Ad Man: True Stories from the Golden Age of Advertising

With martini glass in hand, Ad Man rips the top off the Wheaties box and plucks the tail fins off the Caddy to tell the true story of what really went on in those offices high above Madison Avenue during the 1960s, the storied age of advertising. Bob Foster (more or less) worked for all the mid-century media moguls: Harry Luce, Katharine Graham, Bill Paley, those who shaped the news, politics, policies, fads, sentiments and thinking of the day, all the while providing a platform for Madison Avenue’s ad men and women.

His memoir tells the backstories, some hilarious, some poignant, all true. More than just a roadmap of the inner workings of advertising and promotion, these are tales of how the advertising process, from the publishing houses and television networks to the advertising agencies, “got the job done.” Foster worked for Life, Time, Newsweek, Gentleman’s Quarterly, CBS-TV and Sports Illustrated. He did a gig at a great little boutique magazine called On The Sound as its ad director, a publication that presaged the wildly popular and successful regional magazines like New York and Philadelphia Magazine. He had a special insight into the industry because he was not only a media salesman but a complete and total alcoholic.

There are many businesses where the behavior of a man who drank too much would land him on the sidewalk in no time. Not so in the ad business of the 60s; it was all part of the deal. Just about everybody was half hammered after lunch and, if they weren’t, you knew to stay far away from them.

Foster’s first job, publisher’s representative at Time Inc., came easily, too easily. It was work for the semi-skilled; Ad Man found that all he really had to know was which fork to use, how to play a reasonable round of golf, and to dress whatever part he had to play. The commitment to a publication or network meant that Foster lived, ate and slept that property twenty-four hours a day. As a rep, you were expected to do whatever pleased the client -- the more outrageous the better. Bosses, secretaries, clients, account executives, creative types, visitors, business trips, and almost every personal interaction all provide fodder for this book. These stories are outrageous and funny, but the most dramatic is about a tragic night on Long Island Sound.