mad-men-drinks

It is practically impossible to watch an episode of “Mad Men” without wanting a stiff drink — or, at the very least, bemoaning that it’s not acceptable to imbibe at work — but according to one ad executive from the 1960s, AMC’s hit show actually underplays just how much drinking, smoking, and extramarital screwing ad men did in the ’60s.  From USA Today’s interview with advertising CEO Jerry Della Femina, who first rose to prominence in the ’60s:

Q: Did ad agency executives really drink that often — and that much — in the 1960s?

A: My (former) agency, Della Femina Travisano & Partners, had five top people. We’d go to the Italian Pavilion (now Michael’s in Manhattan), and as we walked through the door, the bartender would see us and start shaking the martinis. As we were being seated at the table, he’d put them down. Everyone had one, and without even asking, the second would arrive. Then, while we were still looking at the menu, the third would arrive.

I read this paragraph at 11:30 Eastern time and immediately cursed Fate for not bringing me into the world in 1938.  Because dammit if that paragraph doesn’t make me want a martini.  Then I thought, “Wait, I work from home without supervision, and I have a full bar at my disposal.”  So that’s why this happened:

drinkin-at-noon

Okay, so I’m not wearing a Brooks Brothers suit or having a power lunch, but I’m definitely getting numb from martinis before noon.  And that, friends, is living.

More awesomeness from Della Femina:

Q: This was lunch?

A: This was lunch. Then we’d order food and a bottle of wine. Then, when lunch was over, invariably at dessert time, someone would ask for a double scotch and drink it, and then we’d go back to work.

Speaking as a functioning alcoholic, holy F that is a lot of booze.

Q: How could you possibly work after that?

A: The only thing that saved us was that the clients and agencies that we were going back to drank as much as we did. One time, while pitching the Geritol account, my brain was so fried that I asked for far more money than I should have. I realized my mistake and told them — but they were still ready to give it to me.

Q: But the show makes it look like everyone kept a bottle or two in their desk drawer. And it wasn’t Geritol.

A: Bottles in desk drawers were not the exception but the rule. I had an open bar at the agency in which I kept 10 to 15 bottles of booze. Anyone at the agency could walk in and get it. Invariably, one or two guys would come in at 9 a.m., pour a shot and slug it down. It was a business of drinking. The way we lived really would make the characters in Mad Men all look like Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. We drank and screwed around.

Q: Did agency execs really dress so snappily in the 1960s?

A: Yes, people dressed. We went to Brooks Brothers to get our uniforms. We certainly dressed better than any other business. Since we weren’t bankers, doctors or lawyers, we could wear suits that were high fashion. The amount of money we had to spend on clothes, well, this was the kind of money we thought we’d never have. All for writing a headline or some body copy or doing a nice layout. It was more money than we could possibly spend. A lot of people were afraid it would go away. And it was that fear that led people to drink, smoke and screw around.

Q: As long as you’re alluding to it, what about all the office sex depicted on the show?

A: There was a tremendous amount of sex. I don’t know of a single marriage that survived that time. My first marriage ended after 24 years.

Society had changed. Suddenly, it wasn’t just the WASP establishment living the good life. Suddenly, there were ethnics and kids — who once hoped they could earn $12,000 per year — earning fortunes.

All of this money shocked us people in the middle of it. We lived a Hollywood life. Did I grow up thinking I’d ever be paged at the Beverly Hills Hotel? Did I ever think I’d make so much money writing ads? No. It was a lot of people in a great celebration.

But no one wanted to go home. It was too good. There was too much booze, too many cigarettes and too many women. People found themselves in this wonderful gold rush. Mad Men only touches on how wild it was. It was beyond whatever I thought could happen to my life.

Q: Can you give one example of this “tremendous amount of sex” at your former agency?

A: We used to have an agency “sex” contest near the end of every year. … We’d go to a no-name Mexican restaurant, … and we’d drink giant margaritas all day. It was an idea I had when I realized our people were spending too much time talking and thinking about sex, and not working it.

We’d take a blind vote to name the person at the agency you’d most want to go to bed with. We also took a vote on the person of the same sex you’d like to go to bed with. We did this for 15 years. I’d get to announce the winners each year. The first prize was a weekend at The Plaza hotel for the winning couple. Second prize was one night at The Plaza. The third prize was a night on Ron Travisano’s office couch. People took this very seriously. Of course, the clients didn’t know about it. One year, we had to rip down signs about the contest when a client unexpectedly showed up at the agency.

Um, yeah.  So maybe I poured myself a second martini.  The first one was for solidarity, the second was more out of mourning.  Either way, I can’t really feel my head right now.