THE STORY OF LUCKY STRIKE CIGARETTES 1940s TOBACCO INDUSTRY 61084

This tinted film discusses the manufacturing process and benefits of Lucky Strike cigarettes. It was made prior to 1942, when the packaging changed from dark green to white. It begins with a stop-action animated title card made of cigarettes and cigarette boxes for Lucky Strike Tobacco Company, the #1 selling tobacco brand of the United States in the 1930s. It opens with a woman listening to a RCA Victor Standard Domestic radio (0:21-30). Kay Kyser in his “Ol’ Professor” graduation coat appears and jumps around the room on the NBC-TV Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge set with a Lucky Strike Cigarettes sign shown hanging (0:31-58). Young men and women step up to the NBC mic to sing, and a trumpet player plays as Kay dances around (0:59-2:07). A spokesman in a 40s suit talks (2:08-2:31). Fields of tobacco leaves are shown blowing in the wind as workers and donkey-pulled carts tend the crop (2:32-2:51). Women are shown hanging tobacco leaves for curing (2:52-3:00). A Lucky Strike tobacco buyer samples the leaves and takes them to a laboratory where scientists analyze them (3:01-3:25). A group of buyers analyze the reports (3:26-3:34). Tobacco leaves are stored in a giant warehouse where an auction is held with men in formal 1940s suits (3:35-4:45). The auctioneer smokes a Lucky Strike and talks to the camera (4:46-5:06), and the auction resumes (5:07-5:32). An aerial shot pans over the production facility buildings as rows of trucks bring in barrels (5:33-5:48), which are stacked with a pulley and rolled into place by workmen into a warehouse (5:49-5:57). Cigarette machines remove the stem as women spread the leaves, and men in lab coats oversee the toasting machines (5:58-6:48). An up-close shot of the leaves being toasted is shown (6:49-7:10). Huge pipes carry the smoke outside (7:11-7:28). Machines blend and shred the leaves (7:29-7:35). A man wears a welders mask as he oversees the ultra-violet ray machine toasting and throwing the leaves (7:36-8:00). Cars of tobacco leaves rotate and a conveyor belt moves them (8:01-8:19). Women in white uniforms operate cigarette-making machines and pack them into boxes (8:20-8:41). The camera fades back to the spokesman, who is holding a pack of Lucky Strike cigarettes, and shows snippets of the manufacturing process again (8:42-9:19). The camera pans over vintage boxes of Lucky Strike cigarettes (9:20-9:25).
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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 www.PeriscopeFi...

[@altfactor]

This film had to have been made no.later than 1943 as during that year (1) Lucky Strike abandoned it's green package (obstentively due to wartime ink restrictions), and (2) Luckies started sponsoring Jack Benny on radio that year.

[@MarkWYoung-ky4uc]

I love the scenes on the tobacco farm. It showed priming, stringing, stripping and grading just as it was when my daddy was a teenager and used to do this on grandpa's farm. I really liked the tobacco auction and the auctioneer Joe Burnett was one of the best. the auction scenes could have been shot at any warehouse in Winston-Salem.

[@josephcontreras8930]

I've only seen that movie tobacco road with Karl maulden and I think van Johnson on how they bought and owned several tobacco farms.

[@fromthesidelines]

Kay Kyser's "KOLLEGE OF MUSICAL KNOWLEDGE"- half musical variety, half quiz program- was initially on NBC radio from 1938 through 1948. American Tobacco, on behalf of Luckies, sponsored him through 1944 [Colgate-Palmolive-Peet sustained his program through 1948]. At the time, he was on Wednesday nights for a full hour, at 10pm(et). His singers were Harry Babbitt, Ginny Simms, and Sully Mason. Merwyn Bogue, as "Ish Kabibble", not only played a hot trumpet, he also did comedy vocals and "poetry readings" in a monotone. Kay, however, was the spark of the whole series.

[@forceiswithyou7776]

Apparently during the war effort, Lucky Strikes donated their famous green coloring used on their products and packaging to the army, thus the color change to their well known cigarette packs to the now infamous white color packaging .

[@alexcrayfish]

Thats the Story they told the public. In reality they tried to get rid of the color green and switch to white. So their advertising agency came up with this story.

[@manofmanyinterests]

Recently, I purchased a 16mm sepia tinted print of one of the Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco films ( the one with Kay only, not the one with Kay and Sinatra), and just this afternoon, I received a 16mm sepia tinted print of this short subject. Kay is certainly underappreciated.

