Let's Discuss: Just When Did Last Night's Mad Men Flashbacks Take Place?
It was the biggest mystery of last night's alcohol drenched Mad Men. No, not how Don Draper brought home a diner waitress amid a 48-hour bender. Rather, just when were those jarring, pre-Sterling Cooper Don Draper flashbacks supposed to take place? Ahead, senior editor S.T. VanAirsdale and I attempt to clear up this muddy Mad Men timeline.
Christopher: Apropos of nothing but your Mad Men recap: Did you find those flashbacks a bit weird, if only because there is a giant leap between the Don presented there and Don we meet when the series begins? What year did you think that was?
STV: It seemed pretty early in the Don Draper lifeline. '51 or '52? I wish I knew.
Christopher: Well, it had to be after '52, since the Korean War ended in '53, right?
STV: Wow, OK. So maybe it was supposed to be 1955. What do we know?
Christopher: Well, Dick came back from Korea as Don, was a used car salesman, met Anna Draper...
STV: Right.
Christopher: So we're to believe he went from being a car salesman to a fur salesman to married to Betty to working at Sterling Cooper to "Don Draper" in the span of less than 10 years.
STV: It would seem so. But it would have to be much less than 10 years. Like maybe 5 or 6 years. Here, let's work backwards: Mad Men starts in 1960 with Don essentially at the height of his creative powers. He has a daughter who's no younger than 6, so let's just say Sally was born in 1954. And he and Betty were married in '54?
Christopher: According to Wikipedia, they were married in '53.
STV: OK. And meanwhile, Dick is supposed to have adopted Don's identity shortly before that. Meanwhile, Roger is supposed to be a WWII veteran who had a big affair with the dog food heiress in pre-war Paris, because he would have had to marry Mona and have Margaret pretty much right away for her to be married in Nov. 1963.
Christopher: Uh-huh.
STV: Not to mention, Roger still has to hold a grudge against the Honda folks.
Christopher: Naturally. Then he and Mona had Margaret in the early '40s -- which makes sense, assuming he's about 10 years older than Don. So he'd be in his 50s now.
STV: But Joan is the big X-factor for me. Let's say these flashbacks occurred in 1954. Are we to believe that Joan was a single woman having an affair with Roger for seven years? I wouldn't believe Joan would stay single in that relationship for that long.
Christopher: Well, she had her fling with Kinsey, too. Unless that was a drunken one night stand at one of the Sterling Cooper Christmas parties. But I think Joan is better than drunken hook-ups. She wants to be wooed! She wants fur wraps!
STV: OK, this is getting deep into the weeds. What have we settled on as a date for these flashbacks?
Christopher: Rough estimate, '55 or '56 -- it would give Dick enough time to go from being a hack used car salesman to hack fur salesman, while marrying Betty and "divorcing" Anna. Though I guess we'll have to wait until the next flashback to connect the dots between Don the Eager Beaver in 1955 and Don the World Weary Womanizer in 1960.
STV: Not only that, but the Don the Ace Ad Man, who has accrued enough power and leverage to avoid having to sign a contract with Sterling Cooper.
Christopher: Good point! To confuse things more: If Wikipedia is right about the Draper marriage -- that they were married in '53 -- then, in theory, this flashback could have taken place BEFORE they were married, since Don met Betty on the shoot for that fur ad hanging in his shop. However, with Korea involved, that would be impossible.
STV: Sloppy! I bet if we keep digging we can get Matthew Weiner's writing Emmy from last night rescinded.
Christopher: He'd probably just blame it on his co-writer, then take two Emmys.
STV: Typical.
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Comments
As good as the show is on some of the details of the era, the team doesn't always think everything through. The show makes much of the contrast between Roger's WWII generation and Don's later Korea generation. But if Don were 37 in 1962, he would have been born in 1925 and would have been old enough to see action in WWII. Indeed, Dick Whitman did enlist at 18 or 19, but we're told he was sent to Korea, though the war there didn't start until some years later. At least, that's my understanding from what I remember.
