So much smoking in the black & whites

[911]

There was a lot of drinking portrayed, too. My mother denounced smoking as a “filthy habit,” but this didn’t stop her from drinking like a fish! Her denunciations didn’t stop my parents from putting out ash trays at home for years for visiting friends who smoked…

I’m grateful not to have been much exposed to second-hand smoking at home, and second-hand drinking is not a thing, unless you count the very real behavioral issues encountered with excessive consumption. Remember when drunks were considered “funny” on tv comedies?

View attachment 273921

Jackie Gleason was a chain smoker. He smoked a minimum of 3 pack per day and died at the ripe old age of 71. My dad met Mr. Gleason after a show in New York. He told me that in the maybe 10 minutes he stood and listened to him talk to the honorary guests that my dad was part of, he was on his third cigarette.

Even before the stop smoking campaign was started, we were aware of the hazards of smoking. In 1971, the FCC mandated that no cigarette ads could be shown on TV, but that never stopped Mr. Gleason from smoking. Him, along with several other TV personalities smoked on TV. I remember Dean Martin being one.

 

[caroln]

Watching the X-files, which is fairly recent, there this one really creepy guy that occasionally appears out of the shadows, and every clip of every scene shows him sucking on a cigarette as if he's taken chain smoking to a higher level. I suppose you might give it a pass, because it's sickening to watch this guy, but it's also putting smoking in the minds of youth.

Even after they quit using actors to make blatant product placements for smoking in Hollywood films, they would still introduce smoking with some good looking person saying something like, "I've got to quit smoking." I think that did more harm than good. My father used to say all the time, "I've got to quit smoking." As a youth I assumed getting hooked on cigarettes was an adult thing to do, and eventually, I started smoking, although I did quit in my early thirties.

He is known as "Smoking Man" by X-Files fans. Kinda famous...

 

[fuzzybuddy]

Yeah, when I quit I noticed all the smoking in old TV shows. Back then, it was considered welcoming to have a box full of cigarettes on the coffee table for guests. And if you lit up, it was good manners to offer one to friends. One of the first and best anti-smoking ads was by William Tallman- the D.A. on "Perry Mason". He died of throat cancer, and recorded it to be shown after his death, because he was well aware he was dying.
https://www.bing.com/videos/rivervi...DAFF43AC0530D00B9F8BDAFF43AC0530&&FORM=VRDGAR

 

[CallMeKate]

Anyone else remember their first cigarette?

Sure do... in my best friend's little orange car while cruising... I was 18. I remember thinking I didn't like it at all, but at least I wouldn't get addicted because I hated the taste and smell. That was 1975. I quit in 2004.
(Sad-face smiley because it took me 29 years, not because I quit.)

 

[caroln]

Sure do... in my best friend's little orange car while cruising... I was 18. I remember thinking I didn't like it at all, but at least I wouldn't get addicted because I hated the taste and smell. That was around 1975. I quit in 2004.
(Sad-face smiley because it took me 29 years, not because I quit.)

Amazing how we got over hating the taste and smell so quickly.

 

[JustDave]

that never stopped Mr. Gleason from smoking. Him, along with several other TV personalities smoked on TV. I remember Dean Martin being one.

In my memory, Dean Martin always had a cigarette between two fingers of that same hand he was holding his highball with, and singing a song at the same time. Talk about multi-tasking.

 

[MarkinPhx]

I have mentioned this before but many actors in those movie look very aged in their faces due to the smoking. A young Bogart looked much older in his early gangster films and he isn't the only one.

I am currently doing a rewatch of Mad Men. It's the first time I've watched it since it's initial run on AMC and it is sometimes painful to watch. The pregnant neighbor smoking and drinking, Don having a drink in his hand while driving, heavy smoke in the breakroom, martinis lunches etc. I had forgotten that one of the plots in the pilot is Don Draper having a hard time with the Lucky Strike account. Government regulations had just come down on false claims by tobacco companies about how "healthy" cigarettes were and so he has to figure out a new strategy when it comes to the print ads with Lucky Strike.

