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A beach salesman showing necklaces to a tourist in Mexico

A sale is the act of selling a product or service in return for money or other compensation.^[1] It is an act of completion of a commercial activity.

The seller' or salesperson – the provider of the goods or services – completes a sale in response to an acquisition or to an appropriation^{[disambiguation needed ][citation needed]} or to a request. There follows the passing of title (property or ownership) in the item, and the application and due settlement of a price, the obligation for which arises due to the seller's requirement to pass ownership. Ideally, a seller agrees upon a price at which he willingly parts with ownership of or any claim upon the item. The purchaser, though a party to the sale, does not execute the sale, only the seller does that. To be precise the sale completes prior to the payment and gives rise to the obligation of payment. If the seller completes the first two above stages (consent and passing ownership) of the sale prior to settlement of the price, the sale remains valid and gives rise to an obligation to pay.

Sales techniques[link]

A sale can take place through:^[2]

• Direct sales, involving person to person contact
• Pro forma sales
• Agency-based
  • Sales agents (for example in real estate or in manufacturing)
  • Sales outsourcing through direct branded representation
  • Transaction sales
  • Consultative sales
  • Complex sales
  • Consignment
  • Telemarketing or telesales
  • Retail or consumer
• Traveling salesman
  • Door-to-door methods
  • hawking
• Request for proposal – An invitation for suppliers, through a bidding process, to submit a proposal on a specific product or service. An RFP usually represents part of a complex sales process, also known as "enterprise sales".
• Business-to-business – Business-to-business ("B2B") sales are much more relationship-based owing to the lack of emotional attachment^{[citation needed]} to the products in question. Industrial/professional sales involves selling from one business to another
• Electronic
  • Web – Business-to-business ("B2B") and business-to-consumer ("B2C")
  • Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) – A set of standard for structuring information to be electronically exchanged between and within businesses
• Indirect, human-mediated but with indirect contact
  • Mail-order
  • vending machine
• Sales methods:
  • Selling technique
  • Consultative selling
  • Sales enablement
  • Solution selling
  • Conceptual Selling
  • Strategic Selling
  • Transactional Selling
  • Sales Negotiation
  • Reverse Selling
  • Paint-the-Picture
  • The take away
  • Sales Habits
  • Relationship Selling

Sales agents[link]

Agents in the sales process can represent either of two parties in the sales process; for example:

1. Sales broker or Seller agency or seller agent: This is a traditional role where the salesman represents a person or company on the selling end of a deal.
2. Buyers broker or Buyer brokerage: This is where the salesman represents the consumer making the purchase. This is most often applied in large transactions.
3. Disclosed dual agent:This is where the salesman represents both parties in the sale and acts as a mediator for the transaction. The role of the salesman here is to oversee that both parties receive an honest and fair deal, and is responsible to both.
4. Transaction broker: This is where the salesperson represent neither party but handles the transaction only. The seller owes no responsibility to either party getting a fair or honest deal, just that all of the papers are handled properly.
5. Sales outsourcing involves direct branded representation where the sales representatives are recruited, hired, and managed by an external entity but hold quotas, represent themselves as the brand of the client, and report all activities (through their own sales management channels) back to the client. It is akin to a virtual extension of a sales force (see sales outsourcing).
6. Sales managers: qualified and talented^{[peacock term]} sales managers aim to implement various sales strategies and management techniques in order to facilitate improved profits and increased sales volume. They are also responsible for coordinating the sales and marketing department as well as oversight concerning the fair and honest execution of the sales process by their agents.
7. Salesmen: The primary function of professional sales is to generate and close leads, educate prospects, fill needs and satisfy wants of consumers appropriately, and therefore turn prospective customers into actual ones. Questioning – to understand a customer's goal and requirements relevant to the product – and the creation of a valuable solution by communicating the necessary information that encourages a buyer to achieve their goal at an economic cost comprise the functions of the salesperson or of the sales engine (for example, the Internet, a vending machine, etc.). A good salesman should never mis-sell or over-evaluate the customer's requirements.

[edit] Inside sales vs. Outside sales

Since the advent of the telephone, a distinction has been made^{[citation needed]} between "inside sales" and "outside sales" although it is generally agreed that those terms have no hard-and-fast definition.^[3] In the United States, the Fair Labor Standards Act defines outside sales representatives as "employees [who] sell their employer's products, services, or facilities to customers away from their employer's place(s) of business, in general, either at the customer's place of business or by selling door-to-door at the customer's home" while defining those who work "from the employer's location" as inside sales.^[4] Inside sales generally involves attempting to close business primarily over the phone via cold calling or telemarketing, while outside sales (or "field" sales) will usually involve initial phone work to book sales calls at the potential buyer's location to attempt to close the deal in person. Some companies have an inside sales department that works with outside representatives and book their appointments for them. Inside sales sometimes refers to upselling to existing customers.

The relationships between sales and marketing[link]

Marketing and sales differ greatly, but have the same goal. Marketing improves the selling environment and plays a very important role in sales. If the marketing department generates a list of potential customers, that can benefit sales. A marketing department in an organization has the goal increasing the number of interactions between potential customers and the organization. Achieving this goal may involve the sales team using promotional techniques such as advertising, sales promotion, publicity, and public relations, creating new sales channels, or creating new products (new product development), among other things. It can also include bringing the potential customer to visit the organization's website(s) for more information, or to contact the organization for more information, or to interact with the organization via social media such as Twitter, Facebook and blogs.

The relatively new^[when?] field of sales process engineering views "sales" as the output of a larger system, not just as the output of one department. The larger system includes many functional areas within an organization. From this perspective, "sales" and "marketing" (among others, such as "customer service") label for a number of processes whose inputs and outputs supply one another to varying degrees. In this context, improving an "output" (such as sales) involves studying and improving the broader sales process, as in any system, since the component functional areas interact and are interdependent.^[5]

Most large corporations structure their marketing departments in a similar fashion to sales departments^{[citation needed]} and the managers of these teams must coordinate efforts in order to drive profits and business success. For example, an "inbound" focused campaign seeks to drive more customers "through the door", giving the sales department a better chance of selling their product to the consumer. A good marketing program would address any potential downsides as well.

The sales department would aim to improve the interaction between the customer and the sales facility or mechanism (example, web site) and/or salesperson. Sales management would break down the selling process and then increase the effectiveness of the discrete processes as well as the interaction between processes. For example, in many out-bound sales environments, the typical process includes out-bound calling, the sales pitch, handling objections, opportunity identification, and the close. Each step of the process has sales-related issues, skills, and training needs, as well as marketing solutions to improve each discrete step, as well as the whole process.

One further common complication of marketing involves the inability to measure results for a great deal of marketing initiatives. In essence, many marketing and advertising executives often lose sight of the objective of sales/revenue/profit, as they focus on establishing a creative/innovative program, without concern for the top or bottom lines - a fundamental pitfall of marketing for marketing's sake.

Many companies find it challenging to get marketing and sales on the same page.^{[citation needed]} The two departments, although different in nature, handle very similar concepts and have to work together for sales to be successful. Building a good relationship between the two that encourages communication can be the key to success - even in a down economy.^[6]

Marketing potentially negates the need for sales[link]

Some sales authors and consultants contend that an expertly planned and executed marketing strategy may negate the need for outside sales entirely. They suggest that by effectively bringing more customers "through the door" and enticing them into contact, sales organizations can dramatically improve their results, efficiency, profitability, and allow salespeople to provide a drastically higher level of customer service and satisfaction, instead of spending the majority of their working hours searching for someone to sell to.^[7]

Industrial marketing[link]

The idea that marketing can potentially eliminate the need for sales people depends entirely on context. For example, this may be possible in some B2C situations; however, for many B2B transactions (for example, those involving industrial organizations) this is mostly impossible.^{[citation needed]} Another dimension is the value of the goods being sold. Fast-moving consumer-goods (FMCG) require no sales people at the point of sale to get them to jump off the supermarket shelf and into the customer's trolley. However, the purchase of large mining equipment worth millions of dollars will require a sales person to manage the sales process - particularly in the face of competitors.

