Lucky Strike brand cigarettes

[ronbutters at AOL.COM]

Hit Parade was a brand of cigarettes that spun off from the TV program about 1957. Same manufacturer as Lucky Strike.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

-----Original Message-----
From: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>

Date:         Mon, 14 Apr 2008 10:00:33
To:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject:      Re: [ADS-L] Yahoo!


No, it was The Hit Parade, as best as I can remember it. I don't know
where I got the idea that there were only seven hits a week. A senior
moment, perhaps.

Lucky Strike green really did go to war. When I was in The War during
the late '50's and early '60's, we were still eating WWII C-rations
left over from those days, when we were "out in the field" for
training. Each box of C-rations contained a canned pack of cigarettes
and, sure enough! Lucky Strike did come in olive-drab packs. What
brand you got was random: Camels, Philip Morris, Old Gold, Kool, etc.,
etc. The military was a bonanza for the tobacco companies. In my days
overseas, we were given ration stamps for cigarettes. But, whether you
bought a pack or a carton, it still cost a stamp. So, it made sense to
buy a carton. And, since all GI's, not just smokers, got stamps, you
could get all the stamps that you wanted, so that you could get more
than enough cigarettes to blackmarket them to the "indigenous human
resources," i.e. the Germans, who would kill for American cigarettes,
which are much milder than European brands. The Germans paid ca.$.28
for a twelve-pack of of their own cigarettes, but would happily pay up
to four times that for an American twenty-pack, especially for a box
of genuine American Marlboros - Philip Morris licensed the brand-name
to a German company.

Needless to say, the purpose of the ration stamps was to prevent the
blackmarketing of American cigarettes, not to facilitate it.

But, back to the point. I clearly recall "Lucky Strike extra" and
"Axel Stordahl and the Lucky Strike Orchestra" from the show. Paul
Whiteman, as "The King of Jazz," was too big a name to lead a mere
house band. Do you remember when he had his own TV show? I don't know
what happened to Axel after The Hit Parade went off the air.

-Wilson

On Mon, Apr 14, 2008 at 12:21 AM, sagehen <sagehen at westelcom.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>  Poster:       sagehen <sagehen at WESTELCOM.COM>
>  Subject:      Re: Yahoo!
>  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
>  on 4/13/08 10:31 PM, Wilson Gray at hwgray at GMAIL.COM wrote:
>
>  > Has anyone else os sufficient maturity noticed the use of the phrase,
>  > "lucky-strike extra," in a recent Yahoo! commercial. Back in the
>  > 'Forties and early 'Fifties, Lucky Strike cigarettes sponsored a radio
>  > and, later, a television show featuring the seven most popular songs
>  > of the week. When a song out of the top seven was sung or played (Axel
>  > Stordahl & The Lucky Strike Orchestra!), it was called a "Lucky Strike
>  > extra."
>  >
>  > -Wilson
>  > --
>  > All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
>  > come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>  > -----
>  > -Sam'l Clemens
>  >
>
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
>  > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>  >
>  ~~~~~~~~~~
>  Was this a later version of the Hit Parade? Lucky Strike sponsored the Hit
>  Parade in the late 30s & all through the war ("Lucky Strike green has gone
>  to war!"),  but its format was somewhat different: ten top tunes, for one
>  thing & I don't remember anything called "extra."  Beats me who led the
>  orchestra.....could it have been Paul Whiteman?
>  AM
>
>
>
>  ------------------------------------------------------------
>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
 -Sam'l Clemens

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org