# What were the cigarette, cigar and pipe smokingist TV shows ever? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 28, 2008, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-cigarette-cigar-and-pipe-smokingist-tv-shows-ever/447176 "2008-04-28T02:44:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-cigarette-cigar-and-pipe-smokingist-tv-shows-ever/447176/1 "2008-04-28T02:44:41Z")
I’m 49 so I don’t remember waaaay back, but the original black and white “Dragnet” and “I Love Lucy” reruns (originally from the 50’s & 60’s) I saw in the early 70’s as a kid stand out in my memory as shows where the actors were cigarette smoking machines. Any others? ---
**Author:** ![ArizonaTeach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-cigarette-cigar-and-pipe-smokingist-tv-shows-ever/447176/2 "2008-04-28T02:58:53Z")
Hell, I don’t have to go back very far for Mad Men. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-cigarette-cigar-and-pipe-smokingist-tv-shows-ever/447176/3 "2008-04-28T03:00:29Z")
[The Mike Wallace Interviews](http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/collections/film/holdings/wallace/) of 1957-'60 were sponsored by Philip Morris, on which brand Wallace puffed resolutely throughout each program. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-cigarette-cigar-and-pipe-smokingist-tv-shows-ever/447176/4 "2008-04-28T03:03:41Z")
In the 1950s, Edward R. Murrow hosted a show called _Person to Person_, in which celebrities were interviewed in their own homes. Murrow and most of the celebrities were constantly puffing away on cigarettes. Sometimes there was so much smoke in the air that you could barely see the celebrities. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-cigarette-cigar-and-pipe-smokingist-tv-shows-ever/447176/5 "2008-04-28T03:05:56Z")
_Laugh In_ had a lot of smoking; Dan Rowan almost always came out with either a pipe or a cigarette. _The Tonight Show_ under Johnny Carson had a ton of smoking until- don’t know the date, but probably late 70s/early 80s or so, when guests stopped smoking on air but by several accounts lit up during commercials (studio employees would rush in with ashtrays and remove them before commercial ended). Andy Griffith smoke fairly frequently in early episodes, but the actor himself quit soon after the show began and so it was dropped from the show as well. Slight hijack, but the most irritating thing about smoking on shows are episodes where a character who has never picked up a cigarette before on the show is revealed to be a chain smoker who’s trying to quit. I’ve seen the plot several times, but the two that come to mind immediately are Vera from _Alice_ and Fred from _Sanford & Son_. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-cigarette-cigar-and-pipe-smokingist-tv-shows-ever/447176/6 "2008-04-28T03:08:15Z")
When I think of Ernie Kovacs’ various shows of the fifties, I always envision Ernie with his ubiquitous cigar. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-cigarette-cigar-and-pipe-smokingist-tv-shows-ever/447176/7 "2008-04-28T03:14:51Z")
[QUOTE=Beware of Doug] [The Mike Wallace Interviews](http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/collections/film/holdings/wallace/) of 1957-'60 were sponsored by Philip Morris cigs, on which Wallace puffed resolutely throughout each program. [/QUOTE] That reminds of an 70’s interview show with David Susskind that had a kind of minimalist set back-lit with spotlights, and he would smoke one cigarette after another, and the smoke would swirl into these huge plumes in the light. IIRC he had a lot of famous guests, and a somewhat sardonic style. In Googling up [David Susskind](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Susskind) to make sure I remembered correctly there was this fascinating (purported) quote. > [@](#): > > In 1961, Susskind conducted a series of interviews with former president Harry Truman in Truman’s hometown of Independence, Missouri. After picking Truman up at his home to bring him to the Truman Presidential Library for the interviews for a number of days, Susskind asked Truman why he hadn’t been invited into the house. Truman stated to Susskind, according to presidential historian Michael Beschloss, “This is Bess’s house” and that there has never been nor will there ever be, a Jewish guest in there.[citation needed] ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-cigarette-cigar-and-pipe-smokingist-tv-shows-ever/447176/8 "2008-04-28T04:11:56Z")
We’re watching Secret Agent (Danger Man) and in the middle ones, at least Drake and everyone else smoke all the time. Cigarettes, cigars, I think a pipe once too. Lucky for him that it seems like smoking was banned in The Village. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Them](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/898d66/32.png) [@The\_Them](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Them)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-cigarette-cigar-and-pipe-smokingist-tv-shows-ever/447176/9 "2008-04-28T06:41:26Z")
Bogie & Bacall. Sinatra. Jimmy Stewart puffed it up in _It’s A Wonderful Life._ And these were no nonsmokers. They _knew_ how. ---
