I always had more women working for me than men.
I came into the advertising business in 1952, at the age of sixteen, as a delivery boy for a stuffy, old-line advertising agency named Ruthruff and Ryan, which could have served as the setting for the 'Mad Men' television series without moving a desk.
By 1961, when I got my first copywriting job, 'my kind' were suddenly in demand. The creative revolution had begun. Advertising had turned into a business dominated by young, funny, Jewish copywriters and tough, sometimes violent, Greek and Italian art directors.
I once attended an advertising conference held at the Greenbrier Hotel in 1968. The dean of the original Mad Men, the great David Ogilvy, was the keynote speaker. The subject of his speech was the new creative revolution in advertising.
Whether you're a mafia guy or in advertising, you always end up going back to your family.
I only know two to three people that I grew up with in advertising in the 1960s who are married to the same women.
What I love about the Don Draper character is that he's so real and filled with all these contradictions.
There's an eternal war between a creative person and the business person.
'Mad Men' is celebrating a time that no longer exists.
My first marriage ended after 24 years.
I want to die at my desk.
I invented myself.
A computer is a wonderful thing, but it's cold, and what comes out of it is sort of cold.
You can't be impatient about growth, because that's what leads people to make mistakes.
On the weekends, some people garden; I slice salmon.
With all my outside activities, I have to remind people I am really in advertising.
'Business Week' is guilty of very shoddy reporting.
Why do all our friends and relatives destroy the summer for us? Why can't they get married in February?
I don't come from a lot of money. In fact, I don't come from any money.
I'm careful to pay every single penny on my taxes. I don't have any money offshore.
