MAD MEN.....and women

TV Promo on release

Over the years I've watched some great television....and some not so great.... But the series that has captured my attention this last year has been "MAD MEN" ..... Yes dear readers,  I've been hooked by this terrific series and can't wait for Series 3 which is currently showing here in dear old Aussie on Pay Television..... but not at my house!..... (No subscription TV I'm afraid)

So what is it about this show that has drawn me to the TV for hours on end....for not only did I watch the hourly episodes each week....I hired out the DVD's.... then watched the whole lot again in one big sitting!....( MAD WOMAN!)

What it was that kept me entranced for hours on end is that I knew these people.... they were part of my world ...the part that is now just a memory.

Some of the cast of Mad Men

Back in the 50's I worked for one of our country's largest Banks....

and just as in MAD MEN....women had a lesser role. 

There were no female Bank Tellers..... no female Heads of Departments....and as for female Bank Managers....forget it.

 We knew our place. We were hired as Steno/typistes....Ledger machine operators...

and should we marry...PFFT! ....out the door we went.... Once married you had to resign. ( I kid you not !)

 Dining with my friend Judy

Yes...this was my world.....and I was happy to be part of it...for that was the way of things in those days....and just like the females cast in the series, I dressed in the latest fashion....high heels.... nylon stockings....(suspender belts were de rigeur)...pointy bras (making the most of nothing) .... tiny waists....flared skirts.... (or pencil thin if you had a nice ass)... ass?...what am I saying...(.that was unknown in my vocabulary in those days).....and then of course there was the make-up...powdered and painted to within an inch of my life....and the gloves.... Never left the house without gloves, usually white in summer and soft doeskin in winter. Then If the occasion demanded it...(such as going out to dinner with my girl friends after work)....I sometimes wore a hat.

I was single,fancy free...and so naive.....and the thought of marriage never entered my mind

 A Special Occasion

And so my working life continued.....and just as in the series ....promotions came my way. 

I moved throughout the State  making new friends.....dating...travelling....growing older and somewhat wiser..

Then came the 60's
but that's another story.....

But back to MAD MEN....and their women.  I can relate to it all.  That's how it was then....(though the younger generation may find it hard to believe). The ensuing years have brought greater  freedom for women...some may say at a price

but I look back at those years now in wonderment and marvel at the life we lived.  How far have we come !

******

But wait.....there's more.....

CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS ?

Mattel are about to release their latest range of Barbie's friends.......
And here they are....Don Draper and his wife Betty.....Roger Sterling and former lover Joan Holloway....
They say there's a market for these grown up Barbie Dolls......(Hope they've done their research!)