This Sunday at 9 p.m., "Mad Men" wraps up its wild ride with its series finale on AMC. Here at OnMilwaukee.com, we’re tearfully celebrating the end of eight glorious seasons of "Mad Men" with eight Wisconsin references we spotted throughout the course of the show.
1. Crane is a Badger
In season one, Harry Crane (Rich Sommer) mentions to Don Draper (Jon Hamm) that he attended UW-Madison and was a photographer for the school newspaper.
2. The Boy from Whitefish Bay
Actor Sam Page, who plays Joan Holloway’s second husband Greg Harris in season two and on, is from Wisconsin. He was born in Whitefish Bay on Nov. 5, 1976. Here’s a link to our interview with Sam Page from 2003, prior his "Mad Men" days. He'll also be appearing in the Ryan Reynolds summer sci-fi flick "Self/Less" this July.
3. Did you hear about Koss?
In the opening episode of season six, set on New Year’s Eve entering 1968, Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss) creates the very first – and very fictional – Super Bowl ad campaign for the Milwaukee-based Koss Corporation.
4. Go Pack Go
In season six, Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss) picks the Green Bay Packers to win the 1968 Super Bowl. Super Bowl II was played on Jan. 14, 1968 at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Fla. And Peggy was right: The Green Bay Packers defeated the Oakland Raiders by the score of 33-14.
5. Bob Benson: A Beloit Buccaneer?
Bob Benson (James Wolk), a new hire in the accounts department for the agency, shows up in season six and claims to have attended Beloit College (as well as University of Pennsylvania’s prestigious Wharton School of Business). However, it is later discovered that Benson has lied about his past.
Speaking of Beloit College, Bob Levinson, an advertising consultant on the "Mad Men" production team, actually did attend the college and earned his bachelor’s degree from there in 1960. Coincidence? Probably not.
6. Can I get some Kringle with my coffee?
Of all the places in all the towns in all the world, Don Draper (Jon Hamm) meets, and subsequently becomes involved with, a diner waitress named Diana (Elizabeth Reaser) from Racine. Later, in part two of season seven, Don takes a road trip to our great state in order to try and track her down.
7. Tastes Great, Less Fulfilling
After Don Draper (Jon Hamm) and the SCP team are absorbed into McCann-Erickson in part two of season seven, Don’s new boss tells him, "We just bought an entire agency in Milwaukee to get Miller Beer." Subsequently, Don finds himself in a meeting regarding a new Miller product: "diet beer." This is, of course, a clear reference to the introduction of Miller Lite, which was introduced nationally in 1975.
In a side note, according to AdAge.com, around 1970 the real-life McCann-Erickson resigned from its $1 million G. Heileman Brewing (also based in Wisconsin!) Old Style business in order to handle the Miller Brewing account.
8. Major Props
In an interview with Dijour.com, "Mad Men" set decorator Claudette Didul talks about sourcing the props needed for the show, specifically rotary phones. Says Didul, "My set decoration coordinator found this amazing man in Wisconsin who has a hobby of vintage phones – he restores them. So if we need them to ring with all the correct cords coming off the back … he has helped tremendously. We found him on eBay, actually."
Bonus: Milwaukee in the movies and TV
Have we missed anything? And how do you think the show will come to a close? Will Don Draper end up being D.B. Cooper? Will he fall out of a building only to land smoothly on a couch, smoking a cigarette? Will it end with everybody eating onion rings at a diner and listening to "Don't Stop Believing" before a sudden smash cut to black? Let us know what you think below!
