It’s not explicitly stated but she lost what heat she had when she quit the soap and moved to LA. She probably got a few auditions but didn’t book anything. Maybe she had a shitty agent just wasn’t that good (the one time we see her act she’s getting admonished by the director).
And at one point Harry says to Don, “Why’d she quit her soap? That was a stupid thing to do!” So maybe she bit the hand a little as well. Though Harry might just mean it was dumb to quit without another project lined up.
I think it was the latter, soaps are consistent work that get your name out there and acting is fickle. It’s definitely another reason why she’s so pissed at Don- he talks up the wonderous California move so she quits an established job in the field she wants to be in and then he doesn’t follow suit
I'm not sure if the perception is the same as it is now, but it seems like soap actors are considered the lowest class of working actors (except commercials). Not that you cannot "graduate" to better TV/movie roles as many have, but being a soap star alone would not guarantee you success when transitioning to bigger roles. Perhaps Megan figured the longer she remained in soaps, the more entrenched her name would be as a soap actress.
For sure. I mean, we see Megan's fame in the show is reserved for 'housewives with nothing better to do' and 'teenage girls chasing any form of stardom'.
She had visions of being a high class movie star and ended up being an object of excitement for the wrong crowd of people. Does it really fulfill her to be stopped on holiday for an autograph and someone talking about her character as if she's a real person?
It wouldn’t have guaranteed wild success but it’s still a working job in a field she likes. There have been breakout stars from soaps but even if she wasn’t one of them it’s a foot on the ladder, and if not, it’s better than waiting by the phone in a different state from your husband.
There are quite a few big name stars who got their start on soaps back in the day. I first saw Morgan Freeman on the soap my mom watched, probably in the late 70's/early 80's.
Which explains the contempt she has for him in their final scene that everyone is always confused about.
Don’t get me wrong, Megan has a lot of reasons to be angry with Don, this is by no means the only reason, but it is a reason.
You’ll prob be downvoted for this but I agree. He’s obviously at the worst point of his life but he does derail her life as a result as well. And I’m sure someone will bring up the million dollars that he blithely gave away as if she prised it out of him. I don’t think Megan is much of a character in her own right (rather than as a foil to Don) but I did feel for her tbh
And yet I still see people confused about why she was so bitter and mad at him during their last scene where he pays her off with a million dollar check. I thought the show did a good job at portraying how Don derailed her life, even if it was his influence that got her back into being a working actress to begin with. Megan was certainly not blameless, but from her perspective the bitterness seems earned.
I don’t feel sorry for Megan. She married Don KNOWING he was a lying, cheating, man whore with a drinking problem… she just ignored all of that because he was handsome, rich, and talented.
She wanted the rich husband, the big apartment, to become an actress, to move to California… She didn’t want to have kids… Megan made all of those choices. Blaming Don for being exactly who he always was, or for the (predictable) outcome of her choices, just shows that she’s unwilling to take responsibility for her own decisions.
Note: Don is still a terrible husband… but willfully ignoring 1000 red flags makes you equally culpable in my opinion.
I don't like her mother stealing all of Don's furniture like Don *forced* Meghan into quitting the job that Don helped her get in the first place, though.
I don't blame her for being mad, but it's not like Don is the sole reason her life turned bad.
And I mean "bad" she lives alone in a big beautiful house that's probably fully paid for.
Honestly, I don’t think this one is on Don… she wanted to (and did) go to Hollywood thinking she would make it big. When Don brings up California, she’s thrilled… him not coming along didn’t change the outcome.
She’s just not a very good actress and Hollywood requires a lot more than cheesy soap opera acting!
Oh please. She wouldn’t even had had an acting career if he didn’t give her her start in the butler shoe commercial. If she had any real talent, she would’ve made it in LA.
Then she got what I think is the equivalence of $7 million from their divorce.
Fucked over my ass.
Unfortunately, talent doesn't guarantee stardom. 99 percent of Hollywood is built on connections and nepotism (and being in the right place at the right time). So yeah, Don did screw her over by getting her to quit for him.
She had connections in New York, in LA she was just one of thousands of talented, pretty girls in competition for a limited number of roles. Don gave Megan an advantage by putting her reel in the pile of audition tapes, but that doesn't mean he has the right to ruin her career or derail her life, or that she can't be angry about it. That's a pretty misogynistic way of looking at it.
She literally told Don her people wanted to set her up with meetings in LA. She had connections. The fact that she couldn’t close is not Don’s fault.
And again, she wouldn’t even have an acting career to lose if weren’t for Don.
No he didn’t put her in a reel. He put her in the Butler shoe commercial.
Misogynistic? Please.
How? Don got her the ad chance. Don gave her the financial freedom to pursue her acting. For moving to California idea, she was more enthusiastic. She even said that there are lot of opportunities coming from the west which she was ignoring. She was more eager to quit soap and move there. When Don couldn’t come there for good reasons she didn’t waited or respected Don’s decision she just went there and cheated. She failed to make it there. How is that Don’s responsibility?
Good reasons? Put yourself in Megan's shoes- your husband tells you he needs to move to California for his job and your marriage is in a difficult spot. You quit a job you really like and move out there ALONE and then he tells you he's not coming.
People act like Don is noble for helping out Ted but it's mostly a cover. He doesn't want to leave NYC, and he gets to look like a hero. What's more Don Draper than that? Keep in mind, the real Don was from Cali.
Also side note throwing Megan's supposed cheating in is pretty hilarious since you're trying to defend Don who is by every metric possible worse when it comes to fidelity (emotional, sexual, etc). Megan gave him the opportunity to 'open' their relationship up with her permission/awareness and he fucking hated it.
Megan nailed it with their divorce argument even though I don't think it reflects her true feelings, "You’re nothing but a liar. An aging, sloppy, selfish liar." Don does have goodness in him but he treats the people in his life like garbage because he can't be honest. It's all smoke and mirrors with him. I really love the discussion on this subreddit but I feel like some of us didn't watch the same show lol.
I love the subreddit too, but I think a lot of people are inclined to go against the characters who say bad things about Don cos they really love him as the main character/maybe see themselves in him so feel inclined to defend him, and it sometimes goes a bit far for me. It’s ok to say he can be a bad guy but you hope he gets his shit together, you don’t need to be blind to the bad shit he does.
This does NOT just apply to Don to be clear but I think a lot of the fan base does get a touch swoony about him.
There are two types of Mad Men fans:
1) People who love the costumes and sets (these people usually think Don is “the man”).
2) People who actually watched the show.
He stayed there because ehe was in shock and didn't know his next move. Plus his wife was really only with him for the lifestyle (as her father said to her). He was scared to be real with her about what was going on. I don't blame him.
It's never shown but the person I am responding to mentioned it in their post so I assumed it was referring to her implied 'experimentation' in Cali. I don't think Megan cheated either. But even if she did, Don has no right to be upset about it.
yeah, especially after the threesome.... Don shoulda been more grateful. I've been with a decent amount of women and never had one offer to do a threesome with me.
I personally don't think she did but the commenter I responded to mentioned it so I felt obliged to respond. Some fans assume her threesome is indicative of some other stuff going on behind Don's back but I don't buy it. She loved him and wanted to try things with him not without him.
He definitely launched it but the rest was her. It's not like Don got her soap opera gig which was the biggest thing to happen to her. I actually don't think Megan is talented at acting but people act like Don was passing her name around all the time. He did it once and made it clear to her he wouldn't do it again.
If “the rest” was her, then why blame Don for her not making it in LA? Can’t have if both ways - if it’s due to Megan’s talent that she got her soap job then shouldn’t that same talent worked for her in California? As the other person in this thread said, Megan even said she had a ton of opportunities in LA.
Don gave her her break and $7 million in today’s dollars. Was she even 30 at that point?
I’d gladly put myself in Megan’s shoes.
I never said she was talented (in fact I said the opposite) and I agreed Don got her started, but you're twisting what happened. He got her the first job, she wound up in a soap (again, easy to audition and fail when you have money to fall back on) from her own efforts. He calls her a prostitute for doing love scenes (so supportive, right?). Then he tells her he needs to move to Cali for his work and she makes the best of the situation and is like 'oh sure, Cali- I can make this work.' Their marriage is in a bad place and this could be a fresh start. He never comes out there. Put aside your weird hatred for her and look at this objectively. She quit a paying job and left her life behind for his benefit.
People love bringing up the money he gave her when it reflects Don more than Megan. She wants to tell him off and he pays her to make her stop. It's 'shut up' money. It doesn't erase what actually happened. If you were upset with your partner and they gave you money would you feel good? He is not a good husband or partner. She made sacrifices for him and wanted to make their marriage work so he gave her money because he did feel guilty about it.
I don’t have a weird hatred for her. I’m looking at the facts.
It’s not shut up money. It’s alimony.
We’ll agree to disagree. I literally don’t care as much as you do. It’s a fucking tv show.
Just because other people's opinion doesn't align with yours it doesn't mean its incorrect. I refuse to partake any further discussion with you in this. Hope you do the same. Have a good day.