Who says Draper/Whitman left the Korean war at it's end? He (season 1 spoilers ahead) assumed the Draper mantle BECAUSE the real Donald Draper was about to finish his tour already and good ol' tricky Dicky had more time ahead of him.
For all we know, this could have happened as early as 1951 or 2, depending on whether the real Don Draper was serving the standard 18 month tour or had it shortened for a reason that escapes me right now.
Also, let's quit splitting hairs about the best show on TV, shall we?
Wasn't he hurt in that explosion in Korea? He may have been sent home early for that reason
True. Dick purposely switched name tags with Don so that he could leave the war earlier than his tour of duty. The Korean War was not over when he left.
I always thought Dick/Don never served much time in Korea. He switched those dog tags and got the hell out of there once he was injured. "California car salesman, here I come." I also noticed that Doris called Draper "Dick" when they woke up on Sunday of "Lost Weekend" meaning he was drunk enough to use his real, real, name.
Don wasn't wearing a wedding ring in the fur store scene. He generally did when they were married, so I think this was before (but that is clearly Betty in the ad). Agreed that Don left Korea before the war was over; that was one of the benefits to taking the real Don's identity. Assuming he came back, interacted with Anna, met Betty, but wasn't yet married, this has to be about 1952.
The Joan part was strange. Would it have really confused people if Roger had some other random mistress? I think that scene was for the Roger and Joan fans, but it made little sense. They showed her license once and (thanks Wikipedia), she would have been 21 in 1952. It's possible but not likely that Joan would have hung around like that for 9 years.
The fact that Don/Dick didn't serve for the entirety of Korea has already been mentioned, but re: Joan being around - I feel like that was half the point of the flashback. The idea the show has been getting to for the last season and a half is that Joan and Roger weren't just an affair, they're each other's true love. Getting a look at the length of that relationship is just another way of hammering that point home.
It's before 1955, since in the first episode of season 1, Don complains about having problems with the cigarette-account and Midge mentions that he had the same problem 5 years before. And it's not likely that Don managed to climb to the top in 5 years time...
The Joan thing was weird for me...I also don't agree that she would have been Roger's mistress for that many years.
It's likely to be 1955. In a behind-the-scenes featurette for the episode (downloadable via iTunes), Jon Hamm says something along the lines of how telling it is that "in just five years" Don achieved success in advertising.
So, as for the Joan-Roger affair, five years isn't all that long, especially if it was on-again, off-again.
Don never wore a wedding ring.
Don and Betty were married in may 1953. Sally was born a year later.
Roger said last season that he plucked Don out of night school, yet that wasn't even mentioned in the flashback.
It's all there for us to see.
1918 – Donald Draper is born (Pete's friend did a research).
1926 – Dick Whitman is born (when asked by Joy, to whom he has no reason to lie, how old he is late in 1962, Don said 36).
1930/1 – Betty is born (assuming she graduates Bryn Mawr at 21 in June 1952, spends the summer in Italy then meets Don later that year).
1937 – Adam is born, few months after Archibald dies when Dick was 10.
1950 – Dick is enlisted, goes through basic training, arrives at Korea and rather immediately get injured and discharged as Don Draper after a short stint at the army hospital (it's short enough for him to be able to escort the real Don's corpse home) - his actual military career lasted for no more the 3-4 months.
Abt. 1951 – Dick/Don is tracked down by Anna while working in that used cars agency.
Christmas 1952 – Don tells Anna he met Betty and asks for a divorce.
Valentine Day 1953 – Don and Anna's divorce papers are signed.
May 1953 – Don marries Betty.
1953 – Don begins working for Sterling Cooper.
Summer 1954 – Sally is born (on March 1965 Don tells Faye Sally is 10 and Bobby is 7).
1957-8 – Bobby is born.
June 1963 – Gene is born.
The flashback is sometime in 1952 or 1953, but Don's time in Korea could have been earlier than 1950, I think. The US had troops in Korea starting in 1945. It makes more sense for a 20-year old Dick Whitman to run away from home than for a 24-year old one. The cars he sold as a used-car dealer were from the 1930s, probably more common in the late 1940s than the 1950s?