Call me paranoid but it wouldn't surprise me if the tobacco industry was a major sponsor of this film. It shows in many scenes young people lighting up as part of smoothing the way in uncomfortable social situations.
In his cloak of words strode the ringmaster
No offence but how old are you?
I understand that most people on IMDB are younger than me but this film was made in 1962,things were different then.
I was 2 in 1962 but I grew up in the 1960s and 1970s in Britain.
The US Surgeon General said smoking and cancer were linked in the early 1960s I think and certainly since the 1960s British government health advice has been not to smoke.
I have always been anti smoking and it saddens me that people I love have died through smoking related illness.
But the health message took a long time to get through,still lots of people smoke.
I think the majority of people smoked in the period 1900-2000? certainly this film was made at a time when smoking was not something to get excited about,many people did it and I am sure "cool" teenagers did.
In modern films and tv fewer people are seen smoking than in reality,for reasons I understand.
I am 10 years older than you are, and started smoking around 1968. My aunt who was a chain smoker died in 1960 from lung cancer.
Yes, there wasn't much in the way of hindrance then. It was rare to not be allowed to smoke.
However Richard Doll first published a study linking smoking to cancer in 1950.
The tobacco industry would not have been slow to see the importance of his study and mobilise, which was obvious even into the 1980s, with studies then "proving" advertising did not increase the number of smokers.
With the number of people smoking in the movie for stress relief, the first thing I thought of was a payoff to the scriptwriters.
In his cloak of words strode the ringmaster
If you are 10 years older than me you know that any film made in 1962 is going to show people smoking,I can imagine tobacco firms in the 1980s wanting smoking to be shown in films,and I am sure clever IMDB readers can mention examples.