Classic Tobacco Deals

Claudette Colbert served three cigarette companies while under contract to Paramount Pictures. This Lucky Strike ad plugs Paramount's 1937 film Bluebeard's Eighth Wife. While Paramount received free advertising, Colbert was paid $10,000 in advertising fees, worth more than $150,000 today. (American Tobacco agreements, 1937-8) Lucky Strike ads also plugged two other Paramount films starring Colbert in 1937: Maid of Salem and I Met Him in Paris. Paramount is now part of Viacom; American Tobacco merged into Reynolds American.

Stanwyck later appeared in ads for Chesterfield (1950) and L&M. Both are Ligget & Myers brands, now owned by Altria.

Tracy received at least $10,000 (more than $150,000 in today's money) from American Tobacco. His Lucky Strike cigarette ads also plugged the MGM films Captains Courageous and Mannequin in 1937. Tracy died of lung and heart disease at 67.

Bette Davis personally edited her endorsement agreement with the tobacco company. This tabloid ad also mentions other actors under contract to Warner Bros., who purportedly share Lucky Strikes with Davis "at the studio lunch room."

Myrna Loy, co-star of The Thin Man film series, was voted a Top 10 moneymaker by US theater owners in 1937 and in 1938. Paid $10,000 by American Tobacco (more than $150,000 in todays dollars) Loy signed a testimonial text: "It's always easy for me to get a Lucky Strike from Joan Crawford or Clark Gable, or even most of the newcomers to the studio...So, all in all, you can see I'm really enthusiastic."

Gary Cooper was paid more than $150,000 (in today's money) to endorse American Tobacco's Lucky Strike brand in 1937 and 1938. By the late 1940s, he was appearing in advertising for Chesterfield (Liggett & Myers, now an Altria brand).