Sales and marketing alignment and integration[link]

Another area of discussion involves the need for alignment and integration between corporate sales and marketing functions. According to a report from the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council, only 40 percent of companies have formal programs, systems or processes in place to align and integrate the two critical functions.

Traditionally, these two functions, as referenced above, have operated separately, left in siloed areas of tactical responsibility. Glen Petersen’s book The Profit Maximization Paradox^[8] sees the changes in the competitive landscape between the 1950s and the time of writing as so dramatic that the complexity of choice, price and opportunities for the customer forced this seemingly simple and integrated relationship between sales and marketing to change forever. Petersen goes on to highlight that salespeople spend approximately 40 percent of their time preparing customer-facing deliverables while leveraging less than 50 percent of the materials created by marketing, adding to perceptions that marketing is out of touch with the customer and that sales is resistant to messaging and strategy.

See also[link]

Look up sale in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• buzzword
• Choice architecture
• Customer service
• Demand chain
• Point of sale
• Retailing
• Sales (accounting)
• Sales Effectiveness
• Sales Incentive Plan
• Sales process engineering
• Sales management
• Sales territory
• Sales variance
• Selling
• Trade
• Transaction
• Vendor

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Salesmen

Soupy Sales
Sales at the Big Apple Convention in NYC, June 8, 2008
Birth name	Milton Supman
Born	(1926-01-08)January 8, 1926 Franklinton, North Carolina, United States
Died	October 22, 2009(2009-10-22) (aged 83) Bronx, New York, United States
Medium	Television, radio, film
Years active	1949–2009
Genres	Slapstick, word play, improvisation[1]
Influences	Marx Brothers[1] Harry Ritz[1]
Influenced	Howard Stern Saturday Night Live[2] Paul Reubens aka Pee-wee Herman[2] Andy Kaufman[3]
Spouse	Barbara Fox (m. 1950–1979) «start: (1950)–end+1: (1980)»"Marriage: Barbara Fox to Soupy Sales" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Soupy_Sales) Trudy Carson (m. 1980–2009) «start: (1980)–end+1: (2010)»"Marriage: Trudy Carson to Soupy Sales" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Soupy_Sales)
Notable works and roles	Lunch with Soupy Sales

Soupy Sales (January 8, 1926 – October 22, 2009)^[2] was an American comedian, actor, radio-TV personality and host, and jazz aficionado.^[4] He was best known for his local and network children's television show, Lunch with Soupy Sales; a series of comedy sketches frequently ending with Sales receiving a pie in the face, which became his trademark.

From 1968 to 1975, he was a regular panelist on the syndicated revival of What's My Line? and appeared on several other TV game shows. During the 1980s Sales hosted his own show on WNBC-AM in New York City.

Early life and career[link]

Sales was born Milton Supman, in Franklinton in Franklin County, North Carolina to Irving and Sadie Supman.^[5] His father, a dry goods merchant, had immigrated to America from Hungary in 1894. Sales had two siblings, Leonard Supman (deceased) and Jack Supman (born 1921).^[6] His was the only Jewish family in the town; Sales joked that local Ku Klux Klan members bought the sheets used for their robes from his father's store.^[7]

Sales got his nickname from his family. His older brothers had been nicknamed "Hambone" and "Chicken Bone." Milton was dubbed "Soup Bone," which was later shortened to "Soupy." When he became a disc jockey, he began using the stage name Soupy Hines. After he became established, it was decided that "Hines" was too close to the Heinz soup company, so he chose the Sales, in part after vaudville comedian Chic Sale.^[1]

Sales graduated from Huntington High School in Huntington, West Virginia in 1944. He then enlisted in the United States Navy and served on the USS Randall (APA-224) in the South Pacific during the latter part of World War II. He sometimes entertained his shipmates by telling jokes and playing crazy characters over the ship's public address system. One of the characters he created was "White Fang," a large dog that played outrageous practical jokes on the seamen. The sounds for "White Fang" came from a recording of "The Hound of the Baskervilles".

Sales enrolled in Marshall College in Huntington, where he earned a Master's Degree in Journalism. While at Marshall, he performed in nightclubs as a comedian, singer and dancer. After graduating, Sales began working as a scriptwriter and disc jockey at radio station WHTN (now WVHU) in Huntington. He moved to Cincinnati, Ohio in 1949, where he worked as a morning radio DJ and performed in nightclubs. Sales began his television career on WKRC-TV in Cincinnati with Soupy's Soda Shop, TV's first teen dance program, and Club Nothing!, a late-night comedy/variety program.^{[citation needed]}

When WKRC canceled his TV shows, Sales moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where he hosted another radio and TV series and continued his nightclub act. It was in a skit on his late night comedy/variety TV series Soupy's On! that he got his first pie in the face. Sales claimed he left the Cleveland station "for health reasons: they got sick of me."^{[citation needed]} He moved to Detroit in 1953 and worked for WXYZ-TV (Channel 7), ABC's O&O station.

He was asked once by The Temptations to write their liner notes to one of their albums which was duly noted on one of his shows that he hosted them as musical guest in 1979.

[edit] Lunch with Soupy Sales

Sales is best known for his daily children's television show, Lunch With Soupy. The show was originally called 12 O'Clock Comics, and was later known as The Soupy Sales Show. Improvised and slapstick in nature, Lunch with Soupy Sales was a rapid-fire stream of comedy sketches, gags, and puns, almost all of which resulted in Sales receiving a pie in the face, which became his trademark. Sales developed pie-throwing into an art form: straight to the face, on top of the head, a pie to both ears from behind, moving into a stationary pie, and countless other variations. He claimed that he and his visitors had been hit by more than 20,000 pies during his career.^[1] He recounted a time when a young fan mistakenly threw a frozen pie at his neck and he "dropped like a pile of bricks."^[1]

History of the show[link]

Detroit[link]

Lunch With Soupy began in 1953 from the studios of WXYZ-TV, Channel 7, located in the historic Maccabees Building, in Detroit. Sales occasionally took the studio cameras to the lawn of the Detroit Public Library, located across the street from the TV studios, and talked with local students walking to and from school. Beginning in October 1959, Sales's lunch show was broadcast nationally on the ABC television network.

During the same period that Lunch With Soupy aired in Detroit, Sales also hosted a nighttime show, Soup's On, to compete with 11 O'Clock News programs.^[8] The guest star was always a musician, and frequently a jazz performer, at a time when jazz was popular in Detroit and the city was home to twenty-four jazz clubs.^[8] Sales believed that his show helped sustain jazz in Detroit, as artists would regularly sell out their nightclub shows after appearing on Soupy's On.^[8] Coleman Hawkins, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, and Stan Getz were among the musicians who appeared on the show; Miles Davis made six appearances.^[4][8] Clifford Brown's appearance on Soup's On, according to Sales, may be the only extant footage of Brown, and has been included in Ken Burns' Jazz and an A&E Network biography about Sales.^[8] Singer Jackie Wilson also performed on Sales' late show.