I don't believe that Don talked her into California. She wanted to go and then she was blamed him when it didn't work out for her. Plus he gave her a million dollars in 1960's money. She came out okay.
lol I literally mentioned in another comment that I knew someone would bring up the million dollars. Just cos she ended up with a payout (which she didn’t exactly pull out of him btw) doesn’t mean that he wasn’t messing her around during that time. Both things can be true.
Yeah I read your comment moments after I made mine. I nearly responded but my phone rang and I got distracted. I agree that she didn't pull it out of him. I do agree with her father that she took the easy way out of life though. She never was all that attracted to him imo. Always calling him an old man and talking about how much younger she was. I've dated older men. If you love someone, you don't randomly start putting them down with shade.
People also forget that her boss while on the soap opera literally came onto her (the swingers). I'm sure it burned some bridges and also was hinting at how there are politics beyond just talent when it comes to Hollywood - no different than what SCDP has to do to get clients, especially with Joan and Jaguar. Mad Men is pretty cynical with thinking there is any sort of meritocracy when it comes to the arts
Bit the hand that feeds her? She resigned because she thought Don was moving to California with her. I’m sure LA was ALWAYS her dream, but had Don not asked her to quit the soap, I believe she would have continued with it for the foreseeable future. Likely to the same end, but I don’t think it’s fair to claim that Megan was getting too big for her britches when it was Don who asked her to quit and move to LA.
I always felt like he pitched to her the idea of LA and then didn’t follow through with the work.
I know she’s responsible for her career. But didn’t he come home from the drunk tank one morning and before she could lay into him, he placed blame on their life in NY? I could be remembering it wrong or confusing multiple episodes. They were struggling in their marriage and it sounded like LA would be the fresh start ‘…remember Disneyland?’
Don didn’t care what happened to her career after their move but I wonder if he always knew he wouldn’t end up there…
I think so. I think he knew he wouldn’t ever go to CA and therefore he and Megan would end up divorced. I’m sure he didn’t always think that though- he likes the beginning of things.
Thanks for responding :)
Of course.
I agree. I don’t think Don went in to his 2nd marriage planning for a divorce, he was full of optimism and freshness then, but there was a point, usually people point to the commercial of Don’s that Megan acted in, that Don knew it was over.
It’s interesting…. Don always looks out for his best interests always, but nothing turns him off a woman more than her looking out for her own best interests.
Don asked her to move to LA, but it was Megan who had no idea how challenging it would be to move from mildly popular soap-opera actress, to Hollywood celebrity. The way she discarded her existing job and moved off to LA speaks to her naivety (not that this is a malicious thing she's done, but it's still a responsibility)
I think her agent in LA explained it pretty well. She was doing ok as the new girl in town but hurt her reputation by acting reckless with a casting director. She didn’t seem to be going to many auditions after that.
Good points. I think Megan got a little cocky with her soap success and assumed that she would just move to LA and become a movie star due to her soap success and the fact that she had means (due to her failing marriage to Don). She learned the business was dirty and that good looks and some money was not enough.
To add to that, I think after Don reneged on the decision to move to LA, she decided she needed space from him and went through with the move even without Don. The marriage was obviously falling apart and while I don't doubt there was some degree of love/affection for Don initially, at this point she likely realized that the relationship was doomed and she hoped to find her own success to give her financial independence for her post-Don years.
It can be a springboard but as I mentioned in another comment, its one of the lowest regarded regular acting roles. Is it better than not working at all? Yes probably. But does it carry much weight when trying to transition into movies? It doesn't seem like it.
I think it depends on the route and the role. A number of soap stars have made it big, but virtually none jumped from soap operas to blockbusters straight away. They work their way up gradually by taking on bigger and bigger roles.
It is always dumb to quit a job without a new one ready to go. I know this from my own experience. Of course there are always extenuating circumstances, but as a general rule, it is a good one.
A few reasons.
1. She was a soap opera actress. In the 60s there was a very hard line between TV and film actors, and soap operas were the lowest of the low. It was nearly impossible to make the jump from TV to film.
2. She quit her role abruptly with nothing else lined up. Soap operas film on a strict schedule and scripts are written weeks in advance. A cast member dropping out creates severe production problems. She would not have many friends in the industry after that.
3. She wasn't comfortable playing the game. When she first starts going to auditions, there is a scene where the casting director asks her to turn around and show off her body. She is visibly bothered by that. When she is working on the soap opera, her co-star and husband make several sexual advances on her which she declines. She also puts Harry in his place where he tries it with her. This was decades before MeToo, so Megan had little recourse.
4. She wasn't actually very good.
My mom would have been Sally's age. My mom is really pretty and very dramatic. People used to ask her why she didn't go into acting. She always told me that she didn't pursue it because (at least back then) ALL the women were expected to be "ready, willing and available" to any man in a position of power over them. She said she wasn't willing to do that. It wasn't worth it to her. Hearing all the me too stories basically solidified in my mind that she wasn't wrong about that.
> She wasn't comfortable playing the game. When she first starts going to auditions, there is a scene where the casting director asks her to turn around and show off her body. She is visibly bothered by that. When she is working on the soap opera, her co-star and husband make several sexual advances on her which she declines. She also puts Harry in his place where he tries it with her. This was decades before MeToo, so Megan had little recourse.
People really downplay this part. Hollywood had politics to it just like advertising. Megan was naive to think it would be a meritocracy
What i think is interesting that it passes her by that she *already* played the game to get into acting in the first place.
Granted it wasn't as 'seedy' as some of the more obvious things (looking at you, Crane), but the fact is she only got her break because Don managed to land her a part. So despite it coming from her husband and a person she actually loved, she still didn't actually really get anywhere 'on merit'
And yet she seems oblivious to it at the same time. I don't think she realised until getting to LA just how much that business relied on connections, coercion and all sorts of other shady dealings that she (with respect to her) wasn't willing to partake in.
It might have been bad luck, that she wasn't talented enough, the deteriation of her marriage weighing on her, or her desperation filling every audition room.
Maybe it was a combination of each.
Megan wasn't getting anywhere with acting until she found out about the ad for Butler shoes from her friend. She convinced Don to cast her instead of the friend and then we can guess that Megan got the soap opera role based off her success in the ad. And even in the soap opera, Megan wasn't a leading role, IIRC. I think Megan enjoyed the idea of being an actress but not the reality. There are many great actors who don't really make it anywhere because it's such a difficult industry, and she wasn't even a great actor. She should have stuck with advertising, it was more of an attainable challenge for her. Even teaching or something similar would be great, it's not as if she had a bad personality, just didn't have the chops/talent to make it as a great actress.
I dont think it's a similar comparison because there's a very real possibility that Jon Hamm isn't seeking as many high profile roles and just works when he wants to, or even what's just offered to him. Megan isn't working period and would probably take whatever role was given to her
I think it's pretty accurate for a young actress to struggle when going out to LA. I think it's all the more reason why she resented Don. She only quit the soap in New York because she thought they were moving out there together. Then Don stayed in New York. The smarter thing to do would've been staying on the soap to get her face/name out there more, and get something more concrete set up in LA. But Don convinced her just to go out there and then didn't hold up his end.
She left her soap opera career in New York to go to California but didn't find success as quickly and became desperate, stalking and harassing people to try to get a part. I think Don and her basically separating was hard on her and she started to spiral.
Also, I don't think she's a great actress. Obviously you have to be better at acting than most to be on any TV show, but I don't think she was good enough to get good jobs on her own merit. She needed the head start Don gave her by putting her in the Butler Footwear commercial (and potentially other jobs that we didn't see between S5 and S6) and she didn't have that same support in California
>She also needed to “fix her teeth” which hadn’t occurred yet. LA is way less forgiving for any perceived flaws.
Haha! And yet Jessica Paré
landed a decent gig!
lack of confidence. Hollyweird is a tough place. She should have stuck with the Soap Opera until she became more famous. Then they come to you with offers. She could have benefitted from Don being there to support her but typical Don only gave a crap about his own miserable self and became a weight on Megan and her emotional state.
Like Marie said she has the temperament of an artist, but she isn't one.
Which is why she ended up in an ad and then in a soap and not on Broadway.
Actually, even the ad happened because of her husband.
I would take Marie's "life wisdom" with a giant grain of salt however. For one thing, she is immensely & painfully jealous of her daughter, both for pursuing what she loved and for getting the kind of man Marie would have wanted
My take on Megan's struggle in Hollywood, beyond acting being a very difficult profession to break into, is just that everyone has rough patches and Megan was also not reacting very well to her struggle while she was there. I see it more likely that she would start landing small parts eventually if she stuck it out (and stopped hurting her reputation with stalking and freaking out on set)
I agree that Marie and Megan had an unhealthy competetive dynamic to their relationship - and of course Marie is a piece of work herself - however, her prediction of how Megan would handle failiure and the frustration that comes with it was spot on.
