At the Codfish Ball

"At the Codfish Ball"
Mad Men episode
(from left to right) Émile Calvet (Ronald Guttman), Marie Calvet (Julia Ormond), Megan (Jessica Paré), Don (Jon Hamm), and Sally Draper (Kiernan Shipka) reflect on recent events at the American Cancer Society dinner.
Episode no.	Season 5 Episode 7
Directed by	Michael Uppendahl
Written by	Jonathan Igla
Original air date	April 29, 2012 (2012-04-29)
Running time	48 minutes
Guest appearances
Ben Feldman as Michael Ginsberg Charlie Hofheimer as Abe Drexler John Sloman as Raymond Geiger Mason Vale Cotton as Bobby Draper Larisa Oleynik as Cynthia Cosgrove Ronald Guttman as Émile Calvet Julia Ormond as Marie Calvet Talia Balsam as Mona Sterling Myra Turley as Katherine Olson Ray Wise as Ed Baxter Marten Weiner as Glen Bishop Pamela Dunlap as Pauline Francis Robin Pearson Rose as Alice Geiger
Episode chronology
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Mad Men season 5
List of episodes

"At the Codfish Ball" is the seventh episode of the fifth season of the American television drama series Mad Men and the 59th episode of the series overall.

The episode is named after the 1936 popular novelty song of the same name by Lew Pollack and Sidney Mitchell. The song recorded by artists of the era including Mae Questel, Bob Crosby, and Tommy Dorsey, as well as decades later by Maria Muldaur. It was featured in a song and dance routine performed by Shirley Temple in the 1936 film Captain January.^[1]

The episode was written by Jonathan Igla and directed by Michael Uppendahl. It originally aired on the AMC channel in the United States on April 29, 2012. This episode takes place from late September to early October 1966. In the episode, Megan comes up with a last-minute pitch to save the Heinz account. Peggy thinks Abe is going to propose to her, but he instead suggests they move in together, a decision that does not go over well with her mother. The extended Draper family convenes to attend a banquet in which Don is honored by the American Cancer Society. At the banquet, Sally is exposed to the world of adults. "At the Codfish Ball" was watched by 2.31 million viewers, a decline from the previous episode. It pulled in 700,000 viewers in the 18–49 demographic. Nevertheless, the episode was well received by television critics.