Comments on: High-status trades indicated by enormous cigars in 1943

By: James Penrose

James Penrose — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 01:34:00 +0000

Middle of WWII, no surprise munitions maker and metallurgist would be there, makes them look patriotic. Dramatist…look at all the “artistes” you see in movies of that era with a cigar etc.

Huge cigar? Hardly. That’s about a normal size, average cigar really. Go watch Edward G. Robinson movies if you want to see a good-sized cigar on a man. (grin)

By: jeligula

jeligula — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:42:00 +0000

Those cigars are nowhere near huge by the standards of either that time or today.

By: Thorfin

Thorfin — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:34:00 +0000

If you cannot figure the chorus line of cigar girls out, don’t even try to understand the dancing cigarette packs from 1950s TV commercials.
http://www.tvacres.com/dance_butts.htm

By: Flesh of Sadie

Flesh of Sadie — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 17:22:00 +0000

Metallurgists were once the scouts for the ravenous mining companies. Today they are hippies or nerds. Go figure.

By: NelC

NelC — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:37:00 +0000

I’m sure you’d remember if it was you.

By: rob_cornelius

rob_cornelius — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:29:00 +0000

is it me or is the guy in the pic Pierce Brosnan’s dad?

By: Boris Bartlog

Boris Bartlog — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 14:43:00 +0000

I don’t think it’s intended as a laundry list of the professions with the very topmost status. More like a carefully assembled salmagundi tailored to appeal to various vanities and desires.

By: ernunnos

ernunnos — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 14:37:00 +0000

Metallurgist (science), Architect (shelter), Munitions Maker (defense), Dramatist (art), Surgeon (health). All people engaged in useful arts that advance standards of living for the common man. I approve of this 1%. Have a cigar.

By: dragonfrog

dragonfrog — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 14:30:00 +0000

Were playwrights ever plutocrats? I know a number or dramatists, and I’m pretty sure none of them keeps a limo driver on staff.

By: petertrepan

petertrepan — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 14:17:00 +0000

You have to have metallurgists for your transcontinental railroad!

By: Beanolini

Beanolini — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:34:00 +0000

a Montechristo A is a humongous cigar

Not really, when compared with the 'large cigar 2 feet long and as thick as the wrist' that was smoked by the Victorian explorer Richard Spruce in Brazil.

By: Kevin White

Kevin White — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 12:55:00 +0000

There is a billboard near my house on the highway, which reads: “Update your status” and has a picture of a BMW. It’s got some other stuff that suggests it’s a pun on updating your facebook status, but still. “Buy a BMW to be part of the big leagues!”

By: Deidzoeb

Deidzoeb — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 12:40:00 +0000

The dancing girls represent the five available sizes and shapes for every taste. So while one part of you is thinking of the cigar as a phallic symbol, another part is supposed to think of it as a tiny dancing girl you can play with? I don’t understand what it all means, but Monica Lewinsky should be the Perfecto-Extra.

By: ridestowe

ridestowe — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:44:00 +0000

at first i read “munitions maker?” as “munitions?” “maker?” and got excited because they considered makers to be high profile, but then disappointed when i saw it was only munitions makers

By: valdis

valdis — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:39:00 +0000

@banshee:disqus : “My point was that most jobs that enslaved children are forced to do aren’t exactly the kind of vocation you brag about whilst chomping on a fancy cigar”

On the other hand, the whole reason for #OWS is that we are oversupplied with people who *would* brag about enslaving children if it were legal, and are probably plotting to make it so.

By: penguinchris

penguinchris — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 11:01:00 +0000

Yes, these are standard marketing tactics that continue today… “luxury” brands try to make you think you’ll be like the rich and famous if you buy their product. Meanwhile, the rich and famous don’t go anywhere near those brands unless they’re paid to do so (with some exceptions).

By: purple-stater

purple-stater — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 10:34:00 +0000

Those would be the tobacco girls, found in better restaurants and night clubs of the era. They’d carry a tray, with a selection of cigars and cigarettes, around for guests to choose an after-dinner smoke from, just like dessert.

By: Ashley Yakeley

Ashley Yakeley — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 10:31:00 +0000

That would be Czechoslovakia/Czechia in the 90s.

By: Scott Contreras-Koterbay

Scott Contreras-Koterbay — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 10:15:00 +0000

Just what the heck is going on with the dancing girls? Are the four of them trying to get away from the man with the giant… cigar… while one of them has apparently signed a deal with the devil and is dragging them back in? Seriously? This weird narrative just doesn’t make any sense.

By: purple-stater

purple-stater — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 10:10:00 +0000

Hardly enormous, rather average. I’m intrigued though, it’s unusual to see a torpedo tip on a thinner cigar, and then to make it box-pressed to boot. Very cool.

By: Michael Dawson

Michael Dawson — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 08:30:00 +0000

They see me rollin, they hatin

By: Seb

Seb — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 07:55:00 +0000

That’s hardly what I’d call a humongous cigar. Now a Montechristo A is a humongous cigar:
http://www.montecristocubancigar.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/montecristo-72.jpg

By: HiTek LoLife

HiTek LoLife — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 07:30:00 +0000

Just replace “dramatist” with “rock star” and smoking these would make you Buckaroo Banzai.

By: Steve Pan

Steve Pan — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 07:08:00 +0000

blunt cruisin

By: rattypilgrim

rattypilgrim — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 06:55:00 +0000

I think Freud said, “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar”.

By: Alvis

Alvis — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 06:01:00 +0000

I’m increasingly intrigued by Cory’s ongoing fascination with vintage tobacco ads. Keep ‘em coming!

In what world were “dramatists” ranked amongst “today’s leaders”?

By: Joe Skaggs

Joe Skaggs — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 05:58:00 +0000

I am a metallurgist, and this goes on my office door first thing tomorrow morning.

By: Stefan Jones

Stefan Jones — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 05:49:00 +0000

Munition maker, during a war that put millions of people back to work in high-paying factory jobs, wasn’t a profession that was looked down on.

@chgoliz: Yes, “Dramatist” and “Architect” are interesting choices by today’s standards.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 05:49:00 +0000

I’m going to guess that he’s a guy who got a male modeling job because all the other guys were gone and the Army didn’t take paroled felons.

By: chgoliz

chgoliz — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 05:44:00 +0000

So “successful men who are leaders” didn’t always mean they were in finance or on the campaign trail?