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smok·er [smoh-ker]
noun
1. a person or thing that smokes.
2. Railroads .
a. Also called smoking car. a passenger car for those who wish to smoke.
b. a compartment for those who wish to smoke.
3. an informal gathering, especially of men, for entertainment, discussion, or the like.
May 20, 1941 - America has not yet (officially) entered World War II. If you were to mention the "anti-smoking craze," the average citizen would likely respond with an incredulous look and a diplomatic nod, perhaps followed by an utterance of "Uh, huh. You don't say, fella? Well, I must be going." And in the town of Milford, Connecticut, the ladies of the local Young Women’s Republican Club were wondering why their husbands were so keen on collectively disappearing on selected evenings, going off to smoke those stinky pipes and cigars, drink that awful scotch, to lose money at each other at cards, and to return home in the early morning exhausted and disheveled. What could be the fun in that? Well, there was one way to find out. They gave it a go themselves. And to the good fortune of posterity, a photographer from LIFE magazine was at hand to document the debauchery that followed.
Cards? Smoke? Check and check:
And check:
Assemble an impromptu strip-tease troupe? Why not:
Wrestling? Well, it would be another six years before the lines "Anything you can do I can do better; I can do anything better than you." would first be sung, but these girls weren't going to wait:
The audience, well on their way towards producing a proper pea-soup strength tobacco-fog, certainly seemed appreciative:
At some point, a kindly park ranger apparently stopped by to help the maid light her cigarette. Certainly nothing unusual in that:
All in all, it appears to have been a rousing success. Goldilocks here, for example, evidently rousingly succeeded in discovering the simple joy, no doubt long kept a carefully, jealously guarded secret by her husband, of losing at cards:
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