Edie Adams for Muriel Cigars

Hang in there if the smoke is getting to you, this is the last video tied to the "Smoking" episode.

The great Ernie Kovacs married actress and singer Edie Adams on September 12, 1954 in Mexico City. From all reports, Adams was smitten with Kovacs, and remained his #1 fan even after his death. Adams once said about Kovacs, "He treated me like a little girl, and I loved it - Women's Lib be damned!".

Although Kovacs' hassles with the IRS and Adams subsequent work to pay off his debt are well-known, I hadn't heard the story Dylan relates about her allergies to cigar smoke. But if true, it must have been tough on Adams given that Kovacs was a cigar smoker at the level of a George Burns or Desi Arnaz. In any case, Adams was the pitch-lady for Muriel cigars both before and well after Kovacs' death, and her trademark, "Why don't you pick one up and smoke it sometime?" modeled after the signature Mae West line, became a buzz phrase in the U.S. I can remember intoning it myself while on the playground.

Here's Adams in triplicate selling that ceegar which could be had in those days for just a thin dime.