Vividly reminiscent of the goings-on at Sterling Cooper-the late nights, the three-martini lunches, the sex on couches, and, of course, the actual work of plugging products-this is the story of what Madison Avenue was really like in the 1960s. A worldwide bestseller when first published in 1970, this frank, irreverent, and hilarious memoir is a one-of-a-kind cult classic.
From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harb
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"Reads like the transcript of a tape made at a bar or cocktail party with the recorder propped up next to the raconteur at the center of the crowd." ---Salon
About the Author
Jerry Della Femina has worked in the advertising industry for over fifty years. He currently runs Della Femina Rothschild Jeary and Partners in New York. He was an adviser on the first season of the hit television show Mad Men. Charles Sopkin (d. 1994) was an author, book editor, and publisher. He graduated from Emory University and earned his master's degree in journalism from Columbia University. A former managing editor for Doubleday and the owner of Seaview Books, his books include Seven Glorious Days, Seven Fun-Filled Nights and Money Talks! A veteran of stage and screen, Peter Berkrot's career spans four decades. Highlights include feature roles in Caddyshack and Showtime's Brotherhood, and appearances on America's Most Wanted and Unsolved Mysteries. His voice can be heard on television, radio, video games, documentaries and industrials. He is a prominent acting coach and a regular contributor to the award-winning news program Frontline produced by WGBH in Boston. Peter served as director of narration for the Emmy-nominated The Truth About Cancer. Peter has recorded a number of audiobooks, including three by Peter Hessler: Country Driving, Oracle Bones, and River Town. Other favorite titles include The Woods by Harlan Coben, English, August by Upamanyu Chatterjee, The Fifth Vial by Michael Palmer, American Brutus by Michael W. Kauffmann, Better by Atul Gawande, and Some Sort of Epic Grandeur by Matthew J. Bruccoli.
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Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
By Jeffrey Swystun
TOP 50 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
Jerry Della Femina's now forty year-old book has been appropriately resurrected with the success of Mad Men. In fact, it is now a text book case of co-branding. Clearly, the original book was fodder for Matthew Weiner's superlative series and, as a result, is now leveraging the television drama on its re-released cover along with an endorsement from Mr. Weiner (the cover art now emulates Mad Men's opening sequence).
Della Femina would be a guy you would want to sit next to on a stool at the Oyster Bar. He would regal you with raunchy stories of Madison Avenue and if you listen carefully enough, you may learn something about advertising. Buried within the stories of drinking, toking, cheating, and playing politics are a few good bon mots like:
"There is no such thing as a bad client. But there is such a thing as bad advertising."
"Most account guys live with fear in their hearts."
"Creative people do not have a business sense about themselves."
"There is a great deal of advertising that is much better than the product. When that happens, all that good advertising will do is put you out of business."
Throughout the book there is high praise for Bill Bernbach and his agency, DDB. In fact, he sites the Volkswagen campaign as the industry game-changer and the people from DDB as the successful archetype for the industry as a whole. A beneficial section is on presenting and pitching where Della Femina accurately likens it to theater.
In terms of the Mad Men antics, he summarizes the industry with: "Crazy? Yes. Romantic and glamorous? Not one bit. The wild stuff, I'm afraid, is very much overrated." Which is true in Mad Men when we see agencies and individuals sow the seeds of their own destruction week to week.
The book works extremely well as a time capsule but is not a "how-to" (nor is it meant to be). But if you are looking for both great ad industry stories and how to be successful within it, I suggest: "Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Advertising" by Luke Sullivan. But be extremely careful when you read anything on advertising because it has been written by advertisers. As Della Femina cautions, "Part of this business - a big part of it - is illusion."
Della Femina would be a guy you would want to sit next to on a stool at the Oyster Bar. He would regal you with raunchy stories of Madison Avenue and if you listen carefully enough, you may learn something about advertising. Buried within the stories of drinking, toking, cheating, and playing politics are a few good bon mots like:
"There is no such thing as a bad client. But there is such a thing as bad advertising."
"Most account guys live with fear in their hearts."
"Creative people do not have a business sense about themselves."
"There is a great deal of advertising that is much better than the product. When that happens, all that good advertising will do is put you out of business."
Throughout the book there is high praise for Bill Bernbach and his agency, DDB. In fact, he sites the Volkswagen campaign as the industry game-changer and the people from DDB as the successful archetype for the industry as a whole. A beneficial section is on presenting and pitching where Della Femina accurately likens it to theater.
In terms of the Mad Men antics, he summarizes the industry with: "Crazy? Yes. Romantic and glamorous? Not one bit. The wild stuff, I'm afraid, is very much overrated." Which is true in Mad Men when we see agencies and individuals sow the seeds of their own destruction week to week.
The book works extremely well as a time capsule but is not a "how-to" (nor is it meant to be). But if you are looking for both great ad industry stories and how to be successful within it, I suggest: "Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: A Guide to Creating Great Advertising" by Luke Sullivan. But be extremely careful when you read anything on advertising because it has been written by advertisers. As Della Femina cautions, "Part of this business - a big part of it - is illusion."
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4.1 out of 5 stars
28 reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
great book, terrific anecdotes
Jun 4 1999
By Sabu Paul
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
Like the reviewer above, I read this book when I was in college and it's one of the reasons I'm an advertising copywriter today. Great anecdotes and the story of modern advertising during its formative years. I must have read this book some five times. Della Femina and George Lois are still my heroes (Alas, The Art of Advertising by Lois is also out of print).
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Advertising the way it was meant to be
April 30 1997
By A Customer
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
I read this book in junior high school and it made advertising seem like so much fun and so interesting that I am now, like Mr. Della Femina, a copywriter in Manhattan. It is not as glamorous or as lucrative for me as it has been for him, but I'm not complaining. There are dozens of great anecdotes, one of which provides the title of the book. Unfortunately, I lent it to a work associate, who lent it to a girl at the agency who he was trying to date, and I never saw it again. So if you find a copy, read it and hang on to it
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Still laughing after all these years
Feb 19 2001
By HeyJudy
- Published on Amazon.com
Format:Hardcover
I read this book when it first was published; I must have been in high school at the time. After all these years--20? 30?--I'm still laughing!
As events would transpire, Mr. Della Femina and I ended up living in the same town. Okay, so maybe I live here and he owns it. My favorite reading in this town is the column that Jerry writes for the weekly newspaper...which he happens to own. I usually make copies of this column and send it to friends. Believe me, we all howl.
Considering his prominence in the place where we both live, there's not a month that passes that I don't tell somebody about this book. It was as interesting as it was funny, a primer on the advertising industry written by a man of integrity. (Did you hear the one about the time he got arrested for displaying pumpkins in front of the gourmet shop he owns? Seriously, folks....) Very simply, I think that Jerry Della Femina is a genius. Of course, I give Jerry full credit for the title of this memoir, both the way he crafted the phrase and the sentiment behind it.
A dear friend was doing a very important business deal with a prominent Japanese firm. He and his wife invited me to dinner to help entertain the company's rep on his trip to NYC. After they had invited me, they remembered my enthusiasm for this autobiography. Then, they started to worry that I was going to tell the client (who spoke perfect English) all about Jerry's book. They prevailed upon me to exercise restraint. It was difficult, but I held my tongue.
There are some books which, as a reader, one just can't understand why a publisher would let go out of print. As far as I'm concerned, WONDERFUL FOLKS heads my list.
›
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4.1 out of 5 stars
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