Smoking's Filmy Glamour

Lauren Bacall slouches against a door frame in "To Have and Have Not." "Anybody got a match?" she asks. Humphrey Bogart tosses her a packet.

There are countless scenes from classic films - "The Blue Angel," "Now, Voyager," "Rebel Without a Cause" - that make smoking appear glamorous, sensual, romantic and rebellious.

I just sent the following e-mail message, to Ms. Hornblow, at the Hartford Courant:

Hello Ms. Hornblow,

You stated in your article:

“Just as fashion designers and jewelers send stars product samples, the tobacco industry seized upon the same opportunity for the free advertising. But the new Gucci handbag can't kill you.”

Let us be accurate.

Only the excessive abuse of tobacco products may kill you. Anecdotal evidence suggests the accuracy of my remark. I smoked cigarettes for 7 years, approximately 10-12 cigarettes a day. Obviously, because I am writing this e-mail message to you, I am not dead.

Gucci handbags, when used improperly, can be an instrument of death as well. The handles of the bag can be used to strangle or hang a person, causing death.

AMENDMENT IX

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Every U.S. citizen has a right to smoke to tobacco products on public property or on their own property or if invited by other property owners to smoke on their property, notwithstanding all of the unconstitutional laws that some municipalities and states have passed to prohibit smoking tobacco products, in restaurants, for example.

No law can “trump” the tenants of a state or the federal constitution.

The fact that tobacco executives such as Whitley are known to blow smoke is the strongest suggestion that the industry may be working still to keep cigarettes in flattering focus.

Gee, that was really easy.

The fact that Hartford Courant movie critic Deborah Hornblow is known to exhibit lefty slant in all her columns is the strongest suggestion that she may still be mindlessly regurgitating more left-wing dogma here.

Knowing nothing about the Hartford Courant, I am wondering if Hornblow is a leftist movie critic who's running low on movies to criticise, a political pundit disguised as a movie critic, another newspaper no-talent who doesn't know what she is or something else altogether. Just curious. Thanks.

I am wondering if Hornblow is a leftist movie critic who's running low on movies to criticise, a political pundit disguised as a movie critic, another newspaper no-talent who doesn't know what she is or something else altogether.

Just did a Google search on her, read some of her stuff and drew my own conclusion. All of the above, I'd say.

Interestingly, during the era this piece of crap begins with--Bogie and Bacall,et al--the age group most likely to begin smoking was 18-24 (CDC figures, not mine). Since then, and with all the hype and hysteria about it, the age group most likely to begin smoking is 12-15. My, my...what's that about "unintended consequences"?

I think I'll send this--ahem--journalist a few facts.

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