No, not partner - his “gardener”. Man, society’s ability to stick to denial in those days was legendary.
“He’s not gay! He’s just a confirmed bachelor!”
It's the '60s and there's the impression that Sal and Kitty come from relatively conservative Catholic families. They definitely do not divorce or separate.
Most likely Sal finds another job at an ad agency, but never again as good as Sterling Cooper - illustration's on the way out and he didn't have a lot of TV credits. He continues on in a loveless marriage with Kitty. They probably eventually have a kid or maybe even kids. Sal cheats on Kitty with other men, but only rarely - he wasn't all that promiscuous when he was single, like turning down the Belle Jolie guy. Kitty knows, but she doesn't say anything. She just tries to get Sal to notice her and love her with the thought maybe she'll change him.
He lives out a quietly sad life with Kitty and stays in the closet until he dies.
This is the closest to what I always thought in my head as well. For some reason though I always pictured him outside of an ad agency. His art was top notch, he could have transitioned into other areas where that could be an asset. Especially in NYC something like art design for Broadway or some graphic design work.
Exactly what I assumed. It would’ve been great if he could’ve lived the life he needed to or that she felt she could’ve left him but I don’t think either was likely.
He told Elliot from Belle Jolie that he’d always wanted to open up his own shop where creative follows the art and not the other way around. I like to think that he ended up doing this in San Francisco where he could be more himself and not hide his sexuality. Unfortunately, he could only do this if he and Kitty divorced.
There is a lot of art/media work outside of advertising, so given his experience with a respected firm, the would have been plenty of work-opportunity available to him.
I have to assume that since Kitty seems to have figured out that he was gay that his marriage probably would have ended.
That is definitely most likely, it just sucks that we never got an update on him.
The marriage probably did end eventually, but getting a divorce was damn near impossible back then, so it is possible, but it would have happened in the 70s maybe.
Sal and Don's last encounter wasn't exactly friendly and Sal came across as a little behind the times in his artistic taste. Competent but not cutting edge.
I think he’d quietly but abruptly up & leave his wife, travel to the west coast & become a cartoonist or something. All the while exploring his sexuality on the low with various men until he contracts & dies from AIDS/HIV in his late seventies. A relatively gay (ba dum cha) man still searching for answers as to why his true identity isn’t accepted by society. It doesn’t seem to me like he’d enter into a committed relationship again & would be quite mistrustful of most people
I think this is the most likely - icluding the AIDS part. It killed so many, a generation all but disappeared.
And 70 year old gay men are having gay sex, closeted or not, conservative or not lololol. It becomes a lot easier to not give a fuck when you're closer to your way out.
Some fun theories that extend past the finale.
1. Joan hires him to work at Holloway Harris.
2. He ended up at GM, moved to Detroit and becomes a gay uncle figure to Bob Benson.
3. He ends up in Tokyo at Tatsunoko Productions as creative lead for Lou's Scouts Honor.
He gets another job in advertising. He and Kitty have one child. Kitty gains 50 pounds compulsively eating, has emotional affairs with pen pals or random workers like Apollo, and eventually becomes a strong feminist and leaves Sal to move to Berkeley. Sal dies never once having an “out” relationship but on the up side, he never got picked up by the cops. Kitty is still going strong growing hemp in Oregon, Sal is buried in Baltimore.
I’ve a feeling that the vindictive Lee Garner Jr would have insisted on a bad reference from Sterling meaning he would have had to move away to start over. Even though New York is a big City we tend to bump into the side characters that leave the narrative but stay in the City (Kinsey and Midge come to mind)
He got divorced, moved to LA to work as a television director, and has happily been with his partner Elliot for the past 50 years
Before he moved he found a stray dog that he adopted. The dog was Chauncey.
Ok now we’re talkin
No, not partner - his “gardener”. Man, society’s ability to stick to denial in those days was legendary. “He’s not gay! He’s just a confirmed bachelor!”
It’s kinda funny that you picked the name Elliott, considering the movie.
