When the pipe appears on the big screen

There are far fewer pipe smokers in town today than there once were. Rolling tobacco, cigarettes and cigars have pushed the pipe almost out of sight. But did you know that its screen career has not come to an end? Here is a short retrospective of pipe smokers on the big screen.

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Pipe smokers in works made for children

Who would not be surprised to learn that some cartoon characters aimed at children appeared with a pipe in their mouth? And yet many Disney heroes used tobacco. Merlin is one example, as is Roger in 101 Dalmatians. Look more closely at Tarzan and you will see that Clayton smokes one too. Disney is not alone in putting a pipe under the noses of the young: what would Popeye or Captain Haddock be without their familiar attribute?

The practice has of course disappeared from those screens, so as not to influence children. It remains present in films such as Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events in 2004.

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What about feature films?

Pipe smokers are still to be found in feature films. From Citizen Kane in 1941 through Murder by Decree in 1979, The Aviator in 2004 and Django Unchained with DiCaprio in 2013, the pipe remains part of the culture of cinema. It is true that most of these are adaptations of older literary works, or westerns such as The Treasure of Silver Lake (1962), from a time when tobacco was still presented as a remedy. That does not stop a good many characters from appearing on screen with a pipe in the mouth.

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Some cinema pipes have even become collectors' items, such as the well-known Gandalf pipe in the Tolkien trilogy, or the one belonging to Sherlock Holmes. Do you think only American cinema puts pipe smokers on screen? Not at all. Think of Inspector Maigret played by Jean Gabin, or Jean-Baptiste Foucret played by Gérard Jugnot in Toujours Scout.

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