Sunday, August 24, 2014

10 Iconic Sally Draper Moments on 'Mad Men'

They grow up so fast. Especially when they grow up on TV.  In 2007, the second episode of AMC’s “Mad Men” introduced viewers to Sally Draper, the precocious eldest child of ad exec Don Draper (Jon Hamm). The episode was “Ladies Room,” and the first image of Sally was, well, shocking. The character has been played by actress Kiernan Shipka ever since, the lone exception to a rotating kiddie cast that has featured a whopping four Bobby Drapers and a set of twins in the role of baby brother Gene.

The 14-year-old child star recently told Vanity Fair, “It’s such a blessing to be able to play a character for as long as any of us on the show have. And to play someone from the age of six, while also being six, and then growing into a teenager, is the wildest thing. To grow up with Sally, and be able to evolve as a character like that, is something you don’t get to do very often.”

During her seven-season reign as sassy Sally, Shipka has pulled off her share of shocking scenes, too. Check out some of the most iconic Sally Draper moments from “Mad Men.”

Sally puts a plastic bag over her head

That shocking first look at our gal Sal occurred in Season 1’s “Ladies Room,” when her character played   “spaceman” by putting a plastic dry cleaning bag over her head. Mom Betty Draper’s (January Jones) bad parenting response: “If the clothes from that dry cleaning bag are on the floor of my closet, you’re going to be a very sorry young lady!” But the plastic bag on the head is OK?



 Sally plays bartender and smokes a cigarette

Clearly there was no D.A.R.E. program in the 1960s. In the Season 2 episode “Flight 1,” a pint-sized Sally made a Tom Collins for her dad and their neighbor Carlton Hanson via her daddy’s instructions: "OK, you don't smash the cherry on that. Just plop it in at the end. Try to keep it in the top of the glass." A few years later, Sally tried to impress her classmates at Miss Porter’s School by boasting, “I know how to make a Tom Collins!”

And when a young Sally was caught smoking a cigarette, her mom locked her in a dark closet. But a few years later, in a bizarre mother-daughter bonding moment, the 12-year old shared a smoke with mom on the drive back from Miss Porter’s.

Sally kisses a boy – and likes it

“You don’t kiss boys, boys kiss you!” mom Betty Draper warned. But it was too late. By the time the third season episode “Souvenir” rolled around, Sally Draper had already given her first kiss to neighbor Ernie Hanson. The impromptu peck started with some innocent play in the tub. (Don’t worry, the kids were clothed and pretending the tub was a car!) That’s when Sally kissed the kid, before her bratty bro Bobby teased, "Sally and Ernie sitting in a tree."



Sally learns to drive

Just call her Grandpa’s Girl. Sally was never the same after her grandfather Gene Hofstadt’s death in Season 3, but she can always remember the good times. Like the time he taught her how to drive -- way before she was of legal age. Shocking? Perhaps. But at least Grandpa Gene told her to mind the speed limit.

Sally scores Beatles tickets

The Season 4 episode ‘”Hands and Knees” had the usually sullen Sally squealing in delight when her dad called her with the news that he landed tickets to The Beatles’ iconic Shea Stadium concert. While viewers didn’t get to see Don and Sally at the history-making 1965 event, we did get to see Sally’s response to the ticket news. In 2010, Shipka talked to Vulture about the scene: “Sally was really happy when she heard she was going to the Beatles concert,” she said. “It was sort of like a peace offering from Don, to start fresh again with Sally.”



Sally gets a sex ed lesson (or two or three)

She’d already been busted for “behaving inappropriately” at a sleepover (that incident landed her in a shrink’s office), but by Season 5, Sally had an unexpected sex education lesson thanks to Roger Sterling (John Slattery) and her step grandmother, Marie (Julia Ormond.) The episode was “At the Codfish Ball,” and Sally got an eyeful during a bathroom break at an advertising awards dinner. Unfortunately, less than a year later, Sally saw an even more shocking site: Her father in a compromising position with neighbor Sylvia Rosen (Linda Cardellini). Don Draper told his tween he was just “comforting Mrs. Rosen,” but there was no fooling the already-educated Sally.

Sally gets her period

In Season 5, the episode “Commissions and Fees” showed Sally playing hooky and meeting creepy pal Glen Bishop (Martin Weiner) at the Museum of Natural History. But nature called, and Sally’s trip to the restroom had her coming out a woman: Yep, she got her period. While the buzzy scene paved the way for a rare tender moment for Sally and her mom (Betty curled up with her daughter and gave her a hot water bottle for her stomach), some critics thought the period drama went too far with, er, the period drama.

Sally calls out her dad

“Mad Men’s” seventh and final season showed Sally as a full-fledged teen who wasn’t above ditching a funeral to go shopping in Greenwich Village. After losing her purse in the city, Sally stopped by the ad agency to get cash from her dad, then called him out for his shady behavior after another guy (new boss Lou Avery) in his office. “Did you lose your job?” the perceptive teen asked him in the episode “A Day’s Work” (even Don’s wife Megan was in the dark about his employment status), but not before she hinted to her double-life livin’ dad to “just tell the truth.” Sally later delivered this doozy to Don:  “It’s more embarrassing to catch you in a lie than it is to watch you lie.”

Ah, out of the mouths of babes.

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