 

[JustDave]

Yeah, when I quit I noticed all the smoking in old TV shows. Back then, it was considered welcoming to have a box full of cigarettes on the coffee table for guests. And if you lit up, it was good manners to offer one to friends. One of the first and best anti-smoking ads was by William Tallman- the D.A. on "Perry Mason". He died of throat cancer, and recorded it to be shown after his death, because he was well aware he was dying.
https://www.bing.com/videos/rivervi...DAFF43AC0530D00B9F8BDAFF43AC0530&&FORM=VRDGAR

didn't work on my computer, but I think this might be the one

 

[caroln]

In my memory, Dean Martin always had a cigarette between two fingers of that same hand he was holding his highball with, and singing a song at the same time. Talk about multi-tasking.

I remember him trying to take a drag on the cigarette while holding the glass in the same hand. A very practiced move!

 

[Liberty]

My mom used to say "we'd never have won the war if nobody smoked."..lol. A war movie always shows everyone smoking. I'm sure pipe & cigar smoking are better for you but you never saw any pipe smoking in the war. Lets face it, smoking was cool because it offered something artistic for the actors to do with their hands. All that curling smoke coming up in a b & w film was an interesting special effect.

My DIL quite smoking recently at the old age of 56...she had recently done CPR on her uncle, a Marine - they'd enjoyed smoking together. After that, she got religion and gave up the cigs. She gained 30 lbs and now has intermittent stomach trouble they think is an ulcer but are not sure. Its always about doing something with the hands it seems when in smoking withdrawal and that's usually eating.

 

[caroln]

I am currently doing a rewatch of Mad Men. It's the first time I've watched it since it's initial run on AMC and it is sometimes painful to watch. The pregnant neighbor smoking and drinking, Don having a drink in his hand while driving, heavy smoke in the breakroom, martinis lunches etc.

Do you remember the Mad Men episode where one of the kids was playing with a plastic dry cleaning bag over her head and the mom was just concerned about her clothes being on the floor?

How times have changed!

 

[MarkinPhx]

Do you remember the Mad Men episode where one of the kids was playing with a plastic dry cleaning bag over her head and the mom was just concerned about her clothes being on the floor?

How times have changed!

Yes ! I just watched that episode and Betty scolder Sally not for wearing the plastic but for taking the plastic cover off one of her dresses !

 

[fuzzybuddy]

didn't work on my computer, but I think this might be the one

Thanks.

 

[JustDave]

I remember him trying to take a drag on the cigarette while holding the glass in the same hand. A very practiced move!

Yeah, I remember someone taking a drag that way because it was so unusual. It was probably Dean Martin. Now, I'm picturing him with bloodshot eyeballs too. I also remember not associating that with being drunk. I just thought that was kind of an odd physical attribute. I can't say he was like that all the time. I just have that memory.

 

[MarkinPhx]

What is interesting is I do notice that many people do vape these days but I never see anyone vaping on TV or in a movie. I am guessing that the industry learned their lesson from the smoking days and don't want to glamorize it.

 

[JustDave]

What is interesting is I do notice that many people do vape these days but I never see anyone vaping on TV or in a movie. I am guessing that the industry learned their lesson from the smoking days and don't want to glamorize it.

Also, vaping looks too weird to be glamorized, although people could get used to it and not see it as weird, I suppose. Or maybe I'm just wrong, and most people don't see it as weird.

 

[Jules]

I feel for the actors nowadays that have to be a smoker in a show. They smoke herbal cigarettes which apparently are disgusting. Also, not particularly healthy either.

 

[Timewise 60+]

My dad, mom, and older sister all smoked. They are died from smoking related diseases. My dad was 69 when he died, my mom was 79, and my sister was 70. I am now 73 and going strong....I did try smoking a pipe when I was young, but gave it up fairly quickly...