‘Mad Men' Goes Back to the Office

What 'Mad Men' Gets Right About 1960s Women

Did they really smoke that much? A Newsweek secretary-turned-Washington correspondent says the on-screen sexism, drinking, and smoking capture the office culture of the early '60s.

It’s a rainy morning in Los Angeles, and Elisabeth Moss, who plays Peggy in the television series Mad Men, is standing outside the stage door smoking. On the set the actors are restricted to herbal cigarettes, which is why she has ducked out for what she calls “the real thing.” I explain who I am (a reporter from Newsweek) and why I’m there (I started as a secretary), and she exclaims, “I am you!”

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