Here is a very cool interview with the Prop Master for Mad Men, Scott Buckwald.
Collectors Weekly: What are some of the other antique or vintage items that you’ve worked with on Mad Men?
Buckwald: We had a vintage rifle, which was a real gun. And I had to put meters in the taxicabs. How do you find vintage taxicab meters and make them look nice and new? But the show is about advertising, so it was mostly a case of recreating newspapers and magazine layouts more than anything else.
There’s an episode in which the firm was going to be promoting women’s lipstick, so we needed a department store countertop display case. My assistant made a lipstick display case from scratch. He found pictures of it, laid it out, designed it, and made it. It was brilliant. We’ve created little household items, little point-of-purchase trinkets, stuff like that. It was an amazing amount of work. You watch the show and you might not notice it because sometimes the camera doesn’t always capture the little things you do. Hopefully, as a whole, it all kind of adds up. You can’t expect every item that you make to be celebrated.
It’s so true – props are supposed to fade into the background and create a structure that helps set the mood. Invisible, yet integral. There are tons of great insights in the interview, be sure to check it out whether you are a fan of the show or just a fan of prop stylists (or, like us, both!). Maribeth Keane and Jessica Lewis over at Collector’s Weekly asked some great questions. Check it out.
