While the rest of the Sterling Cooper staff attends a Kentucky Derby party thrown by Roger Sterling and new wife Jane, Peggy and the other writers are stuck in the office to brainstorm ideas for the Bacardi campaign. Bacardi is looking for five vacation situations for their overall concept “Daiquiri Beach.”
Peggy and the boys sip on Bacardi for inspiration but find none. Copywriter Paul snits, “We’re supposed to sit here and pretend we’re on vacation?” Peggy and Smitty try wordplay with portmanteaus like “Bacardi-licious” and “Bacardi-Eisenhower.” After some deliberation and experimentation with non-alcoholic substances, Peggy begins developing an idea that we often see in today’s beer and cocktail campaigns—the idea that alcohol can whisk us away to some exotic paradise without ever leaving home. Visualizing a hammock set up on a city rooftop, Peggy turns Paul’s negativity into a positive selling point.
October 29th, 2011
In the summer of 1964 when Sharon Bernstein Peyton was 18 years old, she saw an ad for the new Baltimore Playboy Club opening. This stylish, sexy and glamorous world was quite different from the life she had been living. Nevertheless, she applied for a job and before she knew it, she was working among the high rollers and go getters as a Playboy Bunny. Ultra Swank sits down to talk to her about glamour, ambitions, sex and the legend in the silk pajamas.
By Chris
September 28th, 2011
Ultra Swank – Your one stop blog for retro living, style and design
Ultra Swank takes you back in time into the kitsch, chic and swank living of the 50s, 60s and the 70s. We mainly focus on the design, architecture and the lifestyle of the happy-go-lucky and space-age-living mentality of that era – but also on the music and movies that takes you back to happier times. Ultra Swank is run by Chris, a Swede born in the wrong decade that currently resides in Barcelona. Read more
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From age 7 to 30, I was Darrin two all the way. This kid was a macho, red-blooded Dick Sargent devotee. I couldn’t stand Darrin one, Dick York, with his big ears, greasy hair, and constant whining. No sir, Dick Sargent was my man – so much smoother and more willing to roll with the punches. But then I got married and something strange happened. There was a change within me. My life had a new beginning. I could still hear the birds sing, but it was a different song. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but my love of Darrin 2 started going sour and like Timothy Leary two generations ago, I turned on to Darrin 1, tuned in, and dropped out. I saw the light and I had been reborn.
What the “h” is he talking about, you say? Bewitched ran for eight seasons from 1964 to 1972 and featured married couple Samantha (Elizabeth Montgomery) and Darrin Stephens (Dick York/Dick Sargent). Samantha was a witch who fell in love with mortal Darrin and decided to stop using her powers to please her husband and live a normal life. They got married and had a daughter, Tabatha, and a son, Adam. This all sounds like a happy story until Samantha’s mother Endora (Agnes Moorehead), also a witch, is thrown into the mix and never leaves, creating mix-ups and mayhem aplenty.
July 12th, 2011
A few weeks ago we took the skies with news about a new ABC series centered around the iconic airline Pan American World Airways during the 1960s. Recently a promo was released, giving us a taste of what we’ll see this fall. At a first glance it looks a bit like Mad Men in the air. It is a treat seeing historic locations such as the Pan Am building, complete with helicopters and the Googie designed jet port at JFK airport in New York being brought to life with computer magic. I am excited about this, what about you guys?
By Chris
June 8th, 2011
Here are some news that will surely bring a smile to any fan of aviation and travelling in style. The iconic airline Pan American is going to take to the skies again soon in the upcoming ABC tv-series “Pan Am“. A pilot (no pun intended) has been ordered and the plot is said to center around the lives of the pilots and stewardesses of the legendary airline in the 1960s.
Riding on the success of the award winning period drama “Mad Men”, the show will draw on the experiences of executive producer Nancy Hult Ganis, who was herself a stewardess in her youth. The first episode is slated to premiere later this year and we will be seeing Christina Ricci in the lead role who will apparently play a undercover agent. Good or bad decision? Time will tell.
By Chris
May 5th, 2011
Would you believe that Mel Brooks and Buck Henry teamed up to create one of the funniest spy shows of the 1960s?
Capitalizing on the success of the James Bond franchise, television networks ordered a slew of espionage-themed programs. The Man From U.N.C.L.E, I Spy, Mission Impossible, and The Avengers brought a new level of sophistication to catching bad guys. These series used intelligence, ingenuity, and gadgetry to capture villains and save the world. Get Smart was created by Brooks and Henry to spoof the genre. The series drew inspiration from its serious counterparts and took scenarios and gadgets farther into the absurd.
The complexities of espionage were simplified for the half-hour comedy format of Get Smart. Agent 86 Maxwell Smart (Don Adams) works for CONTROL, a U.S. spy agency focused on shutting down the evil organization KAOS. With the help of Agent 99 (Barbara Feldon), the Chief (Edward Platt), and a host of other CONTROL agents, the bumbling Agent Smart defeats KAOS villains at every turn. Also assisting Max is the latest in 1960s spyware.
February 2nd, 2011
One of my absolutely favorite composers of all time has passed away. John Barry, winner of five academy awards and numerous other awards. Many will remember him for his tremendous work of scoring 11 of the James Bond movies and co-authoring the famous 007 gun barrel theme, but that’s only part of his career. He also scored music to 100 other films and tv-shows.
His trademark sound of using lush strings and strong brass arrangements has created beautiful and emotionally strong songs to movies such as “High Road to China”, “Out of Africa”, “Dances with Wolves” and “The Lion in Winter” among many, many others. Barry started his career in 1957 and got his big break performing on the BBC show Drumbeat with his John Barry Seven band. A few years later he was offered to rearrange the 007 theme as the producers were displeased with Monty Normans work. The rest is as they say, history.
By Chris
January 31st, 2011
