SIX

Appointing the New Advertising Manager 

(In John Martin's office.) 

John Martin: 
O.K., Sally. 
I'm ready to see the applicants for the new job. 
Let's have the first one in. 
Who is it? 

Sally: 
It's a Mr. Windsmore. 

John:
Ask him [bad word] in, will you? 

Sally: 
Mr. Windsmore. 

John: 
Ah, how do you do, Mr. Windsmore. 

Windsmore: 
How do you do. 

John: 
Do sit down. 

Windsmore: 
Thank you. 

John: 
Now, let me explain the job. 
We plan to increase our advertising quite considerably. 
At the present moment a firm of advertising agents handles our account, but we haven't been too pleased with results lately and we may give our account to another agency. 

Windsmore: 
What would my work entail? 

John: 
You'd be responsible to me for all advertising and to Mr. Grant for public relations. 
You would brief the agency, whoever it is, on the kind of advertising campaign we want. 
You would also be responsible for getting our leaflets, brochures and catalogues designed. 

Windsmore: 
I presume you advertise in the national Press as well as the trade Press? 

John: 
Yes, we do. 

Windsmore: 
Have you thought about advertising on television? 

John: 
We don't think it's a suitable medium for us. 
Arid it's much too expensive. 

Windsmore: 
I can just imagine a scene with a typist sitting on an old-fashioned typing chair, her back aching, exhausted... 
Then we show her in one of your chairs, her back properly supported, feeling full of energy, typing twice as quickly. 

John: 
Before you get carried away with your little scene, Mr. Windsmore, 
I regret to have to tell you again that we are not planning to go into television. 

Windsmore: 
That's a shame? 
I've been doing a lot of television work lately and it interests me enormously. 

John: 
Then I really don't think that this is quite the right job for you here, Mr. Windsmore.

(Mr. Windsmore has gone.) 

John:
Sally, who's next? 

Sally: 
There are two more. 
The rest [bad word] tomorrow. 
Er... one is a woman. 

John:
What? 
Really? 
There weren't any women applicants. 

Sally: 
Yes. 
It's J.P.Harvey. 
The 'J' is for Joanna. 

John:
Miss or Mrs.? 

Sally: 
Miss. 

John:
Where's her letter of application? 
I can't find it. 
Has she had any experience? 
I wonder why I picked her out for an interview? 

Sally: 
Here's her letter. 

John:
Thanks. 
Yes, she signs the letter J.P. Harvey. 
H'm, let's see. 
Did I make a mistake? 
I can't think a woman would be likely to have the right qualifications... 

Sally: 
Why not, Mr. Martin? 
The letter says that she's been an account executive for a year... 

John:
Oh, yes. 
Well, well. 
What's she like, Sally? 

Sally: 
I'll show her in, Mr. Martin, and then you can decide. 

(The interview has started.) 

John:
How did you begin in advertising, Miss Harvey? 

Joanna Harvey:
I joined a training [bad word] by the Palmer & Vincent Agency and stayed with them for a year. 

John:
That was before you moved to your present agency? 

Joanna: 
That's right. 
And I've worked with them for the past three years. 
Last year I became an account executive. 

John:
What exactly is your work at the moment? 

Joanna: 
Well, I handle quite a number of accounts. 
I plan the advertising campaign, co-ordinate the work of the visualiser, the copywriter, artists and typographers. 
I discuss the layout with the clients, check proofs and, sometimes, have to do the work of the specialists when there's a crisis, as there usually is! 

John:
You seem to have had the right kind of exp