| Midge Daniels | |
|---|---|
| |
| Portrayed by | Rosemarie DeWitt |
| First appearance | Smoke Gets in Your Eyes |
| Details | |
| Gender | Female |
| Occupation | Freelance Artist |
| Relations | |
| Husband | Perry Demuth |
| Romantic Partners | Don Draper Roy Hazelitt |
Biography[]
Midge Daniels is a smart, ambitious art illustrator, and a thoroughly independent career woman, like many of the women of the time who are newly venturing into the workforce. Midge plays by her own rules, and openly rejects the traditional ideals of marriage and domestic life.
This “live in the moment” mentality makes her the perfect love interest for the married Don. Her anti-establishment friends may be too much for Don, as he embodies their "enemy," but she relishes his discomfort in it. One night, even after Don realizes that she and her friend Roy are in love, he asks her to go to Paris, she declines for obvious reasons.
In 1965, she runs into Don Draper in the Time Life building. She tells him to join her at home with her husband Perry Demuth, claiming she has lost her purse. When they arrived at her house, Perry implies that she will have sex with him if he buys one of her paintings. He promises to make a great dinner, but has no cash on him. Don gives him 10 dollars, and he appears disappointed before leaving. She tells him that he will just put that in his arm, informing him that she is addicted to heroin as well but is unable stop. Don realizes Midge and her husband are living in poverty, and that she tracked him down to ask for money. He writes her a check that she can't cash, so he rips it up and gives her 120 dollars in cash. He takes one of her paintings and says that he "doesn't even have cab fare". Midge kisses him but he pulls away and she tells him that "it was really great seeing you" and that she is "glad he did not change". He then walks out without saying a word. ("Blowing Smoke")
