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I don't believe there ever was a time when the U.S smoking rate was over 50%. This is because the female rate has always been far below 50%. A 1955 survey found 56.9% of men smoked compared to 28.4 of women.
Male smoking started falling in the 60s after the first government report came out linking smoking with cancer. Female smoking peaked in the 1960s at 33.9%.Today there is only a 5 point male smoking gap, with smoking prevalence low in both genders (M-23 F-18 in 2008). This includes occasional smokers. Daily smoking is even lower.
When I was growing up in the 40s and 50s, I didn't know a single kid who had allergies or asthma, and there wasn't even a word for 'inner ear infection', even though almost every kid grew up in a house full of cigarette smoke.
We played outdoors, maybe that had something to do with it. Something is making our indoor environment toxic, but it must not be tobacco, because kids growing up now in tobacco-free houses have a much, much higher incidence of allergies and asthma than back when they played outdoors in the sunshine and walked to school when it was 20 below.
Maybe it's plastic. Nothing then was made of plastic, which is constantly giving off fumes, inside every house and building. Similar to what you get when you burn plastic, but slower. But the global economy would grind to a halt if we banned plastic.
I agree with this great post. Our parents always smoked. Only one of us had allergies, to real Christmas trees. Had to have artificial. (All family still do as she always visits.) We only got ear aches from swimming.
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Don't forget Bogie & Becall!
In the '70s, very early '80s, we could smoke on public transit. Back then, the windows opened. And, if you can believe this, grocery stores!
I agree with another poster re: it's all about awareness!
Not letting profits continue to bury the truths any longer; and for people to be informed (as is their right) with ALL the facts so that they can then make their own informed decisions. It's only fair.
Hmmm, I was friends with a kid who had severe asthma and allergies during those times. His father smoked a pipe, but had to smoke out on the porch because of the health issues. I'm not sure of other factors. His mother was the neighborhood clean-freak, so there might be something to that line of thought.
Movie theatres - it depended on the theatre whether or not smoking was allowed. Some theatres had smoking sections, often in the back or balcony or close to the air returns. One theatre I managed had smoking on the left side of the auditorium, where special exhaust fans could be used. Enforcement was strict, and cigars and pipes were sometimes not allowed, but were smoked in the "lounge." Restrooms had these entry rooms with couches, comfortable chairs, tables and smoking stands. Ladies who fainted or were ill retired to one lounge, and the men who were bored or had to have a few puffs to the other. It was much more civilized than most theatres today.
If you went on an airplane, everyone was given a five cigarette pack of Marlboros or some other cigarette, along with snacks and other stuff. This included me as early as when I was an eight year old kid. The pilots smoked. My doctor smoked. The teachers smoked.
Some areas were positively NASTY with smoke. I once cleaned the studios of the radio station where my dad worked in preparation for a painting and remodeling, and the nicotine layer was positively amazing. I would use a strong solution of sp1c-n-span, and have to change it after cleaning every two florescent light fixtures.
Mostly I didn't mind the smoke, and off and on took up the practice. I was one of the lucky few that had little difficulty in smoking or not smoking - if I smoked too much my body rebelled, so I never got seriously addicted. However, there was one coarse Turkish pipe tobacco that I could not stand to be in the same room with. Fortunately it wasn't very popular, but it made me understand the feelings of people who couldn't stand being around any smoke.
http://cancercontrol.cancer.gov/tcrb...5_foreword.pdf This is a great forward on smoking. The reassuring image of physicians and other health care practioners was use extensively to convince the public that cigarette smoking was safe, acceptable, and without risk.
http://www.ishib.org/journal/19-2s3/ethn-19-02s3-28.pdf This is a research paper done on smoking incidents in movies from the 1940s up to the 2000s. You would be shocked to see that the number of smoking incidents in the 1990s-2003 was almost the same as the 1940s.
Everyone I knew smoked.I didn't really start smoking until I went into the service at 17.That is the way we was rewarded.Before I quit I was smoking 3 Packs a day plus 3 Pots of Coffee and I drank heavy when I wasn't working and some times when I was.
I grew up in the UK in the 50's we all smoked ...we thought it was glamorous. even the way we held the cig. created an image of sophistication or so we thought ....i smoked socially until i was 40 and gave up ...i'm glad that i did or i probably wouldn't be here today ...but i do think smokers are being victimised, its their choice but not around the kids and public places.
I grew up in the 40's and 50's, graduated high school in '56. The only objections I ever heard about smoking in those years were that teenagers should not do it because "it stunts your growth." And some parents thought that it looked coarse for young girls to smoke as well. I started smoking in the 7th grade.
Smoking was done everywhere. As late as 1978 patients were smoking in their hospital beds in one NYC hospital I was a patient in, and I was one of those patients. There were ashtrays on the night stands next to the bed.
Disgustingly common. I recall the stench,the stained teeth, the white paper stuck to lips, the stained fingers, stains on the edges of sinks, cig butts in the toilet, and the fires caused by people falling asleep in bed. There were ashtrays that had a little water squeeze bulb. Cig butts floating in glasses or crushed into messy plates at restaurants, and waiting rooms. Horrible Gurgling "wet" coughs. Kissing a guy with ashtray mouth. People with emphysema and the sunken eyes, throat cancer, and electronic voice boxes, cigarette machines, guys with cigs over the top of their ears. Cig packs rolled up in their t shirt sleeves. Bad wrinkled skin. I recall nicotine fits. People would actually unwrap the stubs, and smoke them in a pipe. Gag. And the glorification of smoking along with denials that they could KILL you. Yowsa ! There was even a song called "Smoke smoke smoke that cigarette." I never smoked. My mom gave me a toke, and I said "Eeeewwww." She did me a favor. Aversion therapy at a young age.
A lot of actors smoked something called "cubebs" instead of tobacco. I remember an ad for cubebs with women who had bobbed hair. At least there was an alternative to the poison, nicotine.
I remember smoking at my desk at work up until the mid-80's. Didn't matter if I was near a non-smoker or not. If they didn't mind it, I would light up. If they did, I would just go to another office to smoke. I then remember when they changed that to only having a smoking lounge. What a smelly room that was. I also remember being able to smoke in stores and such.
Wow! I couldn't imagine sitting at my desk now with an ashtray and a lit cigarette next to me or walk into a public building full of people and be smoking.
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grey nomad
