Why didn't anyone smoke on "TOS?"

[Maurice]

C'mon, "common knowledge" isn't a source. I was looking for something more concrete. The media might have treated scifi shows as kid stuff, and Lost In Space sure was forced in that direction (if Cash Markman is to be believed) but that doesn't mean that the makers intended all those shows to be that. Early Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea sure doesn't seem to be aimed at kids, being more serious and espionage oriented.

 

[Christopher]

True, but I think he suffered from multiple sclerosis as well!
JB

No, he had arteriosclerosis, aka hardening of the arteries. That's a condition that can be caused by smoking, high cholesterol, or high blood pressure, and Hartnell probably had all of the above. Multiple sclerosis is an entirely different condition, an autoimmune disorder that attacks the central nervous system, caused by genetic and unknown environmental factors. Both conditions involve abnormal plaques or lesions (sclerae) forming on the anatomy in question, but in a different way and having different effects.

C'mon, "common knowledge" isn't a source. I was looking for something more concrete. The media might have treated scifi shows as kid stuff, and Lost In Space sure was forced in that direction (if Cash Markman is to be believed) but that doesn't mean that the makers intended all those shows to be that. Early Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea sure doesn't seem to be aimed at kids, being more serious and espionage oriented.

I'm sorry, but I've never needed to track down a source for something that's been everyday knowledge for me for most of my life. I'm surprised you'd even question it -- it never occurred to me that it wasn't common knowledge.

Anyway, just look at the time slots. Voyage started on Mondays at 7:30, then moved to Sundays at 7:00 for the rest of its run, with Land of the Giants taking over its Sunday time slot when it ended. Lost in Space aired Wednesdays at 7:30. Those were family viewing hours, airing early enough that kids could watch them before bedtime. Only The Time Tunnel aired in a later slot, Fridays at 8:00 -- still early enough for younger viewers, though.

But Lost in Space certainly didn't need to be "forced" in the direction of being child-friendly. Heck, it was explicitly based on The Swiss Family Robinson, a well-known work of children's literature which was made into a Walt Disney film in 1960. It was originally going to be called Space Family Robinson, but it had to change its name because there was already a Gold Key comic by that title (and you can look that up on Wikipedia). It was always meant for children. Yes, of course LiS was pushed in a sillier, campier direction than it started out, but that's a totally different matter from whether it was made with young viewers in mind. Kids like serious adventure stories as much as anyone does. They like thrills and suspense and danger, and they take it quite seriously. (Heck, that was the brilliance of Batman '66. Adults could tell it was a spoof and a comedy, but kids took it in earnest as a superhero adventure, so both audiences could enjoy it on totally different levels.) So just being serious doesn't mean something was meant for adults only. Heck, being a child is very serious business. Just about everything in a kid's life is a matter of worldshaking importance to them.

 

[Spock's Barber]

Besides, have you seen Irwin Allen's shows?

I tried to conjure up something meaningful from Irwin Allen's Lost in Space and this is the best I could do....Jonathan Harris as a celery stalk.

 

[Indysolo]

The media might have treated scifi shows as kid stuff, and Lost In Space sure was forced in that direction (if Cash Markman is to be believed)...

Did someone say, "Cash"?

Neil

 

[Spock's Barber]

I'll bet you that the space hippies smoked something in Way to Eden.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

I tried to conjure up something meaningful from Irwin Allen's Lost in Space and this is the best I could do....Jonathan Harris as a celery stalk.

But he played it as a thoughtful, adult celery stalk concerned with the meaning of his existence. It was implied that he had a complicated, unresolved conflict with Tybo the Carrot. They explored Stockholm syndrome and the intersectionality of oppression faced by plant-human hybrids, something nobody else on television was talking about. Hardly kid stuff. CBS had to swallow hard before deciding to air the episode.

 

[Spock's Barber]

Tybo the Carrot and Smith the Celery....they would make a nice salad.

 

[Maurice]

Did someone say, "Cash"?

Neil

I only invoked his name just to see that!

 

[mb22]

The most cringey aspect of smoking in old movies is doctors smoking like the scene in The Day the Earth Stood Still where they are mystified by Klaatu's long lifespan while smoking cigs. That's probably the most dated aspect of an otherwise timeless film.

How about the scientist played by Julie Adams tossing her cigarette into the pristine waters of the Amazon in The Creature from the Black Lagoon?...

However, even more remarkable is Sigourney Weaver's chainsmoking scientist in Avatar released only eight years ago (although Cameron had his reasons).

 

[Amaris]

The most cringey aspect of smoking in old movies is doctors smoking like the scene in The Day the Earth Stood Still where they are mystified by Klaatu's long lifespan while smoking cigs. That's probably the most dated aspect of an otherwise timeless film.

