Newsclips 1986 - 1990

 

NEWS
PEOPLE

PEOPLE

519 words
26 June 1986
The Record, Northern New Jersey
All Editions.=.Bergen South. Bergen North. Bergen.; Passaic-Morris

Patrick Reynolds, grandson of R. J. Reynolds, who started a tobacco empire with the marketing of Camel cigarettes in 1913, is scheduled to testify next month before a congressional subcommittee against the evils of smoking and the need for strict cautions in cigarette ads. Reynolds, 34, who has divested himself of tobacco stock, said family members disagreed with him, but "this is one of the good things in life I can do." He said he had smoked for 10 years, "and it took me five years to quit." The heir has no doubts about how grandpa would regard him. "He would be very happy with me," Reynolds said. "When he started his company, he wasn't aware that cigarette smoking causes cancer, heart disease, and lung disease."

 

 

 

Section 1

WASHINGTON TALK: 'WAKE UP AND QUIT'

39 words
17 July 1986
New York Times Abstracts
Pg. 20, Col. 1

Patrick Reynolds, grandson of founder of R J Reynolds Tobacco Co, will be star witness at Congressional hearing July 18 designed to rally support for proposal to ban cigarette advertising

 

 

 

 

House Subcommittee Told Congress Should Ban Cigarette Advertising

RICHARD CARELLI
801 words
18 July 1986
The Associated Press

(AP) _ Congress should ban all cigarette advertising to save lives and protect future generations of Americans from becoming nicotine addicts, a House subcommittee was told Friday.

Captain Kangaroo, Yul Brynner's daughter and the grandson of tobacco magnate R.J. Reynolds joined the medical establishment in endorsing a bill to outlaw all promotion and advertising of tobacco products _ in newspapers and magazines, on billboards and as part of sales displays.

The bill also would ban any tobacco company from using a brand name in sponsoring public events such as sports tournaments.

The subcommittee did not hear from Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, a longtime foe of cigarette smoking who supports the advertising ban.

White House Chief of Staff Donald Regan reportedly killed Koop's planned testimony, but a presidential spokesman said Friday that Koop would testify before the subcommittee Aug. 1.

""We do not have a position on any legislation calling for a ban on print advertising of cigarettes,'' White House spokesman Edward Djerejian said. ""We are in the process of studying that now.''

Representatives of the tobacco and advertising industries are scheduled to testify against the proposed ban at the Aug. 1 hearing, but Friday's hearing was dominated by supporters of the bill.

The industries argue that the advertising ban would violate free-speech rights and would have little effect on cigarette consumption. They also argue that as long as tobacco is legal, advertising it should also be legal.

At the hearing, Bob Keeshan, a former smoker and creator of the Captain Kangaroo television character, called tobacco use a threat to the well-being of the nation's youth.

""The future of America is alive today, in the minds, the healthy hearts and the healthy lungs of today's youngsters,'' Keeshan said. ""I ask you, no I implore you ... to ... take steps to assure the continued health of our young people.''

Victoria Brynner, a professional model who lives in Paris, showed the subcommitte a videotaped statement by her actor father before he died of lung cancer last year.

Now being aired, the segment features Brynner saying heavy smoking caused his fatal illness and urging others to stop smoking.

""Yul Brynner is dead. We all know why. I don't want to forget his suffering,'' Ms. Brynner said. ""I don't know whether to laugh or cry when I read newspaper articles in which representatives of the tobacco industry (say) the money spent on advertising and promotion is simply done to get present users to switch to a particular brand.''

She added: ""It is obvious that this industry must constantly try to get new smokers to replace those who have quit or who have died.''

Dr. Charles A. LeMaistre, president of the American Cancer Society, called cigarette smoking ""the single most preventable cause of death in the United States.''

""How can we ever hope to have a generation of young people who do not become nicotine addicts?'' he asked. ""Whenever they go to the ballpark, watch a tennis match, read a magazine or newspaper, or attend a rock concert they are assaulted by advertisements associating tobacco use with everything they wish for in life.''

Representatives of the American Medical Association, the American Public Health Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics also testified in support of the bill introduced last month by Rep. Mike Synar, D-Okla.

They said tobacco causes over 350,000 premature deaths each year.

Actor Patrick Reynolds, whose grandfather founded a tobacco empire in 1913, told the subcommittee: ""If the hand that once fed me is the tobacco industry, then that same hand has killed many millions of people and will continue to kill millions unless people wake up to the hazards of cigarettes.''

But Rep. Thomas J. Bliley Jr., R-Va., said the proposed elimination of the tobacco industry's $2-billion-a-year advertising expenditures will not decrease smoking.

