I was lucky enough to arrive at 2 East 48 Street when D.O. was still around, although he was sort of uber-emeritus at the time and it wasn’t really clear what he was doing there. In the first few years I worked there, I think I saw him a total of three to four times — and never in an official business capacity. Still, the magnitude of those encounters stays with me. Here’s one — my boss, Neil Martineau, stopped by my office with D.O. and said, “David, I’d like to introduce you to one of our young writers.” I looked up from my typewriter (yes, typewriter) and there he was, the man, in a tweed suit with vest in the middle of a scorching Manhattan summer afternoon. I said, “Pleased to meet you,” and shook his hand. He said, “How old are you?” I said, “I’m 23.” He paused for a moment, and then he said, “Nobody’s 23!” And with a smile, he walked on.
Wow!
A Fish With Legs 
I’d like to write a guest post on my D.O. run in sometime. It was when we were contiguous neighbors.
mike
send it in…i’ll feature you — did you see my post from earlier the week on F.U.V.’s??
Apart from being inspired by “Confessions…” I appreciated Ogilvy for another reason. He always validated direct marketing when others in general advertising turned up their noses at at. I worked for Ogilvy/Direct in LA.
Yes, I did! This is the best blog! I wish I could have it delivered to my inbox…I am following it but I wish i could have it delivered to me.
i don’t know how to do that. i will have my army of tech geeks work on that. in the meantime, thanks for following…
I saw him from time to time wandering about the office after lunch (usually well-lubricated). One day he poked his head into my office, but I was just coming down the hall, and I saw this from afar. He saw that the office was empty and moved on. I was tempted to chase after him, but then thought it best not to. I’ve always wondered what he would have said if I had been at my desk. I guess I’ll never know.