Mad Men: Wee Small Hours Rewatch

September 28, 2014 10:38 AM - Season 3, Episode 9

Don and Sal both have difficulty giving the clients what they want. Betty hosts a fundraiser.
posted by tracicle (17 comments total)

Salvatore is fired and the last we see of him is phoning Kitty from a pay phone in the park. Hopefully Weiner will provide a little fan service in the last seven episodes and let us see what has happened to Sal.
posted by cwest at 11:20 AM on September 28, 2014

Poor Sal. I bet he would have gotten fired even if he had accepted Lee Garner Jr.'s advances. Basically, the minute Lee made a pass at him, there was no way for him to win.

And yes, I would love to get a Sal update. That final scene with him calling Kitty from the pay phone was really sad.
posted by litera scripta manet at 12:11 PM on September 28, 2014 [1 favorite]

It's infuriating that Sal gets fired and Harry keeps his job. And note, the phone booth call is at least the next day (after Betty's fundraiser), so Sal left the house that morning under the pretense of going to work. Shades of Don in season 7.
posted by donajo at 3:47 PM on September 28, 2014

Shades of Don in season 7.

I hadn't made that connection, but that's absolutely true. I wonder how long Sal managed to keep that up for.

Also, I was so angry at Don for that whole "you people disgust me" line.
posted by litera scripta manet at 3:57 PM on September 28, 2014 [1 favorite]

Even if they can't get Sal to appear, I wouldn't mind someone making an offhand mention of him, like "Remember Sal? He's working at blah blah blah now."
posted by drezdn at 5:05 AM on September 29, 2014

I still can't tell if Don was angry that Sal didn't reciprocate. Their final conversation, when Don says, "Lucky Strike could turn off our lights," could either be a "you should have let him" or a "sorry but they control us so I have to obey".
posted by tracicle at 5:45 AM on September 29, 2014

I still can't tell if Don was angry that Sal didn't reciprocate. Their final conversation, when Don says, "Lucky Strike could turn off our lights," could either be a "you should have let him" or a "sorry but they control us so I have to obey".

Me either. But either way, when the other shoe finally drops and SCDP ends up losing Lucky Strike (and Don gives them a big middle finger with his ad in the Times), it makes Sal's firing seem all the more pointless and heartbreaking.
posted by ChrisTN at 6:17 AM on September 29, 2014

The "How do you say" campaign really was good. Stubborn old coot, that Connie Hilton.
posted by Sweetie Darling at 12:35 PM on September 29, 2014 [4 favorites]

I do wonder how much of Sal being written out was due to the rumor that he talked smack about the creator's kid not being a good actor.

He has a book out now it looks like.
posted by The Whelk at 8:26 AM on September 30, 2014

I do wonder how much of Sal being written out was due to the rumor that he talked smack about the creator's kid not being a good actor.

Ugh, that would explain why Matt Weiner is so bullheaded about not bringing Sal back in any way.
posted by lunasol at 9:34 PM on September 30, 2014

I do wonder how much of Sal being written out was due to the rumor that he talked smack about the creator's kid not being a good actor.

I haven't heard about this at all, and can't seem to find anything online. Can you point us to further reading?
posted by ChrisTN at 9:59 PM on September 30, 2014

FWIW, Bryan Batt was on the DVD commentary talking about this episode with Weiner...
posted by Sweetie Darling at 4:58 AM on October 1, 2014

I haven't heard about this at all, and can't seem to find anything online. Can you point us to further reading?

Yes, I couldn't find anything online either.

FWIW, Bryan Batt was on the DVD commentary talking about this episode with Weiner...

That would seem to indicate no hard feelings. Like ChrisTN, I have never heard or read about a conflict between Weiner and Batt.

And concerning this ep., humorously while Sally and Bobby have gone back to school it's Betty who is passing notes.
posted by cwest at 6:09 AM on October 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

I thought the rumour was that he was written out because he kept giving away plot points.
posted by tracicle at 6:51 AM on October 1, 2014

The "How do you say" campaign really was good. Stubborn old coot, that Connie Hilton.

I want you to write me an ad for a hotel that doesn't exist!
posted by the man of twists and turns at 11:11 PM on October 2, 2014 [3 favorites]

I'm re-rewatching so this is totally late but I was wondering about Connie Hilton wearing his hat indoors. He seems pretty set on propriety (Don doesn't have a bible or family photos on his desk) so it's surprising to me that he doesn't automatically take his hat off indoors. Although now I'm trying to think now how often other characters do that when they walk indoors. I can't believe MW, et. al. would have overlooked the convention so maybe it's to emphasize that Connie always does his own thing - he wants the moon and expects to get the moon.
posted by Beti at 11:36 AM on January 4, 2016

Given the time, I think it would have shattered suspension of belief to have Don act protectively towards Sal in this episode, disappointing as it was. Character-wise, it made sense for him to respect a man having a secret life that he doesn't want public, and he didn't mention it until he had to, much like Bert didn't allude to Dick Whitman until he needed Don to sign his contract. This whole episode has a theme of "wtf was I supposed to do?" running through it except for Don, doing whatever he likes and expecting no consequences because he's Don.

I feel like the episode is best viewed through Langston Hughes's "What Happens to a Dream Deferred?" and I'd be surprised if that wasn't an inspiration for the episode itself, honestly. There's the obvious actual dream that opens the episode, plus the civil rights undercurrent, towards the wants of Don, Connie, Betty, and Sal, and whether they will dry up like a raisin in the sun or, more likely, explode.
posted by Navelgazer at 11:33 PM on February 2, 2020