Yesterday's actors made smoking seem glamorous

JIM CARLILE, THE OLYMPIAN

Gay Sorensen started smoking because Bette Davis looked so sophisticated when she did it.

"There was a movie with her and Paul Henreid called 'Now Voyager.' They were having an ill-fated shipboard romance. There was one scene where he put two cigarettes in his mouth and lit them both, then dramatically and lovingly handed one to her."

That scene and countless others from the films make smoking look appealing.

"As I remember, just about all of them smoked and seemed glamorous, but the one who comes to mind right now is Bette Davis," Sorensen said. "She seemed to always have a cigarette in her and she was the epitome of glamour, I thought."

Smoking in movies isn't a thing of the past. According to a recent study at Dartmouth Medical school, 95 percent of the 250 top-grossing movies released from 1988 to 1997 depict characters using tobacco. More than half the movies analyzed featured tobacco use by a major character.

Tobacco companies have poured millions of dollars into the entertainment industry to get writers to include smoking as part of the script.

The practice, called "product placement," upsets Mike Baram, an ex-smoker who lives in Olympia.

"Even if they can't advertise, the tobacco message is there for impressionable kids to see," he said.

The incidence of smoking in top-grossing movies, however, is even higher than it was in 1989. That was the year tobacco companies voluntarily agreed to halt product placement after Congress questioned whether the practice violated advertising regulations.

Jane Neuharth, an ex-smoker with three children, said movies use smoking as a quick way to introduce character traits. When there is smoking in movies or TV shows she watches with her kids, she takes advantage of it.

"I use them to talk to my children about the message, the elements of the ad and hope again that they can use this to think critically on their own," she said.

The Dartmouth study found a total of 3,346 occurrences of tobacco use or imagery in the 250 films. Most of the tobacco use involved cigarettes (69.3 percent) followed by cigars (about 20 percent).

One of the primary researchers in the project, James Sargent, MD, said excluding the tobacco would not affect the content in 98 percent of the movies.

Sorensen agrees.

"I loved Julia Roberts in 'My Best Friend's Wedding,' but there were several scenes in the movie where she smoked," she said. "And I didn't think it added anything of substance to the movie at all. It also sends a negative message to young, impressionable girls who might see her as a role model."

And the use of smoking in movies doesn't mesh with what's happening in society, Sorensen said.

"When I started smoking at age 18 in the mid-40s, it was considered to be glamorous and sophisticated. Now, it is about the equivalent of picking your nose in public."

Jim Carlile writes for The Olympian. He can be reached at 357-0204. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

The Olympian Copyright 2000

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