This is an ongoing chronicle of the many and varied public, semi-private and private pools of the Los Angeles area, as well as other swimmable bodies of water.

It is intended as a resource for those avid swimmers out there who want the low-down on where to go (and where not to go) for some acquatic action in our fair city.

13th September 2010

Photo reblogged from The Footnotes of Mad Men. with 93 notes

I too was totally thrilled to see Don Draper taking to the waters of the New York Athletic Club’s lap pool in an effort to get his life back on track, and immediately thought of my recent post on “The Swimmer”. Matthew Weiner said that this episode was as close to a short story as he can do on the show, so it seems like Cheever’s story, which was written in 1964, was an obvious influence. We have seen Don take to the water before, when he was “reborn” in the Pacific Ocean at the end of Season 2, so clearly swimming has some deep spiritual significance for him. I’m not sure I have the quote exactly right, but I think Don hit the nail on the head when he said about swimming: “It takes work to get yourself in the water, but once you do, there’s no sweating, and in the end, you’re ‘wrung out.’” I couldn’t have said it better myself. Now we will just have to wait and see whether Don is able to keep up his workout routine or not… madmenfootnotes: Watching Don Draper emerge from chlorinated baptismal waters, gasping for breath in a cavernous public gym, brings to mind John Cheever’s short story “The Swimmer,” from 1964. “I’ve been a little out of sorts, lately,” Don confesses to his date. Likewise Cheever’s main character, Ned Merrill. Beginning at the public pool, Ned, in an attempt discover Bullet Park’s hidden topography, decides to swim through the private and public schools of his Westchester neighborhood, creating an aquatic trail back to his home. Ned starts the expedition with great hope, as he enjoys the sensation of swimming: “He had been swimming and now he was breathing deeply, stertorously as if he could gulp into his lungs the components of that moment, the heat of the sun, the intenseness of his pleasure.” Footnotes of Mad Men: The Swimmer

I too was totally thrilled to see Don Draper taking to the waters of the New York Athletic Club’s lap pool in an effort to get his life back on track, and immediately thought of my recent post on “The Swimmer”. Matthew Weiner said that this episode was as close to a short story as he can do on the show, so it seems like Cheever’s story, which was written in 1964, was an obvious influence. We have seen Don take to the water before, when he was “reborn” in the Pacific Ocean at the end of Season 2, so clearly swimming has some deep spiritual significance for him. I’m not sure I have the quote exactly right, but I think Don hit the nail on the head when he said about swimming: “It takes work to get yourself in the water, but once you do, there’s no sweating, and in the end, you’re ‘wrung out.’” I couldn’t have said it better myself. Now we will just have to wait and see whether Don is able to keep up his workout routine or not…

madmenfootnotes:

Watching Don Draper emerge from chlorinated baptismal waters, gasping for breath in a cavernous public gym, brings to mind John Cheever’s short story “The Swimmer,” from 1964. “I’ve been a little out of sorts, lately,” Don confesses to his date. Likewise Cheever’s main character, Ned Merrill. Beginning at the public pool, Ned, in an attempt discover Bullet Park’s hidden topography, decides to swim through the private and public schools of his Westchester neighborhood, creating an aquatic trail back to his home. Ned starts the expedition with great hope, as he enjoys the sensation of swimming: “He had been swimming and now he was breathing deeply, stertorously as if he could gulp into his lungs the components of that moment, the heat of the sun, the intenseness of his pleasure.”

Footnotes of Mad Men: The Swimmer


Tagged: mad menthe swimmerdon draperseason 4new yorkjohn cheever1960s

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Source: madmenfootnotes

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    I too was totally thrilled to see...New York Athletic Club’s lap pool
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