The series finale of Mad Men aired last month, and I have yet to fully recover. Naturally, this has led me to begin re-watching the series from the beginning. “Mad Men Memories” is a new series on the blog where I’ll simply be sharing my favorite moments from each season, in the form of screen captures and quotes, as I re-watch! (I know this is a bit outside of the usual focus of my blog, but I do cover period films from time to time and have covered period television in the past. Why not give a little love to one of my favorites?)

 Mad Men: Memorable Moments from Season 1, Episodes 1 – 6

Season 1, Episode 1: “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes”

"Try not to be overwhelmed by all of this technology."
Joan: “Try not to be overwhelmed by all of this technology.”
Don: "Advertising is a very small world, and when you do something like malign the reputation of a girl from the steno pool on her first day, you make it even smaller. Keep it up and even if you do get my job, you'll never run this place. You'll die in that corner office, a mid-level executive with a little bit of hair who women go home with out of pity. You wanna know why? 'Cause no one will like you."
Don: “Advertising is a very small world, and when you do something like malign the reputation of a girl from the steno pool on her first day, you make it even smaller. Keep it up and even if you do get my job, you’ll never run this place. You’ll die in that corner office, a mid-level executive with a little bit of hair who women go home with out of pity. Wanna know why? ‘Cause no one will like you.”
Pete: "People get in their cars every day to go to work, and some of them die. Cars are dangerous. There's nothing you can do about it. You still have to get wher eyou're going. Cigarettes are exactly the same, so why don't we simply say, 'So what if cigarettes are dangerous? You're a man. The world is dangerous. Smoke your cigarette. You still have to get where you're going.'"
Pete: “People get in their cars every day to go to work, and some of them die. Cars are dangerous. There’s nothing you can do about it. You still have to get where you’re going. Cigarettes are exactly the same, so why don’t we simply say, ‘So what if cigarettes are dangerous? You’re a man. The world is dangerous. Smoke your cigarette.’ You still have to get where you’re going.”
Don: "" Rachel: ""
Don: “It’s just that you’re a beautiful, educated woman. Don’t you think that getting married and having a family would make you happier than all of the headaches that go along with… fighting people like me?”
Rachel: “If I weren’t a woman, I would be allowed to ask you the same question. And if I weren’t a woman, I wouldn’t have to choose between… putting on an apron and the thrill of making my father’s store what I always thought it should be.”
Don: “So that’s it. You won’t get married because… you find business to be a thrill.”
Rachel: “That, and… I’ve never been in love.”
Don: “She won’t get married because she’s never been in love. I think I wrote that. It was to sell nylons.”
Rachel: “For a lot of people, love isn’t just a slogan.”
Don: “Oh, you mean love. You mean, big lightning bolt to the heart, where you can’t eat, and you can’t work, and you just run off and get married and make babies. The reason you haven’t felt it is because it doesn’t exist. What you call love was invented by guys like me, to sell nylons.”

Season 1, Episode 2: “Ladies’ Room”

Don: "I can't tell you about my childhood. It'll ruin the first half of my novel." Betty: "Dont doesn't like to talk about himself. I know better than to ask." Roger: "An ad man who doesn't like to talk about himself? I think I might cry." Don: "its not that interesting a story. Just think of me as moses: I was a baby in a basket."
Don: “I can’t tell you about my childhood. It’ll ruin the first half of my novel.”
Betty: “Don doesn’t like to talk about himself. I know better than to ask.”
Roger: “An ad man who doesn’t like to talk about himself? I think I might cry.”
Don: “It’s not that interesting a story. Just think of me as Moses: I was a baby in a basket.”
Bert Cooper: "I always thought it was Sterling who was responsible for the Navy attitude around this place." Don: "Brassiere account. Just figured out we can't sell 'em to men."
Bert Cooper: “I always thought it was Sterling who was responsible for the Navy attitude around this place.”
Don: “Brassiere account. Just figured out we can’t sell ’em to men.”
Don: "Except some people think of the future and it upsets them. They see a rocket, they start building a bomb shelter. I don't think it's ridiculous to assume we're looking for other planets because this one will end."
Don: “Except some people think of the future and it upsets them. They see a rocket, they start building a bomb shelter. I don’t think it’s ridiculous to assume we’re looking for other planets because this one will end.”
Don: "We had one head shrinker in the army. A gossip. Busting with other people's thoughts." Roger: "Hasn't changed much, just costs more." Don: "And you can't shoot at them." Roger: "We live in troubling times."
Don: “We had one head-shrinker in the army. A gossip. Busting with other people’s thoughts.”
Roger: “Hasn’t changed much, just costs more.”
Don: “And you can’t shoot at them.”
Roger: “We live in troubling times.”
Betty: "We're all so lucky to be here."
Betty: “We’re all so lucky to be here.”