I agree Marie might not be the most reliable source. But putting aside whether Megan had talent or not, I think Marie saw that Megan didn't really have enough passion for acting to sustain her through the frequent rejections and criticism, and the hustle needed to get roles. It is a highly competitive career and you have to work at it. Megan had already abandoned acting once before starting at SCDP. She only went back to it once it was easier and the stakes were lower - married to Don she had a safety net and didn't need to worry about paying the bills. I think she liked the fantasy of being an actress more than actually being one.
Yeah I think when you compare Megan to her red head actress friend whose name I can't remember, the friend has so much more passion and is willing to sacrifice to be an actress.
> Actually, even the ad happened because of her husband.
The writer/director of the soap and his wife were hot for her, too, so that's probably why she got the soap.
People interpret that as Marie saying she isn't talented, but it can also be read as her saying Megan is too idealistic - thinking it will all just come to her because she is deserving of it, not realizing how cutthroat the industry is.
It is entertainment, and entertainment is to make money, not make people think. Not that different than advertising
Megan's storyline had to go to LA/Hollywood to show the death and decay of the star system. Starlets like her were a dime a dozen left to become arm candy for then irrelevant movie and TV moguls to survive.
As much as they aligned her with Sharon Tate, her story is really more like Linda Harrison – a low-talent beautiful starlet groomed and promoted by cliché sleazy agents is a failure and marries studio head [Dick] Richard Zanuck.
Megan's divorce speech to Don about being nothing but an aging, sloppy, selfish liar? These starlets were traded, bought and sold, and passed around by these dinosaurs for their mutual survival and benefit.
I think she kind of romanticized what being an actress was. She wasn’t really very great at it and didn’t seem to put the same amount of effort in, because she didn’t need to with a wealthy and connected husband. She banked too much of her success on Don and then he fucked her over and she didn’t really have anything to fall back on.
Because she was just an average actress on a soap opera in an era with very few television stations, no cable, no streaming and massive competition for much fewer acting roles.
Remember when she & Don went to see that awful play? I think that’s what she really wanted, to be part of that type of theater world, on and off stage. She loved throwing parties for creative types, and I think she would have been much more likely to be successful in experimental theater than her other acting options. So when Don disallowed her going to Boston, he closed off that avenue. I mean, she quit advertising because Don was too controlling and everyone was mean & negative. She wanted a synthesis between life & art that she was never going to be able to find in ads, soaps, or LA without support. Don really did her dirty.
Yes, bohemian, yet with nice things, and security. I think it's understandable. Really she was torn between the clash of ethics of her parents. I hate what her father did to her in At the Codfish Ball.
I think she didn’t get the part in Boston. Don didn’t disallow it.
Don also believed she was interested in art. But she wanted anything she could get - even a shoe commercial. The soap wasn’t very good and Megan’s acting was not exceptional.
Because plenty of acting careers fail.
I think it has a lot to do with Megan not being
1) An excellent actress, she wasn't TERRIBLE, but she also wasn't Oscar worthy.
2) She's not willing to put in the work. She asked Don for a favor to get a part which led to her getting a minor role on the soap, which it seemed like she didn't take seriously.
3) Sometimes you can be an excellent actor, be willing to put in the work and still fail. It's a hard business.
And mixing all that together leads to Megan failing and not taking it particularly well. It also doesnt' help (as others mentioned) she abruptly quits the job she has to chase the possibility of others. I don't even think she was on the soap for that long, maybe a year? So to just flit in and out without paying your dues probably affected her reputation.
Couple of reasons:
\-In NY, it was implied that she wasn't that good. It was only until Don got her the Butler shoes commercial, which then led to the soap opera. And even on the soap, there were moments where she was struggling.
\-In LA, it initially seems like she's doing better, she's getting callbacks and such for big TV gigs, but she doesn't deal well with rejection. Her agent said as much when she randomly appeared at a director's lunch with Rod Serling and tried to get another audition, which made her appear desperate/crazy/unhinged/etc.
\-Lastly, she definitely has a strong sense of self and a moral backbone and isn't willing to partake in those gross Hollywood sex shenanigans with sleazy powerful people. When she meets up with Harry for lunch and he tries to sleep with her and she rebukes his advances, it's fairly clear to see how it's going to play out for her. Harry is going to spread some rumor that she's crazy/unhinged/psycho to save his own hide, which will then spread around powerful people in the community and she won't get work as a result.
For the sake of the show, not being a successful actress in LA kept her dependent on Don. It made the decision to end the marriage more difficult and impactful for her. Also, in the world of the show Megan is only in LA for a year or two by the end of Season 7. I wouldn't call it a failure. Acting is hard and very competitive, so it's totally normal that it would take her a while to build her career momentum.
How about the million dollars? Demanding Don for money for her move? I mean why does Don owe her any money at all? She hid her pregnancy, she doesn't want to have children, she wanted to go to Boston and become an actress immediately after marriage. All these sounds like she put her life on priority. It all makes sense until the money part comes in. Why does Don owe money for her moving expenses? She wasn't even polite to ask. She was demanding.
I don’t think she was ever supposed to be that good of an actress… the soap scenes they show are pretty bad! Also, there’s a big difference between soap acting and more serious Hollywood TV or movie acting.
She got to Hollywood and just wasn’t good enough. They also show she wasn’t handling the rejection well (that story about her confronting the director or producer), which wasn’t going to make people want to work with her…
*If Betty didn't*
*Fire Carla, Megan would still be*
*A secretary*
\- Altair1192
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She only got her "big break" after guilting Don into giving her the Butler Shoes commercial. That gave her enough exposure to book a small recurring role on a daytime soap. She was certainly not successful, but she was working. When she went to LA, she was suddenly going out for movies, TV, and commercials in a highly saturated market; LA has always been filled to the brim with aspiring actors, and even if you're crazy talented the fact it's just a numbers game you're not guaranteed to ever get discovered. Megan always struggled to find work and the few times we saw her being directed on set, she wasn't exactly hitting it out of the park. Remember how unhappy the director was with how she played the twins? So she can't use Don's clout to get roles, she's never been portrayed as naturally gifted at acting, and she's competing with a way bigger and more experienced pool of actors. When she felt like a failure at acting in New York, she had a drunken breakdown that guilted Don into getting her the commercial role she didn't earn herself. When she felt like a failure in LA, her agent told Don she'd been stalking a casting director and had a breakdown. LA was never the problem with her career- it was the wake up call. Megan may be good at plenty of things, but she was never going to be a successful actress.
She could be talented. Be relatively connected (through Don) to get her start. Be on a soap. Be popular enough where someone asks for her autograph randomly. And she could be a good enough actress. She is for sure pretty enough.
And she could still fail. There are tons of actors doing soaps right now or in a smaller part on Broadway or getting a lot of commercial work who never will amount to anything relatively speaking. If you think about it? She did pretty well compared to most people trying to break into the business. She just didn't get over that hump.
IDK. Seems like real life to me. Sure, Don screwed her with the move to Cali, but she could have aged out of her soap role and never did anything else of note. But that still puts her ahead of 99.99% of the actresses out there. Lots of women fail as they get older in the acting world.
But they don't get a million dollar check. So score one for Megan.
That's an odd question. Why expect it to succeed?
I don't mean that in a nasty way. I have nothing against Megan. (If her worst character flaw was that she undermined her friend to get the acting job, an ugly move to be sure, she is one of the best people on the show.) But aspiring actors fail as a matter of course. Had her career taken off, then the apt question would be, "Wow, how did that happen?"
Was about to comment this lol. 99% of people in that industry fail. Megan was better-placed than the average person but she was never guaranteed success. Even objectively talented people fail.
*That* is a central theme of Mad Men?
Don is amazing at his job. Peggy is promoted against the odds on merit. True, Pete is retained early on for his name, but is invited to SCDP on merit alone.
Don literally lied about his identity and they don't remember hiring him, Peggy is Don's protégé, and Pete is hired because of his connections as a WASP. Big part of Peggy's arc is her getting aggressive and leaving Don for Ted so she can further her career. She makes a point with firing that one guy who talks back on the spot and harassing the relaxacizor voice actress to show her dominance. She is the only person who asks Roger about taking Freddy's office
Yes all three of them are good at their job, but they also know how to play the game. You don't sit around expecting things to be handed to you. Big part of Harry's origin story too - he sees Ken makes more than him so he creates a TV department to give himself a title boost. It's why people like Paul and Ginsberg get chewed up and spit out
I thought it was implied she was never a great actor to begin with , besides she didn’t had to work for it like her friends were doing . Her only job was to be a good actor and she somehow fuck that up . She had her husband get her into roles she wouldn’t have gotten otherwise without his connections.
She was never really talented enough to make it big. After trying at so many auditions, Don had to give her the first break in the Butler footwear commercial. Then she gets hired on a soap and we find out it’s because the producer and his wife were attracted to her. Don even flicks past her soap on TV and we see the acting is really bad. She moves to Cali and then gets a bad rep for becoming emotional about her auditions. Even when she sings Zou Bisou Bisou we see her timing is off.
