The Mad Men Theory: Philly Is A Great Place To Go When You Have Aborted All Life Elsewhere
SPOILER ALERT: Last Sunday on Mad Men, Freddy Rumsen pissed his pants — we don’t need to tell you that this kind of thing happens when you stay drunk for 15 years — and before anyone knew it, good ol’ Freddy was out on his ass. It was kind of sad. And in the episode, on two separate occasions, different characters mentioned Philadelphia as a place where he could safely work and show his face and perhaps, just maybe, live a happy life, free from pissy pants and the cackling of Madison Ave. executives who just couldn’t deal with Freddy’s realness. We’ve been thinking about this ever since we saw on it on Sunday, and it’s a funny thing: At first, the very notion that Philly is a great place to come to when you’ve failed in the “real” world is highly offensive to those of here in Philly who believe that we, too, are part of that real world. But the more time passes, the more it seems like the thing is to not get bogged down in the insult of it all, and rather, celebrate it: Philly is a great place to come to when you’ve made so many mistakes that you simply can’t (or can’t afford to) make any more. Perhaps that’s a facile read of it, but you can’t deny there’s something sweet about it, too. Hoisting beers at the bar, we always wonder about this massive transplant population Philly has now, people who’ve come here from places as diverse as cities like New York and San Francisco to remote parts of Arkansas and Virginia. They can’t all have pissed their pants, can they? Well, even if they have, the point is this: If your leg is dry and you still think you can get up and fight the good fight, you’re probably in the right place. Welcome to Philadelphia, you sadsack leg-pissers. We think you’re gonna like it here.
September 30th, 2008 at 11:29 am
As Philadelphia and pissed pants relate to Mad Men and advertising, I think there’s a missing piece here: Mad Men takes place sea change era of advertising, when ads no longer had to be headlines and bulleted lists of benefits, accompanied by a pretty picture. The notion of having a concept, and of tapping into the more subtle desires of a specific target audience was a radical change that started on Madison Ave. and spread. Bringing this kind of advertising to other nearby cities was a big opportunity, not just a consolation prize.
Problem is, we’re still waiting for that man or woman to come to Philly.
September 30th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Perhaps one could draw a crowd at Rittenhouse by playing tunes with his zipper.
September 30th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
reminds me of the time those gyro folks dressed up like sterling cooper. what are they doing here, and shouldn’t they be twisiting at PJ clark’s right about now?
September 30th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Honestly you can say that about pretty much any place in this country that isn’t NYC or LA. Philadelphians need not get bogged down with that. ’cause then what the hell are people thinking in 99% of the rest of the country…that they don’t matter, they aren’t in the “real world”?!?
You have the ninth highest GDP in the world!
What the fuck do you want more?