Season 1, Episode 3: “Marriage of Figaro”

Pete: "You are really putting the junior in Junior Executive."
Pete: “You are really putting the junior in Junior Executive.”
Rachel: "We're known for our service."
Rachel: “We’re known for our service.”
Rachel: "For a little girl, a dog can be all you need. They protect you, they listen. I had my sister, but there weren't other kids, and... of course, my mother wasn't always around." Don: "Well, that's not always a bad thing." Rachel: "Who knows? She died when she was having me. Anyway, my sister became my only company, and frankly... these bitches were easier to handle."
Rachel: “For a little girl, a dog can be all you need. They protect you, they listen. I had my sister, but there weren’t other kids, and… of course, my mother wasn’t always around.”
Don: “Well, that’s not always a bad thing.”
Rachel: “Who knows? She died when she was having me. Anyway, my sister became my only company, and frankly… these bitches were easier to handle.”
Sally: "Daddy! Daddy, daddy! Wake up, it's my birthday! It's my birthday! It's my birthday!" Don: "It's not your birthday, it's your party." Betty: "Don, the party's at 2 o'clock. You have to put together the p-l-a-y-h-o-u-s-e." Don: "How am I going to put together a pony?"
Sally: “Daddy! Daddy, daddy! Wake up, it’s my birthday! It’s my birthday! It’s my birthday!”
Don: “It’s not your birthday, it’s your party.”
Betty: “Don, the party’s at 2 o’clock. You have to put together the p-l-a-y-h-o-u-s-e.”
Don: “How am I going to put together a pony?”

Season 1, Episode 4: “New Amsterdam”

Don: "How are you?" Rachel: "I'm fine. My family is fine. The weather has been spectacular." Don: "Rachel, listen..." Rachel: "What are you dong?" Don: "I don't know. I don't want it to be like this." Rachel: "Yes, well. "
Don: “How are you?”
Rachel: “I’m fine. My family is fine. The weather has been spectacular.”
Don: “Rachel, listen…”
Rachel: “What are you doing?”
Don: “I don’t know. I don’t want it to be like this.”
Rachel: “Yes, well… we both know how we’d like it to be.”
Helen Bishop: "It's a joke, really. Dan hardly saw the kids at all when we were married. He works in Manhattan -- life insurance. Now all of a sudden, he can't live without them. Of course, if he does die, I'm set."
Helen Bishop: “It’s a joke, really. Dan hardly saw the kids at all when we were married. He works in Manhattan — life insurance. Now all of a sudden, he can’t live without them. Of course, if he does die, I’m set.”
Pete: "He didn't like the idea." Don: "Someone hadn't prepared him to like the idea, an idea he was extremely enthusaistic about three months ago." Pete: "I'm sorry I didn't lower his expectations enough." Don: "You do your job. Take him sailing, get him in a bathing suit. Leave the ideas to me." Pete: "I have ideas." Don: "I'm sure you do. Sterling Cooper has more failed artists and intellectuals than the Third Reich."
Pete: “He didn’t like the idea.”
Don: “Someone hadn’t prepared him to like the idea, an idea he was extremely enthusiastic about three months ago.”
Pete: “I’m sorry I didn’t lower his expectations enough.”
Don: “You do your job. Take him sailing, get him in a bathing suit. Leave the ideas to me.”
Pete: “I have ideas.”
Don: “I’m sure you do. Sterling Cooper has more failed artists and intellectuals than the Third Reich.”
Betty: "That's not the way to behave, okay?"
Betty: “That’s not the way to behave, okay?”
Don: "Remember Pete Campbell's last day? It's today." Roger: "What happened?" Don: "While I was breaking my neck trying to fix the hash he made yesterday, he was out at the St. Regis pitching copy. His copy." Roger: "That little shit."
Don: “Remember Pete Campbell’s last day? It’s today.”
Roger: “What happened?”
Don: “While I was breaking my neck trying to fix the hash he made yesterday, he was out at the St. Regis pitching copy. His copy.”
Roger: “That little shit.”

