Confessions Of A MadMan – Miller Pope

Miller Pope’s “Confessions of a MadMan: From Madison Avenue to Island Sands” is one of those rare, thoroughly entertaining autobiographies full of wit and wisdom, that works because, unlike many autobiographies, it isn’t about a celebrity or a politician, but about a regular guy who has lived life to the fullest and then some.

In some respects, it’s a tale of two islands: Manhattan and a little place off the coast of North Carolina called Ocean Isle. But no man is an island, least of all Pope, and therefore the reader gets treated to many people, places and serendipitous happenings along the way in this story of an ad man with an adventurous life.

First the title: As it suggests, Pope was what’s known in popular slang as a “Mad man”, like the character Roger Sterling played by John Slattery in the popular AMC show of the same name. The moniker isn’t necessarily a synonym for a crazy person, but comes from an abbreviation of Madison Avenue in New York City, an area where many high-powered advertising firms were and still are located, including some where Pope was employed as an illustrator.

For those unfamiliar with the golden age of advertising in the 1960s, Pope gives us a peek into what it was like to run in circles with the rich and famous, and, after hours, hobnob with the likes of Joanne Woodward and Bob Hope, all told in the droll, understated humor of this self-described “hick from the hills of Tennessee.”

As the reader travels through the pastiche of each chapter, one fact remains: This guy had a really good time at most everything he did. Because Pope’s life has been lived all over the map, so is his story. He jumps from early years to his stint in the Marines, from career to family travels. But in the style of a true raconteur, which he undoubtedly is, Pope’s ramblings are always entertaining.