Best of Emdashes: Hit Parade
A Web Comic: The Wavy Rule
Before it moved to The New Yorker:
Ask the Librarians archive
About Emdashes | Email us
Features & Columns:
Headline Shooter
On the Spot
Looked Into
Martin Schneider writes:
I didn't find anything juicy from The New Yorker this week, but a minor scoop relating to the fruits of Mad Men's research team (whoever they are).
When Betty Draper is at the hospital, she clamors for her own obstetrician, Dr. Aldrich. The suitably stern nurse (it is 1963 after all) assures her that while her own doctor may be living it up in New York City, Betsy will receive the treatment of Dr. Mendelowitz, "our top man!"
According to my friend Seth Davis, a native of the Westchester village of Croton-on-Hudson, New York, there really was a noted obstetrician named Mendelowitz in the area during that time—and he is still alive and well and living a couple towns away from Ossining, in Tarrytown! (Seth relates that the good doctor was reportedly delighted by the shout-out.)
Not only that, but Dr. Mendelowitz has two sons, both of whom are practicing obstetricians in the area—one of them delivered one of Seth's sons, while the other delivered Seth's other son!
Considering I'm friends with the entire Davis family, I've a lot to thank the Drs. Mendelowitz for.
Hello! We're a small band of media enthusiasts, culture addicts, and journalists based in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Emdashes, formerly a New Yorker fan site, is our collection of conversations—mostly civilized—about magazines, movies, politics, design, punctuation, and other things that stir us.
You'd like to know more about the writers and artists and what our column titles mean? We live to serve!
We welcome tips, questions, comments, and corrections, and are always on the lookout for ardent, obsessive new contributors. Click here to email us.
We host occasional book giveaways. Publishers, please email us for our postal address.
Dashes, some say, “are particularly useful in a sentence that is long and complex.” Emdashes—like an em dash itself—provides a thoughtful pause amid the hubbub.
Emdashes, founded in 2004, is written and drawn by Emily Gordon, Martin Schneider, Pollux, Jonathan Taylor, and Benjamin Chambers, as well as occasional guest contributors. All posts before October 2008 are by Emily Gordon.
The site was designed by House of Pretty with illustrations by Jesse R. Ewing.
Additional drawings are by Carolita Johnson and Pollux (author of our web comic, "The Wavy Rule"). The Emdashes pencil logo is by Jennifer Hadley, based on a 1943 Dorothy Gray ad.
Everything you tell or send us is off the record unless we ask for your permission to use it.