Cigarette Town, Richmond, and America’s Smoke-Filled 1950s
When Americans picked up the September 1956 issue of Esquire magazine, they held more than just a glossy men’s magazine in their hands. They were encountering a portrait of mid-century America in all its contradictions — stylish, humorous, and deeply tied to the consumer industries that defined the age.
This particular issue carried Monroe Fry’s satirical essay “Cross Section U.S.A.: Cigarette Town”, a wry look at Richmond, Virginia, the headquarters of the American tobacco empire. It was a blend of social observation, cultural critique, and sharp illustration that showed how cigarettes were more than just products. They were symbols of prosperity, masculinity, glamour, and — increasingly — unease.
For readers in the 1950s, this wasn’t just a local story. It was a reflection of how deeply smoking was woven into American life, from advertising slogans to everyday rituals, even as medical voices began to raise the first warnings.
The mid-1950s was a high-water mark for cigarette culture in the United States. By 1956, roughly half of American adults smoked, and cigarette advertising saturated television, radio, and print. Brands competed not only on taste, but on identity: Lucky Strike promised sophistication, Camel assured authority, and Chesterfield pledged trust.
At the same time, the first storm clouds were gathering. Just two years earlier, in 1954, the Journal of the American Medical Association and other medical voices began linking smoking with lung cancer. While the public largely continued to light up, satire and skepticism began to seep into popular culture.
It was into this world that Esquire delivered “Cigarette Town,” a portrait of Richmond that highlighted both the prosperity and irony of a city built on tobacco. In the age of Eisenhower prosperity, suburbia, and rising consumer culture, tobacco remained both a booming industry and a cultural touchstone.
By 1956, Esquire had long since established itself as “the magazine for men.” It was not only about fashion, though the wearables section defined mid-century style. It was about politics, literature, satire, and commentary. Each issue positioned the modern man as stylish, literate, and worldly.
The September 1956 issue included:
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Aldous Huxley reflecting on language.
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True crime analysis of the Erwin Walker case.
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Travel essays on Hawaii, still a U.S. territory.
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Fiction, satire, and fashion spreads that defined the masculine image of the era.
Into this mix came “Cigarette Town,” which perfectly embodied Esquire’s editorial voice: longform reporting, biting humor, and visual wit. By turning its gaze to Richmond, the magazine wasn’t just profiling a city — it was capturing the way America lived, smoked, and laughed at itself in 1956.
Monroe Fry’s essay focused on Richmond as the capital of cigarettes. It highlighted figures like George Washington Hill, the advertising visionary who turned Lucky Strike into one of the nation’s most famous brands. Readers were reminded of slogans that had become part of daily language:
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“It’s Toasted.”
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“So round, so firm, so fully packed.”
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“Reach for a Lucky Instead of a Sweet.”
These phrases were not just marketing. They were markers of an America where advertising shaped conversation, identity, and even health choices.
Fry noted the economic might of tobacco in Richmond — factories, boardrooms, and advertising agencies that kept the city booming. But alongside this pride came irony. Jokes about lost years of life, cartoons mocking smoke-filled rooms, and sly digs at cigarette dependency hinted at the unease that was just beginning to emerge in the national consciousness.
What made Esquire unique was not only the article itself, but how it was presented. Around Fry’s words appeared satirical cartoons:
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A man holding up a cigarette: “Smoke a very tired brand!”
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A cigarette cut in half: “The package is cut off two years of his life, one at each end.”
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Smokers puffing away in humorous exaggeration.
These visuals underscored the satire — cigarettes were everywhere, but so were the jokes about them.
On the facing page, Esquire placed a full watercolor fashion illustration by Van Saan: a blonde woman in a skimpy blue bikini being fitted in front of a mirror under a sign reading “Bathing Suits — Skimpy & Skanty.” The caption? “Four girls won contests wearing our suits; unfortunately, they also were arrested!”
This pairing of biting social commentary with risqué humor was Esquire’s signature. No other magazine of its time could balance the serious and the playful with such sophistication.
The Advertising Legacy – How cigarette slogans became part of the American lexicon.
George Washington Hill’s Influence – The Lucky Strike president who made advertising history.
Richmond as a Tobacco Capital – A city’s prosperity built entirely on cigarettes.
The Cultural Normalization of Smoking – Cigarettes as markers of style, masculinity, and social ritual.
Satire in Cartoons – Humor that hinted at the health consequences even before they were mainstream news.
Juxtaposition of Content – Cartoons on one side, bikini-clad humor on the other — Esquire’s visual wit.
Masculinity in the 1950s – Smoking as part of the mid-century male image.
Hints of Change – Cartoons joking about shortened life spans reflected the earliest public skepticism.
Editorial Innovation – A blend of reporting, commentary, and visual design unlike any other magazine.
A Cultural Time Capsule – Cigarettes at the peak of their dominance, on the edge of decline.
For collectors of vintage Esquire magazines, the September 1956 issue is especially valuable:
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Historical Timing – Published at the height of cigarette culture, just before public health campaigns changed the narrative.
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Cultural Relevance – A satirical, ironic look at an American industry that shaped identity, economy, and culture.
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Literary Merit – Featuring writers like Aldous Huxley alongside social satire.
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Art and Design – Original cartoons, illustrations, and layouts that capture mid-century magazine design at its peak.
Holding this issue today means holding a primary artifact of 1950s American life. It is not just reading material; it is a tangible link to an era when cigarettes were inseparable from culture, style, and humor.
Like Life magazine during the war, Esquire in the 1950s offered readers more than reporting. It offered a lens on American identity. Every issue combined wit, literature, fashion, and satire into a vision of what it meant to be modern.
“Cigarette Town” endures because it is more than a quirky portrait of Richmond. It is a snapshot of America in transition — confident in its prosperity, immersed in consumerism, but beginning to glimpse the contradictions that would shape decades to come.
If you’re interested in cultural history, satire, or vintage design, the Esquire magazine September 1956 issue is a standout. Monroe Fry’s “Cigarette Town,” with its sharp writing and satirical visuals, captures a moment in time that speaks volumes about American life.
👉 Browse the full collection of original Esquire magazines here:
Original Esquire Magazines Collection
From the 1930s through the 1970s, Esquire charted the evolution of style, literature, and culture. Each issue is more than paper — it’s a cultural artifact.
The September 1956 issue of Esquire magazine, with Monroe Fry’s “Cigarette Town,” remains one of the most insightful cultural snapshots of mid-century America. It offered humor, irony, and a reminder of how deeply cigarettes were tied to American life, even as doubts began to emerge.
For collectors and history lovers, owning this issue means holding a piece of 1950s America — a moment when smoking was still stylish, satire was sharp, and Esquire was at the peak of its cultural influence.
Like all vintage Esquire magazines, it is not simply something to read. It is a living artifact of American history.