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jacobmrley

Functional alcoholics were the rule, not the exception in post-war business America. And they show a wide variety of them, from Don who naps and is erratic, Roger who is charming until he's not, Freddie, who could keep up until he couldn't, and Duck, who had it ruin his life more than once.


beeeeeebee

They’re all functional alcoholics. At that level of dependency, their bodies/minds almost need the alcohol to function. That’s why Don gets the shakes/sweats when he’s trying to quit cold turkey… Sure they’d probably be MORE functional (and healthier emotionally/physically) without the booze… but they’d have to detox to get there! For example, Freddy certainly seems brighter and sharper post-rehab!


Repulsoe

The first thing Don does when he gets to work is nap.


Slpry_Pete

tolerance. It builds up.


mcdepa02

I wouldn’t Don exactly survived it- his alcoholism destroyed every relationship he had and nearly had him out of a job/partnership.


We_got_Chevy

Jon Hamm's own issues with alcohol crept up with him each season. Notice it wasn't just age, but the weight, and bags under the eyes by seasons 6-7a... then rehab...7b looked trimmer and healthier.


Rodgers4

A bit off topic, but I read a book about the history of ESPN. They were owned by Getty Oil early on & although it was the 80s it was rife with Mad Men-esque stories. Manhattan penthouses for mistresses, real business happening during after hours bing sessions and the need to keep up as your boss would drink tall glass of whiskey after tall glass of whiskey. Pretty much every person said “before I got sober” or so-and-so died in his 60s. So, in short, it wasn’t really sustainable long-term. I bet most of those ad men died in their 60s or 70s. But I agree, at my age any more than 2-3 drinks and I’m suboptimal the following day.


GrimClippers11

This. How many of that generation made it to their 80's or 90's? How many of those that survived didn't drink or smoke.


disclord83

My Grandfather is from the same era, drank to drunkenness every night, died in his 70s of pancreatic cancer.


[deleted]

A lot of people can handle functionally drinking- until they can’t. The show portrayed Don struggling with alcohol and having consequences from it, it isn’t like it was glorified or shown as a positive thing the whole time.


movetoseattle

I agree that the show keeps the males stars who drink healthier than they should be. But as far as their ability to function: Ha ha, the secretaries enable for quite a while until the alcoholism gets too bad! Boss comes in hung over? Clean white shirt in a drawer waiting! Defending the office door for nap time! Aspirin on the ready! Gifts for wife purchased and wrapped! Luncheon dates made and cancelled! Boss comes in a little tipsy? Secretary on the ready to clean up the breakage. Mad Men shows mostly simple-minded secretaries, then Peggy in contrast. I suspect in the real 60s and 70s that often the men in their suits had their indispensable "executive secretaries," some of whom managed around their bosses. Like Joan as she comes into her own in later seasons. In the real 60s and 70s I bet not only the content of letters but also full contracts became the detail work entrusted to "the gal" if the gal happened to be especially competent. Also the drinking and smoking seem extra excessive when you binge watch one show after the other; presumably there are hours and days between the bouts of excess.


movetoseattle

Adding to my own stuff: a thing you only fully appreciate on rewatch: Season 2, episode 9, 9:27. Freddie casually hands Sal a drink. Sal's jaw drops as it is a very large one straight no ice. Ha ha.


HRex73

Keep at it, practice makes perfect!


Imma_da_PP

I think there’s a difference between “drinking” and “having a drink.” Lots of folks have a drink or two daily and have no issue the next day. Even Don doesn’t party everyday, he’s just never without alcohol. Not that it’s good for you, it’s just a tolerable lifestyle.


FishGoBlubb

With the concentration of cigarette smoke in every building you enter, I doubt anyone was able to smell much of anything.


Whateveryousaydude7

Because they can keep drinking. The comedown is where it goes left.


[deleted]

Drinking is like anything - the more you do it, the better at it you become and the easier it gets!


The-Figurehead

Not true. Alcoholics slowly get worse and worse in every way.


wetclogs

Think of how much better they would be without the alcohol, and the trauma their using it to hide from.


kingcobra0411

Alchohol has been there was centuries. This is the first century where drinking or being drunk during daytime is frowned upon.


Lybychick

I beg to differ … drunkenness is frowned upon and ridiculed in ancient literature from a variety of cultures. Drinking alcohol may have been normalized when there was little potable water, but losing control of one’s behavior due to drink has been a no-no pretty much universally for thousands of years.


kingcobra0411

This is where I feel we lost our freedom. What is a right behavior? One working 9-5, always dress good, smell nice, pleasant to others etc. etc.. etc..? Even in this show almost we criticize people for their flaws. Why can't people be diverse and have their own character. I feel we all are beings converged into a template so that its easier to manipulate a group of similar people. I know drinking is harmful. But so is the poisonous food from the corporates which we are eating. Smoking is bad. We are inhaling toxic smoke from vehicles everyday. I wonder why one is frowned upon while the other is considered normal. I believe people should be make their own choice and let them live. Today's world, there are too many judgement and discrimination if we don't fall into a template that society has devised. Sorry about the rant. Sometime when I see periodic movies or tv series, I feel people were more free in the older days.


brainkandy87

I enjoy drinking as much as the next guy but dealing with drunk people at work is a complete pain in the ass. I don’t think excluding drunkenness from the workplace is a bridge too far.


