No Smoking

[StevePulaski]

No Smoking (1951)
Directed by: Jack Kinney

Goofy is a nicotine addict in Jack Kinney's Disney short No Smoking.

Rating: ★★★

In the politically correct America we live in today, it's so easy to look at a Disney short like No Smoking and have our eyes widen a bit. Just when you thought a ten-minute educational short on how the menstrual cycle works is enough, herein lies another short by the enormous and ubiquitous empire that is Disney that focuses on their popular character Goofy having a huge nicotine dependency. In one desperate, nearly-crazed attempt to score something he can smoke after quitting cold turkey, Goofy demands a man for "a cig, a fag, a cigar" and even weed. In 1951, this didn't bother anyone, but try showing Jack Kinney's No Smoking before a Disney film today and watch how fast a lawsuit or a heap of potboiling controversy would result.

However, No Smoking doesn't promote tobacco products nor does it really have much of an opinion about them other than showcasing how out of control and potentially implosive one can get if they quit a long-standing habit. Goofy is a chain-smoking addict who smokes while doing every conceivable event before upping the courageous and the will to quit one day by throwing everything he has cigarette-related away. It takes all but six seconds for nicotine-dependent tendencies to kick in before Goofy becomes practically a lunatic going through withdrawal, searching every sidewalk crack and vacant area outside in desperate hopes to find a cigarette butt he can smoke. Despite the subject matter, which could've been darker and more eerie in the blink of an eye, this is a tame short that, again, is worth more of a mention in a discussion of Disney or how the times have changed more-so than the lasting value or present entertainment value one gets while viewing such a short. Not to mention, the short was extremely subversive for its time since the war on tobacco had yet to begin, and Television and film during the time still portrayed smoking as somewhat glamorous.

Directed by: Jack Kinney.