I managed to catch the season opener for the second season of “Mad Men” on AMC this past Sunday night. I didn’t watch any of the first season though the premise of the series had caught my attention — life at a New York ad agency during the early 1960’s. For some reason, this period in American history holds a particular fascination for me.

Maybe it’s the way people dressed and conducted themselves.

It could also be that even though I was still in nursery school at the time, I have a lot of fond memories from my childhood  during that era.

Like in “Man Men”, I clearly remember men wearing suits and ties and even those really cool hats with the bands around them. My grandparents had a shoe repair shop in Flushing, NY and I remember that my grandfather would clean felt hats there. Perhaps it was the benzene he used to clean those hats that eventually contributed to the cancer that ultimately caused his death at the relatively young age of 66.

And of course all the ladies were beautiful.

Elegant dresses and white gloves. I clearly remember the commercials for Playtex girdles. That was probably the only way many women could squeeze into some of those tight dresses. This was a few years before the mini skirt was all the rage, but give me Christina Hendricks in that form-fitting red dress over Twiggy any day!

It seemed men and women would get dressed up to just go to the grocery store. I wonder what kids today make of those old “I Love Lucy” and “Leave It To Beaver” shows where dad is in a white shirt and tie and mom is wearing a nice dress and heels to clean the house? It seemed that everyone was dressed like they were on their way to church all the time.

Manners seemed to have been paid more attention to back during those times.

Men were expected to remove their hats in the presence of a lady. In fact, there was a scene in the first episode of the second season where the Don Draper, one of the main characters, is offended by the crude talk of two jerks in an elevator and demands that one of them take off his hat when a lady gets on.

Looking back now, the conduct of people appears to have been much better given the distance of time, but people will always be rude and I’m sure not everyone acted like a perfect lady or gentlemen. This is what gives “Mad Men” a very realistic feel. The early 1960’s were also a time of fairly unchecked sexism and racism, which the show also appears not to gloss over.

So, I’m already hooked on AMC’s “Mad Men” and will probably make an excuse to be in front of the TV at 10pm EST on Sunday nights. I think I’ll also need to find a way to catch up on season one.