Rich Sommer stars in the hit TV show Mad Men, and he talks about how he got into acting and how he became the man that we know and love so well. He also talks about his character, Harry Crane, and the challenges he and his wife faced in the early 1960s.
00:10:56.220But the nice thing is that there are places that have sort of β I mean, to answer the first question and the second question, sort of, yes.
00:11:04.820It has influenced how I dress in real life.
00:11:24.540And then another was Gentleman of Timeless Fashion.
00:11:26.440Those are both, like, pretty good, basic, bare-bone, like, here's how to mix, you know, patterns, and here's what to wear.
00:11:36.800And that's good because, like, to our first party that we had, I didn't own a suit for our first party.
00:11:44.040And so my only time going to the Friars Club here in Los Angeles before it was dismantled and is no longer the Friars Club was wearing a suit that I bought at Men's Warehouse that week
00:11:56.940and, like, hastily put together to try and, like, to try and approximate what I thought I was supposed to wear, and it was a horrible disaster.
00:12:07.900The pictures from that party I am embarrassed of to this day.
00:12:11.380And so I had our costume designer, Janie Bryant, has always been really super generous with all of us in trying to kind of help us outside of the show
00:12:21.820get a sort of approximation of the look that we have on the show, which is really, it's been great.
00:12:28.460Now, you know, now I have kind of a closet full of suits, and people are willing to help us kind of maintain the look of the show
00:12:36.200because it's important to Janie and important to the show as much as it is to us to sort of hold up on the outside.
00:12:46.880So, Rich, why do you think Mad Men is so popular among young people?
00:12:50.960I mean, you get on Facebook or Twitter, and, like, as soon as an episode's over, people are Facebooking it and saying,
00:12:56.540oh, this is amazing, and it's all young people, like, people in their 20s and 30s, and now we're seeing, you know, young men, you know, dressing like Don Draper.
00:13:05.300They're doing their hair like Mad Men with the part on the side using brill cream, drinking scotch.
00:13:09.980I mean, what cultural nerve do you think the show struck?
00:13:29.800I'm nervous always that part of the thing that is striking is that when people are dressing that way,
00:13:37.900that part of it is because of the excess on the show and the sort of, you know, the lifestyle of the smoking and the drinking and the whole thing,
00:13:47.320and that it all fits a sort of look that they're going for.
00:13:53.620But beyond that, I think that, you know, on the good side of the coin, I hope it has just sort of reminded people that simple, classic fashion has not gone anywhere.
00:14:05.960I think that, you know, we need that reminder every 10 years or so that, you know, as whatever new big fad comes through,
00:14:13.620people eventually remember, oh, yeah, there's also this thing that we can always go back to that will always look good,
00:14:20.620that you still can be an individual in it.
00:14:57.000I think we've talked about this a little bit, touched on a little bit, but what are some lessons about manliness, both positive and negative, that people can take away from madmen?
00:15:06.320Well, I think it's pretty clear that infidelity is not really going to get you too far as far as maintaining a happy marriage.
00:15:22.060I think that there is an idea of loyalty, but there's also a need to sort of watch out for yourself as well.
00:15:31.180So, you know, I'm not saying selfishness, I'm saying sort of self-preservation is something that, you know, if you need to do something to protect yourself and your family,
00:15:44.160and it means being, you know, quote-unquote disloyal to, you know, someone that you work for or work with, sometimes it has to be done.
00:15:52.460I mean, I'm not necessarily sure of what specific example I could give you from the show, but I feel like that's sort of a theme that happens.
00:16:00.260This sort of loyalty to, just loyalty overall, I think is a theme in the show.
00:16:12.220It's a hard question because it is a show that I think does kind of show you a lot of things about what being a man was at the time.
00:16:21.320And I'm not entirely sure they're all positive.
00:16:26.980In fact, I'm sure that they're not all positive lessons on that stuff.
00:16:31.300And it's not necessarily, I shouldn't say it's showing you what being a man was at the time.
00:16:36.440I think it's showing you what being considered a man was at the time.
00:16:40.760And now we have a different notion of what being considered a man is.
00:16:44.160But just like with fashion, there are still these sort of simple base rules that as long as you're following those, you should be okay, you know, courtesy and honesty and things like that.
00:16:57.680But I think that being a man is the same now as it was then.
00:17:01.940It's just sort of with a different hair product.
00:17:05.280But whatever, there's my bumper sticker for you.
00:17:10.360What's one piece of advice that you'd give to men?
00:17:13.600I would say, you know, be honest and educate yourself.
00:17:20.040I guess that's, and by educate yourself, I don't necessarily mean schooling.
00:17:24.460I mean, I do mean schooling, but I also mean educate yourself on what came before you and what lessons history has to teach about your legacy and how you interact with the people around you.
00:17:40.600And so a subset of educate yourself for me is be honest, because my history, my personal history or the things around me, that's kind of my number one ticket, I think, is trying to remain honest to myself and to the people around me.
00:17:58.380And I think that that helps me lead a better life.
00:18:02.700Well, Rich, thank you for coming on the show.