I thought the first few seasons of “Mad Men” captured the early 60s better than any show or movie ever did.
I started work for real late in the seventies. My kids are stunned when we talk about how much people smoked, drank, and yes...had sex at work. We used to have Friday keg parties.
Things have changed just a wee bit.
Mad Men was highly entertaining and a very good perspective of the '60s that I never knew from my grandparents.
“Mad Men” definitely was true to life then.
Offices were filled with cigarette smoke. We had a bottle of Everclear in a file cabinet to add to juice for impromptu parties. Happy Hour Fridays at the Blue Fox. Even the most staunchly political views on both sides were discussed and respected, with no animosity. Major flirting — including taking that to its “logical conclusion”. Pretty wild Christmas parties, with liquor arriving in the back of a pickup truck. (The organization attorney put an end to that following an accident.) Worked hard and played hard. Lots of overlap between work and social relationships. We’d work together eight hours a day, then party at the lake on weekends, and take cruises together for vacation.
Carbon paper. Making/changing flight reservations by phone. 10-key adding machines. Dressing well and appropriately. No Google, Excel, or even basic word processing yet.
I grew up 35 miles outside of NYC. I started my career there in the early 60’s. Mad Men was my favorite show of all. Hated to see it end, although they jumped the shark at the very end.