Brynner's Famous Address

You  know I had to go looking for it...

The first time I myself saw Yul Brynner was probably in his famous American Cancer Society's public service announcement.  Yul died in 1985 so that would make me no less than 12 when I first heard this ad and it's haunting message, "Now that I am gone I tell you, don't smoke.  Just don't smoke."  I remember watching that commercial, startled by the unwell man giving the speech.   





It's funny watching it now, I could have sworn he started the piece off by saying something more along the lines of: "If you're watching this, its because I'm dead."  Just goes to show how well one remembers details over time.

One important note to make is that my mother never smoked.  Well, almost never.  Mom and Loie, her mother, had a story about the first and last time they tried a cigarette.  They were together in the house when my mom found a pack of cigarette's in my grandfather's jacket pocket.  When she asked what they were and what it was like to smoke, Loie put her experimental ed theories to practice.  The two of them sat down and "shared" their first cigarette.  It would be the last cigarette for both of them.


Alright, enough of me...up next is CHAPTER ONE!