The Real World of Mad Men
30/03/2014.
AMC. 13/04/2014
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA
In anticipation of the last Mad Men season 7 (April 13 on US and April 14 on Canal Spain), and because today on AMC (US) is back Mad Men season 6 premiere, TIME brings to you a rare insider’s tour of the Time & Life Building in the 1960s.
Let's travel back to the 1960s—a time when everything was in grayscale—and breathe in a bit of the decadent air suffusing Don Draper's work life. Looks like that fellow on the right needs a break—so let's stretch our legs and take a stroll around the office with him. (Courtesy of Time Inc. Archives).
Not that we recommend it, but you could go a little wild and dip your feet in the fountains outside the building. (Notice the businesses across the street: a cafeteria, a tailoring shop and a bar—pretty much all you need to get through the day: a little bit of food, a well-fitted suit and a stiff drink.) (Bill Ray—Courtesy of Time Inc. Archives).
Although the office's design mirrored Modernism's celebration of function over form, it also represented what was the most decadent and sought-after in the era's aesthetic. For instance, the reception lounges outside of the work spaces were luxurious, sleek and inviting. (Andreas Feininger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images).
...or lounge around by the window and watch the folks waiting in line in front of Radio City. (Bill Maris—Esto).
Here we see an art department hard at work. The work rooms, like the rest of the building—both inside and out—represented the epitome of mid-century Modernism: clean lines, rejection of ornamentation, and a mix of streamlined materials such as stainless steel and prefab walls.. (Photo by Andreas Feininger/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images).
Even just waiting for the elevator to arrive was a transcendent and striking visual experience, from floor to ceiling. (Andreas Feininger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images).
Anyway, it's time to get back to business, but let's take a moment to marvel at the ceiling of this elevator bank. (Andreas Feininger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images).
... or even head to the reading room in the mezzanine to have a little bit of quiet time. (Bill Maris—Esto).
On to the next meeting— but let's take a moment to gaze at this gleaming space-age lobby ... (Courtesy of Time Inc. Archives).
You can marvel at this mural, "Relational Painting #88", by painter Fritz Glarner. (Andreas Feininger—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images).
The club's got fantastic views of city. Central Park's to the north ... (Courtesy of Time Inc. Archives).
... and the Empire State Building is to the south. (Courtesy of Time Inc. Archives).
Poster.
The New York City's Time & Life Building, was located at 1271 Avenue of the Americas and designed by the Rockefeller family’s architects, Harrison & Abramowitz & Harris, and first opened its doors in 1959, meaning that Don Draper were some of its earliest (fictional) occupants.
Today, six decades later, much of the building's mid-century mod styling is still intact.
Time has collected a series of photos taken in the 1960s, when real occupants used the Time-Life Building. It is a privileged glimpse into the real world of the fictional Don Draper. These pictures take us back to the days when clean lines and rich materials dominated this office architecture.
Mad Men is an American television period drama series created and produced by Matthew Weiner. The series premiered on July 19, 2007 on the American cable network AMC and is produced by Lionsgate Television. The seventh and final season will have 14 episodes that will be split into two seven-episode parts, airing in early 2014 and 2015. The first half of the final season will premiere on April 13, 2014.
Mad Men is set in the 1960s, initially at the fictional Sterling Cooper advertising agency on Madison Avenue in New York City, and later at the newly created firm, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce (later Sterling Cooper & Partners), located nearby in the Time-Life Building, at 1271 Avenue of the Americas. According to the show's pilot, the phrase "Mad men" was a slang term coined in the 1950s by advertisers working on Madison Avenue to refer to themselves, a claim that has since been refuted. The focal point of the series is Don Draper (Jon Hamm), creative director at Sterling Cooper and a founding partner at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, and the people in his life, both in and out of the office. The plot focuses on the business of the agencies as well as the personal lives of the characters, regularly depicting the changing moods and social mores of the United States in the 1960s.
Mad Men has received widespread critical acclaim, particularly for its historical authenticity, visual style, costume design, acting, writing, and directing, and has won many awards, including fifteen Emmys and four Golden Globes. It is the first basic cable series to win the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series, winning it in each of its first four seasons. In 2013, TV Guide ranked it sixth in its list of the sixty greatest dramas of all time, and it was ranked seventh in a list of the 101 best-written TV series of all time by the Writers Guild of America.
