'Mad Men': All together now

On Wednesday night, the Paley Center for Media hosted a screening of Episode 12 and a discussion with the cast and creator (pictured, with Matt Weiner on right end) of “Mad Men.” Immediately upon arrival, I was whisked into the green room, where the stylish crew was hanging out, along with their mothers, spouses and managers. Two giant platters of cheese and fruit remained unperturbed, but a dozen or so bottles of red wine were uncorked and expeditiously drained. Yep, it was my kind of crowd.

So what did I learn while small-talking with the gang? Jon Hamm once placed a beer keg in a washing machine by removing the center spindle. Christina Hendricks’ mother also has red hair. January Jones and Elisabeth Moss like to show up fashionably late. Matt Weiner watches a lot of TV and claims to keep up with this blog. (Really? Dare you to leave a comment, Matt.) All of the office guys are really tall. And finally, I learned that if one is going to grip a wine glass for most of the evening in front of well-groomed actors, one should really have removed one’s chipped nail polish that morning instead of taking one’s extra time to get a Chai Tea Latte at Groundworks. Eh, whatever.

In the Paley’s swanky theater, I was seated between a Beverly Hills woman in gold jewelry and expensive black clothes who sat on the edge of her seat the whole time and “Mad Men” costume designer Janie Bryant, who was super-cool, also in black but with some incredible peep-toe red heels surely made by some fancy designer but I forgot to ask. But I didn’t forget to ask her about her favorite vintage shops. Try Hubba Hubba in Burbank (warning: owner is apparently a handful), Playclothes in Studio City and Swift on Magnolia. Thank me later, vintage nerds.

We watched Episode 12 on a big screen, which made me newly appreciate the visual craft of the show. I missed the intimacy of watching “Mad Men” in my living room, but seeing the waves of tension pass over Don Draper’s face as he wrestled with Pete Campbell’s blackmail was worth it. This episode, with its playful election-night party drenched in Crème de Menthe, played wonderfully to the crowd.

Afterward, a Q&A led by Variety TV critic Brian Lowry turned over many large rocks. Putting to rest the rumor that HBO outright rejected “Mad Men,” Weiner said it was more like they never acknowledged it. David Chase passed them the script, but nothing, no contact of any kind, ever happened. Robert Morse revealed that he didn’t think much of the script at first, but by the third episode he was sold. “A person my age doesn’t work that much anymore,” he said. “I was so happy."

One of the program’s most telling moments came when Weiner went through the cast and where they’re from – nearly all were from the oft-maligned “fly-over states.” Missouri, North Dakota, Minnesota, Idaho, etc. Turns out that the secret ingredient in “Mad Men's" recipe for success is manners, Weiner said. It revealed as much about the cast as it did about “Mad Men's" friendly creator. A family man with four kids, he’s old-fashioned in certain ways but unsentimental. It’s this combination that makes “Mad Men” an affectionate but unblinking portrait of the times.

--Margaret Wappler

P.S. Check out the story on Jon Hamm in our Image section. Could our fair hero usher in a whole new masculine style aesthetic?

(Photo courtesy Kevin Parry/The Paley Center for Media)