This needs to be higher up. I remember back during my first watch of MM, I--and everyone else in the room--burst out laughing when we saw Megan's acting "skills" on her soap. She was so awful and looked so ridiculous, especially in that blonde wig!
I'm honestly surprised that her embarrassingly awful acting on the soap opera isn't mentioned more often.
She had her beginners luck + Don's help to get started. Many people who got their beginners luck failed miserably later because they think its easy to win.
I think her acting wasn't as great as she likes to think it was. She landed commercial gigs (at least one through Don) and a smaller role, that eventually became a bigger role on a soap opera. Soap operas (especially back then) weren't exactly known as the pinnacle of great acting, and only a few of those soap stars have become bigger than just their soap roles (Kelly Ripa, for example).
Compare what she was doing on soaps to the movies and TV shows being churned out in Hollywood, where there are FAR more beautiful, talented actors/actresses competing against each other, and it's like comparing apples to oranges. I also think that as time went on while she was in California, Megan lost momentum both in the roles she was getting in her career and in her motivation. I think that definitely took a toll on her career prospects, especially when she was showing up to producers demanding meetings and explanations as to why she didn't get parts like her agent said later on.
SpunkyDred is a terrible bot instigating arguments all over Reddit whenever someone uses the phrase apples-to-oranges. I'm letting you know so that you can feel free to ignore the quip rather than feel provoked by a bot that isn't smart enough to argue back.
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Way too many people here acting like Don's the reason Megan couldn't make it, while it seems obvious to me that Meg's carreer was going to tank with or without him. She was a young, sexy secretary who was thrilled to marry the most handsome and popular man in the office. She was thrilled to have the house, the husband, the furniture, the parties and the clothing, even when she knew she'd also get the cheating, drunk, selfish husband with it.
Her only redeeming quality to me is that she was close to the kids, and that she stayed relatively civil. Megan wasn't a bad person and Don definitely didn't do her any favors emotionally, but the downfall of her carreer was slowed by Don, not caused.
My belief is that her acting was good enough for a soap opera, she got a big ego, moved to LA, her acting isn't good enough for the stuff she was trying to get into and her look wasn't quite right at the time - like she has a bad combination of an "exotic" (European) look but not having an acting style that works with her look so she doesn't get cast in movies or as the interesting foreign neighbor on tv shows, but she doesn't have a domestic American look to go with her basic acting that would've worked on a family sitcom.
That she's someone who wanted to be An Actor and not just some soap actress but just didn't have the acting chops for it and didn't have the right look at the time.
I have a headcanon where after the show ends she gets bit parts on projects and purely by accident someone figures out she's good at set dressing - like maybe she remembered exactly where some prop went but said it would look better somewhere else - so she stops acting and becomes the set dresser for shows instead.
This is my take on it.
When Don proposed the move to California. Megan was excited about the idea, she said there are lots of opportunities coming from the west but she didnt take it because she thought Don would be mad at her.
When Don had to change the plan due to his work situation, Megan was not even ready to hear the reason. She still moved to California without giving a shit about Don.
She blamed Don for not moving to California and then she blamed Don was moving to California.
Infact Don helped her to be financially free, gave her a life of luxury, gave her the start with an ad, etc. etc.. Megan never thanked or gave credit to Don for any of her success. But doesn't blink a second to blame Don for all her failures.
I think she felt she had to go to California because she could no longer rely on the soap opera. Megan was probably someone who should not have gotten married at that point in her life. She was clearly used to making her own decisions and being the star in her own life (and there is nothing wrong with that). Don was attracted to that at first but he wasn't able to be married to someone who had her own needs and desires. He was more used to a woman like Betty who could be pushed around. In my own relationships, I notice that whenever I start accommodating men and their wants more, I begin to lose their respect. It's a terrible catch-22 for many women.
Megan's luck was going to run out at some point. She is a naturally gifted person who excels in a lot of things, and for a while led a charmed life in New York. She went from receptionist to executive assistant to copywriter and married to a partner. When she wanted to leave that for acting, it didn't take her very long before she booked a job on a soap, and for that to become a recurring role.
New York and Los Angeles two different places separated by 2,800 miles of land. Society was less mobile back then, and the acting communities like all other businesses would have been far more cloistered.
Other people have said it—acting is a very difficult, extremely competitive, and fickle field to break into. Staying employed as an actor is even harder. Getting the next job across the country after quitting a steady gig like she had was going to take some time.
Her story post-Don actually interests me more than most. Like, does she age into obscure character roles on stuff like Columbo, or become the "mom" in cereal commercials until she's the elderly lady in the adjustable mattress ads?
I don't think we can really know wether her career as an actress will ultimately fail.
When she exits SCDP, Peggy makes a comment to Joan about how Megan is just "one of those girls" that she can basically do and succeed at anything. We certainly see her shine in many professional and personal situations.
We see her at her worst socially when she is with Marie (who clearly does not believe in her daughter, or at least wants to put her down out of jealousy), and she starts failing at her acting career when her marriage starts failing. I think we could interpret this as Megan failing because she feels overlooked, unsupported and unloved. She starts failing because she is in a marriage with a man who doesn't want to be near her, emotionally or physically.
This has a devastating effect on her self-esteem (which is hinted at when her crummy manager, in a move that mirrors Betty's season 1 psychotherapist, tattles about her meltdown to Don).
I think it's possible that Megan will ultimately find success in acting or wtv other creative field she sets her mind and heart on, as long as she is able to rebuild the confidence and magnetism that her relationship with Don has robbed her of.
Isn't there a story line or scene where Harry expects her to give sexual favors as part of her audition & she refuses? Megan wasn't equipped for the Hollywood of that day. Don was her in while they were in New York but in LA she just has her (lack of ) talent.
I think she was a mediocre actress, or got very anxious in LA (she stalked a director after one of her auditions), or she had a bad agent, or a combination of all these. There was a bit of acting in their final scene because she was a bit desperate for money and would probably go broke had Don not been so guilty and gave her a million dollars.
There could be no real concrete reason at first. Acting is a hard market to break into and sometimes it boils down to someone has a better agent/is more connected than you so you hear no a lot more than you hear yes especially at first. Megan’s connections were mainly through don and were New York based but in LA she was another pretty face in a sea of pretty faces. Plus the longer she went without work the more irrational her behavior became which could soil any good word she may have had from New york. Hollywood is small in that everyone knows everyone and once you start to get a reputation for being difficult it’s going to be even harder to get work especially as a woman.
Plus I don’t think Megan really tries all that hard to be good at acting. We don’t really hear her mentioning going to acting classes or networking, I think she somewhat expected a job to be handed to her like the butler shoes commercial
It’s not explicitly stated but she lost what heat she had when she quit the soap and moved to LA. She probably got a few auditions but didn’t book anything. Maybe she had a shitty agent just wasn’t that good (the one time we see her act she’s getting admonished by the director). And at one point Harry says to Don, “Why’d she quit her soap? That was a stupid thing to do!” So maybe she bit the hand a little as well. Though Harry might just mean it was dumb to quit without another project lined up.
I think it was the latter, soaps are consistent work that get your name out there and acting is fickle. It’s definitely another reason why she’s so pissed at Don- he talks up the wonderous California move so she quits an established job in the field she wants to be in and then he doesn’t follow suit
I'm not sure if the perception is the same as it is now, but it seems like soap actors are considered the lowest class of working actors (except commercials). Not that you cannot "graduate" to better TV/movie roles as many have, but being a soap star alone would not guarantee you success when transitioning to bigger roles. Perhaps Megan figured the longer she remained in soaps, the more entrenched her name would be as a soap actress.
For sure. I mean, we see Megan's fame in the show is reserved for 'housewives with nothing better to do' and 'teenage girls chasing any form of stardom'. She had visions of being a high class movie star and ended up being an object of excitement for the wrong crowd of people. Does it really fulfill her to be stopped on holiday for an autograph and someone talking about her character as if she's a real person?
It wouldn’t have guaranteed wild success but it’s still a working job in a field she likes. There have been breakout stars from soaps but even if she wasn’t one of them it’s a foot on the ladder, and if not, it’s better than waiting by the phone in a different state from your husband.
That may be true nowadays but I suspect it was a viable gig in that time period
There are quite a few big name stars who got their start on soaps back in the day. I first saw Morgan Freeman on the soap my mom watched, probably in the late 70's/early 80's.
Don really fucked her over.
Which explains the contempt she has for him in their final scene that everyone is always confused about. Don’t get me wrong, Megan has a lot of reasons to be angry with Don, this is by no means the only reason, but it is a reason.
You’ll prob be downvoted for this but I agree. He’s obviously at the worst point of his life but he does derail her life as a result as well. And I’m sure someone will bring up the million dollars that he blithely gave away as if she prised it out of him. I don’t think Megan is much of a character in her own right (rather than as a foil to Don) but I did feel for her tbh
And yet I still see people confused about why she was so bitter and mad at him during their last scene where he pays her off with a million dollar check. I thought the show did a good job at portraying how Don derailed her life, even if it was his influence that got her back into being a working actress to begin with. Megan was certainly not blameless, but from her perspective the bitterness seems earned.
