pre-mad men

So.

Before Mad Men there was a nifty lil show called Bewitched (with two different Darrins).

While every guy had a crush on Elizabeth Montgomery (with the awesome name of Samantha) it was really the underlying antics of Darrin’s life in an advertising agency that day in and day out provided the storyline (and humor).

Did the show make me want to go into advertising? Nope.

Did it shape my thinking on what I believed life at an advertising agency was really like? Yup.

Did it make me think if I got married one day my wife would be as awesome as Samantha? Gosh.  I hoped.

When I actually got into the business I found out it was even wackier than the show.

In addition the business is (and was) strewn with Larry Tate-like managers.

Some witches? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Yes.  Good witches and bad witches. Dr. Bombays? Absofrickinlutely.

Anyway.

It’s a wacky business.  I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

And I was reminded of all of this because the guy who wrote the pilot for Bewitched died the other day. A guy named Sol Saks.

100 years old.

The other fascinating thing (and extremely relevant to the ad world creatively) is the pilot episode was the ONLY episode he ever created (and received royalties his entire life because of it).

I say that because the advertising business is strewn with “one off” successes.  Its kind of like a one hit wonder.  Look. It is awesome in this fleetingly successful business to have one big success.  But.  The measure of anyone (I believe) is not ‘the one’ but the ‘consistent many.’

Here is the great news about good ole Sol. Sol became a pretty well known author writing The Craft of Comedy Writing and for The Atlantic Monthly. He also wrote for TV, theater and films including Don’t Run, The Beginning Middle and End, and Soft Remembrance. He has also has created Bewitched and Mr. Adams and Eve. On top of that he dabbled in acting (in radio shows such as Duffy’s Tavern, and My Favorite Husband). The dude may have been most famous for putting Samantha and Darrin together and making the ad business famous but he was multi-talented.

In the end?

I say “thank you Sol from all of us mad men for giving us Bewitched.”