Kingston's Edie Adams made smoking sexy and fashionable in the '50s and '60s

Monday, March 21 2011

For more than a decade, Edie Adams appeared in magazine ads and television commercials as the pitch-lady for Muriel cigars. Clad in a sequined, low-cut dress, the blonde temptress taunted men with her scintillating come-on line, "Why don't you pick one up and smoke it sometime?" More popular was the commercial in which Adams pitched the 10-cent cigars by breathily singing, "Hey, big spender, spend a little dime with me."

At a time when consumerism was booming across the nation, the advertising industry persuaded Americans to purchase new products as a sign of status. Smoking was considered "sexy" and "fashionable," and the sensual Adams used television to propel her career as a singer, Broadway, television and film actress and comedienne.

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