Sean Devine Reveals the Genius Behind Attack Ads

by Barry David Horwitz

“Daisy” takes us back to the LBJ vs. Goldwater election in 1964—Johnson is running for his first term after Kennedy’s assassination. And Goldwater declares: “Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice.”

That statement alone gives President Lyndon Johnson’s advertising team an open door. Advertising hotshots in New York wrestle with how to activate US citizens’ FEARS in TV ads. These are real people making momentous decisions. The quirky, funny ad makers cannot imagine the forces they are unleashing.

We go behind the scenes with three Madison Avenue ad makers—Aaron Ehrlich (Keenan Murphy Flagg), Sid Myers (George Psarras), and Louise Brown (Roneet Aliza Rahamim). They play wonderfully annoying and anxious “Mad Men” straight out of the 50s. And they are at each others’ throats.

Their secret weapon is Tony Schwartz (superb, twitchy Michael Champlin) a cranky audio genius who has agoraphobia, fear of going out.  Tony, a hired gun, joins their team. Champlin brilliantly evokes Schwartz as a hermit who marches to his own drummer. He also changes political advertising forever.

Tony is the future of ATTACK ads. It’s still the age of polite commercials, but the bomb is about to burst. Champlin embodies the brilliant insights of a technical wizard, in an astounding performance as the father of dirty tricks. You can’t take your eyes off him. Champlin’s every speech is enlightening and new.

Before the Republican cutthroat era, before Reagan, Nixon, and other slippery liars, we lived in fear of Nuclear War. In school, children hid under their desks—fear stalked the U.S.

These bumbling ad makers ask: Are we provoking Fear, or is Fear already inside the people? They will try anything to get voters to go “All the Way with LBJ.”

The three try for “new,” but their heads are in the past. And Louise, the only woman on the team, hides a shocking secret. We witness their anxiety while concocting a new ad. It’s the first time that Madison Avenue has been employed by The White House—there’s no road map.

A savvy young White House lawyer, Clifford Lewis (Terrance Austin Smith), tries to manage the chaotic team. Clifford wants to salvage LBJ’s breakthrough in Civil Rights for African Americans. They don’t want to rile up the South, but they want to contradict Goldwater’s wild-eyed militarism. The contest looms between Goldwater’s hawkishness and LBJ’s Civil Rights record.

The LBJ account is the first of its kind—a big political moneymaker for Madison Avenue. The head of the ad agency, Bill Bernbach (Glenn Havlan), realizes that they are walking on land mines. But they hunger for the business.

When we finally get to see the fateful “Daisy” ad for LBJ, you will see what advertising hath wrought. It’s the beginning of the dismantling of democracy. It ran just once but changed everything.

“Daisy” is an intriguing play featuring strong personalities and profound warnings. It’s time to see what we have created before it’s too late. Hillbarn’s witty and gripping show explains how we got here.

 

“Daisy” by Sean Devine, directed by Jeffrey Bracco, scenic & projection design by Steve Muterspaugh, costumes by Lyre Alston, properties by Stephanie Dittbern, lighting by Pamila Gray, sound by Jess Mockus, at Hillbarn Theatre, Foster City, California.

Info: hillbarntheatre.org – to February 9, 2025.

Cast: Michael Champlin, Glenn Havlan, Keenan Murphy Flagg, George Psarras, Roneet Aliza Rahamim, and Terrance Austin Smith.

Banner photo: Terrance Smith, Michael Champlin, & Roneet Aliza Rahamim. Photo: Tracy Martin