Sales briefly had a third dinner time show filmed largely in the Palmer Park section of Detroit. Sales' three shows were rumored to have earned him in excess of $100,000 per year. One of his character puppets was Willy the Worm, a "balloon" propelled worm that emerged from its house that used a high pitched voice to announce birthdays or special events on the noontime show - that character never appeared when Soupy moved to Los Angeles. In his lunchtime show, Sales always wore an orlon fabric sweater. In many of his shows, he appeared in costume, performed his dance, the Soupy Shuffle, introduced many characters such as Nicky Nooney, the Mississippi Gambler, etc., and took "zillions" of pies in the face. In one routines, Sales came onstage in a toga, reciting "Friends, Romans, Countrymen - lend me your ears!" Out of camera range, stage hands were dropping a box of rubber ears on his head.

Los Angeles[link]

Sales on Lunch With Soupy Sales in 1960.

In 1960, Sales moved to the ABC-TV Studios in Los Angeles, California. ABC-TV cancelled the show in March 1961, but it continued as a local program on KABC-TV until January 1962. The show briefly went back on the ABC network as a late night fill-in for the Steve Allen Show in 1962 but was canceled after three months. All of the puppets on the show during its Los Angeles run were also operated by Clyde Adler.^{[citation needed]}

New York[link]

In 1964, Sales found a new weekday home at WNEW-TV in New York City. This version was seen locally until September 1966, and 260 episodes were syndicated by Screen Gems to local stations outside the New York market during the 1965–1966 season. This show marked the height of Sales' popularity. It featured guest appearances by stars such as Frank Sinatra, Tony Curtis, Jerry Lewis,^[1] Judy Garland^[9] and Sammy Davis, Jr.,^[10] as well as musical groups like the Shangri-Las , The Supremes and The Temptations.

As with his earlier shows, Sales performed musical numbers on the show and his extensive jazz record collection was used in his TV work. "Mumbles" by Oscar Peterson with Clark Terry was Pookie's theme. "Comin' Home Baby!" by Herbie Mann was the theme for Sales' "Gunninger the Mentalist" character (a parody of Dunninger the Mentalist). This was also the period when Sales starred in the movie comedy Birds Do It. During the run of the New York show, actor Frank Nastasi played White Fang, Black Tooth, Pookie, and all the "guy at the door" characters.^{[citation needed]}

The New Soupy Sales Show: Los Angeles[link]

The New Soupy Sales Show appeared in 1978 with the same format, and ran for one season. 65 episodes were briefly syndicated, through Air Time International, to local stations in early 1979. It was taped in Los Angeles at KTLA, with Clyde Adler returning to work as a puppeteer with Sales.^{[citation needed]}

Characters on the show[link]

Sales with White Fang in 1957.

Clyde Adler, a film editor at Detroit's WXYZ-TV, performed in sketches and voiced and operated all puppets on Sales' show in Detroit in the 1950s and in Los Angeles from 1959 to 1962 and in 1978. Actor Frank Nastasi assumed the role of straight man and puppeteer when Sales took the show to New York from 1964 to 1966. Nastasi was originally from Detroit and had worked with Sales at WXYZ. Appearing on the show were both puppets and live performers.

The puppets were:

• White Fang, "The Biggest and Meanest Dog in the USA," who appeared only as a giant white shaggy paw with black triangular felt "claws" jutting out from the corner of the screen. Fang spoke with unintelligible short grunts and growls, which Soupy repeated back in English, for comic effect. White Fang was often the pie thrower when Soupy's jokes bombed.
• Black Tooth, "The Biggest and Sweetest Dog in the USA", also seen only as a giant black paw with white triangular felt claws, and with more feminine, but similarly unintelligible, dialogue. Black Tooth's trademark was pulling Soupy off-camera to give loud and noisy kisses.
• Pookie the Lion, a lion puppet appearing in a large window behind Soupy (1950s), was a hipster with a rapier wit. For example: Soupy: "Do you know why my life is so miserable?" Pookie: "You got me!" Soupy: "That's why!" One of Pookie's favorite lines when greeting Soupy was, "Hey bubby... want a kiss?". In the Detroit shows, Pookie never spoke but communicated in whistles. That puppet also was used to mouth the words while pantomiming novelty records on the show.
• Hippy the Hippo, a minor character who occasionally appeared with Pookie the Lion and never spoke. Frank Nastasi gave Hippy a voice for the New York shows. Clyde Adler also voiced Hippy in the shows done in the late 1970s.

Regular live characters included:

• Peaches, Soupy's girlfriend, visually played by footage of Sales in drag.
• Philo Kvetch, a private detective played by Sales in a long-running comedy skit during the show's New York run (a parody of early 20th century fictional detective Philo Vance).
• The Mask, evil nemesis of Philo Kvetch, revealed in the last episode to be Nikita Khrushchev, who had been deposed about a year earlier.
• "Onions" Oregano, henchman of The Mask, played by Frank Nastasi, who ate loads of onions. Every time Oregano would breathe in Philo's direction, Philo would make all sorts of comic choking faces, pull out a can of air freshener, and say "Get those onions out of here!"
• Hobart and Reba, a husband and wife who lived in the potbelly stove on the New York set.
• Willie the Worm was a 35-cent toy Sales got from Woolworth's, according to WXYZ art director Jack Flechsig. With animated squeezings of his rubber air bulb, the latex accordion worm flexed in and out of a little apple. Willy was "The Sickest Worm in all of Dee-troit" and suffered from a perennial cold and comically-explosive sneeze. He helped read birthday greetings to Detroit-area kids while the show was on WXYZ. Willie did not survive the show's move to the Big Apple.

New Year's Day incident[link]

On January 1, 1965, miffed at having to work on the holiday, Sales ended his live broadcast by encouraging his young viewers to tiptoe into their still-sleeping parents' bedrooms and remove those "funny green pieces of paper with pictures of U.S. Presidents" from their pants and pocketbooks. "Put them in an envelope and mail them to me", Soupy instructed the children. "And I'll send you a postcard from Puerto Rico!" He was then hit with a pie.^[11] Several days later, a chagrined Soupy announced that money (mostly Monopoly money^[12]) was unexpectedly being received in the mail. He explained that he had been joking and announced that the contributions would be donated to charity. As parents' complaints increased, WNEW's management felt compelled to suspend Sales for two weeks. Young viewers picketed Channel 5. The uproar surrounding Sales' suspension increased his popularity. Sales described the incident in his 2001 autobiography Soupy Sez! My Life and Zany Times.^[13]

Claims that Sales told dirty jokes on the air[link]

An urban legend claimed Sales sneaked off-color humor onto his show for the amusement of his huge adult audience. This has been denied repeatedly, including by Snopes.com. However, according to Sales' 2001 book, Soupy Sez! My Life and Zany Times, at least one viewer of his WNEW show remembers distinctly the "Why is it every time I see F, you see K" routine, including an image of the TV screen moving up and down as the show's cameraman laughed at Soupy's joke. For many years, Sales had a standing offer of $10,000 to anyone who could prove he worked "blue" on his kids' shows. Nobody ever took the offer, although the rumor persisted. Sales states in his autobiography:

After many years, I think I finally figured out how these ridiculous stories got started. Kids would come home and they'd tell a dirty joke, you know, grade school humor, and the parents would say, "Where'd you hear that?" And they'd say "The Soupy Sales Show", because I happened to have the biggest show in town. And they'd call another person and say, "Gladys, did you hear the joke that Soupy Sales was telling on his show?" and the word of mouth goes on and on, until people start to believe you actually said things like that.^[13]

Topless dancer pranks[link]

The show's set included a door in the background. During the show, Sales would answer a knock at the door and interact with an actor seen only as an arm. Occasionally, the person at the door was a celebrity, such as Burt Lancaster or Fess Parker. Once, while the show was being broadcast live from Detroit, Sales' studio crew pulled a prank on him: when he opened the door, he saw a topless dancer partially covered with a balloon. Some reports say the gag was furthered by the crew switching the studio monitors so that Sales would think the stripper image was going out over the air.

