Smoking
The most disturbing aspect about this film is Bette had a cigarette in practically every scene of this film. She's worse than Lucille Ball in The Facts of Life.
shareI was nine years old when this movie was released. At that time, all of the adults in my family smoked, and so did their friends. People smoked in restaurants, movie theaters, and grocery stores. There were ash trays on the tables in the public library. I remember two doctors who smoked while they were with patients in the little examining rooms. Both my parents smoked at least two packs--forty cigarettes--a day. Most people's clothes, houses, and cars reeked from tobacco smoke. This was the real world back then. The movie does not exaggerate at all.
Fortunately, neither my brother nor I picked up the habit.