Season 1, Episode 5: “5G”

Betty: "Sally, mommy has a headache."
Betty: “Sally, mommy has a headache.”
Trudy: "I just think it's odd that the bear is talking." Pete: "The bear is not talking. It's what the hunter imagines the bear to be thinking."
Trudy: “I just think it’s odd that the bear is talking.”
Pete: “The bear is not talking. It’s what the hunter imagines the bear to be thinking.”
Adam: 'It's you. It's really you... Dick! I can't believe it." Don: "I don't know what you're talking about." Adam: "I know I'm grown up, but Dick, it's me. It's Adam. Your little brother?"
Adam: ‘It’s you. It’s really you… Dick! I can’t believe it.”
Don: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Adam: “I know I’m grown up, but Dick, it’s me. It’s Adam. Your little brother?”
Joan: "Where is he?" Peggy: "I don't know." Joan: "You do know, and you're going to tell me... or I'm not going to tell you what to do." Peggy: "I can't believe you." Joan: "Well?"
Joan: “Where is he?”
Peggy: “I don’t know.”
Joan: “You do know, and you’re going to tell me, or I’m not going to tell you what to do.”
Peggy: “I can’t believe you.”
Joan: “Well?”

Season 1, Episode 6: “Babylon”

"Dick Whitman, you watch where you're going. You're gonna break your neck!"
Uncle Mack: “Dick Whitman, you watch where you’re going. You’re gonna break your neck!”
Roger: "This has been the best year of my life. Do you have any idea how unhappy I was before I met you? I was thinking of leaving my wife."
Roger: “This has been the best year of my life. Do you have any idea how unhappy I was before I met you? I was thinking of leaving my wife. I’m just getting tired of all of the sneaking around. Aren’t you?”
Joan: “Roger, I know as much about men as you know about advertising and I know that the sneaking around is your favorite part.”
Don: "Turns out Israel Tourism is considering become a client and I'm having a hard time getting a handle on it." Rachel: "And I'm the only Jew you know in New York City?" Don: "You're my favorite." Rachel: "Jesus, Don, crack a book once in a while!"
Don: “Turns out Israel tourism is considering become a client and I’m having a hard time getting a handle on it.”
Rachel: “And I’m the only Jew you know in New York City?”
Don: “You’re my favorite.”
Rachel: “Jesus, Don, crack a book once in a while!”
Peggy: "Here's your basket of kisses."
Peggy: “Here’s your basket of kisses.”
Rachel: "I do feel this attraction. I want him, and I wanna ignore everything else about him." Barbara: "It's 1960, we don't live in a shtetl, we can marry for love." Rachel: "I'm not sure people do that anymore." Barbara: "Why do you always have to be so cynical?" Rachel: "Because sometimes things come -- good things -- but there's no future in them."
Rachel: “I do feel this attraction. I want him, and I wanna ignore everything else about him.”
Barbara: “It’s 1960, we don’t live in a shtetl. We can marry for love.”
Rachel: “I’m not sure people do that anymore.”
Barbara: “Why do you always have to be so cynical?”
Rachel: “Because sometimes things come — good things — but there’s no future in them.”
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