2 Cigars Walk Into a Bar....
PipesandCigars
1645 Central Avenue
Albany, NY 12205
1-800-494-9144
Those of us who enjoy a good cigar look at it as a treat for the senses- the springy feel of a well-maintained cigar is comforting, the construction and craftsmanship is a thing to behold, the aroma can transport us to another time or place and the flavor can be, at its best, transcendent. But some people can also look at a stogie as something different, something useful…a prop.
In these politically correct times, I can only think of Ron White as a comedian who makes a cigar part of his act. And it can be a remarkably useful prop as well. When you deliver a line and want to build up a little anticipation before the punchline, taking a puff on a cigar is a wonderful pause. If you want to give the laughter a chance to die down before the next joke or story, taking the time to cut or light a smoke is an ideal way to do it.
But in the old days, a cigar was a very common prop among funny men. Milton Berle often had a cigar on hand, and Alan King almost always had one going. Ernie Kovacs was among the comedians who had a contract with a cigar company.
While these comics were identified closely with cigars, there are two in particular who are indelibly linked with their vitola of choice. The first one was associated with his cigars all the way up to his passing at the age of 100, and that, of course, was the inimitable George Burns, Burns, born Nathan Birnbaum in 1896, started his career in show business when he was around 6 years old by singing harmony with other kids in his neighborhood. He and his pals would go to heavily trafficked areas and sing for tips thrown their way. He later developed a vaudeville act and met his future wife and partner, Gracie Allen.
It was while doing his act with Gracie, by being one of the best straight men ever, that he realized the value of using a cigar as a prop. The dialog between them could get rather rapid-fire and confusing, so if George lost his place, he would take a puff on his stogie to give him time to remember his line.
His choice of cigar has an interesting story about it. People for years conjectured that Burns was being supplied with Cubans, even after the embargo, and a number of them wanted to know exactly which one he was smoking. When approached about his choice, Burns told the asker that he smoked El Producto Queens, an inexpensive machine-made cigar that sold for about a quarter at the time. When asked why a successful man of his means smoked such a reasonably priced stick, he said that the main reason was that they stayed lit. He had had problems in the past with ones that would go out regularly because it meant having to take the time to relight, so when he found that the El Productos didn’t go out easily, he smoked them all the time. And, of course, when you smoke 10 to 15 a day, keeping the price down didn’t hurt. By the time he had reached his sixties, he was getting his cigars free in exchange for promoting El Producto.
Burns was credited with one of the great cigar-related one-liners- “People ask me why I use a cigar holder. It’s because my doctor told me to keep away from tobacco. When in his nineties, he said that he was advised to quit smoking and to get more exercise, His response? “I get all the exercise I need by being a pall bearer for my doctors.” But unquestionably, the comedian most associated with cigars was Julius Henry (Groucho) Marx. Groucho and his brothers broke into vaudeville as a singing group, but one night the boys were clowning around between songs and got a bigger response from the audience with their jokes than the songs. From there they developed an act with skits, jokes and music, and worked their way up to being headliners. In an unprecedented move, they were offered the opportunity to expand their act and to bring it to Broadway. They were so successful that they were lured to Hollywood and had a string of popular films, which are looked upon as classics today.
Groucho was the leader of the Marx Brothers and established a character who was a wise-cracking, fast-talking huckster who was looking for a fast buck or a big payday, but who usually wound up being a good guy. Whether it was Dr. Hugo Z. Hackenbush, Otis P. Driftwood, Rufus T. Firefly or J. Cheever Loophole, they were all hucksters. His trademarks were his heavy greasepaint eyebrows and mustache and the ubiquitous cigar.
Groucho understood the value of a cigar as a prop. An interesting note is that he almost never actually smoked the cigars he used on the set because of continuity. If they had to stop a scene and restart it, he wanted to make sure that the cigar was the same length. The easiest way to assure that was to not light it.
He would normally have two cigars a day; one after lunch and another after dinner. He might have a third if socializing in the evening. His cigar of choice was the Dunhill 410, a rich cigar with fairly low nicotine. Of course, at that time, Dunhill was a Cuban-made cigar, and cost as much as two whole dollars. When people heard of the price of those cigars in the fifties, they were aghast at how expensive they were. Can you imagine what they would sell for today?
Groucho would also occasionally smoke a Cuban Belinda that was around a double corona size. One of the great Groucho/cigar stories was when he was smoking one of his expensive Habanos while vacationing in Rome. Someone bumped into him, and his cigar hit the ground and broke, to which Groucho exclaimed, “Jesus Christ!”. When he turned around, he was face-to-face with a Catholic Monsignor, who was the person who had bumped him. The priest reached into his jacket and gave Groucho one of his cigars and smilingly said, “Groucho, you just said the secret word.”
In retrospect, maybe part of the reason I enjoy cigars so much is that every time I see one, I’m subconsciously laughing at the work of these great comics who loved their stogies.
