Joan, Roger and The Lil Pumpkin

It's true, Peggy, that we can't all be Joan, but we can try!


Hey, when did Roger get so tall?


Happy post-Halloween Mad Men Sunday to all!

He Never Drinks Wine

I'll admit it: I'm a sucker for the 1979 version of Dracula. ( I even have a souvenir program from the movie.) It's so overstuffed with bats, cobwebs, ruffle shirts, and smoke machine atmosphere, it's like a romance novel version of the tale. Plus, you get Frank Langella and Laurence Olivier chewing the scenery together! But I really wish I could have seen the Broadway stage version with Frank Langella, mostly because Edward Gorey designed the entire production. Talk about atmosphere!

One of the Sterling Cooper secretarial pool?

Perhaps Art and Life mingle a little too much in my mind, but when I see this fantastic old photo of my mom, I imagine her in Sterling Cooper's offices, typing at a steel secretary desk, or whispering in the break room about another potential takeover.

Holy Analog, Batman!

Still available at From Grey to Gold!

Written in the West

There's something about photography that, for me, inspires strong wanderlust. Wim Wenders had it when he said that "the known or the familiar virtually rules out photography, which is a means of exploration, a journey." That's what my friend Nannette's photographs do to me. Her shots of signage around Washington and Idaho make me want to jump in my car and see the world as she does: like Wim Wenders on psychadelics. See more of her Technicolor vision here.

Advice from a Screamapillar

(With apologies to Lewis Carroll.)

The Screamapillar and Alexa looked at each other in silence. At last the Screamapillar took the Soothie out of her mouth and addressed Alexa in a languid, sleepy voice.

"Who are you?" said the Screamapillar.

"I hardly know," said Alexa.

"What do you mean by that?" said the Screamapillar sternly. "Explain yourself."

"I cannot explain myself, I'm afraid, ma'am," said Alexa, "because I'm not myself, you see."

For some minutes, the Screamapillar sucked away without speaking; but at last she pushed the Soothie out of her mouth again, and said, "So you think you're changed, do you?"

"I'm afraid I am," said Alexa; "I can't remember things as I used to. I'm in a fog."

Relics

Top: the Mustang Drive-In Theatre in London, Ontario, Canada, photographed by Jennifer Squires. Bottom: the Riverview Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota, photographed by Caroline Beard.