In one scene, Van Johnson (Lawson) mentions coffin nails. Cigarettes.
So even that far back they knew cigarettes were bad for you. But they all smoked anyway. I am surprised that comment made it into the movie script.
Also saw not so subtle advertisement in movie with the strategic placement of Raleigh cigarettes on the bar in the Navy canteen.
I don't think 'product placement' was an issue back then; I don't think ciggies were very available for the civilians...and the folks in the armed forces used tobacco to deal with stress---and cold AND Hunger...and if you ever see pics of fighter pilots from other countries you'll rarely find them without a cigarette in their hand.
shareI'm interested in what nickm2 says in his post about ciggies not being very available to civilians at the time. I just wonder when women started smoking. Bette Davis was doing her smoking scenes by 1942 with those famous 'Now Voyager' sequences. So did wives and girlfriends take up the habit from men back from the war?
Coffin nails was a term used at the time for the dangers of drinking too. Ernest Tubb had a country hit in 1946 called 'Drivin' Nails In My Coffin' about a man driven to heavy drinking through the loss of his woman.
Twelve cartoons of cigarettes (120 packs) $7.20!? Can you buy a single pack today for $7.20??
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