about the products they were promoting. ;)
Actually shows how little the show's writers and producers know about the products, people and time they are fantasizing about. The show is a melodramatic depiction more akin to a daytime soap with better production values than anything accurate to the real world.

In reality, Mad Men (like myself :)) become immersed in any product or service they are assigned to work on, faced incredible competition for being assigned to any prestigious brand, and worked hours that most people would think impossible. As we liked to say at Young & Rubicam, "If you don't come in on Saturday, don't bother coming in on Sunday". :eek:

However, some of the "play hard" aspects depicted are true, as are some of the "French Court" political intrigues ... when you had the time and energy left to engage in them ... which, trust me, wasn't often.

Factoids: The era being depicted on Mad Men is considered the golden age of advertising. It was a time when Creative Director Bill Bernbach forwarded the notion that writers and art directors be teamed up in equal pairs as opposed to writers sending ideas to a bull-pen of layout artists. That amalgam revolutionized the industry, launched the modern age of advertising and the careers of many influential Art Directors such as Robert Gage, Helmut Krone, and George Lois.

During the 1960's (I was a snot nosed beginner, that actually saw the birth of the Mustang car before anyone else did), was when Leica production exceeded 1 million, they sold the M2, launched the Leicaflex in 1965, and in 1967 introduced the M4.

I worked in the industry from 1964 to 2009, including many years as an executive Creative Director for Y&R, the global giant headquartered at 285 Madison Ave. Oh, the stories I could tell ... ;)

-Marc

P.S., I wonder whether Leica actually ever had a Madison Ave. based ad agency? I'd guess not, at least not a bigger one since the account would've been to small.
 
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