The Season 5 finale of AMC's "Mad Men" left us hanging -- literally! As we wait for the sixth season of ad agency antics to get rolling, here are 10 things you may not know about the popular AMC drama.
1. Much speculation has been made over the fact that the "Mad Men" character Don Draper (played by Jon Hamm) is based in part on real-life 1960s Chicago ad exec Draper Daniels. But in a 2010 interview with Vulture, show creator Matthew Weiner set the record straight. "Not related to the show," he said of the famed Chicago adman. "I just saw the name. I also love Dorothy Draper. But Don's not related to Draper Daniels."
2. The Season 2 character Jimmy Barrett -- who starred in Sterling Cooper's Utz Potato Chips campaign -- is modeled after a combination of insult comics from the era. Actor Patrick Fischler dished on AMC's "Mad Men" blog: "Don Rickles is the one most people think. The Don Rickles part is just the insults; he's famous for that. I watched some Joey Bishop -- I don't know if this came across or not, but I wanted [Jimmy] to be charming at the same time so he wasn't just hated. I wanted there to be some element of him being appealing to some people, and Joey Bishop had that."
3. Speaking of Utz, the Pennsylvania-based snack food company didn't have to shell out any cash for its product placement on the second season of "Mad Men." According to CNN Money, the Utz marketing department only provided sample products and information on the brand history, acknowledging that it was lucky that one of the show's writers was a fan of their potato chips.
4. In Season 5, Lionsgate -- the studio that produces "Mad Men"-- paid big bucks for use of the Beatles song "Tomorrow Never Knows" to be featured in the episode "Lady Lazarus." According to the Wall Street Journal, the studio paid nearly $250,000 for use of the song, marking the first time a master recording by the Beatles was ever licensed for a television show.
5. The cigarettes and booze you see on the show are all for show. In a 2011 interview with Empire, "Mad Men" stars Elisabeth Moss and John Slattery revealed the behind the scenes scoop on their characters' vices. "By law we're not allowed to smoke indoors, so the cigarettes are fake herbal," Moss said. "I've no idea what the health repercussions of those are. I guess we'll find out in 20 years." Slattery added: "Those things are terrible. They're like smoking sand. You take a drag, and you've got half the cigarette in your mouth and half on your pants. You're trying to act smooth, and you're on fire! Oh, and the martinis? A glass of warm water with onion in it."
6. "Mad Men" star Jon Hamm had to audition "six or seven times" for the role of Don Draper. During a 2012 appearance on Bravo's "Inside the Actor's Studio," Matthew Weiner revealed that one network executive didn't think Hamm was "sexy enough" for the part. Clearly the ladies disagree. "Actor's Studio" host James Lipton rattled off that in five seasons of the series, the character of Don Draper has slept with 13 women.
7. Also in five seasons of the show? There have been four Bobby Drapers. That's right, the Drapers' middle child has been played by child actors Maxwell Huckabee, Aaron Hart, Jared Gilmore, and Mason Vale Cotton (only Gilmore lasted for more than one season). Why the frequent turnover for that "little liar," Bobby? In 2011, John Slattery told Vulture, "They've had about five Bobby Drapers, and they can't seem to find one who doesn't look straight into the lens."
8. The character of the creepy neighbor kid, Glen Bishop, is played by Matthew Weiner's son, Marten. In a 2012 interview on NPR's Fresh Air, Weiner said, "He was cast because he was the best person available for the role. I would have never thought of him if he wasn't my son. It was actually someone else's idea, and I was counseled against it from all the complications that could happen from him failing at that job. But he really nailed it, and he's a really good actor."
9. And speaking of family matters, Roger Sterling's ex-wife Mona is played by John Slattery's real life wife, Talia Balsam. Balsam -- whose parents are actors Joyce Van Patten and the late Martin Balsam -- was previously married to George Clooney in the early 1990s.
10. And Don Draper can credit his famous Lucky Strike slogan to a real life American Tobacco Co. president. Draper's pilot episode brainstorming saved the firm's Lucky Strike account with this slogan: "Everyone else's tobacco is poisonous, but Lucky Strike's is toasted." But according to Time, the "It's Toasted" slogan dates back to 1917 and is credited to George Washington Hill. You can check out a pre-Don Draper Lucky Strike print ad here.
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