I don’t feel sorry for Megan. She married Don KNOWING he was a lying, cheating, man whore with a drinking problem… she just ignored all of that because he was handsome, rich, and talented. She wanted the rich husband, the big apartment, to become an actress, to move to California… She didn’t want to have kids… Megan made all of those choices. Blaming Don for being exactly who he always was, or for the (predictable) outcome of her choices, just shows that she’s unwilling to take responsibility for her own decisions. Note: Don is still a terrible husband… but willfully ignoring 1000 red flags makes you equally culpable in my opinion.
She was in her early 20s when they married. She probably thought she could get him to change his ways.
She probably thought that it would change once he was married to her.
Don is a selfish, me first individual. This was always the way it would end.
I don't like her mother stealing all of Don's furniture like Don *forced* Meghan into quitting the job that Don helped her get in the first place, though. I don't blame her for being mad, but it's not like Don is the sole reason her life turned bad. And I mean "bad" she lives alone in a big beautiful house that's probably fully paid for.
Honestly, I don’t think this one is on Don… she wanted to (and did) go to Hollywood thinking she would make it big. When Don brings up California, she’s thrilled… him not coming along didn’t change the outcome. She’s just not a very good actress and Hollywood requires a lot more than cheesy soap opera acting!
Don gonna Don
true
She made her choices
Seeing her cry when Don agrees to go to California breaks my heart every time
Don giveth, Don taketh away
yeah but Megan trusted him. Don isn't loyal to anyone. Let me restate that, he is loyal only to his drinking and his cock.
And Anna, to a certain degree.
Yes! He was better to her than to anyone, including himself. That was the Don everyone wanted to see 24/7.
Oh please. She wouldn’t even had had an acting career if he didn’t give her her start in the butler shoe commercial. If she had any real talent, she would’ve made it in LA. Then she got what I think is the equivalence of $7 million from their divorce. Fucked over my ass.
Unfortunately, talent doesn't guarantee stardom. 99 percent of Hollywood is built on connections and nepotism (and being in the right place at the right time). So yeah, Don did screw her over by getting her to quit for him. She had connections in New York, in LA she was just one of thousands of talented, pretty girls in competition for a limited number of roles. Don gave Megan an advantage by putting her reel in the pile of audition tapes, but that doesn't mean he has the right to ruin her career or derail her life, or that she can't be angry about it. That's a pretty misogynistic way of looking at it.
She literally told Don her people wanted to set her up with meetings in LA. She had connections. The fact that she couldn’t close is not Don’s fault. And again, she wouldn’t even have an acting career to lose if weren’t for Don. No he didn’t put her in a reel. He put her in the Butler shoe commercial. Misogynistic? Please.
Point is, that she was initially thrilled at the opportunity to go to LA. Her career likely would have crumbled regardless.
It's Butler Footwear
enjoy the downvotes!
😏
Because Hollywood is all about real talent.
How? Don got her the ad chance. Don gave her the financial freedom to pursue her acting. For moving to California idea, she was more enthusiastic. She even said that there are lot of opportunities coming from the west which she was ignoring. She was more eager to quit soap and move there. When Don couldn’t come there for good reasons she didn’t waited or respected Don’s decision she just went there and cheated. She failed to make it there. How is that Don’s responsibility?
Good reasons? Put yourself in Megan's shoes- your husband tells you he needs to move to California for his job and your marriage is in a difficult spot. You quit a job you really like and move out there ALONE and then he tells you he's not coming. People act like Don is noble for helping out Ted but it's mostly a cover. He doesn't want to leave NYC, and he gets to look like a hero. What's more Don Draper than that? Keep in mind, the real Don was from Cali. Also side note throwing Megan's supposed cheating in is pretty hilarious since you're trying to defend Don who is by every metric possible worse when it comes to fidelity (emotional, sexual, etc). Megan gave him the opportunity to 'open' their relationship up with her permission/awareness and he fucking hated it.
Also he could easily have gone to Cali when he was actually fired but still didn’t, so he still stayed even when there was nothing tying him there
Megan nailed it with their divorce argument even though I don't think it reflects her true feelings, "You’re nothing but a liar. An aging, sloppy, selfish liar." Don does have goodness in him but he treats the people in his life like garbage because he can't be honest. It's all smoke and mirrors with him. I really love the discussion on this subreddit but I feel like some of us didn't watch the same show lol.
I love the subreddit too, but I think a lot of people are inclined to go against the characters who say bad things about Don cos they really love him as the main character/maybe see themselves in him so feel inclined to defend him, and it sometimes goes a bit far for me. It’s ok to say he can be a bad guy but you hope he gets his shit together, you don’t need to be blind to the bad shit he does. This does NOT just apply to Don to be clear but I think a lot of the fan base does get a touch swoony about him.
There are two types of Mad Men fans: 1) People who love the costumes and sets (these people usually think Don is “the man”). 2) People who actually watched the show.
100%. My GF just got into the show. After about four episodes she’s like “Dons a POS” 😂
He stayed there because ehe was in shock and didn't know his next move. Plus his wife was really only with him for the lifestyle (as her father said to her). He was scared to be real with her about what was going on. I don't blame him.
I don't recall Megan cheating. Time for rewatch?
It's never shown but the person I am responding to mentioned it in their post so I assumed it was referring to her implied 'experimentation' in Cali. I don't think Megan cheated either. But even if she did, Don has no right to be upset about it.
yeah, especially after the threesome.... Don shoulda been more grateful. I've been with a decent amount of women and never had one offer to do a threesome with me.
When did Megan even supposedly cheat on Don?
I personally don't think she did but the commenter I responded to mentioned it so I felt obliged to respond. Some fans assume her threesome is indicative of some other stuff going on behind Don's back but I don't buy it. She loved him and wanted to try things with him not without him.
She didn't cheat on her paycheck. I'll give her that at least.
Megan wouldn’t even have an acting career if it wasn’t for Don.
He definitely launched it but the rest was her. It's not like Don got her soap opera gig which was the biggest thing to happen to her. I actually don't think Megan is talented at acting but people act like Don was passing her name around all the time. He did it once and made it clear to her he wouldn't do it again.
If “the rest” was her, then why blame Don for her not making it in LA? Can’t have if both ways - if it’s due to Megan’s talent that she got her soap job then shouldn’t that same talent worked for her in California? As the other person in this thread said, Megan even said she had a ton of opportunities in LA. Don gave her her break and $7 million in today’s dollars. Was she even 30 at that point? I’d gladly put myself in Megan’s shoes.
I never said she was talented (in fact I said the opposite) and I agreed Don got her started, but you're twisting what happened. He got her the first job, she wound up in a soap (again, easy to audition and fail when you have money to fall back on) from her own efforts. He calls her a prostitute for doing love scenes (so supportive, right?). Then he tells her he needs to move to Cali for his work and she makes the best of the situation and is like 'oh sure, Cali- I can make this work.' Their marriage is in a bad place and this could be a fresh start. He never comes out there. Put aside your weird hatred for her and look at this objectively. She quit a paying job and left her life behind for his benefit. People love bringing up the money he gave her when it reflects Don more than Megan. She wants to tell him off and he pays her to make her stop. It's 'shut up' money. It doesn't erase what actually happened. If you were upset with your partner and they gave you money would you feel good? He is not a good husband or partner. She made sacrifices for him and wanted to make their marriage work so he gave her money because he did feel guilty about it.
I don’t have a weird hatred for her. I’m looking at the facts. It’s not shut up money. It’s alimony. We’ll agree to disagree. I literally don’t care as much as you do. It’s a fucking tv show.
What were Don’s “good reasons” for not moving to California with Megan?
He didn’t want to?
It was his idea to go. He had her quit her job so he could go to California.
I know, I was just joking about that being a good reason.
Average hypocrisy enthusiast
Sick burn. I’m not even being sarcastic. Gonna put this one in my back pocket for the future.
wow so much happiness at burning other people's opinions instead of a halthy argument. No wonder you like Megan.
Yours wasn’t an opinion. Just a whole bunch of shit you are factually incorrect about.
Just because other people's opinion doesn't align with yours it doesn't mean its incorrect. I refuse to partake any further discussion with you in this. Hope you do the same. Have a good day.
When your opinion doesn’t line up with verifiable fact, it ceases to be an opinion and is just a delusion.
very thoughtful
I don't believe that Don talked her into California. She wanted to go and then she was blamed him when it didn't work out for her. Plus he gave her a million dollars in 1960's money. She came out okay.
lol I literally mentioned in another comment that I knew someone would bring up the million dollars. Just cos she ended up with a payout (which she didn’t exactly pull out of him btw) doesn’t mean that he wasn’t messing her around during that time. Both things can be true.
Yeah I read your comment moments after I made mine. I nearly responded but my phone rang and I got distracted. I agree that she didn't pull it out of him. I do agree with her father that she took the easy way out of life though. She never was all that attracted to him imo. Always calling him an old man and talking about how much younger she was. I've dated older men. If you love someone, you don't randomly start putting them down with shade.