A second, nonbroadcasting, camera captured the uncensored version, while a stagehand moved a balloon back and forth in the doorway, giving at least some indication to the home viewers what was supposed to be behind the door. Sales was forced to try to keep the show going without revealing the risque scene backstage. The prank was recreated when the show originated in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles prank footage survives.^[14]

Records[link]

One of the fans of the Soupy Sales show was Frank Sinatra. When Sinatra started his own record label, Reprise Records, he signed Sales to a recording contract. Two albums were produced with Reprise, "The Soupy Sales Show" in 1961 and "Up In The Air" in 1962.^[15]

Sales' novelty dance record, The Mouse, dates from the mid-1960s period of his career, when his show was based in New York. Sales performed The Mouse on The Ed Sullivan Show in September 1965, just prior to The Beatles' segment of the show. Sales signed with Motown Records in 1969 releasing a single, "Muck-Arty Park" (a play on the 1968 hit "MacArthur Park"), as well as an album "A Bag of Soup." Soupy and Frank Nastasi also cut and recorded a comedy and song story disk "Spy With A Pie" for ABC/Paramount. "Spy With A Pie" was rereleased by "Simon Says" children's records.

Game shows[link]

From 1968 to 1975, Sales was a regular panelist on the syndicated revival of What's My Line? He usually was the first panelist introduced and occupied the chair on the far left side (facing the camera), opposite Arlene Francis. In 1976, Sales was the host of Junior Almost Anything Goes, ABC's Saturday morning version of their team-based physical stunt program. Sales was also a panelist on the 1980 revival of To Tell the Truth; he had appeared as a guest on the show during the mid- to late 1970s. Other game show appearances included over a dozen episodes of the original Match Game from 1966 to 1969, a week of shows on the 1970s edition of The Gong Show, a few guest spots on Hollywood Squares (December 12, 1977 & April 4, 1978) as well as a few appearances on the combined version on (The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour) in 1983–84 and a recurring role in all versions of Pyramid from 1973 to 1988 and 1991. In one episode, he repeatedly uttered the word "bacon" in an attempt to get a befuddled contestant to say "greasy things." He also made an appearance on Pictionary in 1997.^{[citation needed]}

Radio show[link]

Sales hosted a midday radio show on WNBC in New York from March 1985 to March 1987. His program was between the drive time shifts of Don Imus (morning) and Howard Stern (afternoon),^[16] with whom Sales had an acrimonious relationship. An example of this was an incident involving Stern telling listeners that he was cutting the strings in Sales' in-studio piano at 4:05 p.m. on May 1, 1985. On December 21, 2007, Stern revealed this was a stunt staged for "theater of the mind" and to torture Sales; in truth, the piano was never harmed.^[17]

Film[link]

He had a sporadic film career that spanned over 40 years, including:

• 1961 - The Two Little Bears
• 1963 - Critic's Choice
• 1966 - Birds do It (a starring role)
• 1977 - Don't Push, I'll Charge When I'm Ready
• 1983 - Superman III (cameo appearance)
• 1993 - And God Spoke: The Making of... His memorable appearance as himself, hired by two incompetent filmmakers to portray Moses because Charlton Heston was not available.
• 1999 - Palmer's Pick Up
• 2000 - A Little Bit of Lipstick
• 2000 - Behind the Seams
• 2001 - This Train
• 2005 - The Innocent and the Damned
• 2005 - Angels with Angles

Animation[link]

In 1983, Sales did voice work for Ruby-Spears, voicing Donkey Kong in the animated show Saturday Supercade.

Personal life[link]

Sales was married twice: first to Barbara Fox (from 1950 until their divorce in 1979). They had two sons, both of whom are rock musicians: bassist Tony Sales and drummer Hunt Sales. In 1980, Sales married dancer Trudy Carson, who survives him.^[1]

Death[link]

Sales died on October 22, 2009, at Calvary Hospice in the Bronx, New York, aged 83, from cancer.^[18]

According to writer/columnist Mark Evanier, comedian Tim Powers reported that a fan left a cream pie on Sales' Hollywood Walk of Fame star.^[19]

Legacy[link]

• ABC replaced The Soupy Sales Show in 1961 with Cynthia Pepper's short-lived sitcom, Margie. Sales and Pepper later became good friends.
• In the episode "TV Or Not TV" of the 1960s cartoon series The Jetsons, a segment was shown with a character named "Soapy Sam" who hit George Jetson in the face with a pie.^{[episode needed]}
• In the episode "The One with the Lesbian Wedding" of the TV series Friends, Phoebe mentions Soupy Sales while supposedly being inhabited by the spirit of her dead massage client.
• Howard Stern named Sales as one of his childhood heroes, and in an interview on the 2007 Sirius Satellite Radio program "The History of Howard Stern," he expressed regret over his harsh words and actions towards Sales.^[17]
• Sales is referenced in the Bloodhound Gang's song "Pretty (When I'm Drunk)".
• Soupy Sales is referenced by name in the song, "6ix" on the 1996 The Lemonheads album, Car Button Cloth. His on-air request that children send money to him is also referenced in that song with the line, "Come on kids, grab your parents' wallet". While those are the lyrics performed in the recording, they are not the printed lyrics included in the album packaging.
• In the 2007 film Juno, Sales is referred to during the scene in which Juno confronts Bleeker about taking another girl to the prom. Juno had earlier suggested he go out with her, but he said he did not like her because she smelled like soup. Later, when Juno realizes she loves him, she calls his date Soupy Sales.
• There is a brief track called "Soupy Sales" on the album Coroner's Office by the death metal band Post Mortem.
• There is a track on Jim Bryson's 2000 album The Occasionals called "Soupy Sales".
• Phil Ochs, in his introduction to "(The Marines Have Landed On The Shores Of) Santo Domingo" from the Phil Ochs In Concert live album references Soupy Sales: "I was over there, entertaining the troops. I won't say which troops. Over there with a USO group, including Walter Lippmann and Soupy Sales."

Reruns[link]

Beginning in 2011, Jewish Life Television [JLTV] began showing a handful of reruns of existing New York City and late 1970s Los Angeles shows.

References[link]

This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (October 2009)

Further reading[link]

• Kiska, Tim. From Soupy to Nuts!: A History of Detroit Television (Momentum Books, 2005) ISBN 1-879094-70-3; ISBN 978-1-879094-70-3

External links[link]

• The Soupy Sales Show Original NYC on-set Photos and sound file of radio interview
• Soupy Sales at the Internet Movie Database
• Soupy Sales at the Internet Broadway Database
• The Soupy Sales Show at the Internet Movie Database
• "Soupy Weighs In", On the Media, 2006-02-04 (accessed 2004-04-04)
• "Coins & Currency", TVAcres.com (accessed 2004-04-04)
• The Soupy Shuffle (.ram file)
• Soupy Sales on YouTube
• "No More Pies in the Face for Soupy Sales", Christian Science Monitor, 1996-05-23
• Archive of American Television interview
• Soupy Sales - Daily Telegraph obituary
• Soupy Sales at Find a Grave

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (May 2010)

The Basics
The Basics at the Oxford Art Factory, 2010
Background information
Origin	Melbourne, Australia
Genres	Rock
Years active	2002–present
Labels	Independent, Albert Records
Associated acts	Gotye, Down Hills Home, Dog With Wheels, Blood Red Bird
Website	The Basics Official Website
Members
Wally De Backer Kris Schroeder Tim Heath
Past members
Michael Hubbard
Notable instruments
Lead guitar, drums, bass guitar.