**Author:** ![TommyTutone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@TommyTutone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TommyTutone)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-cigarette-cigar-and-pipe-smokingist-tv-shows-ever/447176/10 "2008-04-28T12:23:40Z")
PBS just aired an episode of _I’ve Got a Secret_ sponsored by **Winston** and not only was a picture of the package all over the set and a lovely animated ad for the brand, but when the guest, Desi Arnez, was seated with the host, a brief exchange about the brand was brought up and they lit up, smoking away. The irony was at the end of the episode, Desi and Lucy (who was on the panel), was read a thank you letter for their efforts in touring the country to strike up awareness on heart disease. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-cigarette-cigar-and-pipe-smokingist-tv-shows-ever/447176/11 "2008-04-28T12:26:43Z")
Fred McMurray smoked a pipe on My Three Sons, and Don Adams ciggarettes on Get Smart. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-cigarette-cigar-and-pipe-smokingist-tv-shows-ever/447176/12 "2008-04-28T12:27:20Z")
Anything with Groucho Marx. Anything with Bette Davis. I just saw a MeTv commercial, the one with all the clips of people saying “me to.” Towards the end if you watch closely you can see cigarette smoke drifiting up through the shot. I Love Lucy > [@Sampiro](#): > > Slight hijack, but the most irritating thing about smoking on shows are episodes where a character who has never picked up a cigarette before on the show is revealed to be a chain smoker who’s trying to quit. I’ve seen the plot several times, but the two that come to mind immediately are Vera from Alice and Fred from Sanford & Son. The thing that always gets me is how often (more so in movies then TV) the character lights a cigarette and then either puts it out right away or takes one puff and then puts it out. Who put’s out a cigeratte just becuase the door bell rang or the someone is calling on the phone? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-cigarette-cigar-and-pipe-smokingist-tv-shows-ever/447176/13 "2008-04-28T12:34:50Z")
[QUOTE=Joey P] The thing that always gets me is how often (more so in movies then TV) the character lights a cigarette and then either puts it out right away or takes one puff and then puts it out. Who put’s out a cigeratte just becuase the door bell rang or the someone is calling on the phone? [/QUOTE] One of the few things Friends did right was Chandler’s cigarette smoking. He was revealed to be an ex-smoker, he had a legitimate reason to do it again (showing Joey how to smoke for a role he was auditioning for) and he kept at it for a while before quitting again. ---
**Author:** ![Octalcode](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a9a28c/32.png) [@Octalcode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octalcode)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-cigarette-cigar-and-pipe-smokingist-tv-shows-ever/447176/14 "2008-04-28T13:31:52Z")
Can you picture George Burns without that cigar? eta grammar ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-cigarette-cigar-and-pipe-smokingist-tv-shows-ever/447176/15 "2008-04-28T13:34:03Z")
_The Addams Family_: Gomez’s cigar and Morticia’s “_Do you mind if I smoke?_” ---
**Author:** ![Ichbin\_Dubist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/51bf81/32.png) [@Ichbin\_Dubist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ichbin_Dubist)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-cigarette-cigar-and-pipe-smokingist-tv-shows-ever/447176/16 "2008-04-28T14:04:43Z")
This isn’t exactly on topic, but there’s a great clip on YouTube of a very young Tom Waits on the Mike Douglas Show in the early 70s, and Waits is chainsmoking like a lunatic and stubbing out cigarettes into an ashtray between his feet. It struck me as odd not only because no one would smoke on a talk show these days, but it was such _flagrant_ smoking. (And it didn’t hurt his voice one tiny bit! Smoke up, kids!) It’s [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAAzhm1YBBY). I was surprised at what a good job Douglas did here of making sense out of Waits. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-cigarette-cigar-and-pipe-smokingist-tv-shows-ever/447176/17 "2008-04-28T14:11:19Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] _The Addams Family_: Gomez’s cigar and Morticia’s “_Do you mind if I smoke?_” [/QUOTE] [Steve Martin]“No, do you mind if I fart? It’s one of my habits.”[/Steve Martin] [QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] _The Addams Family_: Gomez’s cigar and Morticia’s “_Do you mind if I smoke?_” [/QUOTE] [Mad Magazine snappy comebacks]"Why, am I on fire? "[Mad Magazine snappy comebacks \*I think] ---
**Author:** ![Antinor01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-cigarette-cigar-and-pipe-smokingist-tv-shows-ever/447176/18 "2008-04-28T15:23:45Z")
[QUOTE=Octalcode] Can you picture George Burns without that cigar? eta grammar [/QUOTE] His hand and foot prints at Graumans Chinese theater includes an imprint of a cigar. (He’s who I came in to mention) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-cigarette-cigar-and-pipe-smokingist-tv-shows-ever/447176/19 "2008-04-28T16:15:30Z")
No mention of Match Game? For shame! ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2008, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-cigarette-cigar-and-pipe-smokingist-tv-shows-ever/447176/20 "2008-04-28T16:20:14Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] Fred McMurray smoked a pipe on My Three Sons, and Don Adams ciggarettes on Get Smart. [/QUOTE] Funny, those are exactly the first two shows that popped into my head! So I guess I’ll mention Tom Snyder, who always seemed to have one lit up on the “Tomorrow” show. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-the-cigarette-cigar-and-pipe-smokingist-tv-shows-ever/447176.md?page=2)