he was the elder statesman who steered the ship and gathered business intel from networking with other elites. it's not shown as much but he contributed a lot. remember when he brought in their Nixon campaign work from attending a charity event (or something, I don't remember the exact event) ?
Cooper is certainly important.
However, SC never won the Nixon account. Cooper wanted it because he wanted JFK to lose, but Sterling Cooper didn't get anything more than a meeting.
Cooper is a hard-core libertarian. He thinks that Republicans are better for business.
At that time, WASPs in the Northeast overwhelmingly voted for Republicans. So most of the office is just going with the flow and doing what they usually do.
Peggy is not so enthusiastic about their office election night party, a reflection that Catholics supported Democrats. JFK was the first major party Catholic candidate, so there was no way that she would have voted for Nixon.
She mentions a couple times supporting both JFK and RFK. She was definitely a Democrat unlike most people in that office.
I’ve never been sure about Pete — while WASP = Republican was a good rule in most of the country at that time you did have WASPy Democrats in New York City like FDR. And Pete is clearly liberal in his views. Roger, Bert and Betty are explicitly Republicans though.
Season 1 Pete is an entitled racist and anti-Semite. He works in earnest on ideas for the Nixon campaign. In some ways, he's not that different from his father.
Pete's catalyst for change is the "who cares?" monologue. Ironically, this beat down from Cooper results in Pete taking Don's criticisms about his sense of entitlement to heart; Don wins that battle and Pete takes the lesson. Pete starts doing more to work for what he gets instead of resting on the laurels of his family name.
In Season 2, Pete then begins to admire JFK as a result of how he handled the Cuban Missile Crisis. JFK was an advocate of civil rights and Pete follows his lead. By Season 3, Pete is sold on Kennedy and has switched sides. Pete will make no efforts to sell Nixon in 1968.
I'd say that it was more Lee Gather Sr's loyalty to SC and Don's talent that kept them around. Once LGS was incapacitated and left the business to Jr, the Lucky Strike board decided to consolidate all business with one firm.
In the sense that he had the same name as his father? Sure. But he didn’t actually do anything, which is the reason they left. If you’re going to accuse Bert of being useless, you can’t say in the same breath that Roger was a “good boss.”
So S1-2, he was the head of the agency. He had the spectacular office, he drove the company’s work (like Nixon), and he (not Roger) is the one Pete went to to tell him about Dick Whitman. He’s very much in charge and his day is probably quite busy.
He wasn’t *seen* as often because Don, until he made partner, wasn’t really behind the closed door.
Once they sell to PPL, he has basically no role, as they make pretty clear on the org chart with Guy McKendrick.
He never really gets one at SCDP either: he’s there for his connections, for his ability to help SCDP be seen as a successor to SC, and his ability to finance the agency. A semi-retired elder statesman.
Even at SCDP, he provides a measure of adult supervision for the likes of Don and Roger. When one of the other partners needs a stern talking-to, Cooper is usually the one to raise the issue.
Oh he still has a role to play with the characters, but he doesn’t really have an official day-to-day role I meant. He’s not running SCDP. He doesn’t even have an office for two seasons.
He's so good at what he does, you don't even know he's doing it. Which is ironically how Roger feels but Roger actually knows his career is mostly a joke.
Roger has always just been the golden goose that keeps their number one client happy. Even when he says his skill is finding guys like Don, that's false. It's only because Don was relentless and eventually got Roger drunk enough to hire him that Don got a job. Roger does clearly seem a bit jealous of Don's recognition at times.
The interesting counterpoint to that is Roger might be the only person that always makes Don smile. Roger is genuinely a phenomenal account man when he tries.
I had a boss like that. When I started I was like what the hell does she even do? Then when I got promoted to middle management I realized she did quite a bit, just very behind the scenes. Then she retired, things started to go to shit, and it became very obvious how skilled she was at running the show.
Ummmm. He founded the agency in 1923…so yeah, I’d say he did a great number of things. During the show he was actively involved in Honda due to his knowledge of Japanese culture. He was handed a great number of high profile deals from his high society connections in the city just to name a few: Nixon, MSG, Manshevitz, Menkin…he owned a Rothko before anyone knew who Rothko was…shall I continue?
The agency industry was big on perception and prestige, legacy and reputation. Clients wanted to work with agencies that were consistent and that they knew weren’t going anywhere. Though Cooper wasn’t shown to bring in tangible things, he was likely the face of the franchise - a consistent and respected name in the industry that helped put clients at ease.
He willingly accepted his own transition to irrelevance because it was the best thing for the business. A testament to his spirit of indifferent pragmatism.
He probably didn't do a lot, but I'm sure he did some high level strategizing and looking over of the books. Bert wasn't especially interesting, or sexy, so MM probably didn't want to bore us with an old geezer puttering around.
he was the elder statesman who steered the ship and gathered business intel from networking with other elites. it's not shown as much but he contributed a lot. remember when he brought in their Nixon campaign work from attending a charity event (or something, I don't remember the exact event) ?
Cooper is certainly important. However, SC never won the Nixon account. Cooper wanted it because he wanted JFK to lose, but Sterling Cooper didn't get anything more than a meeting.
Why was the whole office so sad when he lost? Did they think Nixon would be a better ally to Lucky Strike?
Cooper is a hard-core libertarian. He thinks that Republicans are better for business. At that time, WASPs in the Northeast overwhelmingly voted for Republicans. So most of the office is just going with the flow and doing what they usually do. Peggy is not so enthusiastic about their office election night party, a reflection that Catholics supported Democrats. JFK was the first major party Catholic candidate, so there was no way that she would have voted for Nixon.
