First Posted: 3/23/2015
NEW YORK (AP) — “Mad Men” fans can now take a selfie with Don Draper, thanks to a bench unveiled Monday featuring the fictional adman’s silhouette.
Jon Hamm, the actor who plays Draper, posed for photos on the bench outside the Time & Life Building at 1271 Avenue of the Americas in midtown Manhattan. He appeared with other cast members, January Jones, Christina Hendricks, John Slattery and Elisabeth Moss, along with the show’s creator, Matthew Weiner.
The bench is one of a number of attractions around New York City coinciding with the AMC series’ final season, which begins April 5. The Museum of the Moving Image in Queens has a “Mad Men” exhibit with props, sets and costumes. Some restaurants are offering $19.69 liquid lunches this week in honor of the show. And Moss, who plays Peggy on the show, has gotten rave reviews as the star of the Broadway revival of “The Heidi Chronicles.”
The Draper bench shows a black outline of the character seated on the bench, with one arm draped along the back of the seat. Two slim strips of white illuminate the black figure: a shirt cuff peeking out from beneath a suit sleeve, and the tip of a cigarette.
The street signs at the corner of Sixth Avenue and 50th Street were changed to read “Mad Men Av” and “Don Draper Way.”
The Time & Life Building is where the fictional ad agency in the show is headquartered. Although the series, which is set in the 1960s, takes place in New York, it’s mostly filmed in Los Angeles on Hollywood sets. But there are numerous references in the show to real places in New York City along with real events from that turbulent decade. No doubt the weather for Monday’s event was a chilling reality check for the stars: It was 28 degrees and Moss was wearing open-toed shoes.
Actor Ford, who recently crashed plane, is air film narrator
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Harrison Ford, who recently crashed his vintage airplane on a Los Angeles golf course, is returning to the skies — at least with his voice.
National Geographic Studios announced Thursday that Ford will narrate a documentary being released next month called “Living in the Age of Airplanes.”
The giant-screen film that was shot from the air over 18 countries gives a history of a century of aviation.
The film premieres April 8 at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington and two days later will open on IMAX and similar screens.
The announcement comes as Ford, a longtime pilot and aviation enthusiast, is still recovering from the March 5 crash-landing of a World War II era plane whose engine failed shortly after takeoff.
Insensitive remarks don’t change Hollywood’s top stylists’ love for Dolce & Gabbana designs
WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Some of Hollywood’s top fashionistas are standing behind Dolce & Gabbana; others aren’t so sure.
The embattled brand was on the minds — and bodies — of guests at the Hollywood Reporter’s fourth annual luncheon honoring the industry’s most influential stylists Wednesday.
Gwen Stefani wore a Dolce & Gabbana polka-dot ensemble to the private party at Soho House sponsored by Jimmy Choo. And the first advertisement inside the trade magazine’s “Stars & Stylists” issue is a two-page tout for the label.
Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana denigrated surrogacy and same-sex parents in an interview with an Italian magazine last week, prompting Elton John to call for a boycott of the brand. Stars including Martina Navratilova and talk-show host Andy Cohen quickly hopped on board.
Stylist Tara Swennen, who counts Kristen Stewart among her clients, said she loves Dolce & Gabbana’s clothes but feels their recent remarks put her in a “weird place.”
“I don’t really know what to do at the moment,” she said, adding that she generally believes in second chances. “I’ll respect whatever my clients want to do.”
Another stylist said she and her client had picked a Dolce & Gabbana outfit, but the star’s publicist put the kibosh on it.
Jason Rembert, who works with Rita Ora, said he hopes the flap over the design duo’s comments pass quickly.
“They seem to be really great people. I’ve met them before,” he said. “And their teams are really amazing.”
Taylor Swift’s stylist, Joseph Cassell, isn’t sure what the fallout for Dolce & Gabbana might be.
“I am a gay man. I’ve adopted two children. I’m so busy with my kids, I can’t stop to think of what (the designers) may or may not have said,” he remarked. “The only thing I wish I could talk to them and say right now is, talking to the press is dangerous.”
