From Advertising Age…
True Tales and Cocktails with the Real Mad Men and Women of Madison Avenue
Hobnobbing with Mary Wells Lawrence, Jane Maas and More
By: Rupal Parekh
There’s a wealth of buzz about the next season of Mad Men, the AMC soap opera about advertising that returns later this month. But the premiere will likely pale to what I got to do last night—hang out with the real thing: legendary advertising folks from that era.
Ad Age Executive Editor Judann Pollack and I met them at the home of former Ogilvy Chairman-CEO Ken Roman, who’s also the author of David Ogilvy biography “The King of Madison Avenue.” The occasion? A fete in honor Jane Maas, the author of the new book “Mad Women,” which tells the story of life on Madison Avenue in the 1960’s from the female perspective.
Mr. Roman and his wife Ellen reside in the penthouse of a building on Manhattan’s Upper East Side that offers a panoramic view of the East River and New York’s Gracie Mansion (historically the official residence of the Mayor, but New York’s current Mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg only uses it for meetings). It’s not just a stunning place; it’s also a building that boasts a bit of ad history, spanning three different holding companies.
Several years ago, a number of rival ad execs all inhabited the place at the same time. Mr. Roman told a story about getting into the elevator one morning a number of years ago in a suit and encountering former BBDO CEO Allen Rosenshine and ex-Interpublic Group Chairman-CEO Phil Geier, who were similarly attired. The lift then stopped on another floor and in walked Charlie Moss, former creative director at Wells Rich Greene, clad in a velour track suit. According to Mr. Roman, Mr. Moss cracked that he must have missed the meeting. Mr. Moss, who was present and didn’t dispute that account, was nonetheless a bit more formally attired last night.
It was an ad party after all ... so a bartender passed around drinks and canapes to the crowd that included the unrelentingly stylish Mary Wells Lawrence, clad in red pants and red pumps, toting a snakeskin purse. (No one, however, was wearing a hat, which Ms. Maas said would have been required of female ad executives back in the 60s, indoors and out).
Jerry Della Femina was there too with his wife, Judy Licht, and we chatted about the sagging newspaper business and his selling off his restaurant in East Hampton. He’s got no plans to open any others, he said, preferring to stick to his New York agency and writing his column, Jerry’s Ink, in the small Hampton’s paper he owns.
There was Ogilvy Chairman Shelly Lazarus and one of my personal favorites, former McCann creative Laurel Cutler. I met her for the first time through Facebook, and during the course of the party she showed us the stylus she uses for her iPad—so as to not break her freshly polished nails.
About an hour into the event, the tiny but amazingly energetic Ms. Maas, sporting a lavender jacket with a unicorn brooch, was introduced by Mr. Roman and invited to say a few words about the book. Ms. Maas, who is about to embark on a whirlwind 40-city book tour, explained that she was surprised at the candidness of ad women in speaking to her for “Mad Women.” That quickly led to a few highlights from the chapter entitled “Sex in the Office,” and one of her favorite anecdotes: copywriter Linda Bird Francke saying, “I lost my virginity to the account executive on Jell-O.”
Ms. Maas also told some fun stories about office love affairs and the like (sorry, they were off the record). Her proudest moment recently was being interviewed on NPR for her book. She said that when she was walking out someone queried the receptionist about who was on air-that morning. The receptionist replied: “I dunno ... some old lady talking about sex.”
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