Sen. Bill Bradley, D-N.J., and Rep. Fortney Stark, D-Calif., sponsors of a bill to strip the tobacco industry of a tax break for its advertising, testified in support of the proposed ban.

Bradley said the government should not be subsidizing attempts ""to get Americans hooked on tobacco,'' and attacked the credibility of industry claims that its ads are not aimed at attracting new smokers.

""For years, tobacco companies have been telling us that smoking doesn't cause cancer,'' he said. ""Now they're telling us that tobacco advertising doesn't cause smoking.''

Stark called those who sell and promote tobacco products ""merchants of death.''

Congress is not expected to take final action on Synar's bill this year.

Fifteen years ago, Congress banned cigarette advertising from television and radio. It prohibited the broadcast of ads for smokeless tobacco products earlier this year.

 

 

 

NEWS
Kup's Column

Kup's Column

862 words
18 July 1986
Chicago Sun-Times
FIVE STAR SPORTS FINAL
50


Let's try this one on for size. It's the lastest idea being floated in the effort to keep the White Sox in Chicago: Owners Jerry Reinsdorf and Eddie Einhorn make a case for moving out of Comiskey Park because of the high cost of maintaining the ancient structure. OK, so the city buys Comiskey Park for a nominal price and assumes the maintenance cost, thus relieving the owners of their prime problem. The city easily could defray that expense for the next two, three years while the new home for the Sox, the South Loop stadium, is under construction.

THE AMOUNT OF REVENUE generated by the White Sox for the city would help offset the cost of this proposal. And the city eventually could regain most of its expenditure by selling Comiskey Park to developers. Hence, we'd have the White Sox in a spanking new ballpark and forget Addison. . . . That's something Mayor Washington can mull over on his vacation. Incidentally, he decided not to go overseas.

YOU THINK you're suffering from our tropical heat wave? How about the poor employees in the State of Illinois Center? They're hot under the collar over the lack of air-conditioning. The 13th floor, where Gov. Thompson has his offices, was burning up at 110 degrees. And the 16th floor, where House Speaker Mike Madigan works, was a red-hot 92 degrees. You can rest assured Adlai Stevenson III will make the building a burning campaign issue.

TWO POLISH tall ships will arrive here next month to pay respects to the city with the largest Polish population outside Warsaw. One ship is the Polonia, built as a private venture in Poland by its captain, Andrew Lipinski, and his friends. The Polonia made it to New York for the Liberty Weekend, but needed a new engine to proceed. That's where Aloysius Mazewski, head of the Polish American Congress, comes in. He arranged for the PAC to buy the engine.

THE OTHER POLISH ship is the government-owned Stomil, which arrived four days late for the tall ships parade because of engine trouble. Thanks to Volvo International, the Stomil now has a new engine and is making a number of port calls en route to Chicago, final stop before sailing home. In addition to a new engine, the Stomil also took on a new boss, Barbara Demska, one of the few women ship captains.

JEROME STONE, chairman-emeritus of Stone Container and founder of Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association, and Latino leader Edwin Claudio have been nominated by Mayor Washington for the Chicago Public Library Board. Their confirmation will bring the board up to its full complement of nine members. . . . Reports from Moscow indicate Ted Turner's huge losses on his Goodwill Games have placed the proposed 1990 games in Seattle in jeopardy. Lack of attendance in Moscow and pitiful TV ratings (causing rebates to advertisers) could result in a $20 million loss.

A SURPRISE witness tomorrow before a congressional hearing to support a ban on cigarette advertising will be the grandson of the founder of the R. J. Reynolds Co., a major cigarette producer. The grandson, Patrick Reynolds, told the N.Y. Times he has opposed smoking ever since his father, R. J. Reynolds Jr., died of emphysema at 54. . . . Arturo Cruz, a leader of the Nicaraguan contras, will appear on Sondra Gair's WBEZ talk show at noon today.

SIGHT SEEN: Princess Margaret, looking much prettier than in her newspaper photographs, lunching with a party of 16 at the Ciel Bleu. . . . Ivan Hill, author of Love and Ethics, holding sway at the Wrigley Building Restaurant on his pet topic, ethics in business. . . . Bears star Emery Moorehead revealing to sportscaster Chet Coppock at Billy's in Lincolnwood that he'll retire from football after one more season. . . . Tony Bennett developing his forehand with help from tennis pro Frankie Parker at McClurg Court Center.

A BENEFIT and raffle to raise funds to combat AIDS will be held Sunday afternoon at Second City. Among the stars will be Pudgy, Jimmy Damon, Richard Tutacko and the Joe Hall and Gus Giordano dancers. . . . And Pudgy will exercise her "roasting" on cast members of "Forbidden Broadway," who will attend the Wicker Room tomorrow to celebrate its 600th performance. . . . Joan McGrath, the lottery queen, and hubby Jeff adopted a son, Andrew Ryan.

