"Good night, folks. [James Arness, in suit and tie, reaches inside his jacket, pulls out a pack of cigarettes.] See you next week in Dodge City. [He puts a cigarette between his lips.] In the meantime, [he lights the cigarette with a cigarette lighter], light up, free up. Get the most out of life. [He holds up the pack to the camera.] Live modern, smoke L & M."--from the closing commercial of an episode of Gunsmoke (circa 1956).
In the 1950s, smoking, via television, movies, and print advertising, was depicted as hip, sophisticated, and sexy. Today smokers are treated like pariahs, made to stand outside stores, restaurants, and office buildings to satisfy their daily nicotine addiction. Not so back then.
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