Kathryn “expressed her lack of appreciation of the “Mad Men” scene in which Don’s new young wife sings him a song in French.
No, it’s not much of a song, but that’s not the point. It was meant to evoke a certain sense of what 30ish, white, button-down people thought was particularly cool, sexy and sophisticated at that point in cultural history (1965).
To me, the scene’s cultural antecedent was the below scene in “The Pink Panther” (1963). The singer is Fran Jeffries.
Below that, I’ve included an original video of Gillian Hills singing the song in 1962. Gillian later appeared in a ménage à trois with David Hemmings and another girl in “Blow-Up,” the ultimate mid-60s cool movie (much spoofed by Austin Powers).
That’s all for now. I’ll try to keep up with this stuff for you. My time machine is standing by.
You can buy the Jessica Pare version of the song on vinyl at the “Mad Men” site.
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I’m not claiming my memory of pop culture is perfect. I had sort of remembered Capucine (Inspector Clouseau’s wife) singing the song in the movie. But that wouldn’t have worked. She wasn’t quite the type.
I just found that it made me want to scratch myself, as my husband puts it. It was icky.
You can listen to them all at “Radio Yé-Yé!“
Those ye-ye girls….
By the way, I understand that Miss Hills was also featured in a memorable ménage à trois scene in “A Clockwork Orange.” Apparently, this was something of a specialty of hers in her acting career.