Smoking in the Avengers

Mararaboomdiay · Post by **Mararaboomdiay** » Fri Feb 19, 2010 11:24 pm

Timeless A-Peel wrote: Steed, Keel, and Cathy all smoke pretty heavily, but as soon as the Emma era rolled around, Steed and all of his subsequent partners were non-smokers. By the time TNA rolled around, the characters were actually actively anti-smoking.

Interesting question indeed. It might have been the type of characters that would have been a bit odd looking when smoking. We all know that Joanna (up to today) is still a resolute ciggie lover, though Purdey never even touched a cigaret. It would have looked awfully wrong, so I'm glad they never wrote such a scene in.

Dfrise · Post by **Dfrise** » Fri Feb 19, 2010 11:27 pm

When Laugh-In was on TV in America, it was stomping all of the competition. Alas, The Avengers was included in this stomping. Arte Johnson had a recurring bit on Laugh-In where he would appear with a cigarette in hand, dressed in a Nazi uniform and say, "Veddy interesting."

Dandy Forsdyke · Post by **Dandy Forsdyke** » Fri Feb 19, 2010 11:52 pm

Of course the top US HBO show is the magnificent Mad Men. Set in the 60's where they smoke like troopers. Irony.

Rodney · Post by **Rodney** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 12:01 am

The Arte Johnson observation carries a wonderful irony - which he may or may not have been aware of - Hitler was infamously anti-smoking.

Dandy Forsdyke · Post by **Dandy Forsdyke** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 12:22 am

Rodney wrote:The Arte Johnson observation carries a wonderful irony - which he may or may not have been aware of - Hitler was infamously anti-smoking.

And I believe a vegetarian and animal lover.

Frankymole · Post by **Frankymole** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 2:56 am

Dandy Forsdyke wrote:
Rodney wrote:The Arte Johnson observation carries a wonderful irony - which he may or may not have been aware of - Hitler was infamously anti-smoking.
And I believe a vegetarian and animal lover.

It's a myth - he was not a veggie, indeed he enjoyed sausages as much as any Austrian. Neither was he a teetotaller (another myth - although famously he demanded any Schnapps be hidden from photos of him at table).

I do believe he was fond of dogs though.

As for smoking, the odd cogar on screen is the height of sophistication - so long as they don't bite the end off

I do enjoy steed being saved by a cigarette case in one of the french TNAs ("The Lion and the Unicorn"), Purdey telling him he doesn't smoke [any longer], and Steed replying that he keeps them for friends - his philanthropy saving his life. Steed with a cigarette holder in the Cathy stories does make him look even more of a spiv though. One can almost imagine him chasing the fillies with a "well, helloooo" Leslie Phillips stylee. Leslie Phillips would have made a great Steed. There's no-one really like those guys any more. Maybe because everyone's got neurotic about smoking...

Timeless A-Peel · Post by **Timeless A-Peel** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 3:00 am

Rodney wrote:One has to bear in mind that a chasm separates the policing moral code of American tv and the laissez faire attitude to cinema. You can have Kill Bill in the cinema, no problems. But the restrictions on tv were and still are draconian. Even Mrs Peel's belly button was a problem.

There was also a meeting among executives centred solely on whether they should lower Barbara Eden's harem pants on I Dream of Jeannie. After much discussion, they decided to keep her belly button covered.

Another rule that was often mentioned in interviews was that you couldn't point guns at people's heads or the camera.

Thinking on it, Don Adams smoked quite often in Get Smart, which ran at roughly the same time as the Avengers, and he was most definitely not the bad guy. Was the smoking ban definitely from the Americans, then, or was it something else?

VA_Avenger · Post by **VA_Avenger** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 6:21 am

I don't remember a smoking ban on American TV, and I go waaaay back. For example, Dean Martin always had a cigarette and a drink in his hand. As mentioned, Don Adams smoked in Get Smart, as did Arte Johnson on Laugh In. Sharon Gless smokes constantly on the current series Burn Notice. I'm not sure, but I believe Dick Van Dyke smoked on his show. Then, there was the famous "Cigarette Smoking Man" on The X-Files.

Side note: To bad about censoring Barbara Eden's belly button. She was smokin hot . . . :wink

costumr · Post by **costumr** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 6:49 am

Cigarette ads were banned from American TV in 1971. I don't know how this affected smoking in series, whether it was already discouraged by then or took place later. Before the ban, many shows had tobacco sponsors and the smoke was so thick you could hardly see the actors.
I'm guessing that onscreen smoking was gradually discouraged during this period, but whether before or after 1971, I don't know.

Don

Dandy Forsdyke · Post by **Dandy Forsdyke** » Sat Feb 20, 2010 9:54 am

Frankymole wrote:One can almost imagine him chasing the fillies with a "well, helloooo" Leslie Phillips stylee. Leslie Phillips would have made a great Steed. There's no-one really like those guys any more. Maybe because everyone's got neurotic about smoking...

Ding! Dong! I could not agree with you more. As a huge LP fan - I am Dandy Forsdyke after all! - I would highly recommend almost anything with him in - and his autobiography is a great read too.

I'd love to have seen Leslie in something like The Avengers (the nearest he got to it was directing the stage show), but he one can't complain about his career - still working to this day - a BAFTA nominated role in Venus and catfood commercials the lot! He was a very good mate of Pat Macnee's and they were in Les Girls together.

Leslie's 'Avenger girl' would have had to be called Miss Allcock though!

See vid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75GAvpT35aY