Chesterfield (cigarette)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chesterfield is a brand of cigarette made by Altria. It was one of the most recognized brands of the early 20th century, but sales have declined steadily over the years. It was named for Chesterfield County, Virginia. Chesterfield is still being made today; it is still popular in Europe, but has been absent from U.S. advertising for many years.
[edit] Trivia
At one time, Chesterfield was one of the three most smoked brands of cigarettes in the United States. The non-filtered version is known for being very strong.
For many years Chesterfield cigarettes were produced by the Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company.
Chesterfield was the preferred brand of James Dean, who was known to be a heavy smoker, often taking in around 2 packs a day.
Chesterfield was also the preferred brand of Humphrey Bogart (and contributed to his death from throat cancer at the age of 57), and Lucille Ball.
Chesterfield sponsored Glenn Miller's radio show from 1939 to 1942. The show aired 3 times a week. Harry James took over when Miller joined the military in 1942.
Chesterfield was the brand of choice for legendary college football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, who liked to smoke underneath the goalpost prior to a game and continued to puff away as he prowled the sidelines once the game started. Current NCAA guidelines forbid the use of tobacco by any on-field personnel.
A stolen carton of Chesterfields was featured in Jim Jarmusch's film Stranger Than Paradise.
A pack of Chesterfields is held up by John Belushi in place of a badge in the classic comedy, The Blues Brothers.
Chesterfields were featured in Tony Scott's film True Romance.
There is a band from San Francisco named The CheSSterfields. The members, Zach Buschman and Roman, will only smoke Chesterfields.
Chesterfield was featured as the sponsor on some of the Dragnet radio series.
Chesterfield was featured as the sponsor on many of the Twilight Zone episodes. Rod Serling, known for his suits and for smoking during introductions, would endorse Chesterfields after some episodes with a catchy sentence ("there's no denying the smooth taste").
Chesterfield sponsored the Chesterfield Supper Club NBC radio series and television series, hosted by Perry Como.
In the 1960's, print ads for Chesterfield featured color photographs of four smokers from various walks of life with the headline "Chesterfield People: They like a mild smoke, but they don't like filters."
In the late 1960's, when other brands brought out extra-long 100 millimeter length cigarettes, Chesterfield unveiled its own version under the brand name 101. The name came from the fact that it was 101 millimeters in length, 1 millimeter longer than its competitors. That fact was the basis for its advertising slogan "a silly millimeter longer", which was used in TV commercials sung to the tune of the popular Ritchie Valens song "La Bamba".
A song named "Chesterfield King" by Jawbreaker is named after this brand.
It remains a popular brand in Europe.
In the film Memoirs of a Geisha the character Pumpkin exclaims: "Guess what? I only smoke Chesterfields now!", alluding and anchoring to Chesterfield's association with the World War II era.
In the mid 1980's, Chesterfield was the main sponsor of certain primetime American television series shown in Argentina, such as The A-Team and Miami Vice, and presented them as "The Chesterfield Hour," or something to that effect. Each show would start with a musical Chesterfield intro.
The cover of Donald Fagen's album The Nightfly, features Fagen as a Chesterfield-smoking DJ. A packet of Chesterfields can be seen in the shot. On the track "The Nightfly", Fagen sings "I've got plenty of java and Chesterfield Kings".
[edit] External links
In Jean-Luc Godard's film 'Breathless'(1959), Patricia Franchini (Jean Seberg) smokes Chesterfield cigarettes much to the disgust of Michel Poicard (Jean Paul Belmondo), who prefers Lucky Strikes.
