Mad Men, art and devil dogs - the story of Mac Conner

UPPER EAST SIDE (WABC) -- The ads of the 1950s, the days of mad men, and one of those mad men was Mac Conner.

"Mac Conner's career is part of a very important history of graphic arts in New York City," curator Sarah Henry said.

You might call him an artist, but Mac calls himself a designer. He along with seniors from the High School of Art and Design toured an exhibition of his work at the Museum of the City of New York.

It's an intimate experience with a man whose work graced the pages of magazines and books as well as their covers.

"The mags, the advertisers - they turned to illustrators, not to photography, to bring their products and stories to life," Henry said.

There are 70 examples of mac's work.

"To see all this stuff together it is very impressive to me. It's something. I don't know how the hell I did it," he said.

Neither do the students because now so much work is done on computers, but mac did it all by hand.

"His (art) inspires me a lot because I'm really interested in graphic design, but also I'm into illustration," Djanhma Nix said.

"The use of color and composition is really good...realistic feel," Matt Iachovelli said.

Iachovelli presented a card inspired by Mac's work to celebrate Mac's 101st birthday, which is today (Nov 12).

And even at 101, Mac is still working. He's illustrating 2 children's books which are due to be published during the holidays. Why children's books.

"Because there's nothing else to do," he said.

Because, after all, he's done everything else. If you're wondering about those mad men days, he had a daily indulgence

"Devil dogs!"

Yep, no martinis at lunch for him. Devil dogs were his ritual.

"I used to have one when I was working on these pictures I'd have one every day," he said.

Perhaps the secret to his success.