Old movies and vices

[AtomicEraTom]

Some people just have the genetics to smoke, I think. My great-aunt smoked and drank since Prohibition, they told her when she was in her late 90's to quit, when she did, she died.

Hi

I was born in 1961, and remember the first time I went to Gabatoni's restaurant in Springfield Illinois. The ceiling is 9 feet in most of the place to accommodate the raised sections (1 foot maybe) at the back. I was somewhere between 5 and 7 years old. I couldn't see any of the adults heads because of the smoke.

As much as Lauren Bacall smoked in her movies, it's amazing she's still kicking over at 90 plus (I think).

Later

 

[Amy Jeanne]

I've smoked exactly one cigarette of any kind in my life, and didn't see any reason to have another. But I did swank around with pretzel sticks in my mouth trying to look sophisticated.

Oooooh, Lizzie! I beat you in the "square" category on this one! Had one puff of a cigarette when I was 17 or 18, choked for about 3 minutes straight, decided it was gross, and never touched them again in my life lol

I gotta admit -- I do like seeing smoking in old movies. It adds a certain atmosphere. It doesn't make me crave them, though.

 

[Sam Craig]

I really hate to admit this, but when I watched the second Pirates of the Caribean and Davy Jones ... the guy with the tentacles, not the old Monkee ... when he lit up that pipe and then talked through the smoke ...

Oh, man!

I haven't lit up a pipe in years, but I could still taste the burley and feel the smoke moving through as you talk .... oh baby ...

They had to sedate me just to keep me from running out to the closest pipe shop ... oh, wait a minute, there ain't no pipe shop no more!

I guess I am safe.

Sam

 

[bunnyb.gal]

I've smoked exactly one cigarette of any kind in my life, and didn't see any reason to have another. But I did swank around with pretzel sticks in my mouth trying to look sophisticated.

I recall swaggering about with the candy variety...

 

[LizzieMaine]

Actually, I just remembered it was *two* I smoked. When I was eight, the boy next door dared me to smoke a cigarette he'd made out of a tea bag. That's a habit I don't see anyone cultivating, no matter how glamorous it makes one look. (By glamorous I mean "pale sickly green.")

 

[sheeplady]

Some people just have the genetics to smoke, I think. My great-aunt smoked and drank since Prohibition, they told her when she was in her late 90's to quit, when she did, she died.

I agree. My grandfather smoked 4 packs a day for most of his life- he's 95 and I put money on him making it to 96. His wife smoked 2 packs a day and died at 70. Although my mother does say that he only took two drags from the cigarette and then left it in the ashtray to let it go out- when he came back for the 3rd drag, it was burnt down so he lit another. My grandmother smoked each one. But that's still quite a few.

When they released Sesame street on dvd a few years ago, the episodes with Cookie Monster with a pipe where rated R. Needless to say, I've yet to meet someone who points to Cookie Monster as influencing their smoking a pipe at a young age.

 

[Travis Lee Johnston]

I might quit smoking some day but it seems to breed contempt. Plus they're so tastey. And let's face it, they give you that minty fresh breath.

 

[Tomasso]

I smoked for over twenty years, beginning in high school. Most all the women that I kissed over that time, who were nonsmokers, would comment that my mouth tasted like an ashtray. They said it was akin to the taste of that beer one mistakenly drinks from at a party that contained a discarded cigarette. I was always sceptical until I quit smoking. But it's true; just like an ashtray. Still, I gladly put up with it because you know what they say about women who smoke........

 

[rue]

Funny.... I've never had a complaint....

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I had a woman want me to give up smoking, chewing, and drinking. Needless to say, she's long gone and I still do all three whenever I feel like!

 

[Tomasso]

Maybe she wanted to curb your oral fixations so that you could focus that energy on her......just spitballing.....

 

[AtomicEraTom]

She was on this 'you're gonna die' kick. And Alcoholism ran in her family, so she thought my one beer a night made me an Alkie.

Maybe she wanted to curb your oral fixations so that you could focus that energy on her......just spitballing.....

 

[Tomasso]

Oh, I know her kind......

 

[Flipped Lid]

Loved, loved, loved the Church Lady.

 

[DanielJones]

I always want to consume gin when watching any of the Thin Man films.

Cheers!

Dan

 

[AtomicEraTom]

You shoulda seen her. She shoulda understood that the drinking made her more appealing..... I actually drink much less since she's gone.

Maybe she wanted to curb your oral fixations so that you could focus that energy on her......just spitballing.....

 

[scotrace]

Still, I gladly put up with it because you know what they say about women who smoke........

Yes. But I prefer dancers who smoke.

 

[Heather]

Glad to see I'm not the only one! It was last summer, while watching "All about eve" that I realized how much b&w movies made me want a cigarette ( only smoked for a few years and that was almost 10 years ago). Anyways, that's the only time I ever seem to "miss it".

 

[Nobert]

Not a movie reference, but to cite a contemporary perspective on what was considered a lot of smoking:

"Recently the family doctor braced me up against a fluoroscope, gasped in horror, said my lungs looked like the inside of a Pittsburgh mill flue, and asked how much I smoke.

'Two packs a day,' I told him, and then added hastily, 'I don't really smoke that much because I work hard all day over typewriters and drawing boards and have a way of lighting a cigarette, taking a couple of drags, then putting it down and forgetting about it.' A double lie. I don't work hard all day and I smoke cigarettes right down to where they burn my fingers."

-from A Sort of a Saga by Bill Mauldin (1949)

Scotrace: Yes. But I prefer dancers who smoke.

Ever dated one? I advise against it, thought that may be bitter personal experience talking.

 

[Gregg Axley]

Good thing I've never viewed Reefer Madness more than once!
Tom I did all three at one time. I quit all 3 before I met my wife. Now I've picked one back up for medicinal reasons (pain relief). I got too expensive for myself anyway. Cans of snuff are $4 dollars a can down here, so I'd be spending $12 dollars a day. :eeek: For $8 dollars more I get a bottle of the wine I drink and it lasts all week.
You know, this thread points out that we like to emulate what we see in the movies.
After "The Graduate", my wife wanted to see if we could find an Alfa Romeo Duetto. Good thing I got her away from that...No place to keep it, but I bet it would be a blast to drive.