1645 Central Avenue
Albany, NY 12205
1-800-494-9144
Those of us who enjoy a good cigar look at it as a treat for the senses- the springy feel of a well-maintained cigar is comforting, the construction and craftsmanship is a thing to behold, the aroma can transport us to another time or place and the flavor can be, at its best, transcendent. But some people can also look at a stogie as something different, something useful…a prop.
In these politically correct times, I can only think of Ron White as a comedian who makes a cigar part of his act. And it can be a remarkably useful prop as well. When you deliver a line and want to build up a little anticipation before the punchline, taking a puff on a cigar is a wonderful pause. If you want to give the laughter a chance to die down before the next joke or story, taking the time to cut or light a smoke is an ideal way to do it.
But in the old days, a cigar was a very common prop among funny men. Milton Berle often had a cigar on hand, and Alan King almost always had one going. Ernie Kovacs was among the comedians who had a contract with a cigar company.
While these comics were identified closely with cigars, there are two in particular who are indelibly linked with their vitola of choice. The first one was associated with his cigars all the way up to his passing at the age of 100, and that, of course, was the inimitable George Burns, Burns, born Nathan Birnbaum in 1896, started his career in show business when he was around 6 years old by singing harmony with other kids in his neighborhood. He and his pals would go to heavily trafficked areas and sing for tips thrown their way. He later developed a vaudeville act and met his future wife and partner, Gracie Allen.
It was while doing his act with Gracie, by being one of the best straight men ever, that he realized the value of using a cigar as a prop. The dialog between them could get rather rapid-fire and confusing, so if George lost his place, he would take a puff on his stogie to give him time to remember his line.
His choice of cigar has an interesting story about it. People for years conjectured that Burns was being supplied with Cubans, even after the embargo, and a number of them wanted to know exactly which one he was smoking. When approached about his choice, Burns told the asker that he smoked El Producto Queens, an inexpensive machine-made cigar that sold for about a quarter at the time. When asked why a successful man of his means smoked such a reasonably priced stick, he said that the main reason was that they stayed lit. He had had problems in the past with ones that would go out regularly because it meant having to take the time to relight, so when he found that the El Productos didn’t go out easily, he smoked them all the time. And, of course, when you smoke 10 to 15 a day, keeping the price down didn’t hurt. By the time he had reached his sixties, he was getting his cigars free in exchange for promoting El Producto.
Burns was credited with one of the great cigar-related one-liners- “People ask me why I use a cigar holder. It’s because my doctor told me to keep away from tobacco. When in his nineties, he said that he was advised to quit smoking and to get more exercise, His response? “I get all the exercise I need by being a pall bearer for my doctors.” But unquestionably, the comedian most associated with cigars was Julius Henry (Groucho) Marx. Groucho and his brothers broke into vaudeville as a singing group, but one night the boys were clowning around between songs and got a bigger response from the audience with their jokes than the songs. From there they developed an act with skits, jokes and music, and worked their way up to being headliners. In an unprecedented move, they were offered the opportunity to expand their act and to bring it to Broadway. They were so successful that they were lured to Hollywood and had a string of popular films, which are looked upon as classics today.
Groucho was the leader of the Marx Brothers and established a character who was a wise-cracking, fast-talking huckster who was looking for a fast buck or a big payday, but who usually wound up being a good guy. Whether it was Dr. Hugo Z. Hackenbush, Otis P. Driftwood, Rufus T. Firefly or J. Cheever Loophole, they were all hucksters. His trademarks were his heavy greasepaint eyebrows and mustache and the ubiquitous cigar.
Groucho understood the value of a cigar as a prop. An interesting note is that he almost never actually smoked the cigars he used on the set because of continuity. If they had to stop a scene and restart it, he wanted to make sure that the cigar was the same length. The easiest way to assure that was to not light it.
He would normally have two cigars a day; one after lunch and another after dinner. He might have a third if socializing in the evening. His cigar of choice was the Dunhill 410, a rich cigar with fairly low nicotine. Of course, at that time, Dunhill was a Cuban-made cigar, and cost as much as two whole dollars. When people heard of the price of those cigars in the fifties, they were aghast at how expensive they were. Can you imagine what they would sell for today?
Groucho would also occasionally smoke a Cuban Belinda that was around a double corona size. One of the great Groucho/cigar stories was when he was smoking one of his expensive Habanos while vacationing in Rome. Someone bumped into him, and his cigar hit the ground and broke, to which Groucho exclaimed, “Jesus Christ!”. When he turned around, he was face-to-face with a Catholic Monsignor, who was the person who had bumped him. The priest reached into his jacket and gave Groucho one of his cigars and smilingly said, “Groucho, you just said the secret word.”
In retrospect, maybe part of the reason I enjoy cigars so much is that every time I see one, I’m subconsciously laughing at the work of these great comics who loved their stogies.