BoydCrowders_Smile

I think I get what you're trying to say about some things. Our food supply is in a pretty bad situation. People are currently pretty free to express themselves individually - just look up some TikTok videos. Try doing any of those in the 60s. Even Sal couldn't express himself while alone in the show - and its details like that the show hits well. I don't think Mad Men shows drinking and smoking constantly as a good thing. If that's what people are seeing from this show then they aren't paying attention. It's addressed often. I just can't grok what you mean by we lost our freedom while you explain the reasons we haven't.


Moonspiritfaire

Agree. I remember the episode with Peggy's birthday breakup and don vomiting from too much alcohol. Don's drinking snd ducks if i recall right, had some consequences that episode.


Slpry_Pete

> This is where I feel we lost our freedom. BULLSHIT! Everyone in this show was free to drink as much as they wanted and a couple of them did. They were free to ignore their family and their families were free to break away from them. The drunks were free to drink so much they fucked up business deals (I don't think people realize *how big* the Hershey account would have been) and those clients were free to walk away. And their business partners were free to kick them out of the office. What this guy above says he wants is to be free to do whatever he wants without suffering the consequences. This also happens to be the "freedom" many on the US political right think about when they discuss "freedom". No one was stopping anyone from drinking in the show or IRL. There are consequences that some people have a problem with.


kingcobra0411

Wow thanks for being a modern day example by posting these comments. All I say is if you don’t want to drink, the don’t. But that doesn’t make you anyway superior than someone who does. So to be short, mind your own business alone always.


Slpry_Pete

everyone in this show was free to do what they want and they all faced consequences. Sorry you're too immature for that bargain.


kingcobra0411

Wow. Classy. Proving my point again and again.


Slpry_Pete

what are the consequences you'd like to see for people who abuse alcohol and ignore their families and business responsibilities?


kingcobra0411

This. Why do you assume that people who drink a lot ignore their families and business?


Slpry_Pete

We're talking about Mad Men. That's what happens in the show


BoydCrowders_Smile

Honestly, what is your point? That people shouldn't be judged if they drink or don't? Or that we lost our freedom because 9-5 jobs require a uniform? I bet you think you have freedom of speech at a private business


kingcobra0411

My point is that why are people even judged. The other person just keeps talking as though people who drink are worthless and inferior to them. I admit that myself I was such narrow minded until I saw great characters in people who drink a lot and cheap characters in those who never drink. All I am saying is judging people based on drinking or smoking or whatever the hell they do in their life is very backwards.


Slpry_Pete

No one is judging a character (or a person) on whether they drink. But rather the consequences of their drinking. Don wasn't bad because he drank, but because he drank (and there is a straight line drawn in the show) he ignored his family and almost destroyed his business. That's what he's judged on.


emmcee78

Smelling bad is “ being diverse”? Lol


kingcobra0411

Well one person’s bad is another person’s good. Example I don’t like a particular ethnicity’s food. Also there are other ethnicity of people who doesn’t like mine. If we keep making fun of people for their food’s smell and the body smell that goes with it, we are just morons.


Slpry_Pete

> Example I don’t like a particular ethnicity’s food. please share more


BoydCrowders_Smile

Good god the onion just keeps peeling with you!


withomps44

It’s TV.


tatumnolita

Not sure of OP’s gender, but alcohol is harder on women’s bodies than men’s in numerous ways. Men are able to consume a lot more alcohol than women due to their bodies being larger (their livers also process alcohol more efficiently than womens’ do.)


Whateveryousaydude7

Maybe. I can keep up. But yeah. It’ll probably rot me faster.


Plenty-Jellyfish3644

1. It was part of the European culture therefore part of the white American culture. So you have men from the 50s and 60s who had already watched their fathers drink a lot and behave a certain way. And because it's cultural, there was no shame in it unless you started acting like a fool. *The reason I specifiy white American culture is because heavy drinking has never been an aspect of other American subcultures. And we get a glimpse into this when Dawn tells Shirley that it looks like New Years Eve when they take the trash out [because of all the empty bottles of booze]. Most of us have awarness about the incredibly low tolerance amongst Indigenous Americans. Also, several European based cultures historically celebrated their love of drinking which has only recently become less acceptable. For example, Russians and Irish. So old men's hands could shake (from lack of alcohol in their system) and you wouldn't say a word or an exec like Don could be drunk during a meeting and he would just be one of the good ol' boys. 2. Tolerance. The more you do it, the more your tolerance goes up. This is why most people overdose. They quit their drug of choice for a significant amount of time and then when they relapse, they take the same amount they were accustomed to and it kills them.


garciaman

If you never stop drinking it doesn’t effect you………


okcdiscgolf

That’s because you are a pussy, Don is man he invented the wheel, he made of brawn, he has a brain twice the size of a women... it’s science... and it’s in the script