The Basics ( /ˈbæzɪtʃ/ BAZZ-ich) are a three-piece band from Melbourne, Australia, formed by Wally De Backer and Kris Schroeder in 2002. Their style has been described as anything from 'indie-pop' to 'rock'n'roll' to 'pop-rock', though their records show they span a wide range of genres, including reggae, ska, country, and electro-pop. They are "recognised as one of Australia's hardest-working bands".^[1]

With close to 1000 shows in their ten-year career, their live performances are well-known for their sense of humour and energy.^[2]

Formation[link]

The Basics were formed after Kris met Wally at a party in Melbourne.^[3] The event was to see off the young aspiring producer, who was about to depart for Los Angeles, and together with a number of musician friends, the two jammed on some blues-rock standards. Later that night, they bonded over a mutual love of The Beatles, 70s and 80s cartoon theme songs and old Sierra adventure games.

Initially, they played around Melbourne as an acoustic guitar/drums combo, starting at The Opposition in Frankston and the House of Fools in Footscray, where in late 2002 they met Michael Hubbard and later invited him to join them on electric guitar.^[4] Though lacking any real experience with the instrument, Kris willingly purchased his first bass guitar, and the trio was born. During this time, the group start performing songs with more complicated three-part harmony.

During late 2002 and early 2003, The Basics recorded and released an album called Get Back through MGM Distribution. They began what was to become regular tours of the East and West coasts of Australia.

2004-2005: Current lineup[link]

Tim Heath joined the group in June 2004, after Michael decided to pursue his solo career, which has included being one half of Down Hills Home.^[4] Tim was reportedly the only person to reply to an advertisement in Melbourne's Beat Magazine looking for a new guitarist. Tim apparently answered the advertisement - which said the applicant "must have a love of 50s and 60s rock'n'roll" - thinking that he would be meeting "a couple of old guys to play with on the weekends over some beers". They soon recorded For Girls Like You.

The Basics in 2005 continued to tour and play small festivals, and after releasing For Girls Like You through MGM Distribution, they departed for a national tour of Australia, which lasted for two months and took them to every Australian state and territory. Stuart Padbury, a young Melbourne sound engineer, joined them on much of this tour. On returning, the band began demonstrating songs for a new album.

2006-2009: Touring and soundtracks[link]

In 2006, The Basics began recording what was to become known as Stand Out/Fit In. Taking several months, it was not completed until the end of the year, despite intentions to have it released in June. Instead, they held a successful 'album preview', where each of the tracks was demonstrated in 'rough form' accompanied by a music video for each (produced by Melbourne photographic artist James Bryans). The band also talked about the origins of the songs. This event brought a lot of attention to the band for the idea's originality. They pre-released a radio single 'Just Hold On' from the album. The band were invited to play the hugely popular Homebake Festival in Sydney, where they received a great response, after being introduced onto the stage by a short stocky Asian guy with big calves ("one of the highlights" wrote The Daily Telegraph).

In 2007, the band departed on a tri-state residency which saw them play Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane every week for the month of April - a bold move which brought further attention to the band for its original idea.^[5] Riding on the wave of this tour, Schroeder, De Backer and Heath departed on their first overseas tour which saw them performing 26 shows around Japan, Norway and the United Kingdom.^[6] They also toured twice more up the East Coast, one of which was with popular Japanese band The Bawdies. Their song 'Rattle My Chain' was used in a series of commercials for Volvo Australia. The song 'Hey There!' featured in the British film The Bank Job - starring Jason Statham - and was used as the backing for a February 2007 short film directed by Tim Longhurst called The Rip. Their song 'Better' was featured in a surfing documentary about the invention of the shortboard in 1967.

In 2008, the band appeared on Australia's Channel 9 for Australia Day celebrations, performing two of their songs - 'Just Hold On' and 'Hey There!' - to an estimated audience of 2 million. Securing an Australian Government grant, they embarked on a two-month tour of Australia, specifically targeting "culturally underprivileged groups" in rural and regional schoolchildren and Indigenous communities. The programme had them holding masterclasses and performing alongside Indigenous groups in the remote Northern Territory and Queensland.^[7][8] Their initiative also had them raising money for the charity Lifeline^{[disambiguation needed ]}, their contribution to which was recognised with a plaque at the end of the tour. Season two of Californication starring David Duchovny featured their cover of the classic 'Have Love, Will Travel', most famously covered by 'The Sonics'.

In 2009, The Basics for the first time enjoyed the support of Australian radio network Triple J, which had reportedly snubbed the band's previous material.^[9] The singles 'With This Ship' and 'Like A Brother' were added to the station's playlist, and momentum carried The Basics overseas for a second tour of the United Kingdom and Norway, and also a series of shows in Dublin, Ireland. They were joined by the longtime front-of-house engineer Stuart Padbury, who had been mixing them since 2005. The band was often seen in the Grafton Street Mall in Dublin, busking to promote their concerts there. Their second show in Oslo, Norway, saw the band perform with Hot Tub, one of the members of the Norwegian boy band "Boyzvoice", in his first performance for several years. Season Eight of Scrubs featured the song 'Lookin' Over My Shoulder'.

Despite all this promise, the band's album Keep Your Friends Close - produced and part-recorded by Peter Cobbin at London's Abbey Road Studios - though enjoying many favourable reviews,^{[10][11][12][13]} failed to impress Richard Kingsmill, music director of Triple J. This effectively ended the band's apparent upward spiral and the resulting album launch tour was reportedly "trying".

2010: Hiatus and live album[link]

In 2010, following the band's fourth stint at the Tamworth Country Music Festival, and the recording of a yet-unreleased live album, an indefinite hiatus was announced on the band's websites. This was in part due to the impending release of a new album produced by Wally for his Gotye project, and also to reported tensions within the band following the previous year's disappointments.

However, this hiatus was soon broken with a two-month residency at the Northcote Social Club in Melbourne, which saw an apparent return to form.^[14] The band's EP "Wait For You" enjoys airplay on Triple J.^[15] The Basics also played a one-off show at Sydney's Oxford Art Factory.^[16]

On 20 August 2010, The Basics released their fourth LP /ðəˈbæzɪtʃ/, available free and exclusively from their website for digital download^[17]. The band had reportedly moved to expand their listenership through this free giveaway, though 300 "Deluxe" CD/vinyl versions have been printed. /ðəˈbæzɪtʃ/ was recorded at the Northcote Social Club on 6 February, "in front of a live studio audience", and like the previous record, was mixed by Peter Cobbin at Abbey Road Studios. Technically a self-titled album, the phonetics spell out the accurate pronunciation of the band’s name. Kris Schroeder: "For years we’ve worked at bringing our live energy into the studio and thus far it’s been a bit hit-and-miss. Our trick this time was to pull a switcheroo and bring the studio to us instead; the result is the best and closest to us we’ve sounded yet."

Melbourne thespian and Dog With Wheels bassist David Bramble - friends with Heath from university days - has occasionally joined the band on tour, playing keys, often while sporting a large moustache. Other guests have included Jake Mason (saxophone), also of Cookin' on 3 Burners and The Bamboos^{[disambiguation needed ]}, Gideon Brazil (saxophone, flute), Simon Imrei (guitar and vocals) and Monty MacKenzie (saxophone).

Covers have often made an appearance from various sources: to date, some of the bands covered have been Cream, The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, The Police, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, New Kids on the Block, Richard Berry, Sonny Curtis and The Crickets, JJ Cale, Harry Nilsson, Bill Scott, Ryan Adams and The Coasters (via The Beatles for their cover of Three Cool Cats).

