Tensor lamps, ballpoint pens, why read at old issue of Playboy for the articles, and the fascinating process of prepping for Mad Men props:
An Interview with Scott Buckwald, Prop Master for the Hit TV Show Mad Men
Collectors Weekly: What sets Mad Men’s focus on historical accuracy apart from other shows set in a particular time period?
Buckwald: I don’t really know that anything necessarily does. First of all, I think that the promotion of the show has really highlighted its historical accuracy. Mad Men exists in a world that people still remember. You’ll have people who were working in 1960 going, “Oh, my God. I remember that item.”
Most people are not historians. Most people are not totally geeked out about any one time in history, so they really don’t know. If you do a Revolutionary War movie and you put in a weapon that didn’t come about until the War of 1812, the majority of people aren’t going to know. But part of the charm of a show like Mad Men is that it’s about our life. I wasn’t alive in 1960, but I was born in 1963, so I remember a lot of that stuff from when I was a little boy in ’68 and ’69. History doesn’t just change on a dime. Things that existed in 1960 also existed in 1970, and are still easily accessible thanks to photos. It’s still within our grasp.
Scott has excellent advice for collectors, so please go read the entire article.
And here’s another photo from the article (check out the caption), in a scene where Don shows that he’s a very good dad, in spite of being a lousy husband:
Special thanks to Melissa for the link.
UPDATE, Monday 19 October
The Simpsons Mad Men, via Pat,
Recap of last night’s episode by the WSJ’s Cheryl Berman.
