In the waiting room where my Dad hung out as I was being born, he might have leafed through a magazine with the ad below: 

He wouldn’t have given it – or any of the claims Rosalind Russell makes in the ad – a second thought.

People kinda thought smoking was bad. But in 1954, there was no public evidence to link smoking to diseases like lung cancer and emphysema.

This ad, however, was one of the last of its kind. Earlier ads proclaimed that doctors recommended certain cigarette brands – and that was quickly becoming untrue.

My father was a regular smoker in 1954. Camel was his brand. And, in something that might shock my siblings if they read this, I actually saw our mother smoke a cigarette in our living room.

But by 1961, my Dad had given up the cigarettes, starting an 18-year devotion to cigars as a “healthier” option. I never saw my Mom smoke again.

In January 1964, 60 years ago, the Surgeon General of the United States issued a landmark report that changed the way Americans looked at cigarettes. Dr. Luther Terry said cigarette smoking was a cause of lung cancer for men and probably a cause for women. He also said it was a probable cause for chronic bronchitis.

That was the beginning of a major change in the relationship between Americans and smoking. Warning labels on cigarette packages and anti-smoking ads. Big taxes on tobacco. The end of cigarette advertising, first on TV and radio, then in print. Banning smoking in public places. 

Instead of glamorous – the kind of thing Rosalind Russell or, another star of a 1954 cigarette ad, Ronald Reagan would do – it was now vulgar and unappealing.

Nevertheless, it has taken a long time to bring smoking rates down. And the tobacco industry isn’t going without a fight – introducing vaping, a way to smoke without burning dried leaves. It’s still what the tough kids do to prove themselves.

What it’s not – filtered or otherwise – is healthy. Despite what Auntie Mame might say.