Members[link]

Current

• Wally De Backer - drums, vocals (2002-present)
• Kris Schroeder - bass, vocals (2002-present)
• Tim Heath - guitar, vocals (2004-present)

Former

• Michael Hubbard - guitar, vocals (2002-2004)

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Get Back (15 January 2004)
• Stand Out/Fit In (5 May 2007)
• Keep Your Friends Close (25 September 2009)
• /ðəˈbæzɪtʃ/ (20 August 2010)

EP[link]

• For Girls Like You (11 July 2005)
• Lookin' Over My Shoulder (10 February 2007)
• Like A Brother (5 June 2009)
• Wait For You (21 May 2010)

Singles[link]

• Call It Rhythm & Blues (20 August 2004)
• Just Hold On
• With This Ship (22 February 2009)

Upcoming projects[link]

The band is taking a three year hiatus, with an announced return to the stage together in early 2014. Wally De Backer launched Making Mirrors under his Gotye act in August 2011, Tim Heath will be touring and recording with Blood Red Bird, and Kris Schroeder recorded a solo EP titled, Patience in the Face of Control, before leaving Australia to work with the Red Cross in Kenya for a two year sabbatical.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website
• Myspace Website

Donald "Don" Draper is a fictional character and the protagonist of AMC's television series Mad Men. He is portrayed by 2008 Golden Globe winner Jon Hamm. Until the third season finale, Draper was Creative Director of Manhattan advertising firm Sterling Cooper. He became a founding partner at a new firm, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, after he and his superiors abandoned their old agency in advance of an unwanted acquisition.

Draper's character is partially based on Draper Daniels, the creative head of the Leo Burnett advertising agency in Chicago in the 1950s who created the Marlboro Man campaign.^[1] However, some of the advertising techniques and the professional accomplishments of Don Draper are based on those of Rosser Reeves, who rose to chairman of the Ted Bates agency.

In 2009, the fictional Draper was named the most influential man in the world by Ask Men, ahead of real-life figures.^[2]

Character biography[link]

This section describes a work or element of fiction in a primarily in-universe style. Please help rewrite it to explain the fiction more clearly and provide non-fictional perspective. (April 2012)

Most of the characters in the series know little, if anything, of Draper’s history and true identity; Harry Crane remarks in the third episode of the series, "Draper? Who knows anything about that guy? No one’s ever lifted that rock. He could be Batman for all we know." Clues are given through flashbacks, confessions, and clandestine visits to figures from his past.^[3]

As the series unfolds, it is gradually revealed that the name "Don Draper" is an alias, and that the character's given name is Richard "Dick" Whitman.^[4] Dick Whitman was born in Illinois to a 22-year-old prostitute, who died giving birth to him. Dick was subsequently taken in by his biological father Archibald "Archie" Whitman and stepmother Abigail.

At age ten, Dick watched his father die when a horse was spooked by an electrical storm and kicked him in the face. Subsequently, Abigail, Dick and his half brother Adam moved to Pennsylvania (described by Draper as "coal country") and were raised by Abigail and a man referred to as "Uncle Mac", whom he later described to Betty has having been "nice to me".

His relationship with his family was apparently contentious—he revealed to his wife Betty that Archibald "beat the hell out of him" on a regular basis, and he "fantasized" about the day he could murder him. Abigail, meanwhile, made no effort to conceal Dick's past from him and referred to him as a "whore child". (When informed by his half brother Adam of Abigail's death from stomach cancer, he coldly replies, "Good.") He also appeared to be close to Adam, who was 11 years younger than he. However, when Adam seeks Don out years later in New York City, Don rebuffs his attempt and walks away. He later discovers that Adam hanged himself.

Although Don celebrates his birthday on June 1^[5], at the time of his birthday party in 1966 (Season 5: "A Little Kiss"), he says, "I turned 40 six months ago," which means that Dick Whitman was probably born in December 1925 or January 1926. Pete discovers from his friend Russ in the State Department that the real Don Draper would be 49 years old. (Season 1: "Nixon vs. Kennedy") The presidential election was held on November 8, 1960, making the real Don Draper's birth year 1911— making him fourteen or fifteen years older than Dick Whitman. On business trip to Baltimore in March 1963, Don tells Shelly, a TWA stewardess, that today is his birthday yet showing his driver's license will not help prove it (Season 3: "Out of Town").

Korean War[link]

Dick never finished high school, and in his early 20s he "ran away" to enlist in the U.S. Army and was sent to fight in the Korean War. ^[6] He was put under the command of a Lieutenant Donald F. Draper, an engineer^[3] who was in charge of building a field hospital with only Whitman to assist him.

During an enemy artillery attack, Lt. Draper was killed by a gasoline explosion accidentally caused by Whitman, charring his body beyond recognition. Seeing this, Whitman removed Lt. Draper's dog tags, switching them with his own. He later awakens in a hospital, presumed to be Draper, and is awarded the Purple Heart. He is then sent home with Lt. Draper's coffin (now believed to be Whitman's) to offer the Army's regrets to Whitman's survivors. He avoids meeting the Whitmans at the train station, but is spotted by Adam. Whitman makes his escape and begins his life as Don Draper.

Life as "Don Draper"[link]

Draper is working as a used car salesman when Anna M. Draper, the widow of the real Draper, tracks him down. The two become close friends, though their contact is limited after Draper meets and marries Betty Hofstadt. After securing a legal divorce, he continues to support Anna financially. In the later part of Season 2, Don visits her during a trip to California for a few weeks to help clear his head. Anna dies of cancer in Season 4, and Don is devastated, calling her "the only person in the world who really knew me".

Not many details have been provided as to how Don Draper became the creative director at Sterling Cooper. Draper moved to New York City where he worked as a fur salesman and attended City College at night. It was at this job that he met his future wife, Betty, a model who did a photo shoot for the company. Roger Sterling claims that he "discovered" Draper in this job, and brought him to work at Sterling Cooper. In actuality, Sterling met Draper when he wanted to purchase a fur for his mistress Joan Harris. After selling him the fur, Draper repeatedly lobbied Sterling for a job; Sterling declined Draper's repeated bids, but accepted his offer to share drinks. Sterling became very drunk, and the next day, Don reported to work at Sterling Cooper, explaining to an astonished Roger that he offered him a job the night before. Don and Betty marry in May, 1953, and eventually move into a house at 42 Bullet Park Road, Ossining in Westchester County, New York.

Draper eventually became Creative Director, and then a junior partner, at Sterling Cooper. He is considered a great asset to the company as he has considerable talent for understanding the desires of others, and for effectively pitching and selling ideas. Because of this, he has occasionally been courted by other advertising firms. Although his true character remains mysterious and heavily guarded, almost everyone at the firm respects his talent. Among these is account executive Pete Campbell, who seems to view Draper as both a mentor and a hindrance to his advancement within the firm. When Campbell purposely takes a package addressed to Draper from his late, estranged brother Adam, Campbell discovers Draper’s true identity, subsequently attempting to blackmail Draper with this information. However, when Campbell confronts Draper in his office with what he's discovered, Don walks directly to senior partner Bert Cooper's office, with Campbell following behind incredulously. Once in Cooper's office, Campbell reveals Don's true identity to Cooper, who shrugs off the news, much to Campbell's astonishment. However, Cooper later uses the same information to compel Don to sign a three-year employment contract.