[@localgames1]

Very cool :)

[@adriandaff5369]

I would date this as 1939. The Kay Kyser orchestra recorded "All God's Chillun Got Rhythm" for Brunswick Records on November 26, 1938, and broadcast it twice the following year on their Lucky Strike radio show - March 29 and December 6, 1939. If you remove your web address and the clock from the title sequence, you'll see the film's copyright year displayed in roman numerals.

[@WhitneyDahlin]

fascinating thank you for the information! I was close I guessed from the style of dress and the girls hairstyle that it was early 40s.

[@bga1958]

When the switch from the green package to the white, they said, "Lucky Strike Green Has Gone to War."

[@OldsVistaCruiser]

Yes! The green ink had ingredients that were necessary to the war effort. Lucky Strike green never came home from the war.

[@bga1958]

I had a '79 @@OldsVistaCruiser , dark green, the rear seat face backwards, kids loved that. TY for the reply.

[@OldsVistaCruiser]

@@bga1958 Last year for the Vista Cruiser was '77.

[@bga1958]

Oops. I guess it was a 77.

[@iceman3577]

Lucky's alway my fav it's toasted !

[@jerryhablitzel3333]

Grandpa enjoyed his luckys. Used to turn his oxygen tank clear off just to have a puff.

[@I_am_N0body]

Damn straight.

[@jasonbeard4713]

With Basil Ruysdale (onscreen) and Harry Von Zell (offscreen) as announcers.

[@ryanramos5438]

4;52 put that cigarette out your gonna burn the whole warehouse down !

[@tom7601]

Bugs Bunny said "Sold American" in at least one cartoon.

[@OldsVistaCruiser]

Daffy Duck was fond of this Lucky Strike slogan: "So round, so firm, so fully-packed, so smooth and easy on the draw."

[@febrii9693]

IT'S TOASTED 😂

[@MinskyDoxsky]

Who else is smoking a lucky with me?

[@mercoid]

I used to love that toasted taste.

[@lewiemcneely9143]

Sure am glad I quit but I was like Mark and had the LSMFT running through my head from start to finish!

[@1978garfield]

Strange they brag about less nicotine. It would be like a whiskey bragging about having less alcohol.

[@pyropenguino]

Wow. This is what you took from this? You do know they used to promote cigarettes as healthy? Lol and no.. Indian tobacco isn’t healthy either.

[@jrjr3412]

@@pyropenguino Neither is whiskey but there is incessant advertising of alcohol.

[@tom7601]

That was when the packs were still green.

[@OldsVistaCruiser]

Before WW2. The green ink had ingredients that were essential to war production.

[@serbiangamer]

How come my Lucky Strike is not toasted anymore? Did rules change or the company in my country -Serbia, dont follow the license rules anymore? I noticed the quality of Lucky Strike has decresed significantly in recent years, I never imagined it is bcs they stopped toasting it. If they break the rules they should pay for that!

[@WhitneyDahlin]

yes I believe they did stop toasting it because it contains about 12 mg of nicotine per cigarette which is the normal amount and the average amount of nicotine that the vast majority of all cigarettes of all brands contain. if they were still toasting it then nicotine would be a little bit lower than that and lower than the average. but I just tried my first lucky today so I don't know how they used to taste

[@mattmarzula]

They still make the best non-filter cigarettes around. Just getting harder to find.

[@greybowden8133]

They've hd somewhat of a Renaissance. The unfiltered are hard to find but here in the US the filtered ones are everywhere but I do hear the filtered are rebranded Newport reds

[@WhitneyDahlin]

​@@greybowden8133 I just found my first pack of lucky today. unfortunately I've been smoking for about 10 years and I have never ever even seen Lucky strike in any place ever! I just saw them today at the gas station and I immediately bought a pack! I do like them but they are definitely much stronger than I'm used to! my lungs feel heavy after I smoke one!

[@unassistedsuicide2243]

@@WhitneyDahlin Excellent lung snacks!

[@leeduke9518]

Lucky strike non filters the best tasting cigarette there is

[@jvt3057]

Who was that singing woman in the beginning of the video?

[@adriandaff5369]

Ginny Simms

[@RainyWolf7]

High quality

[@pyropenguino]

I don’t know how the originals were, but they’re still way better than the price eludes to. I switched to these new ones and I won’t go back. Need to work on quitting em though, lol.

[@unassistedsuicide2243]

I own around $15,000 worth of stock in the company that makes L.S.M.F.T., bro. Keep on puffin’ baby

[@James-eg3fr]

Man, the audio is *c r u n c h y* .