Jon Hamm smiles at hosts Sam and Sylvia Kaplan at a fundraiser they held for Sen. Al Franken. Sonny Boy the lab appears to be the only one in the room not enthralled, but he wound up getting some laying on of Hamm hands anyway. Photos by Susan Lenfestey.
Last Friday's snowstorm couldn't keep Jon Hamm from charming the Ugg boots off everyone he met at Sam and Sylvia Kaplan's spacious riverfront home. The occasion, dubbed "FrankenHamm," was a fundraiser for Sen. Al Franken's re-election campaign. Was Hamm, who effortlessly melts hearts even when playing tortured cad Don Draper on "Mad Men," as amiable and preternaturally handsome in real life as you might expect? Yep. By all accounts he patiently posed for photos with attendees who donated between $1,000 and $5,200 (more modest amounts still got you into the reception), and never stopped smiling even when cell phones had been pushed into that famously appealing mug for two hours.
"He's just terrific," said Sam Kaplan, one of the state's top DFL fundraisers and former ambassador to Morocco during President Obama's first term. "He really won our hearts when he sat on the steps to play with our dog Sonny Boy. When he finally stopped petting him, Sonny Boy lifted a paw to indicate he should continue. And he did."
Hamm, who volunteered his time, even stayed for dinner with his hosts. But affable as he was, no one could loosen his lips about the seventh and last season of "Mad Men" beginning in April. Kaplan, a self-described "addict" of the show, tried to wheedle a few hints. How many did he get? "Zero."
Sen. Amy Klobuchar gets a laugh out of Hamm and her fellow senator and other guest of honor, Al Franken, at the fundraiser.
