Golden Oldie: Make Room Fer The American Tobacco Company

Back in the good old days mom, dad and the youngins could gather round the tele with their frozen TV dinners and settle in fer an evenin' of clean family fun. Clean family fun made possible by the generosity of the good folks at the American Tobacco Company and the like.

That was the old openin' fer Make Room Fer Daddy, a highly popular family comedy from the early days of television...when "marketin' to children" was just an innocent concept on one of our internal memos...not the action line of one of them anti-smokin' PSAs. Ah...a simpler age...and I really miss it.

People seem to like these old cigarette ads. I know I do. They're a great nostalgic stroll down memory lane with a long missed old buddy. A buddy who's been forced from the marketplace by a bunch of pinko commie health nuts.

Of course Danny Thomas went on to be the founder of St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. I get nervous whenever somebody get involved with big health but I guess that's okay. Smoked cigars which ain't as good as cigarettes (because we don't make cigars at Liardare, only smooth rich Carolina leaf 100s). Got a picture of him with a stogie here so that's somethin' in his favor. Passed away from a heart attack in 1991.

In a quirky twist of misery, Danny's wife in this clip, Jean Hagen. You might also remember her as the ditsy movie star in Singin' in the Rain. She passed away from throat cancer in 1977.

Of course this where the health goofs will tell ya' that both throat cancer and heart attacks are associated with smokin'. Stupid health jerks with their tragic ironies.