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Mad Men
Unpublished Memoir: Ben Laitin's Real-Life 'Mad Men' Memories
By Chris Epting - AOL NewsThe late Ben Laitin was a high-flying Madison Avenue executive in the 1960s. He lived the life that inspired AMC's "Mad Men" and worked alongside Draper Daniels, a legendary copy writer and executive whom many believe inspired the Don Draper character. Following are excerpts from Latin's memoir, "AD MAN – Big Shots Write Memoirs, Little Shots Just Reminisce," written shortly before his death. Here, Laitin writes about the creation of the Marlboro Man campaign. The soft, seductive, vaguely familiar voice oozed through the telephone. "This is Myra Daniels, Ben. I'm calling to wish you a ...
The Real Life Mad Men: Man Finds His Grandfather in Don Draper's Show
By Chris Epting - AOL NewsOver the past four seasons, "Mad Men" has become a pop culture phenomenon, putting viewers in a martini-soaked time machine back to the golden age of the advertising industry. But for one viewer, the show is more than a glimpse back in time -- it's a glimpse into the family photo album. For Josh Lurie, the story starts with his late grandfather, an advertising giant who worked alongside the man believed to be the inspiration for "Mad Men." It's been widely speculated that the show's lead character, Don Draper (played by Jon Hamm), is loosely based on Draper Daniels, a revolutionary ...
Year's Worst Ads Get What's Coming to Them: A Tracy Award
By David Moye - AOL NewsEli Manning has the same number of Super Bowl rings as his brother, Peyton, but he has something his big brother doesn't: an extra Tracy Award. But don't expect brother Peyton to be jealous in the slightest: The award is only given to the worst ads in a given year. This year, an Oreo TV ad for the cookie's Heads or Tails brand that featured Eli Manning, along with Shaquille O'Neal, Serena Williams and Apolo Anton Ohno, was one of 11 ads that made the final cut for this dubious honor. According to Salt Lake City ad man Tracy Crowell, who bravely named the awards after himself, even though ...
'Mr. Skin' Exposes Top 10 Nude Scenes of 2010
By Monica Garske - AOL News(Dec. 14) -- Though some critics may argue that 2010 was an unusually bad year for cinema, one movie buff is choosing to look at the bright side: At least it was a banner year for nude scenes. That's the skinny from Jim "Mr. Skin" McBride, a Chicago film lover who's made a longtime career out of tracking and recording every titillating female nude scene ever to grace the silver screen on his popular website, MrSkin.com. Mr. Skin has just revealed his prime picks for the "Top 10 Nude Scenes of 2010," and he told AOL News exclusively that despite the selection of bad flicks this year, ...
'Mad Men's' Sally Draper: A Child Will Lead Us
By Bonnie Goldstein - Politics DailyThe superb young actor Kiernan Shipka, in her fourth season playing Don and Betty Draper's long-suffering child, Sally, on the AMC hit series "Mad Men," is maturing from her early days as a Mighty Milk endorser and as a performer ("I'm very method when I'm on set, when I'm in the scene . . . "). The nearly 11-year-old seems to be having a good year in her budding career. The character Shipka plays, sixth-grader Sally Draper, is having a tough coming-of-age experience, however. As the brutal season of disappointment and loss hits Don's shaky creative business (soon to be reorganized as ...
Emmys: 'Mad Men' and 'Modern Family' Score; 'The Good Wife' Is Snubbed
By Luisita Lopez Torregrosa - Politics DailyIn a turnaround from the usually predictable and cravenly self-serving award shows, the 62nd Emmy Awards on Sunday night in Los Angeles pulled off a few surprises in drama and comedy. On an evening of bland jokes and snail pace, the serial winner and critic favorite "Mad Men" repeated as best drama, elbowing out the acclaimed new hit "The Good Wife," and a new breakthrough comedy, "Modern Family,'' overcame the Tina Fey steamroller "30 Rock" for best comedy. One of the evening's big surprise winners was frequent Emmy drama nominee Kyra Sedgwick, whose leading role as Deputy Chief Brenda Lee ...
Psychotherapy: That'll Be $100,000. Sorry, No Warranty
By Donna Trussell - Politics DailyMy colleague Mary C. Curtis writes that Betty Draper has returned to the therapist office. "Mad Men" is set in the 1960s, and there's a good chance Draper's health insurance picked up 80 percent of that tab, if not the whole shebang. Ah, those were the days. Now, you're more likely to get three visits a year. That is, if you're still employed and even have insurance at all. With real unemployment soaring near levels last seen in the 1930s, I doubt people will be able to pay the premiums offered by private companies. (Public Option, was it something I said?) My colleague Delia writes about ...
'Mad Men' Lose Their Cool
By Mary C. Curtis - Politics DailySociety is changing, and these "Mad Men," women and children are about to blow. Sunday's episode previewed social change -- and in 2010 we know how difficult that is to get used to -- returned Don Draper to slick ad-man form and forever ruined my childhood crush on David McCallum. The shifts in tone return "Mad Men" to unpredictable form, and we like it that way. We don't even mind man or woman of mystery, Lyle Evans, to stoke buzz. Roger Sterling, he of the silver hair and biting one-liner, can't understand how in just 20 years, the Japanese have gone from contrite losers in a bloody war to ...
Mosque in NYC Inspires Satirical Side-Taking
By Steven Hoffer - AOL News(Aug. 23) -- With two competing demonstrations taking place over the weekend at ground zero in New York City -- including reports of opposing individuals engaging in rage-filled screaming matches -- the debate surrounding the construction of the nearby mosque/Islamic cultural center seems more divisive and serious than ever. Of course, for some, such a scenario is nothing less than the perfect occasion for satire. As such, while acknowledging the fact that many important issues are at stake in how the country handles the mosque furor, Surge Desk takes a brief detour off the beaten path to ...
'Beauty Bloggers' and the Exploited Women of Juarez: An Outcry
By Alison Fairbrother - Politics Daily"Mad Men's" Don Draper may have had hangovers and hotties at his '60s-era ad firm, but one headache he did not have was bloggers. Over the past few weeks, an army of beauty bloggers sunk their glossy nails into a collaboration between cosmetics giant MAC and fashion company Rodarte that made light of the perilous situation of women living in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. (The business of promoting beauty products has changed profoundly since the days when real life Don Draper advertising executives convened focus groups to learn whether women used face cream to feel beautiful, or to catch a ...
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