Watch The Unlikely Story Of A 1950s Secretary Who Became A Design Legend (VIDEO)

Like everyone else who owns a collection of fine midcentury cocktail accessories, photo albums of other people's ancestors and tiny hats never to be worn in public, I have an endless fascination with stories of what it was like to live and work in New York City during what pop culture now deems the "Mad Men era." I have no delusions that the period was all one big cocktail party, of course. But people did tend to have more interesting lives -- or at least more interesting stories.

One such case is the absolutely fascinating Hilda Longinotti, a high school dropout from Queens who became secretary to the legendary designer George Nelson before going over to Herman Miller, where she found her groove as an indomitable tour de force in the design world.

Now 80, Herman Miller is celebrating Longinotti with a series of fabulous cartoons that bring her fascinating anecdotes to vivid life in "The Hilda Stories." Check them out for yourself over at the Herman Miller website, or watch the video above where I give HuffPost Live host Caitlyn Becker a glimpse of the series.