Connecting with the real Mad Men – Horseshoes & Hand Grenades Theatre

HHG Theatre Co-Artistic Director Sean Devine talks about the ongoing creation process for his newest work Daisy.

Bill Bernbach, known in the advertising world as the father of “the creative revolution” is so revered in his industry that a book of Bernabch quotes is required reading. One of his better known quotes goes:

“The truth isn’t the truth until people believe you, and they can’t believe you if they don’t know what you’re saying, and they can’t know what you’re saying if they don’t listen to you, and they won’t listen to you if you’re not interesting, and you won’t be interesting unless you say things imaginatively, originally, freshly.”

It’s been such a daunting challenge to create Daisy, a play about the infamous 1964 television advertisng campaign created by the famed Madison Avenue firm of Doyle Dane Bernbach. The real-life characters that populate this story are some of the most innovative, genius minds of their era. They wrote the book, and then they themselves re-wrote the book. If we’re not imaginative, orignal and fresh, we won’t be interesting. And to not be interesting would be death.

As with Re:Union, part of the route to overcoming these challenges is research: getting as close to and as knowledgable of our subjects as we can. This entails years of reading and studying, mining for audio-visual material, and then actually going to see these people, these places, face-to-face. Not only for the opportunity to interview these real life legends, but to walk literally in their own footsteps.

With the support of our research and development grants from the BC Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts, I was fortunate enough to travel to New York City and Washington, DC to do the first phase of this on-the-ground research. (HHG Theatre first went to DC on some research for Re:Union. Revisit that here.)

Thanks to the fantastic Kathleen Gordon, Director Creation Initiatives at DDB Worldwide in NYC, I got fantastic access to DDB’s Madison Avenue headquarters: their research library, their film archives, and also to some circa 1964 era former DDB staffers (including someone who was involved in the creation of the “Daisy” ad). There’s research you can do in a book or with a Google search, and then there’s the encounters that can only come from passion and good fortune.

Here’s some small samples of all of this.

Think it looks like Don Draper's office? Well, this pricey piece of Madison Avenue real estate once belonged to DDB Creative Director Bill Bernbach. It now belongs to current Creative Director Amir Kassaei, who himself has reinvigorated the firm with Bernbach's legacy. — Think it looks like Don Draper’s office? Well, this pricey piece of Madison Avenue real estate once belonged to DDB Creative Director Bill Bernbach. It now belongs to current Creative Director Amir Kassaei, who himself has reinvigorated the firm with Bernbach’s legacy.

This bronze statue of Bernbach's famous pose sits on Amir Kassei's window ledge. — This bronze statue of Bernbach’s famous pose sits on Amir Kassei’s window ledge.

Bernbach himself, in the original pose, now cast in bronze.

And here's the playwright himself, a little humbled, sitting in Bernbach's former office (now Kassaei's), below a portrait of the man himself. — And here’s the playwright himself, a little humbled, sitting in Bernbach’s former office (now Kassaei’s), below a portrait of the man himself.

Sean Devine got to spend a couple of hours talking to these original "Mad Men", former 1960s era DDB staffers. From left to right: Art Director Don Blauweiss, Copywriter Chuck Schroeder, and Art Director Sid Myers. In fact, Sid Myers was the Art Director who was part of the rteam that created the 1964 "Daisy" ad. — Sean Devine got to spend a couple of hours talking to these original “Mad Men”, former 1960s era DDB staffers. From left to right: Art Director Don Blauweiss, Copywriter Chuck Schroeder, and Art Director Sid Myers. In fact, Sid Myers was the Art Director who was part of the team that created the 1964 “Daisy” ad.

HHG March 8, 2014

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