Explore Classic Films About Fame & Ad Men Before Influencers & ‘Mad Men’

Before ‘Mad Men’ was a television series, it was what advertising executives from the 1950s on called themselves. They were “ad men” working largely on Madison Avenue in New York, hence they nicknamed themselves “mad men.” And the world of advertising and the pursuit of fame–for a product or an individual–are nothing if not a whole lotta crazy.

All three of this week’s classic movies concern that pursuit from different angles. And, as I watched each, particularly It Should Happen to You, I realized what I probably already sensed at some level, that advertising was the forerunner of social-media influencing.

The world has always been full of individuals who want to make a name for themselves, like Gladys Glover. Only now they don’t need to rent a billboard; they have the Internet. Both are the equivalent of shouting, “Look at me!!” really loud, over and over and over again.

But fame and success aren’t always what we expect. Gladys finds that out, as does “Sad Sack” Mad Man Rockwell Hunter. He saves his career but almost loses what was most important to him. Even Rita Marlowe, the starlet who posits him with the debilitating quid pro quo, finds she really wanted something (and someone) else entirely.

Then there’s Jerry Webster, played by Rock Hudson in Lover Come Back, who is, perhaps, the most like the Don Draper character in “Mad Men” (though not as hot as Jon Hamm, IMO). He wines and dines and lies through his teeth, cooking up a false identity while creating a demand for a product that doesn’t exist.

My husband, the computer geek, calls that vaporware.

I call it on par for social media, which now is even the central platform for how the president and his cronies communicate with anyone willing to read and troll.

Well, enough of my whining. The point to remember is these films are all COMEDIES. Sparkling Satire. Classic Camp. And Fantastic Fun! Enjoy them and ruminate over their relevance later.

It Should Happen to You

RELEASE DATE: 1954 DIRECTOR: George Cukor STUDIO: Columbia HEADLINERS: Judy Holliday, Peter Lawford, Jack Lemmon RUN TIME: 1 hour, 26 minutes FILMED IN: Black and white IMDb RANK: 7.2

SYNOPSIS: Gladys Glover has just lost her modeling job when she meets filmmaker Pete Sheppard shooting a documentary in Central Park. For Pete it’s love at first sight. But Gladys has her mind on other things, like making a name for herself. Through a fluke of advertising she winds up with her name plastered over 10 billboards throughout city, and the notoriety comes with unexpected consequences.

NOTES: This story was conceived when Garson Kanin, trying to cheer up wife Ruth Gordon, drove by Columbus Circle and told her he was going to put her name on “that billboard there” in the biggest letters. He wrote this screenplay instead. Kanin originally considered a male lead, Danny Kaye. But Gordon felt a man seeking fame at all costs would be unsympathetic to audiences and suggested Judy Holliday. The working title of the screenplay was “A Name for Herself.” This was Jack Lemmon’s first film role, and he later said he never liked the title “It Should Happen to You.” All filming was done on location in New York, including Central Park scenes. See if you can spot a young John Saxon in the park. The initial Columbus Circle “Gladys Glover” billboard in the film that rented for $210 per month would now cost in excess of $2,000, though the site is now occupied by the AOL-Time Warner Building. The idea of a relatively unknown person promoting themselves on a billboard would eventually become a real-life practice when Los Angeles personality Angelyne did the same in 1984, not to mention thousands of influencers promoting themselves on advertising’s step-child, social media, decades later. PS: Dwell a little on the casual rendition between Holliday and Lemmon of “Let’s Fall in Love” in the pub. Even though their names make it sound like a mixed drink, it’s a classic take on a classic song in a classic movie!

LINKS: Trailer | Full film | Rent/buy

Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?

RELEASE DATE: 1957 DIRECTOR: Frank Tashlin STUDIO: 20th Century Fox HEADLINERS: Tony Randall, Jayne Mansfield, Betsy Drake, Joan Blondell RUN TIME: 1 hour, 33 minutes FILMED IN: Color IMDb RANK: 6.9

SYNOPSIS: To save his career, an ad man wants a movie sex symbol to endorse a lipstick. In exchange, she wants him to pretend to be her lover to make the guy she just broke up with jealous. Of course, everything gets out of hand in no time.

NOTES: The film was known as Oh! For a Man! in the United Kingdom and is a hilarious satire on popular fan culture, Hollywood hype, and the advertising industry, which was profiting from commercials on the relatively new medium of television, while eroding movie audiences. It was concocted as a spoof on Marilyn Monroe as well, with a number of veiled references to movies she’d made or hoped to make and news items about her. But the laughs are there even if you don’t make those connections. Ed Sullivan originally turned down the role of Hunter, giving Randall his first leading movie role. Cameos include Mickey Hargitay (who married Mansfield a few months later) and Groucho Marx. Celebrated ad man David Ogilvy created the mock-up ads with Tony Randall’s image.

LINKS: Trailer | Full film | Rent/buy

Lover Come Back

RELEASE DATE: 1961 DIRECTOR: Delbert Mann STUDIO: Universal HEADLINERS: Doris Day, Rock Hudson, Tony Randall, Edie Adams RUN TIME: 1 hour, 47 minutes FILMED IN: Color IMDb RANK: 7.1

SYNOPSIS: A series of misunderstandings leaves an advertising executive with a campaign for a product–VIP–that hasn’t yet been invented. Meanwhile, he romances a rival, pretending to be the product’s inventor.

NOTES: Hollywood legend claims that during the filming of Hudson and Day’s bathing suit scene (set on a soundstage beach) one of Hudson’s testicles kept popping out from his swimtrunks. While screening dailies the next afternoon, the crew laughed so hard they became teary-eyed, especially when the projectionist figured how to roll the film back-and-forth so it looked like Hudson’s testicle was doing a “dance.” See if you can spot Donna Douglas in the role of Randall’s secretary. She was cast as Ellie Mae in TV’s The Beverly Hillbillies shortly after this movie came out. Also, notice the young elevator operator at Hudson’s apartment: it’s Ted Bessell, later cast as Marlo Thomas’ ever-patient fiancé on the late-60s ABC sitcom, That Girl. Pay attention to the aquarium scene to see the nuance it adds to Hudson’s deception.

LINKS: Trailer | Full film | Rent/buy