• by Kelly Samardak , September 21, 2009

Rubicon's Mad Men Viewing Party, SVA Chelsea Theatre, New York
September 20, 2009

Now taking bets on how many MADvertising, MADvertisement, ADmen, MAD... clever Mad Men headlines we're going to see this week. And by clever I mean redundant and played out. And! And! How many Mad Men conversations will be shared where one galoot in the conversation says proudly "That's just like our conference room!" If you meet this person, give him a lime rickie and send him packing because last night I was exposed to my first ever episode of Mad Men and while I cringed at the behaviors of these early 60's admen, oh man, I loved it. The fashion, the language, the hair, the curvy ladies - fabulous. And really, where better to launch the virgin viewing voyage than in front of a hugeongus screen minus the unwashed masses?

Sunday nights are my favorite nights. They're the nights I like to make lasagna, lay on the couch, watch DVRness, and try to keep it stable for the week ahead. Very rarely will you be able to chisel me off the raggedy glorified futon, but something about being in a movie theatre privately is intriguing and even more intriguing is the phrase "hors d'oeuvres". So, you know, I went. Also, Nicole Jordan of The Rubicon Project invited me and she's such a bubbly piece of human that it's hard to say no. I approached the SVA theatre and discovered they had really gone the whole niner - the marquee flashed bright red "Tonight: The Rubicon Project and PeerSet present: Mad Men!"

Fun! I entered to a smallish crowd. I was definitely expecting a lot more since everyone is all up their own behinds about Mad Men in this industry. And as far as I knew, there weren't any competing parties - but I don't know everything (shhhh, don't let that get too far). One piece of competition might have been the Giants game, but we'll get to that. The lobby was adorable - tables of candles and candy cigarettes, centerpieces of Heineken (apparently a "client" on the show), and table of Utz were being mavigated by early 60's styled servers, perfectly coiffed and tiny sweatered. And if you ask me, there is nothing wrong with a sheer polka dot dress.

The crowd was an interesting one to say the least. I spotted IAB's Luke Luckett, who was chatting with ClickZ's Executive Editor, Anna Maria Virzi. When she discovered I was shooting for MediaPost, Anna Maria said, "I guess this means I should take some pictures" and scurried off, digging in her bag for a camera. I met the caterer, Mayan and his parents, who were adorable and proud, as they should be, the tuna tartare was nose snipping delicious. Around 8:30p.m mediabistro's very own Agency Spy, Matt Van Hoven skipped in with his gal pal (did I just say gal pal?), Sarah Winiarski of William Morris Endeavor. After comparing live goals and advertising week schedules like nerds, I also met Lev Jacobi of Adotas.

Everyone I met had taken full advantage of the open bar long before I got there. I can deduce this with the evidence of slurs, wobbly stances, and bizarre behavior like, I don't know, making out on a velour couch visible to all? I won't name names, but I will advise you all - that is probably not the best ice breaker at a networking event. Oh, 60's attire was encouraged. So I went as a hippie. Hippies were apparently more of a thing in the late 60's, but you know what, I've never been a "with the grainer." Yeah, that's my story.

As I walked outside to take a picture of the Rubicon gals, a young man danced through the door, doing what Steve Miller would call "acid dance" in my face. Duh, because I was dressed like a hippie. Sometimes, I'm a little slow on the uptake. This serpentine gentleman turned out to be Michael Masters of MoVoxx who, after introducing me to his date, asked how to convince her to love him. I suggested making her pizza and getting her a puppy. He must have forgotten this advice within seconds because he turned to me after getting his drink from the bar and asked the same question again. Dude: pizza. puppy. 

We were all corralled into the theatre to watch the show and had definitely shed some weight due to what could be the following issues: Giants game, lateness... many had arrived at 7:30 and now it was 10:00p.m, and commercials. Van Hoven and I were thinking of ways to improve for next time around and one was DVR it so we could fast forward through the commercials ("I would think that's a sin with this crowd" Winiarski gasped, and she's probably right) or mute the commercials and have a talent show until the program returns. I checked out before the end of the show because my brain said, "Kelly, wouldn't you rather be on your own couch watching TV now?" and I said yes to my brain. Great night, great food, and pieces of the story are being kept only for me because I believe in karma. You hear that karma? I believe in you! 

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*edited at 12:05a.m to add this link to photos!*

Keep those cards and letters coming: kelly@mediapost.com