Tobacco News and Interesting Information

"Twelve Angry Men." "The Graduate." "Guys and Dolls." "Jersey Boys." "Chicago." "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"

Imagine those Broadway plays and musicals being performed in Chicago by actors who don't have cigarettes dangling from their lips or smoldering in their hands.

It could happen, now that aldermen have taken a stand that, a colleague warns, runs contrary to the First Amendment.

The city council buildings committee voted 4 to 2 Friday not to exempt actors from Chicago's smoking ban -- not even when smoking is an "integral part of the theatrical performance."

For 16 months, actors have been defying the city ban, prompting complaints from theatergoers, "strong words prior to performances" between producers and city hall and veiled threats to stop the show.

To clear the air, Ald. Burton Natarus (42nd) wanted his colleagues to pass an exemption for theatrical performances. The answer was "no."

Ald. Ed Smith (28th), chairman of the council's health committee and one who championed the smoking ban, said aldermen "worked over two years trying to pass an ordinance here that prohibited people from smoking," and the Legislature has approved prohibiting smoking statewide in public buildings.

"We would be duplicitous if we ... say it's all right to allow people to smoke on the stage. ... It's an adversity to people who come to see those plays and the stagehands," Smith said

Ald. Ray Suarez (31st) said he would be "hypocritical" if he backed an anti-smoking ordinance and then agreed to an "exemption to actors smoking on stage where the cigarettes are going to be in the air," affecting the audience.

Instead of exempting actors, Smith advised producers to modify scenes to remove references to smoking and smoke-filled rooms.

Louis Raizin, president of Broadway in Chicago, said that would be "like telling an artist what color paint he should or shouldn't use.

"These are paintings that have been painted over time. Going forward, I (can't see smoking being) part of the art. But it is part of the art historically," Raizin said. "Shows that are coming to Chicago will no longer come because you are modifying the art that was created."

Ald. Bernard Stone (50th), chairman of the buildings committee, who has dabbled in acting, supported the exemption, saying that "because it's on stage, is it different than smoking in the movies? Let's censor everybody. This is 1984. ... Carrie Nation (an anti-liquor crusader during Prohibition) wins again."

After the committee vote, Raizin said actors would continue to defy the Chicago smoking ban and perhaps try to get around it by using herbal cigarettes. Those currently are permitted "as props for performances," according to Kelvy Brown, legislative coordinator for the city health department.

Natarus took his rare council defeat in stride, saying it had nothing to do with his Feb. 28 loss for re-election.

"This isn't the first time I've presented an ordinance and I've lost," he said. "So, don't tell me I'm a lame duck ... or I don't have any influence. ... You've been telling me that for 36 years. I don't think it has anything to do with that."