Peggy Olson begins her career at Sterling Cooper as Draper's secretary, but with his support becomes a copywriter. He carefully but firmly nurtures her talent as she learns the process, although in the first season he makes sure she continues with her secretarial duties until promoting her in the episode "The Wheel". The relationship between Peggy and Don gradually evolves into one of mutual dependency and understanding. In Season 2, Don visits Peggy in the hospital after she gives birth and encourages her to move forward and forget it ever happened, assuring her that the incident will be kept a secret and won't affect her standing at the firm. Peggy bails Don out of police custody after a drunk-driving accident and allows his female companion to recuperate at her apartment. Don generally does not show her any favoritism, and aggressively shuts down her request for a pay raise (which she argues she should be given under emerging "equal pay for equal work" statutes), which leads her to seriously consider taking a job at another agency. However, he does treat her with as much respect as any of the male copywriters and often seems to rely on her talent. At the end of Season 3, when Don is planning on launching a new firm, he wants her to come with him. She initially refuses due to his presumptuous manner, but he eventually comes to her apartment and convinces her to join him, saying that if she didn't he would spend the rest of his life trying to hire her. In Season 4, Peggy is given more demanding assignments and greater responsibility as a copywriter at Don's new firm, and they develop a greater level of trust and comfort with each other both professionally and personally. In the season 4 episode "The Suitcase" we see Don go through a drunken breakdown after receiving word to call California, which he took to mean his confidant Anna Draper, who he knew was suffering from cancer at the time, had died. By the end of the episode's emotional journey he has confided in Peggy more about his past (his military service in Korea, having his father die in front of him) than anyone else at the agency to date.

Betty Draper was unaware of Don's past until she discovered a collection of photographs and other documents from his previous life which Don kept in a locked drawer in his desk. When Betty confronts Don and demands to know the truth, Don breaks down and reveals to her the secret of his true identity. Their marriage suffers another setback when Betty realizes, in the wake of John F. Kennedy's assassination, that she does not love or trust Don. She relocates to Nevada to file for divorce shortly thereafter. After being kicked out of the Draper family residence, Don moves into a Manhattan apartment near Waverly Place and Sixth Avenue.

In December 1963, Don convinces Bert Cooper, Roger Sterling, and Lane Pryce, along with Peggy, Pete, Joan and Harry Crane, to leave Sterling Cooper rather than take their chances when they learn that their parent company is being purchased by rival firm McCann Erickson. They form the Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce agency, working out of a hotel suite before moving to the Time-Life Building.^[7]

Both in and out of the office, Don's life is an entanglement of boozing and sex with a large group of women he has met in business and social settings, including at least two secretaries (Allison and Megan), a stewardess (Shelly), an unemployed friend of a friend (Bethany), a teacher (Suzanne Farrell), a client (Rachel Menken), an artist (Midge Daniels), a waitress (Doris), a prostitute (Candace), a business consultant (Dr. Faye Miller), a hedonist (Joy), and the wife of the lead performer in the Utz campaign (Bobbie Barrett).^[8]

Personality[link]

Despite his outward cynicism and arrogance, Draper is portrayed as following a strict code of personal ethics, insisting on honesty, forthrightness and chivalry in his subordinates (if not always himself). He is extremely protective of people less confident than he; he warns Pete Campbell, in the first episode ("Smoke Gets in Your Eyes"), about his rude remarks to and about Peggy Olson, whom Campbell has just met. During the episode "Six Month Leave", Draper admonishes several subordinates for mocking Freddy Rumsen's episode of urinary incontinence, a symptom of his alcoholism. In a fourth season episode Draper briefly scolds Ken Cosgrove in front of other employees for mocking a client with a severe stuttering problem. Finally, in one scene (season 2, episode 1) he is seen in an elevator as another man goes on about his sexual adventures ('soaked panties') even as an older lady enters and is clearly made uncomfortable. In protest, Don tells him to take his hat off in respect for the lady, and when the man refuses, Don reaches over to the man, removes it himself and hands it to him.

Draper also adheres to a more strict code of business ethics than many of his colleagues. A second season arc has Draper upset about being told to drop the small local Mohawk Airlines client in favor of a chance at American Airlines. He questions the unwise risk of giving up an existing client for the chance of getting a bigger one, and also challenges the aggressive greed, asking his colleague, Roger Sterling, "What kind of company do we wanna be?" (Sterling replies nonchalantly "The kind where everyone has a summer home"). In Season 3, he is hesitant to sign a wealthy client eager to pour his fortune into promoting jai alai, a sport the client thinks will replace baseball as "America's game", Don knowing the client is about to squander his considerable fortune on a doomed enterprise.

He also becomes a confidante to Art Director Sal Romano, a closeted homosexual, whom Don sees in a compromising position in a Baltimore hotel during a fire evacuation. Although Don continues to keep the secret, he nonetheless expresses his distaste for Sal's sexual orientation; he supports Romano's firing in Season 3 because the son of a prominent client is irate about Sal's refusal to accept his sexual advances in the film editing room.

While Don is not color-blind in matters of race, he recognises the changes sweeping the country and acknowledges the potential of what he calls "the Negro market." In the first episode of the series he is seen asking a black American waiter about his cigarette preferences. In "My Old Kentucky Home" (Season 3, Episode 3), Don attends a festive Kentucky Derby party hosted by Roger Sterling, where he watches as Sterling serenades his young wife in blackface minstrel makeup. He and Pete Campbell seem to be the only guests who disapprove of or are uncomfortable with the spectacle, although Laura Smith is seen nervously laughing.

It is also shown throughout different episodes that Don regrets how he treats his family. In the season three episode where Betty gives birth to their third child, he has a conversation with another man in the waiting room who says that he's going to be a better man for his wife and child. It is clear that Don feels exactly the same way.

On another family front, Don tends to dislike his father-in-law Eugene, but agrees to take the man into his home when he becomes unable to live on his own. On several occasions he shows more patience and understanding toward Eugene than does Betty.

Draper and women[link]

This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. No cleanup reason has been specified. Please help improve this section if you can; the talk page may contain suggestions. (October 2010)

Draper met his ex-wife Betty Draper (née Hofstadt) in her modeling days, surprising Betty by buying her the fur she wore on a photo shoot where he was in attendance; this gesture appears to be the start of their relationship. Betty and Don marry when she is in her early twenties, and she gave birth to their first child Sally soon after. A few years later, she gave birth to their first son, Bobby. In Season 3, Betty gave birth to a second son named Eugene after her recently-deceased father, with whom Don shared a mutually antagonistic relationship.

Don cheats on Betty repeatedly throughout seasons one and two. In season one, Draper is involved with Midge, a pot-smoking beatnik and illustrator who works out of her small, dingy apartment. Midge's beatnik lifestyle and friends do not appeal to Don, but she offers him an escape from his high-pressure job. Don receives a bonus check of $2,500 from Sterling Cooper and asks her to vacation with him to Paris. However, Don changes his mind after realizing Midge is in love with a fellow beatnik, and instead stuffs the check into her blouse; he tells her to go buy a car with it and leaves. Don doesn't see her again until season four, when Midge pretends to run into Don, hoping to sell him a painting in order to help fund her heroin addiction. He agrees to visit her apartment, but after learning of her true intentions he purchases a painting and leaves.

Also during season one, Don pursues Rachel Menken. She is Jewish and the daughter of Abraham Menken, the elderly founder of upscale Menken's department store. Rachel, 28, is educated, sophisticated, and a savvy businesswoman, assisting her father in running the family business. Despite bickering with her during initial business meetings, Draper becomes close with her and eventually begins an affair with her. She ends their affair on November 8, 1960, the night the 1960 Presidential election results are being tabulated. She leaves on a cruise for Europe and suddenly marries a Jewish man sometime before the beginning of season 2.

