“Dear Mr. Derbyshire—The smokingest film, or certainly the smokingest-and-drinkingest film, that I can recall seeing is the rarely shown ‘Opening Night,’ with John Cassavetes (who also directed) and Gena Rowlands (his wife). In virtually every scene somebody lights a cigarette or pours a drink or, quite often, both.

“In 1998 the magazine for which I work [name of magazine] had an article suggesting that for many years, smoking was so common in films simply because it gave the actors a piece of ‘business’–something to do so that they wouldn’t just sit there and talk. And if you attribute the popularity of smoking to its prevalence in films, the development of imaginative new cinematic techniques (prompted by television, no doubt) may be directly responsible for the decrease in smoking in recent years.”