Category: Movies & Television

Draper Daniels

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I just recently came across this article in August 2009’s Chicago Magazine, a brief tribute by Myra Janco Daniels to her late husband, Draper Daniels, who was the primary inspiration for Mad Men‘s Donald Draper. It’s interesting to see where fact and fiction diverge, and it’s also the touching story of a reluctant romance. Here’s how he (first) proposed:

One day, after he had been with us for about two years, Dan came into my office with a card in his hand. By this time, the firm had been through several buyouts and mergers and I had a funny feeling that he was about to tell me of another one. I asked, “Are you going to sell me with the next merger?”

“Not exactly,” he said.

He showed me the card. On one side, he had written out his own best character traits. Then he turned it over. On the other side he had written out mine. Mine were better than his, so I knew he wanted something. I thought, What in the world has got into him?

“I’ve been thinking about this for nine months, Myra,” he said, “and I think we would make a great team.”

I said, “I think we are a great team. Think of what we’ve accomplished so far this year.”

He said, “I’m talking about a different sort of merger.”

“Oh.”

“Yes, I’ve decided I’d like to marry you.”

I lost my voice for a moment, because I had never thought of the man that way before—and had no idea he had thought of me that way. Dan was twelve and a half years older than I and had been married before. I was against divorce in those days. But more importantly, I was happy with my life. I told him that.

“All right,” he said. “Let’s talk about it again tomorrow.” And then he walked out whistling—which, to me, was one of the most maddening things anyone can do, particularly under the circumstances.

My assistant said, “Did you get another account? Mr. Daniels seems very happy.”

I went home early and called Len, my fiancé, back in Washington. I told him what Dan had just said.

Len laughed. He knew Draper Daniels. “Come on,” he said. “He’s pulling your leg.”

The next day I wrote out a note and had it placed on Dan’s desk. “Merger accepted in fifteen years,” it said. “Today, let’s get some new business.”

 

Elmo wants this tape!

Matthew Eilar1 Comment

GOOD magazine posted a list of the “Nine Best Sesame Street Appearances.” While all of them are good in their own way–there’s something about Sesame Street that lets born entertainers cut loose–this interview with Ricky Gervais and Elmo cracked me up. It never ceases to amaze me that Sesame Street books consistently high quality guest stars. This video reminds me that there is a whole team of professional comedians manipulating the puppets on the show. Just look at Elmo’s posture and look of shock after being asked, “Do you know what necrophilia is?” Also, catch the sly reference to the famous exchange between Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier.

Another great video on their list is this appearance by Paul Simon:

If that doesn’t make you want to get up and dance, you have a heart of stone.

Louis C.K.'s "Louie"

Matthew EilarLeave a comment


Sometimes I have very old-mannish tastes in things. For example, I’ve been really enjoying Louis C.K.’s new FX show Louie a lot, and the target audience for the show is clearly middle-aged men. At the same time, it’s also really funny. I don’t watch Parks and Rec, and wasn’t previously aware of C.K.’s stand up, but I started listening to it after watching the show. The man is funny. His cynical and jaded, yet optimistic tone matches the way I feel most of the time better than the usual stand-up angle of scorn and ridicule. He has a way of despairing at the way that things turn out in life at the same time as he affirms the hopes and desires that cause the disappointment.
The show is very loose. Many TV writers have described the episodes as collections of short films interspersed with stand-up clips. That’s pretty accurate. The “short films” are basically a filmed version of what could be a story told on stage; “So, I signed up to chaperone my daughter’s field trip” becomes a 10 minute segment that shows what happens. The events and characters in the show are clearly products of C.K.’s mind and world, however the dialogue is pretty naturalistic. Every once in a while, the show abruptly breaks with the reality it has established, and that’s great too.
The whole series to date is up on Hulu. I recommend it.

Louis C.K.'s "Louie"

Matthew EilarLeave a comment


Sometimes I have very old-mannish tastes in things. For example, I’ve been really enjoying Louis C.K.’s new FX show Louie a lot, and the target audience for the show is clearly middle-aged men. At the same time, it’s also really funny. I don’t watch Parks and Rec, and wasn’t previously aware of C.K.’s stand up, but I started listening to it after watching the show. The man is funny. His cynical and jaded, yet optimistic tone matches the way I feel most of the time better than the usual stand-up angle of scorn and ridicule. He has a way of despairing at the way that things turn out in life at the same time as he affirms the hopes and desires that cause the disappointment.
The show is very loose. Many TV writers have described the episodes as collections of short films interspersed with stand-up clips. That’s pretty accurate. The “short films” are basically a filmed version of what could be a story told on stage; “So, I signed up to chaperone my daughter’s field trip” becomes a 10 minute segment that shows what happens. The events and characters in the show are clearly products of C.K.’s mind and world, however the dialogue is pretty naturalistic. Every once in a while, the show abruptly breaks with the reality it has established, and that’s great too.
The whole series to date is up on Hulu. I recommend it.

Inception

Matthew EilarLeave a comment

I saw Inception at a midnight showing, and really liked it. I really enjoy the way that Christopher Nolan puts together a script as a writer, and the way that he emphasizes narrative structure as a director. He’s very good at creating stylized realities, whether that’s the grimy 19th century cities of The Prestige, the run down bleakness of Nowheresville, CA in Memento, or the logical unconscious of Inception. Rarely do the conflicts of the characters make his movies compelling to me; I’m much more hooked by the construction of the plot and the puzzle.

That perspective has made the critical dialogue around Inception very interesting to me. Two of the reviews that are drawing a lot of attention are David Edelstein’s review for NPR and A.O. Scott’s for the NYT. Edelstein is directly negative, calling it “lumbering and humorless and pretentious, with a drag of a hero.” Scott’s review is not negative, but makes a distinction between Nolan’s blockbusters and the arthouse movies that they get confused with.

I’m with Scott on this one. A movie that I’ve been mulling over recently is Tarkovsky’s Solaris. It was filmed before there were such things as blockbusters, but it was a big budget movie that matched interesting visual effects with heady dialogue, and presumed a curious and adult audience. Solaris and Inception couldn’t be more different. Solaris is not so ideological that any one character clearly speaks for the filmmaker, however ideas are given a gravity that conveys to the audience that they are important, and they are spoken with conviction. Inception has the trappings of an ideas movie–what could be more high concept than questioning the nature of reality itself?–but really just uses these as dressings for a much more conventional and familiar story.

This is not a bad thing. Christopher Nolan’s films are extremely well crafted, and he knows how to manipulate an audience into having a good time. He’s managed the trick of having a mainstream career with arthouse cred.

Not every movie needs to have a “message,” and not every director needs to work with big ideas. But I would like to see a Christopher Nolan movie with an idea or a perspective to match his strengths in plotting and production design. I don’t need for movies to be ideological, but I do like to get a sense for what the director or screenwriter thinks are important issues or how they see the world. Nolan has made many good movies, but he’s a cipher. He’s proven that he can fluidly transmit complex settings and situations, and he’s proven that he can work with big themes in a way that adds to a plot without obstructing it. Now I’d like for him to use those talents to say something.