How about the scientist played by Julie Adams tossing her cigarette into the pristine waters of the Amazon in The Creature from the Black Lagoon?...

However, even more remarkable is Sigourney Weaver's chainsmoking scientist in Avatar released only eight years ago (although Cameron had his reasons).

I don't think their smoking dates the film, though, I think the scene was designed that way on purpose, possibly to show one of man's many shortcomings: that being he misses what is right in front of his nose. A theme that pops up often in this film.

 

[Christopher]

How about the scientist played by Julie Adams tossing her cigarette into the pristine waters of the Amazon in The Creature from the Black Lagoon?...

I wonder if that was an intentional commentary on humans' careless treatment of nature, but I might be back-projecting modern attitudes onto it. After all, the scientists in the film are perfectly happy to dump far more deadly things into the water in pursuit of their goals, and the ones in the sequel torture the Creature outright (using an electric cattle prod underwater, which really should've electrocuted them too, but never mind), and it's just so matter-of-fact that it's hard to tell whether the movies are critiquing it or not.

 

[mb22]

I wonder if that was an intentional commentary on humans' careless treatment of nature, but I might be back-projecting modern attitudes onto it. After all, the scientists in the film are perfectly happy to dump far more deadly things into the water in pursuit of their goals, and the ones in the sequel torture the Creature outright (using an electric cattle prod underwater, which really should've electrocuted them too, but never mind), and it's just so matter-of-fact that it's hard to tell whether the movies are critiquing it or not.

One would think that the heroine of the piece (and a scientist!) would behave more admirably and intelligently, but then again, this was the 1950s before the environmental movement became popular (and women frequently were portrayed as not being all that bright as well). I never saw the two Creature sequels.

 

[Christopher]

One would think that the heroine of the piece (and a scientist!) would behave more admirably and intelligently, but then again, this was the 1950s before the environmental movement became popular (and women frequently were portrayed as not being all that bright as well).

Actually there were plenty of smart, capable female scientists in '50s sci-fi movies, because it was considered obligatory to have a love interest even in stories that were all about scientists or explorers. It was actually pretty progressive, albeit conventional and condescending toward women in other ways (for instance, assuming that the female career scientists would quit their jobs once they got married).

The B-movie The Giant Claw handled it in an interesting way -- the female lead was a "calculator" for the military. At the time, it was common to employ women to perform the extensive mathematical drudge work needed to do elaborate computations in the days before electronic computers -- the same sort of job as the lead characters in Hidden Figures. Since that was a normal role for women at the time, the female lead could be included in the story without any of the standard commentary about how unusual a lady scientist was.

Besides, nobody in the '50s would've thought there was anything unintelligent about tossing a cigarette butt in the water. They did that sort of thing all the time.

 

[johnnybear]

Tybo the Carrot and Smith the Celery....they would make a nice salad.

HEY!!!!! You forgot Willoughby the Llama!!!
JB

 

[mb22]

Actually there were plenty of smart, capable female scientists in '50s sci-fi movies, because it was considered obligatory to have a love interest even in stories that were all about scientists or explorers. It was actually pretty progressive, albeit conventional and condescending toward women in other ways (for instance, assuming that the female career scientists would quit their jobs once they got married).

But do the smart capable scientists actually show how smart and capable they are, or do they just get caught and have to rescued by their male love interest?

Besides, nobody in the '50s would've thought there was anything unintelligent about tossing a cigarette butt in the water. They did that sort of thing all the time.

Coney Island, maybe, but in the Amazon? I wonder if real scientists actually did such things.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Coney Island, maybe, but in the Amazon? I wonder if real scientists actually did such things.

What possible harm could a cigarette butt do in the Amazon river? Once the tobacco is extinguished, it's just a tiny bit of dead plant matter, and it won't last long in the water. If nothing eats it, it would wash out to the Atlantic.

 

[Spock's Barber]

Dang, cigarettes can be harmful to your health....

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[mos6507]

even more remarkable is Sigourney Weaver's chainsmoking scientist in Avatar released only eight years ago (although Cameron had his reasons).

Interesting. I always thought Cameron himself smoked, since he puts a lot of smoking characters in his movies. Linda Hamilton and Sigourney Weaver are both smokers (to the detriment of their aging, although Weaver's wrinkles look better on her).

 

[Nyotarules]

They vaped on shore leave. In the future humans will still have their vices, besides tobacco might be exported as food for an alien planet.

 

[mos6507]

What possible harm could a cigarette butt do in the Amazon river? Once the tobacco is extinguished, it's just a tiny bit of dead plant matter, and it won't last long in the water. If nothing eats it, it would wash out to the Atlantic.

Maybe how they were made in the 50s was biodegradable but today the filters are made out of a material that doesn't biodegrade.

"Cigarette filters are made from cellulose acetate, a plastic that can break into smaller pieces, but will never biodegrade or disappear."