The Real Mad Men

We present a rare chance to meet the real Madison Avenue Ad Men who inspired Mad Men.

Read synopsis

Synopsis

As the globally successful US series Mad Men continues its leisurely-paced stroll through the 1960s, BFI Southbank presents a rare chance to meet the real Madison Avenue Ad Men who inspired the series. Two contemporary 60s documentaries focused on those personalities behind one of the US business phenomena of the 1960s, a misunderstood, rapidly burgeoning, multi-million dollar industry intent on selling an idealised version of the American dream to the cash-rich masses.

Madison Avenue, USA

Year: 1967
Directed by: Kevin Billington
Distributed by: BBC
Running time: 55min

A fast-paced, fascinating overview of America’s ad industry with interviews with many of the high gurus of the field including Dan Seymour, Albert Goldman, Norman B Norman, David Ogilvy, William Bernbach, Dirk Rich and ad woman Mary Wells.

We are delighted that director Kevin Billington will introduce this special screening.

+ Inside America: Quiet Persuader

Year: 1965
Directed by: Charles Denton
Distributed by: BBC
Running time: 30min

An in-depth profile of Madison Avenue top gun Steve Frankfurt, who is responsible for spending hundreds of thousands of dollars daily at his New York advertising agency. The film follows this real-life Don Draper at work and at play, and with both areas it’s intriguing to compare his world with that of Mad Men and marvel at just how perfectly the series captures the period.

Return to top