So You Want to Give Up Smoking

AFTER ITS HAVING been planned as a model of film making for a course at UCLA taught by Mr. Richard Bare; the final product showed enough promise to be released by Warner Brothers and subsidiary, Vitaphone, as part of their Hollywood VARITIES Comedy Short Subjects series. At the time, few if any of those in control had any idea that there would be such a liking developed by the movie-going public for George O'Hanlon's character of Joe McDoakes.

THIS FILM'S FUNCTION as being the Pilot episode of what would last for years had most of the ingredients that would prove to be series trademarks. The voice-over by Art Gilmore, which essentially dictated and described on-screen action; also provided a sort of verbal straight man to stooge, McDoakes. Whereas Mr. O'Hanlon's mannerisms and reactions are acted out in a style, which can only be classified as 'Ham' or even 'High Ham'; the Gilmore verbalization are most often done in a 'straight as an arrow' mode.

SO YOU WANT TO GIVE UP SMOKING, much like so many of the earlier entries to the JOE McDOAKES Series, bears a strong resemblance to the PETE SMITH SPECIALTIES, that had been going strong over at MGM for at least a decade or so. Although as time went by and more McDOAKES shorts were produced, released and welcomed by the public; O'Hanlon and the films steadily found their own identity.

AS FOR STAR, George O'Hanlon, a name little known to many today and who was a mere footnote to many others, managed a long run in comedy shorts; as well as making many appearances in mostly uncredited supporting roles in many a Feature Film. The actor would work into the 1990's, with THE JETSONS MOVIE being his last major 'appearance' (as the voice of George Jetson).*

PERHAPS AS AN acknowledgment to the series' relationship to cartoons (both animated and in the print media), this short,and those that followed, made liberal use of caricatured drawings in their opening credits. The outstanding depiction of Joe coming out from behind the old eight-ball wouldn't arrive on the scene for some installments; which further differentiated the McDOAKES Series from those "produced and narrated by a Smith named Pete."

NOTE:* Other than the Joe McDoakes character, George O'Hanlon is best known for his portrayal of George Jetson. He did it in the original series THE JETSONS (Hanna-Barbera/ABC, 1960), in several animated specials and in THE JETSONS MOVIE (1990).

He also had a recurring role run as neighbor Calvin Dudley on William Bendix's long running, THE LIFE OF RILEY(NBC, 1953-58). In 1955, Tom D'Andrea (longtime portraying Riley's pal & neighbor,Gillis)left the show to co-star with Hal March on sitcom,THE SOLDIERS (NBC, 1955). The absence if Gillis was filled in with O'Hanlon's character's taking up the slack. When THE SOLDIERS quickly folded, Dandrea returned to RILEY as if he had never left. Calvin Dudley was relegated back to occasional appearances.

In the 1940s and 50s, Warner Brothers made a lot of Joe McDoakes shorts which starred George O'Hanlon...63 to be exact. Well, "So You Want to Give Up Smoking" has the distinction of being the first of these pictures and you can tell that the usual formula isn't quite in place yet.

This little film was made by Richard L. Bare--a guy who was VERY prolific later in life directing television shows like "Green Acres", "Petticoat Junction" and many others. He also directed the McDoakes films and created the formula. But here, as I mentioned above, the style of the film was still in flux. Sure, you see McDoakes....but he's not nearly as stupid AND you see lots of other people smoking and trying to give up smoking. The style is also a lot less comedic and much more dry and dull. Not a bad film...but they do get much better.

"So You Want to Give Up Smoking" is shown occasionally on TCM between feature films. This short subject follows the efforts of Joe McDoakes (George O'Hanlon) as he tries unsuccessfully to quit smoking. The film treats nicotine addiction as a pesky inconvenience, calling smoking a "minor vice" and referring to "soothing" cigarettes. When the viewer thinks about the documented health effects of cigarettes, this film seems pretty creepy indeed.

McDoakes ultimately fails, switching to cigars, a change that the film treats as some sort of joke. Given the addictive nature of cigarettes and the diseases they cause, "So You Want to Give Up Smoking" seems like it was made during the Dark Ages. Fascinating but very depressing.

So You Want to Give Up Smoking (1942)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

First entry in the long-running Joe McDoakes "So You Want...." series from MGM. This time out our poor McDoakes (George O'Hanlon) wants to give up smoking but he isn't quite sure how to kick the habit. Narrator Art Gilmore then gives him plenty of suggestions but we're not sure if they'll work or not. This first attempt at what would become a popular series is fairly entertaining even though there are a few wrinkles that would certainly get corrected in future episodes. The most interesting thing about this short is probably from a historical stand point of seeing how the subject was handled decades before everyone knew the effects of smoking. Several numbers are thrown out here including one saying only 145 out of 1000 people are actually able to quit. The jokes are mildly entertaining as we see McDoakes trying several methods to quit smoking. The humor of smoking probably won't go over as well today as it did in 1942 but it's still harmless enough for nine minutes worth of entertainment.

This, the first in the Warner Brothers series of shorts featuring George O'Hanlon as everyman Joe McDoakes and narrated by Art Gilmore, was undoubtedly more humorous when first seen by audiences than it is to a contemporary audience. At the shorts first release, I assume most of the adult audience members were smokers and could relate to the hapless McDoakes' attempts to quit. Although Joe's various ploys to quit smoking were unsuccessful, there are still a number of good suggestions (pre-nicotine patches and other drugs) to help the smoker quit and perhaps a number of people viewing the film tried the suggestions and met with success. Perhaps the reason the audiences so took to the McDoakes shorts is that one could actually learn something without being treated condescendingly.