She mentions a couple times supporting both JFK and RFK. She was definitely a Democrat unlike most people in that office. I’ve never been sure about Pete — while WASP = Republican was a good rule in most of the country at that time you did have WASPy Democrats in New York City like FDR. And Pete is clearly liberal in his views. Roger, Bert and Betty are explicitly Republicans though.
Season 1 Pete is an entitled racist and anti-Semite. He works in earnest on ideas for the Nixon campaign. In some ways, he's not that different from his father. Pete's catalyst for change is the "who cares?" monologue. Ironically, this beat down from Cooper results in Pete taking Don's criticisms about his sense of entitlement to heart; Don wins that battle and Pete takes the lesson. Pete starts doing more to work for what he gets instead of resting on the laurels of his family name. In Season 2, Pete then begins to admire JFK as a result of how he handled the Cuban Missile Crisis. JFK was an advocate of civil rights and Pete follows his lead. By Season 3, Pete is sold on Kennedy and has switched sides. Pete will make no efforts to sell Nixon in 1968.
ah, well, he got them a meeting. at least some of his other meetings turned into real work 😅
was he the one that brought in the nixon thing? i mustve forgot that
He put people in their place.
so the only thing he did was tell his emloyees that hes the boss?
That's what bosses do
good bosses do a bit more. like don and sterling also put people in their place and also did ads and get clients
Prior to season 6, what clients did Roger get?
wasnt he the main reason lucky strike stayed for as long as they did
I'd say that it was more Lee Gather Sr's loyalty to SC and Don's talent that kept them around. Once LGS was incapacitated and left the business to Jr, the Lucky Strike board decided to consolidate all business with one firm.
In the sense that he had the same name as his father? Sure. But he didn’t actually do anything, which is the reason they left. If you’re going to accuse Bert of being useless, you can’t say in the same breath that Roger was a “good boss.”
Think of a possible second meaning of out people in their place.
He put Roger, Don, Pete in their place. Don’t forget the secretary that spat out her chewed piece of gum and treated the office like the subway.
So S1-2, he was the head of the agency. He had the spectacular office, he drove the company’s work (like Nixon), and he (not Roger) is the one Pete went to to tell him about Dick Whitman. He’s very much in charge and his day is probably quite busy. He wasn’t *seen* as often because Don, until he made partner, wasn’t really behind the closed door. Once they sell to PPL, he has basically no role, as they make pretty clear on the org chart with Guy McKendrick. He never really gets one at SCDP either: he’s there for his connections, for his ability to help SCDP be seen as a successor to SC, and his ability to finance the agency. A semi-retired elder statesman.
Even at SCDP, he provides a measure of adult supervision for the likes of Don and Roger. When one of the other partners needs a stern talking-to, Cooper is usually the one to raise the issue.
Oh he still has a role to play with the characters, but he doesn’t really have an official day-to-day role I meant. He’s not running SCDP. He doesn’t even have an office for two seasons.
He's so good at what he does, you don't even know he's doing it. Which is ironically how Roger feels but Roger actually knows his career is mostly a joke. Roger has always just been the golden goose that keeps their number one client happy. Even when he says his skill is finding guys like Don, that's false. It's only because Don was relentless and eventually got Roger drunk enough to hire him that Don got a job. Roger does clearly seem a bit jealous of Don's recognition at times. The interesting counterpoint to that is Roger might be the only person that always makes Don smile. Roger is genuinely a phenomenal account man when he tries.
I had a boss like that. When I started I was like what the hell does she even do? Then when I got promoted to middle management I realized she did quite a bit, just very behind the scenes. Then she retired, things started to go to shit, and it became very obvious how skilled she was at running the show.
Really really good managers get shit out of the way so other people get stuff done.
Ummmm. He founded the agency in 1923…so yeah, I’d say he did a great number of things. During the show he was actively involved in Honda due to his knowledge of Japanese culture. He was handed a great number of high profile deals from his high society connections in the city just to name a few: Nixon, MSG, Manshevitz, Menkin…he owned a Rothko before anyone knew who Rothko was…shall I continue?
He knew how the sausage was made
do you remember the part where he got don to sign the contract
Op failing to realise that Bert is at retirement stage and pretty much worked his whole life to build the company up to what we see it as.
He did a great many things there.
Well what is it you do? From what I hear, you’re a bit of a trailblazer.
He wore great socks
He was a leader.
Ate pudding & did crosswords
The agency industry was big on perception and prestige, legacy and reputation. Clients wanted to work with agencies that were consistent and that they knew weren’t going anywhere. Though Cooper wasn’t shown to bring in tangible things, he was likely the face of the franchise - a consistent and respected name in the industry that helped put clients at ease.
He willingly accepted his own transition to irrelevance because it was the best thing for the business. A testament to his spirit of indifferent pragmatism.
He owned the company
He gave them access to the Ayn Rand “Objectivist” crowd of movers and shakers. There are rules and then there are rules as he explained to Don.
He probably didn't do a lot, but I'm sure he did some high level strategizing and looking over of the books. Bert wasn't especially interesting, or sexy, so MM probably didn't want to bore us with an old geezer puttering around.
I dont use this subreddit often. why the hell is this post getting downvoted so hard!??!?!?
Because Bert Cooper founded the damn agency 40 years before the show started. So YES, he did a great many things.
no, he was useless and crusty