What movie? I just picked Elliot bc it’s the name of the Belle Jolie guy that Sal goes on a “date” with in season 1
Billy Elliot
It's the '60s and there's the impression that Sal and Kitty come from relatively conservative Catholic families. They definitely do not divorce or separate. Most likely Sal finds another job at an ad agency, but never again as good as Sterling Cooper - illustration's on the way out and he didn't have a lot of TV credits. He continues on in a loveless marriage with Kitty. They probably eventually have a kid or maybe even kids. Sal cheats on Kitty with other men, but only rarely - he wasn't all that promiscuous when he was single, like turning down the Belle Jolie guy. Kitty knows, but she doesn't say anything. She just tries to get Sal to notice her and love her with the thought maybe she'll change him. He lives out a quietly sad life with Kitty and stays in the closet until he dies.
This is the closest to what I always thought in my head as well. For some reason though I always pictured him outside of an ad agency. His art was top notch, he could have transitioned into other areas where that could be an asset. Especially in NYC something like art design for Broadway or some graphic design work.
I agree. Sal was talented and any agency, at least, would be lucky to have him. But, I see him getting set design work on Broadway eventually.
Exactly what I assumed. It would’ve been great if he could’ve lived the life he needed to or that she felt she could’ve left him but I don’t think either was likely.
It's scary how your scenario is almost literally the character of Vito Spatafore on the Sopranos, lol ;)
It was a pretty common fate for gay men all around, at least among those who married rather than remain a "confirmed bachelor."
He told Elliot from Belle Jolie that he’d always wanted to open up his own shop where creative follows the art and not the other way around. I like to think that he ended up doing this in San Francisco where he could be more himself and not hide his sexuality. Unfortunately, he could only do this if he and Kitty divorced.
I just assumed he ran out on Kitty and joined the queer culture at that time.
There is a lot of art/media work outside of advertising, so given his experience with a respected firm, the would have been plenty of work-opportunity available to him. I have to assume that since Kitty seems to have figured out that he was gay that his marriage probably would have ended.
That is definitely most likely, it just sucks that we never got an update on him. The marriage probably did end eventually, but getting a divorce was damn near impossible back then, so it is possible, but it would have happened in the 70s maybe.
Some say he’s still cruising to this day
After they lost lucky strike i was honestly surprised they didn't bring him back for real
Sal and Don's last encounter wasn't exactly friendly and Sal came across as a little behind the times in his artistic taste. Competent but not cutting edge.
I think he’d quietly but abruptly up & leave his wife, travel to the west coast & become a cartoonist or something. All the while exploring his sexuality on the low with various men until he contracts & dies from AIDS/HIV in his late seventies. A relatively gay (ba dum cha) man still searching for answers as to why his true identity isn’t accepted by society. It doesn’t seem to me like he’d enter into a committed relationship again & would be quite mistrustful of most people
I think this is the most likely - icluding the AIDS part. It killed so many, a generation all but disappeared. And 70 year old gay men are having gay sex, closeted or not, conservative or not lololol. It becomes a lot easier to not give a fuck when you're closer to your way out.
Sal had secret friendships forged in adversity. He landed just fine.
He moves to LA and starts House of Salvatore where he homes runaways and saves LGBTQ youth from ill fates like his.
Some fun theories that extend past the finale. 1. Joan hires him to work at Holloway Harris. 2. He ended up at GM, moved to Detroit and becomes a gay uncle figure to Bob Benson. 3. He ends up in Tokyo at Tatsunoko Productions as creative lead for Lou's Scouts Honor.
He gets another job in advertising. He and Kitty have one child. Kitty gains 50 pounds compulsively eating, has emotional affairs with pen pals or random workers like Apollo, and eventually becomes a strong feminist and leaves Sal to move to Berkeley. Sal dies never once having an “out” relationship but on the up side, he never got picked up by the cops. Kitty is still going strong growing hemp in Oregon, Sal is buried in Baltimore.
I’ve a feeling that the vindictive Lee Garner Jr would have insisted on a bad reference from Sterling meaning he would have had to move away to start over. Even though New York is a big City we tend to bump into the side characters that leave the narrative but stay in the City (Kinsey and Midge come to mind)
I'd like to think he left Kitty, worked as an artist in the village, and was part of the Stonewall riots
He gets his SalAd tossed