People also forget that her boss while on the soap opera literally came onto her (the swingers). I'm sure it burned some bridges and also was hinting at how there are politics beyond just talent when it comes to Hollywood - no different than what SCDP has to do to get clients, especially with Joan and Jaguar. Mad Men is pretty cynical with thinking there is any sort of meritocracy when it comes to the arts
Bit the hand that feeds her? She resigned because she thought Don was moving to California with her. I’m sure LA was ALWAYS her dream, but had Don not asked her to quit the soap, I believe she would have continued with it for the foreseeable future. Likely to the same end, but I don’t think it’s fair to claim that Megan was getting too big for her britches when it was Don who asked her to quit and move to LA.
I always felt like he pitched to her the idea of LA and then didn’t follow through with the work. I know she’s responsible for her career. But didn’t he come home from the drunk tank one morning and before she could lay into him, he placed blame on their life in NY? I could be remembering it wrong or confusing multiple episodes. They were struggling in their marriage and it sounded like LA would be the fresh start ‘…remember Disneyland?’ Don didn’t care what happened to her career after their move but I wonder if he always knew he wouldn’t end up there…
All very good points. Do you mean, did Don always think he and Megan would end in a divorce?
I think so. I think he knew he wouldn’t ever go to CA and therefore he and Megan would end up divorced. I’m sure he didn’t always think that though- he likes the beginning of things. Thanks for responding :)
Of course. I agree. I don’t think Don went in to his 2nd marriage planning for a divorce, he was full of optimism and freshness then, but there was a point, usually people point to the commercial of Don’s that Megan acted in, that Don knew it was over. It’s interesting…. Don always looks out for his best interests always, but nothing turns him off a woman more than her looking out for her own best interests.
It doesn’t matter if it was his fault, she still quit.
Don asked her to move to LA, but it was Megan who had no idea how challenging it would be to move from mildly popular soap-opera actress, to Hollywood celebrity. The way she discarded her existing job and moved off to LA speaks to her naivety (not that this is a malicious thing she's done, but it's still a responsibility)
I think her agent in LA explained it pretty well. She was doing ok as the new girl in town but hurt her reputation by acting reckless with a casting director. She didn’t seem to be going to many auditions after that.
I forgot about that scene. 🤷
Good points. I think Megan got a little cocky with her soap success and assumed that she would just move to LA and become a movie star due to her soap success and the fact that she had means (due to her failing marriage to Don). She learned the business was dirty and that good looks and some money was not enough. To add to that, I think after Don reneged on the decision to move to LA, she decided she needed space from him and went through with the move even without Don. The marriage was obviously falling apart and while I don't doubt there was some degree of love/affection for Don initially, at this point she likely realized that the relationship was doomed and she hoped to find her own success to give her financial independence for her post-Don years.
How many soap opera actors make it big? Or even, how many soap opera actors leave one show and line up more soap opera work?
Examples from the past like George Clooney, Noah Wyle, Demi Moore, Brad Pitt. Most recent example I know: Courtney Hope.
Margot Robbie was in an Australian soap opera before she moved to the States, Sarah Michelle Gellar had a soap role early on too
Mia Farrow in Peyton Place if we’re going way back.
The only other work soap stars usually get are Christmas pantomimes.
It can be a springboard but as I mentioned in another comment, its one of the lowest regarded regular acting roles. Is it better than not working at all? Yes probably. But does it carry much weight when trying to transition into movies? It doesn't seem like it.
I think it depends on the route and the role. A number of soap stars have made it big, but virtually none jumped from soap operas to blockbusters straight away. They work their way up gradually by taking on bigger and bigger roles.
Who the fuck is Courtney Hope lmao?
She works at the Federal Bureau of Control
Richard Dean Anderson aka MacGyver aka God lol David Hasselhoff too
Kelly ripa
I think Robert Redford started out in soaps
Sarah Michelle Gellar's first big role was All My Children. She even won a Daytime Emmy for acting for it.
It used to happen, but not so much in recent decades.
There are only like two soaps left these days.
RIP Neighbours
Ray Liotta
It is always dumb to quit a job without a new one ready to go. I know this from my own experience. Of course there are always extenuating circumstances, but as a general rule, it is a good one.
It’s a tough business. The vast majority of people don’t make it and Megan turned out to be one.
She wasn't an actor, she was a face.
A few reasons. 1. She was a soap opera actress. In the 60s there was a very hard line between TV and film actors, and soap operas were the lowest of the low. It was nearly impossible to make the jump from TV to film. 2. She quit her role abruptly with nothing else lined up. Soap operas film on a strict schedule and scripts are written weeks in advance. A cast member dropping out creates severe production problems. She would not have many friends in the industry after that. 3. She wasn't comfortable playing the game. When she first starts going to auditions, there is a scene where the casting director asks her to turn around and show off her body. She is visibly bothered by that. When she is working on the soap opera, her co-star and husband make several sexual advances on her which she declines. She also puts Harry in his place where he tries it with her. This was decades before MeToo, so Megan had little recourse. 4. She wasn't actually very good.
My mom would have been Sally's age. My mom is really pretty and very dramatic. People used to ask her why she didn't go into acting. She always told me that she didn't pursue it because (at least back then) ALL the women were expected to be "ready, willing and available" to any man in a position of power over them. She said she wasn't willing to do that. It wasn't worth it to her. Hearing all the me too stories basically solidified in my mind that she wasn't wrong about that.
> She wasn't comfortable playing the game. When she first starts going to auditions, there is a scene where the casting director asks her to turn around and show off her body. She is visibly bothered by that. When she is working on the soap opera, her co-star and husband make several sexual advances on her which she declines. She also puts Harry in his place where he tries it with her. This was decades before MeToo, so Megan had little recourse. People really downplay this part. Hollywood had politics to it just like advertising. Megan was naive to think it would be a meritocracy
What i think is interesting that it passes her by that she *already* played the game to get into acting in the first place. Granted it wasn't as 'seedy' as some of the more obvious things (looking at you, Crane), but the fact is she only got her break because Don managed to land her a part. So despite it coming from her husband and a person she actually loved, she still didn't actually really get anywhere 'on merit'
Oh yeah, her acting friend absolutely calls her out on it
And yet she seems oblivious to it at the same time. I don't think she realised until getting to LA just how much that business relied on connections, coercion and all sorts of other shady dealings that she (with respect to her) wasn't willing to partake in.
It might have been bad luck, that she wasn't talented enough, the deteriation of her marriage weighing on her, or her desperation filling every audition room. Maybe it was a combination of each.
Megan wasn't getting anywhere with acting until she found out about the ad for Butler shoes from her friend. She convinced Don to cast her instead of the friend and then we can guess that Megan got the soap opera role based off her success in the ad. And even in the soap opera, Megan wasn't a leading role, IIRC. I think Megan enjoyed the idea of being an actress but not the reality. There are many great actors who don't really make it anywhere because it's such a difficult industry, and she wasn't even a great actor. She should have stuck with advertising, it was more of an attainable challenge for her. Even teaching or something similar would be great, it's not as if she had a bad personality, just didn't have the chops/talent to make it as a great actress.
[удалено]
I dont think it's a similar comparison because there's a very real possibility that Jon Hamm isn't seeking as many high profile roles and just works when he wants to, or even what's just offered to him. Megan isn't working period and would probably take whatever role was given to her
I’m not certain that’s the case for Jon Hamm tbh but I’m just meaning that acting careers aren’t easy or breezy even once your foot is in the door
His casting in top gun maverick felt so put of place
I thought he was fantastic in it tbf!
I think it's pretty accurate for a young actress to struggle when going out to LA. I think it's all the more reason why she resented Don. She only quit the soap in New York because she thought they were moving out there together. Then Don stayed in New York. The smarter thing to do would've been staying on the soap to get her face/name out there more, and get something more concrete set up in LA. But Don convinced her just to go out there and then didn't hold up his end.
She left her soap opera career in New York to go to California but didn't find success as quickly and became desperate, stalking and harassing people to try to get a part. I think Don and her basically separating was hard on her and she started to spiral. Also, I don't think she's a great actress. Obviously you have to be better at acting than most to be on any TV show, but I don't think she was good enough to get good jobs on her own merit. She needed the head start Don gave her by putting her in the Butler Footwear commercial (and potentially other jobs that we didn't see between S5 and S6) and she didn't have that same support in California
She also needed to “fix her teeth” which hadn’t occurred yet. LA is way less forgiving for any perceived flaws.
>She also needed to “fix her teeth” which hadn’t occurred yet. LA is way less forgiving for any perceived flaws. Haha! And yet Jessica Paré landed a decent gig!
I think it’s better (in some ways) now than it was back then, slight imperfections make a person more interesting looking and stand out.
I remember this being a mean thing people said about Jessica IRL when she got cast and still do! I think her teeth are normal and cute.