In season two, Draper turns to an older woman, Bobbie Barrett. She is the wife of Jimmy Barrett, an insult comic loosely based on Rat Packer Joey Bishop, filming a commercial for one of Sterling Cooper's clients, Utz Potato Chips. They continue their affair, taking a trip to the beach at "Stony Brook" on Long Island, but their plans are interrupted by a car accident followed by his arrest for drunken driving. Unable to post bond with the cash on his person, Don reaches out to Peggy, who travels from Brooklyn to Long Island by car in the middle of the night, posts Don's bail, and later boards Bobbie until her injuries from the accident heal. Bobbie and Don continue their affair until the episode "Maidenform", when Bobbie lets slip that Draper's previous mistresses have been talking about his sexual prowess. Don, who values his privacy highly, is aghast that his extramarital escapades are being gossiped about, and immediately ends the affair. Don must continue his professional relationship with Bobbie and Jimmy, and the four of them (including Betty) meet at the Stork Club for a night out. At the end of the evening, Jimmy reveals to Betty that their spouses have had an affair; A horrifed Betty confronts Don, but he repeatedly denies the accusations, which infuriates her.

Eventually, Betty appears willing to put the suspicion behind her, but when she coincidentally sees the commercial Jimmy made for Utz air on television, her anger is reignited. She calls her husband at work and tells him not to come home, whereafter Don moves into a hotel room and frequently sleeps in his office. Betty's father Eugene has another stroke, necessitating a visit from Betty, and to keep up appearances, the two of them pretend to be a happily married couple while staying at her father's home. In his growing senility, Eugene openly expresses his disdain for Don, saying, "He's got no people. You can't trust a man like that." After witnessing the rapid decline of her father, Betty seduces Don in the middle of the night, leading Don to believe that she has now forgiven him. When they arrive home, however, Betty tells a confused Don not to move back in. Betty later discovers that she is pregnant.

Don impulsively decides to join Campbell on a business trip to Los Angeles. In California, Don meets a mysterious European viscount with a 21-year-old daughter named Joy. Despite telling Campbell that the trip is strictly business, Don joins Joy and her "jet set" family of self-described nomads at their lavish vacation home in Palm Springs. He sleeps with her the same night. Joy is topless in the pool one night, attempting to seduce Don again, despite being surrounded by other relatives and even small children, around their large pool. He later leaves her to visit Anna.

In season three, Don had an affair lasting several months with his daughter Sally's schoolteacher Suzanne Farrell. Their relationship builds slowly over several accidental meetings and conversations laden with innuendo. They finally consummate their relationship in September 1963. Don ends the affair with Suzanne on October 30, 1963. Thinking Betty and his children are out of town, he plans a weekend get-away with Suzanne. With Suzanne waiting out in the car, and intending only to go into the house for a suitcase, Don is stunned to find Betty at home. Betty reveals she has found the key to the locked drawer in Don's desk in which he keeps a box of photographs and other evidence of his past life, as well as several hundred dollars in emergency escape funds, and has discovered he has been lying to her. Don never returns to the car where Suzanne awaits him, apparently for hours, before giving up and returning home. He calls her the next day to break things off, even though they have not been discovered, in an attempt to save his marriage.

Don's womanizing hits its peak during season four, which takes place in 1964-1965. At the beginning of season four in 1964, Don hires a prostitute to slap him around during sex. Roger's wife Jane Sterling also sets Don up with a young, beautiful friend named Bethany, thinking Don hasn't been on a date since his marriage ended. During one weekend of heavy drinking, Don goes to bed with one woman, blacks out, wakes up with a different woman in his bed, and has no idea what has happened. He continues to see the prostitute and pay her and even sets Lane up with her hooker friend one night in his apartment.

During a visit to San Pedro, California to visit Anna, he attempts to seduce Anna's 18-year-old niece, whom Don has known since she was a child. She refuses Don and instead tells him that Anna is dying of cancer.

When Don goes home drunk after an office Christmas party, and he forgets the keys to his apartment and has Allison, his secretary, bring them over. He quickly seduces her that night on his couch. This later creates tension in their professional relationship when Don acts as if nothing happened. Confused and heartbroken over the affair, Allison decides she can no longer work for Don or the agency, she asks Don to write a letter of recommendation for her to another potential job. But when his insensitivity offends her, Allison becomes greatly upset. She throws a brass cigarette dispenser at Don and calls him "a bad person" before quitting her job and storming off in tears. Don is visibly shaken by the encounter, and Allison is replaced with an older secretary by Joan, who hints that she's aware of Don having seduced her. Don later tries to write a letter of apology to Allison but gives up on it. Allison is replaced by Ida Blankenship, Bert Cooper's former secretary who later dies sitting up at her desk, shocking Don and the staff.

During season four, Don becomes friendly with Dr. Faye Miller, a consumer psychologist he frequently works with. At the beginning of 1965, before she dates Don, she informs him, "you'll be married by the end of the year." After fending off his gentlemanly advances on several occasions she begins a romantic relationship with him. During an existential crisis, Don somewhat reveals his checkered past; she sympathizes with him and offers emotional support. Faye however warns Don that she is "not good with kids and is inexperienced around them." At the end of that same episode, Sally runs down the hall at SCDP after a tantrum, and trips and falls badly. Instead of running into her father's arms, she falls naturally into Don's new secretary, Megan's arms. Megan Calvet previously worked as the lobby receptionist but became Don's secretary after Blankenship's sudden death.

Don is no longer seeing prostitutes and seems to have settled down with Faye. Although Don seems to be in love with the classy and intelligent Faye, Megan seduces him in his office one night, telling him not to worry, she won't make a scene like Allison did. When Faye's consulting firm can no longer work with SCDP, she is excited because she and Don can be "out in the open" now with their relationship during episode 12.

During the season four finale "Tomorrowland," Faye believes their relationship is stronger than ever. However, Don's ex-wife, Betty Francis, suddenly fires Carla, the children's nanny since birth, and Don has to scramble to find a full-time nanny for his three kids during their visit to California (to sign the "sold" papers for Don's house in San Pedro, which he bought for Anna in the 1950s). Don remembers how Sally fell into her arms several months previously, and decides to take Megan with him so she can take the three kids to Disneyland, and watch them at the hotel pool. When he goes to Anna's house one last time, Anna's niece says Anna left him her diamond solitaire engagement ring (the one given to her by the real Don Draper upon their engagement). Don looks at the ring and is very touched by Anna's gift to him. He sleeps with Megan during the California trip and decides to propose with Anna's engagement ring, telling Megan that the ring is very special to him and that he "finally feels like himself" with her. Megan accepts and Don returns to New York to let the partners and Joan know about his very sudden engagement. He telephones Faye and breaks off their relationship by informing her of his new engagement. Don also informs his ex-wife Betty, as she is packing up the last moving box from their one-time marital home, that he is engaged.

Draper and vehicles[link]

Don worked as a used-car salesman at the time Anna Draper found him, and on at least one occasion enjoyed the company of motorcyclists and hot rod enthusiasts while he was visiting Anna in Southern California. At the outset of the series, Don drives a 1959 Oldsmobile, then a 1960 Buick Invicta convertible. Later, Don wrecks an unassuming and utilitarian 1961 Dodge Polara, after which he is goaded by Roger Sterling into purchasing an ice blue & white 1962 Cadillac Coupe de Ville. Sterling tells him that the Cadillac was a sign that Don had "arrived". By the start of Season 5 it had been replaced with a 1965 Coupe de Ville in silver with red leather interior.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Don Draper at AMCtv.com
• "The Secret of Don Draper's Sex Appeal" by Natasha Vargas-Cooper - Daily Beast - July 22, 2010
• Don Draper Suit & Clothes Style in Mad Menprovides details about Don's outfits - Gentleman's Gazette

v t e Mad Men Creator Matthew Weiner Characters Don Draper • Betty Draper • Peggy Olson • Pete Campbell • Joan Holloway • Roger Sterling • Lane Pryce Episodes Season 1 • Season 2 • Season 3 • Season 4 • Season 5 Related articles Awards and nominations Category