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Why Don Draper IS Lounge

scottyrocks

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,178
Location
Isle of Langerhan, NY
I watched The Andy Griffith Show when I was a kid. What made it so different was that it did not center around married life, as so many shows did at that time. That alone could have been the driving force behind the setup of the characters - to deal with issues without the usual nuclear-family-centered discussions. That very idea could have been deemed enough to keep folks interested. It was different.
 

Sam Diamond

Familiar Face
Messages
98
Location
N California
I always compare Don Draper with Darren Stevens. A three martini lunch, and the minute he walks in the door from work his wife greets him with a stiff drink.
 

Angus Forbes

One of the Regulars
Messages
261
Location
Raleigh, NC, USA
Andy Griffith attended and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (music major, maybe class of 1948?). As a student, he supposedly had a running battle with the proprietor of the Carolina Coffee Shop on Franklin Street. Seems that Andy would try to go in wearing little but a pair of bib overalls, and the proprietor would throw him out. This contest of wills went on for some time.
 
Messages
10,181
Location
Pasadena, CA
Andy Griffith attended and graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (music major, maybe class of 1948?). As a student, he supposedly had a running battle with the proprietor of the Carolina Coffee Shop on Franklin Street. Seems that Andy would try to go in wearing little but a pair of bib overalls, and the proprietor would throw him out. This went on for some time.
That settles it - I'll never watch it again!
 
Messages
10,181
Location
Pasadena, CA
Yeah, I know. I put this in the same category as a celebrity who beats his wife... ... wait, I don't. Not even close.
Someone else posted somewhere that he was rude to a woman in the same cafe/restaurant. Seems like people want to find a fault, which we all know he had as well as every other human on the planet.
 

Angus Forbes

One of the Regulars
Messages
261
Location
Raleigh, NC, USA
I dunno about Andy's faults -- he was just "a character" in real life as well as on the TV. Might even have been a little bit of a hillbilly (I can use that word because I'm an Ulster Scot by ancestry and a North Carolinian, which is the core of "hillbilly" :) )
 
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Noirblack

One of the Regulars
Messages
199
Location
Toronto
I thought it was quite moral of a show not to focus on people making stupid marriage decisions (marrying when they aren't ready or in love) just to ensure that their child had a mother or that they "freed up space in the house." I think society would be well served if more people made marriage a more serious decision and weren't so quick to jump the gun because their child "needs a father" or "needs a mother." A child does a heck of a lot better with one parent who is a good parent than one parent who is a good parent in a bad relationship, possible with a bad person.

I don't feel that family values back then meant getting married just for the sake of getting married. I almost feel like we have that a lot more now.

Andy's character marched to the beat of his own drum. He didn't do what one would have expected at that time. Although it was the tail end of the baby boom, he didn't respond societal norms to get married and round out the family and add some siblings for Opie. Andy forged ahead without a wife and he was still a wonderful father.

The show portrayed the father/son relationship but it didn't focus on it in all the episodes. I think the show filled a niche in which children weren't the main focus of the scripts. So many situation comedies rely on the misadventures of the children in every episode, but the Andy Griffith show didn't limit itself in that way.
 

RichardH

One of the Regulars
Messages
252
Location
Bergen, Norway
When it comes to Lounge culture there is a man who really does epitomise *the culture through and through. Don Draper.
The character of Don Draper is that *he is a guy that looks great in formalwear,business wear and casualwear He has great taste in clothes and has great taste in women, he has money, is successful, confident, well groomed and basically he looks a million bucks.
Even the women he goes for have that certain x factor. However, when he broke up with Betty,and thank God he did,we discovered his taste in furniture is somewhat ordinary.
The bachelor pad he had in New York city was kind of boring, whilst fairly spacious it had that kind of dark and man brooding cave thing going on,but it suited his needs and let's face it was an apartment that was fully furnished not something you chose.
In season five he *married Meagan and moved into a sweet pad that's because of her taste of course.
Megan to me is a bit of a disappointing scenario that I don't think Don is the kinda guy who should be married. He is a bachelor and just needs to accept that fact.
He only married Meagan because one part of his life *he cannnot handle well, is his kids. He simply cant relate to them, and needs a woman to take care of that part of his life. *
Sure he is good at handling business mergers, difficult clients difficult,employees difficult,employers but when it comes to his kids,he struggles in that area*
Really he needed to *pay for a babysitter and a *cleaner and he would've had everything he wanted along with all the women he could possibly wanted.

Sure Don Draper's a fictional character but there is something to take away from his persona.
He is controlling,takes care of business, and he is very stylish, so to me there is something that we can all learn from Don Draper*

Let's *talk about his treatment of women which many people find appalling, but I personally think he handles his female relationships very very well.
His approach to dating and relationships is that he moves on as soon as it doesn't work anymore and he never *loses sight of who he is*and his true individuality

As a man he is not the kind of guy is gonna be under the thumb from the little woman. Sure, Betty tried and failed at the end of the day. Don rebelled and truly showed his real character and real value as an independent man.

Don Draper is the epitome of lounge, he's cool, classy,intelligent, well off and a true independent and decisive man.
To be honest, I find his personal style pretty sad and bland. He doesn't stand out at all in his horribly cut suits. If we're talking about style, Mr. Cooper, Roger Sterling and Layne(?) Pryce far outshone him in that department.
 

kamikat

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,794
Location
Maryland
To be honest, I find his personal style pretty sad and bland. He doesn't stand out at all in his horribly cut suits. If we're talking about style, Mr. Cooper, Roger Sterling and Layne(?) Pryce far outshone him in that department.
I'd take Roger over Don any day!
sterling%27s-gold.jpg
 

Undertow

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,126
Location
Des Moines, IA, US
I'd say Early Cuyler is "Lounge", honestly.

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And one should aspire to any character in Squidbillies.

But then I guess I don't watch television enough to know any better. ;)
 

MissNathalieVintage

Practically Family
Messages
757
Location
Chicago
Your description of Don Draper sounds like this man I know of(not personally). He has a very high profile job. Who at times hides the fact he is married ( only time he brings up his wife is to make himself look good and benefit his job). No one outside of his close friends and family has seen his wife. Until 2010 when a photo of him and his wife was posted on the internet. Those of us who have kept up with his job. Were starting to think he just made the whole marriage up. He does not make a habit of wearing his wedding ring. I've only seen him sporting it three times since his marriage, in photos posted on the internet (married since 1999-2012). He had a child with his wife before they got married. And did not marry his wife until the child was five years old (child number two was born seven years later). Also back then in the early days when they were dating or already married. When photos would show up on the internet of them together as a couple the photos would always suddenly disappear (when doing an image search their names will link in the suggestion menu without an image) And when he is asked about his wife he brushes it aside and never has he once praised her in public as far as I know. He will once in a great while say something about his children. That is about all the praising he gives his family publicly. He is on social media and flirts heavily with women only on social media from what I see.
Its sad. I feel badly for his wife and two kids.
 

PrettySquareGal

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,003
Location
New England
I find Mad Men quite amusing. Most of its characters are a bunch of psychopaths, with Don Draper on top of them. Probably the scriptwriters too. Here is his problem solving process explained;

http://www.cracked.com/blog/why-you-should-be-watching-mad-men/

The fingerblast episode was specially psychopathic.

I love to watch Mad Men for both the 60s fashions and decor which I adore, as well as the storylines. I find fictional white collar psychopaths fascinating. If one is to misbehave on TV, it should be done stylishly and discreetly unlike most other shows today.
 

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