This 1970’s era, color public service movie dates to the period before smoking was widely recognized as harmful, and smoking was permitted in public, including in restaurants and in airplanes. The film examines the American nation’s habit and studies cigarette smoking, its history, marketing of cigarettes, its corporate benefits and its societal and financial costs. Pelican Films presents, Smoking: A Report on the Nation’s Habit, created by Arthur Hoyle and Max Reid. The movie opens with a woman in a nightgown showing us a near-empty soft-pack of Salem cigarettes that she smoked the day before she went to see the chiropractor. The chiropractor shows the lady an x-ray, and shows that she has a spot on her lung from cigarette smoking. The lady speaks of using the empty pack of cigarettes as a symbol of how she will never smoke again – if she dies from smoking that she would like the cigarette pack in her casket. History of smoking. 1890. Smoking became popular with Americans in late 1800s. The first cigarettes were made with Turkish – not American tobacco. In 1913 R.J. Reynolds launched an American cigarette brand using American tobacco; Camel cigarettes. These revolutionized the industry. Camel cigarettes were the first cigarettes designed exclusively for advertising purposes. One famous ad is “I’d walk a mile for a Camel”. By the end of World War I, Camel cigarettes were America’s number one brand garnering 40% of the nation’s cigarette business. In October 1920 Dr. Moses Barron, from University of Minnesota, did an autopsy on a patient and discovered that the patient had died of lung cancer 2:30. In 1920 lung cancer was an extremely rare disease. Americans now smoke more than 600 billion cigarettes a year. 2:51. The industry makes more than $14 billion a year in sales 3:04. Each year over $17 billion is lost due to medical costs and illness/employee absenteeism directly related to smoking 3:16. Hospital corridors are shown 3:25. Each year 77 million workdays are lost and 88 million days are spent sick in bed 3:35. 306 million annual days of restricted activity all due to smoking. A cemetery is shown 3:55. A couple is playing tennis and they have a smoke after the match. 4:30. The materials that go into tobacco and cigarettes are shown 4:40. An animation shows carbon monoxide going through the blood. Smoker has 4 to 30 times more carbon monoxide in their blood than a non-smoker 5:00. Tar contains the cancer-causing agents of cigarette smoke 5:16. Nicotine is the addictive element in tobacco 5:22. A pregnant woman smokes a cigarette 5:45. A baby nurses from a mom 5:55. Parents smoking around the table while kids eat breakfast 6:22. Two very young girls try smoking 6:37. Two teens peek in on a table full of adult smoking cigarettes 7:00. Teenagers in a schoolyard, smoking 7:15. Men playing cards shows a man showing nervousness from quitting smoking 7:52. Side stream smoking is shown where a cigarette smolders in an ashtray. This smoke is much more dangerous 8:44. A stop smoking group is shown, 9:15. Man seen riding a bicycle after quitting smoking, 9:44. Cigarette ads are shown. $260 million dollars a year are spent on smoking 10:00. Different cigarette brands are shown 10:15. Camel smoking billboard, 10:50. Man in hospital bed 11:12. Lung Association Cartoon showing parents smoking in front of children 11:30. Woman smokes at the table in front of her daughter 12:00. Woman smokes at boardroom table and coworkers are annoyed 12:20. No smoking signs are shown 12:30. A smoking a non-smoking office is shown, 12:48. Different businesses are shown that do not allow smoking 13:05. Older images of glamorous people smoking cigarettes are shown 13:25. The Marlboro man is shown 13:53. TV program of the Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare is shown 1:15. The woman who opened the movie discusses her doctors prognosis of her short life expectancy due to smoking 15:00. Based on the Smoking Digest Published by the National Cancer Institute, Office of Cancer Communications 16:03. Special thanks to the National Institute of Health, the American Lung Association, the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, the UCLA Medical Center Respiratory Care Unit, and the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. Special Thanks to Dr. Jess Barron.

This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com