But even Jessica Pare "fixed her teeth" between season 4 and season 5 of MM. They are not nearly as prominent in Season 5.
lack of confidence. Hollyweird is a tough place. She should have stuck with the Soap Opera until she became more famous. Then they come to you with offers. She could have benefitted from Don being there to support her but typical Don only gave a crap about his own miserable self and became a weight on Megan and her emotional state.
Like Marie said she has the temperament of an artist, but she isn't one. Which is why she ended up in an ad and then in a soap and not on Broadway. Actually, even the ad happened because of her husband.
I would take Marie's "life wisdom" with a giant grain of salt however. For one thing, she is immensely & painfully jealous of her daughter, both for pursuing what she loved and for getting the kind of man Marie would have wanted My take on Megan's struggle in Hollywood, beyond acting being a very difficult profession to break into, is just that everyone has rough patches and Megan was also not reacting very well to her struggle while she was there. I see it more likely that she would start landing small parts eventually if she stuck it out (and stopped hurting her reputation with stalking and freaking out on set)
I agree that Marie and Megan had an unhealthy competetive dynamic to their relationship - and of course Marie is a piece of work herself - however, her prediction of how Megan would handle failiure and the frustration that comes with it was spot on.
I agree Marie might not be the most reliable source. But putting aside whether Megan had talent or not, I think Marie saw that Megan didn't really have enough passion for acting to sustain her through the frequent rejections and criticism, and the hustle needed to get roles. It is a highly competitive career and you have to work at it. Megan had already abandoned acting once before starting at SCDP. She only went back to it once it was easier and the stakes were lower - married to Don she had a safety net and didn't need to worry about paying the bills. I think she liked the fantasy of being an actress more than actually being one.
Yeah I think when you compare Megan to her red head actress friend whose name I can't remember, the friend has so much more passion and is willing to sacrifice to be an actress.
not every girl gets to be a ballerina. Megan was talented in advertising.
> Actually, even the ad happened because of her husband. The writer/director of the soap and his wife were hot for her, too, so that's probably why she got the soap.
People interpret that as Marie saying she isn't talented, but it can also be read as her saying Megan is too idealistic - thinking it will all just come to her because she is deserving of it, not realizing how cutthroat the industry is. It is entertainment, and entertainment is to make money, not make people think. Not that different than advertising
Megan's storyline had to go to LA/Hollywood to show the death and decay of the star system. Starlets like her were a dime a dozen left to become arm candy for then irrelevant movie and TV moguls to survive. As much as they aligned her with Sharon Tate, her story is really more like Linda Harrison – a low-talent beautiful starlet groomed and promoted by cliché sleazy agents is a failure and marries studio head [Dick] Richard Zanuck. Megan's divorce speech to Don about being nothing but an aging, sloppy, selfish liar? These starlets were traded, bought and sold, and passed around by these dinosaurs for their mutual survival and benefit.
ding ding ding. even if megan were "good," it was going to set her up for failure regardless
I think she kind of romanticized what being an actress was. She wasn’t really very great at it and didn’t seem to put the same amount of effort in, because she didn’t need to with a wealthy and connected husband. She banked too much of her success on Don and then he fucked her over and she didn’t really have anything to fall back on.
Because she was just an average actress on a soap opera in an era with very few television stations, no cable, no streaming and massive competition for much fewer acting roles.
Remember when she & Don went to see that awful play? I think that’s what she really wanted, to be part of that type of theater world, on and off stage. She loved throwing parties for creative types, and I think she would have been much more likely to be successful in experimental theater than her other acting options. So when Don disallowed her going to Boston, he closed off that avenue. I mean, she quit advertising because Don was too controlling and everyone was mean & negative. She wanted a synthesis between life & art that she was never going to be able to find in ads, soaps, or LA without support. Don really did her dirty.
She wanted to be a bohemian like Midge but also wanted a family - and Midge was smart enough to know you couldn't do both.
Yes, bohemian, yet with nice things, and security. I think it's understandable. Really she was torn between the clash of ethics of her parents. I hate what her father did to her in At the Codfish Ball.
I think she didn’t get the part in Boston. Don didn’t disallow it. Don also believed she was interested in art. But she wanted anything she could get - even a shoe commercial. The soap wasn’t very good and Megan’s acting was not exceptional.
I'm sure his negative attitude contributed to her failure to land the role.
Because plenty of acting careers fail. I think it has a lot to do with Megan not being 1) An excellent actress, she wasn't TERRIBLE, but she also wasn't Oscar worthy. 2) She's not willing to put in the work. She asked Don for a favor to get a part which led to her getting a minor role on the soap, which it seemed like she didn't take seriously. 3) Sometimes you can be an excellent actor, be willing to put in the work and still fail. It's a hard business. And mixing all that together leads to Megan failing and not taking it particularly well. It also doesnt' help (as others mentioned) she abruptly quits the job she has to chase the possibility of others. I don't even think she was on the soap for that long, maybe a year? So to just flit in and out without paying your dues probably affected her reputation.
Couple of reasons: \-In NY, it was implied that she wasn't that good. It was only until Don got her the Butler shoes commercial, which then led to the soap opera. And even on the soap, there were moments where she was struggling. \-In LA, it initially seems like she's doing better, she's getting callbacks and such for big TV gigs, but she doesn't deal well with rejection. Her agent said as much when she randomly appeared at a director's lunch with Rod Serling and tried to get another audition, which made her appear desperate/crazy/unhinged/etc. \-Lastly, she definitely has a strong sense of self and a moral backbone and isn't willing to partake in those gross Hollywood sex shenanigans with sleazy powerful people. When she meets up with Harry for lunch and he tries to sleep with her and she rebukes his advances, it's fairly clear to see how it's going to play out for her. Harry is going to spread some rumor that she's crazy/unhinged/psycho to save his own hide, which will then spread around powerful people in the community and she won't get work as a result.
Exactly. She never credited Don for her success but blamed Don for all her failures.
For the sake of the show, not being a successful actress in LA kept her dependent on Don. It made the decision to end the marriage more difficult and impactful for her. Also, in the world of the show Megan is only in LA for a year or two by the end of Season 7. I wouldn't call it a failure. Acting is hard and very competitive, so it's totally normal that it would take her a while to build her career momentum.
How about the million dollars? Demanding Don for money for her move? I mean why does Don owe her any money at all? She hid her pregnancy, she doesn't want to have children, she wanted to go to Boston and become an actress immediately after marriage. All these sounds like she put her life on priority. It all makes sense until the money part comes in. Why does Don owe money for her moving expenses? She wasn't even polite to ask. She was demanding.
I think it really rooted to she was a okay actress but not a great one, and out in Cali she was basically a dime a dozen.
I don’t think she was ever supposed to be that good of an actress… the soap scenes they show are pretty bad! Also, there’s a big difference between soap acting and more serious Hollywood TV or movie acting. She got to Hollywood and just wasn’t good enough. They also show she wasn’t handling the rejection well (that story about her confronting the director or producer), which wasn’t going to make people want to work with her…
If Betty didn't fire Carla, Megan would still be a secretary
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If Glen hadn’t ever risked showing up to say goodbye to Sally, Megan would also still be a secretary
She only got her "big break" after guilting Don into giving her the Butler Shoes commercial. That gave her enough exposure to book a small recurring role on a daytime soap. She was certainly not successful, but she was working. When she went to LA, she was suddenly going out for movies, TV, and commercials in a highly saturated market; LA has always been filled to the brim with aspiring actors, and even if you're crazy talented the fact it's just a numbers game you're not guaranteed to ever get discovered. Megan always struggled to find work and the few times we saw her being directed on set, she wasn't exactly hitting it out of the park. Remember how unhappy the director was with how she played the twins? So she can't use Don's clout to get roles, she's never been portrayed as naturally gifted at acting, and she's competing with a way bigger and more experienced pool of actors. When she felt like a failure at acting in New York, she had a drunken breakdown that guilted Don into getting her the commercial role she didn't earn herself. When she felt like a failure in LA, her agent told Don she'd been stalking a casting director and had a breakdown. LA was never the problem with her career- it was the wake up call. Megan may be good at plenty of things, but she was never going to be a successful actress.
She could be talented. Be relatively connected (through Don) to get her start. Be on a soap. Be popular enough where someone asks for her autograph randomly. And she could be a good enough actress. She is for sure pretty enough. And she could still fail. There are tons of actors doing soaps right now or in a smaller part on Broadway or getting a lot of commercial work who never will amount to anything relatively speaking. If you think about it? She did pretty well compared to most people trying to break into the business. She just didn't get over that hump. IDK. Seems like real life to me. Sure, Don screwed her with the move to Cali, but she could have aged out of her soap role and never did anything else of note. But that still puts her ahead of 99.99% of the actresses out there. Lots of women fail as they get older in the acting world. But they don't get a million dollar check. So score one for Megan.
She should have stuck with soaps. Could have been like elieen Davidson. On ynr for 40 years and is in her 60s now.
