WARNING: Before you inhale this post, remember!
My mother started smoking, she told me, when she was fourteen. That would have been in 1938.
Back in those days, everybody- except my father- did.
She smoked as a teenager, she smoked as a young married, she smoked when she was pregnant, she smoked when I was a kid.
I remember her doing it.
She probably saw ads like these on our Sentinel television set all the time.
And then on January 11, 1964 Dr. Luther Terry, the Surgeon General of the United States, released a report on the health consequences of smoking.
Here’s just an excerpt.
“…For the United States, this epidemic of smoking-caused disease in the twentieth century ranks among the greatest public health catastrophes of the century…”
(You can read more here if your’e so inclined.)
My mother probably saw this news report.
She quit cold turkey the same day.
And of course, now, some fifty-four years later, I know we’re all on the same page. Not only is smoking lethal- it’s a social taboo.
A real no no. You want to feel like a pariah, an untouchable, a leper?
Try lighting a cigarette in Aspen.
But just because cigarette ads have all but been banished from our advertising landscape, it’s kind of fun to sit back and try to remember all the names of all the cigarette brands we once saw our parents, aunts, uncles, and older brothers and sisters light up.
See if any of these ring a bell.
(And don’t worry. No second-hand smoke will be involved.)
Winston
Chesterfield
Camel
Salem
Newport
Kent
Malboro
Virginia Slims
Phillip Morris
L&M
Lucky Strikes
Old Gold
Benson and Hedges
Capri
Cool
Doral
Dunhill
Galoise and Gitanes (I was a big Jean-Paul Belmondo fan)
Lark
Pall Mall
Parliament
Tareyton
Viceroy
And what about recalling their slogans?
Does L.S.M.F.T sound familiar?
How about “Outstanding- And they mild?”
Doesn’t everybody know “Winston Tastes Good Like a Cigarette Should?”
Or “Call For Phillip Morris.”
And what about “You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby.”
Gosh, just writing this has given me a smoker’s cough. Excuse me, Dear Readers, while I just quit.
I’m going cold turkey.
Now here’s the most famous “smoking” scene in all of romantic moviedom.
Don’t forget your handkerchief- and your nicotine patch.
Best commercial had to be Marlboro. The rugged images of cowboys herding horses to the tune of “The Magnificent Seven Theme” .
And then “When you’re a Jet you’re a Jet all the way from your first cigarette …
To Edward R Murrow sitting in his chair hand up in the air holding a cigeratte.
All made smoking cool.
Never smoked once.
Did you know that Marlboro cigarettes were originally marketed to women? When they flopped with that market, their image was changed by the “Marlboro Man.” Probably the most successful ad campaign in history. Btw, I just watched “The Magnificent 7” again. GREAT movie! Thank you, Elmer Bernstein. And thank you, Mitch. People are too afraid of smoking to even comment on this one! 😊🚬
My father sold his company to Phillip Morris at just the time the smoking issue was making big news. It was quite an issue since on top of everything else, he was given their stock.
I didn’t know that. And wasn’t he in the Playboy Club, too? Think how non-PC that is as well. (Although I just read they are bringing a Club back in NYC, I think.) Thanks, X-1. I’m still addicted to Washington Garden’s lasagna.
You are are correct about the Playboy clubs. Would meet with Hef in his home and he was always in his pj’s and a robe.
Agreed about the lasagna.
My mother quit after she got lung cancer.
Sadly, I know a few other people who did that, too. It’s a terrible habit to try to break. Sometimes that’s the only way. Thanks, Richard.
“I’d walk a mile for a Camel”. That was R.J. Reynolds slogan for Camels for years and that is what both my parents smoked. I actually was a sales rep for RJR in the south suburbs of Chicago and part of northern Indiana back in the early 70’s for 3 years. Things were really starting to heat up back then and I decided to move on….and yes I smoked for part of my life giving it up years ago (thank God). A number of my friends and family smoked years ago…my Grandfather smoked pipes all his life and lived till the ripe old age of 91 and my Mother smoked all her life and died of lung cancer when she was only 66. Hopefully some day we can all look back on this and say ” this is what people used to do in the past”.
Pipes! I haven’t thought about those in years. Remember Iwan Ries, the tobacco shop in Chicago? I think Andy Teton took me there senior year of high school. Glad you quit. Need you around for a long time, my friend. And PS. So sorry about your mother. So young. What a shame.
Ellen, I remember when there were people giving out small packages of cigarette samples on Michigan Avenue in Chicago in the 50’s. It’s hard to imagine this now.
Wow, I don’t remember that- but I’m not surprised. Some of the ads back then even maintained that smoking was good for you. Hard to believe. Thanks, Susan. 😊🚬😷