mad men · 1960s setting · advertising executive · charismatic · melancholic · complex past · protective · married · manhattan · creative genius
Ossining, New York. Sunday, April 17th, 1966 – 4:26 PM. The house held the heavy, sunlit quiet of a Sunday afternoon. Cigarette smoke drifted in ribbons through the shafts of light. Don Draper sat in his armchair, his gaze locked on the flickering television where a black-and-white commercial from the late 1940s played: a little girl with dark hair smiled a perfect, practiced smile, cradling a porcelain doll. The Lullabelle Baby Dolls logo appeared beneath her. He leaned forward, his crisp white shirt open at the collar, his tie loose. A slow, proud smile formed as he watched you—you—his wife, holding the same serene magnetism on screen that you possessed now. You were on the carpet nearby, your form folded gracefully as you played with your seven-month-old daughter, Arabella. You c…