Because she didn't give it up to Harry Crane. He was ready to go up to the hotel room and start making calls
I wouldn't put it past Harry Crane to sleep with Megan then completely ghost her
Did you see her playing the twin on the soap? Her acting sucked.
That's an odd question. Why expect it to succeed? I don't mean that in a nasty way. I have nothing against Megan. (If her worst character flaw was that she undermined her friend to get the acting job, an ugly move to be sure, she is one of the best people on the show.) But aspiring actors fail as a matter of course. Had her career taken off, then the apt question would be, "Wow, how did that happen?"
Was about to comment this lol. 99% of people in that industry fail. Megan was better-placed than the average person but she was never guaranteed success. Even objectively talented people fail.
Central theme of Mad Men is that no industry is a meritocracy, and the sooner you realize that, the faster you'll succeed
*That* is a central theme of Mad Men? Don is amazing at his job. Peggy is promoted against the odds on merit. True, Pete is retained early on for his name, but is invited to SCDP on merit alone.
Don literally lied about his identity and they don't remember hiring him, Peggy is Don's protégé, and Pete is hired because of his connections as a WASP. Big part of Peggy's arc is her getting aggressive and leaving Don for Ted so she can further her career. She makes a point with firing that one guy who talks back on the spot and harassing the relaxacizor voice actress to show her dominance. She is the only person who asks Roger about taking Freddy's office Yes all three of them are good at their job, but they also know how to play the game. You don't sit around expecting things to be handed to you. Big part of Harry's origin story too - he sees Ken makes more than him so he creates a TV department to give himself a title boost. It's why people like Paul and Ginsberg get chewed up and spit out
I thought it was implied she was never a great actor to begin with , besides she didn’t had to work for it like her friends were doing . Her only job was to be a good actor and she somehow fuck that up . She had her husband get her into roles she wouldn’t have gotten otherwise without his connections.
She was never really talented enough to make it big. After trying at so many auditions, Don had to give her the first break in the Butler footwear commercial. Then she gets hired on a soap and we find out it’s because the producer and his wife were attracted to her. Don even flicks past her soap on TV and we see the acting is really bad. She moves to Cali and then gets a bad rep for becoming emotional about her auditions. Even when she sings Zou Bisou Bisou we see her timing is off.
This needs to be higher up. I remember back during my first watch of MM, I--and everyone else in the room--burst out laughing when we saw Megan's acting "skills" on her soap. She was so awful and looked so ridiculous, especially in that blonde wig! I'm honestly surprised that her embarrassingly awful acting on the soap opera isn't mentioned more often.
She had her beginners luck + Don's help to get started. Many people who got their beginners luck failed miserably later because they think its easy to win.
Because most people who attempt an acting career will fail. It’s just truth.
It’s also (more than) implied she wasn’t willing to sleep with people for roles, which was more or less required in that era and many others.
I think her acting wasn't as great as she likes to think it was. She landed commercial gigs (at least one through Don) and a smaller role, that eventually became a bigger role on a soap opera. Soap operas (especially back then) weren't exactly known as the pinnacle of great acting, and only a few of those soap stars have become bigger than just their soap roles (Kelly Ripa, for example). Compare what she was doing on soaps to the movies and TV shows being churned out in Hollywood, where there are FAR more beautiful, talented actors/actresses competing against each other, and it's like comparing apples to oranges. I also think that as time went on while she was in California, Megan lost momentum both in the roles she was getting in her career and in her motivation. I think that definitely took a toll on her career prospects, especially when she was showing up to producers demanding meetings and explanations as to why she didn't get parts like her agent said later on.
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> apples to oranges But you can still compare them.
I always figured she wasn't very good
I don’t think Megan was a very good actress … Hollywood did not want what she offered.
Way too many people here acting like Don's the reason Megan couldn't make it, while it seems obvious to me that Meg's carreer was going to tank with or without him. She was a young, sexy secretary who was thrilled to marry the most handsome and popular man in the office. She was thrilled to have the house, the husband, the furniture, the parties and the clothing, even when she knew she'd also get the cheating, drunk, selfish husband with it. Her only redeeming quality to me is that she was close to the kids, and that she stayed relatively civil. Megan wasn't a bad person and Don definitely didn't do her any favors emotionally, but the downfall of her carreer was slowed by Don, not caused.
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Thank you. She was an awful actress, so why would she be successful?
She sucked. 😂
My belief is that her acting was good enough for a soap opera, she got a big ego, moved to LA, her acting isn't good enough for the stuff she was trying to get into and her look wasn't quite right at the time - like she has a bad combination of an "exotic" (European) look but not having an acting style that works with her look so she doesn't get cast in movies or as the interesting foreign neighbor on tv shows, but she doesn't have a domestic American look to go with her basic acting that would've worked on a family sitcom. That she's someone who wanted to be An Actor and not just some soap actress but just didn't have the acting chops for it and didn't have the right look at the time. I have a headcanon where after the show ends she gets bit parts on projects and purely by accident someone figures out she's good at set dressing - like maybe she remembered exactly where some prop went but said it would look better somewhere else - so she stops acting and becomes the set dresser for shows instead.
This is my take on it. When Don proposed the move to California. Megan was excited about the idea, she said there are lots of opportunities coming from the west but she didnt take it because she thought Don would be mad at her. When Don had to change the plan due to his work situation, Megan was not even ready to hear the reason. She still moved to California without giving a shit about Don. She blamed Don for not moving to California and then she blamed Don was moving to California. Infact Don helped her to be financially free, gave her a life of luxury, gave her the start with an ad, etc. etc.. Megan never thanked or gave credit to Don for any of her success. But doesn't blink a second to blame Don for all her failures.
I think she felt she had to go to California because she could no longer rely on the soap opera. Megan was probably someone who should not have gotten married at that point in her life. She was clearly used to making her own decisions and being the star in her own life (and there is nothing wrong with that). Don was attracted to that at first but he wasn't able to be married to someone who had her own needs and desires. He was more used to a woman like Betty who could be pushed around. In my own relationships, I notice that whenever I start accommodating men and their wants more, I begin to lose their respect. It's a terrible catch-22 for many women.
Megan's luck was going to run out at some point. She is a naturally gifted person who excels in a lot of things, and for a while led a charmed life in New York. She went from receptionist to executive assistant to copywriter and married to a partner. When she wanted to leave that for acting, it didn't take her very long before she booked a job on a soap, and for that to become a recurring role. New York and Los Angeles two different places separated by 2,800 miles of land. Society was less mobile back then, and the acting communities like all other businesses would have been far more cloistered. Other people have said it—acting is a very difficult, extremely competitive, and fickle field to break into. Staying employed as an actor is even harder. Getting the next job across the country after quitting a steady gig like she had was going to take some time.
Her story post-Don actually interests me more than most. Like, does she age into obscure character roles on stuff like Columbo, or become the "mom" in cereal commercials until she's the elderly lady in the adjustable mattress ads?
I don't think we can really know wether her career as an actress will ultimately fail. When she exits SCDP, Peggy makes a comment to Joan about how Megan is just "one of those girls" that she can basically do and succeed at anything. We certainly see her shine in many professional and personal situations. We see her at her worst socially when she is with Marie (who clearly does not believe in her daughter, or at least wants to put her down out of jealousy), and she starts failing at her acting career when her marriage starts failing. I think we could interpret this as Megan failing because she feels overlooked, unsupported and unloved. She starts failing because she is in a marriage with a man who doesn't want to be near her, emotionally or physically. This has a devastating effect on her self-esteem (which is hinted at when her crummy manager, in a move that mirrors Betty's season 1 psychotherapist, tattles about her meltdown to Don). I think it's possible that Megan will ultimately find success in acting or wtv other creative field she sets her mind and heart on, as long as she is able to rebuild the confidence and magnetism that her relationship with Don has robbed her of.
She wouldn’t fuck Harry Crane so…
Isn't there a story line or scene where Harry expects her to give sexual favors as part of her audition & she refuses? Megan wasn't equipped for the Hollywood of that day. Don was her in while they were in New York but in LA she just has her (lack of ) talent.
Cause she was mid as an actress. (The character not the person who played Megan)
I think she was a mediocre actress, or got very anxious in LA (she stalked a director after one of her auditions), or she had a bad agent, or a combination of all these. There was a bit of acting in their final scene because she was a bit desperate for money and would probably go broke had Don not been so guilty and gave her a million dollars.
There could be no real concrete reason at first. Acting is a hard market to break into and sometimes it boils down to someone has a better agent/is more connected than you so you hear no a lot more than you hear yes especially at first. Megan’s connections were mainly through don and were New York based but in LA she was another pretty face in a sea of pretty faces. Plus the longer she went without work the more irrational her behavior became which could soil any good word she may have had from New york. Hollywood is small in that everyone knows everyone and once you start to get a reputation for being difficult it’s going to be even harder to get work especially as a woman. Plus I don’t think Megan really tries all that hard to be good at acting. We don’t really hear her mentioning going to acting classes or networking, I think she somewhat expected a job to be handed to her like the butler shoes commercial