A SUIT AGAINST the city will be filed today by the famous TV duo, Celozzi-Ettleson, and Elm-Brook Leasing, charging that taxes on new and used cars are discriminatory. . . . Adding a year: WFMT's Norman Pellegrini, Red Skelton, S. I. Hayakawa, Hume Cronyn, Sen. John Glenn. Tomorrow: Mary Ella Smith and Phil Cavarretta.

"KUP'S SHOW" returns to Channel 11 tomorrow at 10:30 p.m. with a special half hour on Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter. . . . Muhammad Ali will join the tribute tomorrow at the South Shore Country Club to Jesse Vaughn Sr. for his 65 years of community service. . . . And Gil Stern observes that the Soviets suddenly are interested in a nuclear test ban - "Our Statue of Liberty fireworks must have scared them."

 

 

 

D01

Off the Tobacco Road R.J. Reynolds' Grandson Patrick & His Antismoking Drive

Peter S. Canellos
Washington Post Staff Writer
760 words
18 July 1986
The Washington Post

Patrick Reynolds' favorite pose is the one that has him wearing a tight-fitting warm-up jacket and mutilating a cigarette with a come-hither look on his face.

The 35-year-old grandson of tobacco magnate R.J. Reynolds and sometime Hollywood actor is in town to push for a ban on cigarette advertising before the House subcommittee on health and the environment. Reynolds has emerged this summer as one of the American Lung Association's most active antismoking crusaders, a semicelebrity whose surname adds considerable gravity and irony to his message.

The four promotional glossies he passes out as part of his antismoking campaign all show variations of the same basic scene: the trim, self-consciously boyish Reynolds staring at the camera as he destroys a smoke. The American Lung Association is so enthusiastic about the pictures that it's already planning a poster.

Reynolds describes his evolution from tobacco heir to Lung Association poster boy as one of conscience: "The hand that once fed me," he'll tell the subcommittee, "is the same hand that has killed many millions of people and will continue to kill millions unless people wake up to the hazards of cigarettes."

He will also testify that he has divested himself of all connection with R.J. Reynolds Inc., including a modest portfolio of company shares. The sale of stock did not make him a rich man, he says; most of the family fortune has been given away, and the current generation of cousins was left only enough money "to guarantee them an income."

Reynolds says his father, a chain-smoking playboy who lived high off the hog with his tobacco money, was the inspiration for his antismoking crusade.

His parents separated when he was 3, and young Patrick did not meet his dad until he was 9. His voice drops as he recalls how "at this moment of anticipation-the moment I'd longed for on so many occasions-they showed me into the room and there was an aging man with a sandbag on his chest." The sandbag was to exercise his father's chest muscles, then the treatment for emphysema. Five years later, at age 64, R.J. Reynolds Jr. died from the disease, which was probably caused by his smoking. The day after his death, his fourth wife gave birth to his only daughter.

Patrick Reynolds has been an on-again-off-again smoker, he says, as have most members of his family. He has quit and started again between seven and 10 times, but smoked his last cigarette in 1984.

His antismoking activism comes at a time when his public profile as an actor, television producer and writer is on the rise. He stars as Mandroid-half-man, half-machine-in a horror movie, "Eliminators," that was released last week for home video. He is the author of a forthcoming book on his family, which he intends to produce as a television mini-series.

Representatives of the tobacco industry suggest it is no accident that Reynolds' antismoking campaign coincides with the release of his movie. Reynolds, sensitive to the self-promotion charge, says he does not want to talk about his career, though a lengthy account of his recent activities is included in Lung Association press releases.

"I think we should take all that acting stuff out of the bio," he tells two American Lung Association officials who are with him in his hotel room. "I want to make it clear that I'm not getting anything out of this." But the officials talk him out of it. "Think of all the kids watching Eliminators' who look up to you," offers one.

Mollified, Reynolds begins to talk about his family-members of which also founded Reynolds Metals, the company that makes Reynolds Wrap-and its larger-than-life history. An uncle on his father's side was famous for his association with torch singer Libby Holman, who was accused of his murder. His cousin is Washington socialite Smith Bagley ("a terrific guy and I'm very fond of him"). His mother, Marianne O'Brien, was a 1940s starlet ("a redhead with the personality to match").

And how has this extended family, which includes one brother, four half-brothers and a half-sister, taken to his antismoking efforts?

According to Reynolds, "We've agreed to disagree."

graphics/1: Patrick Reynolds, grandson of R.J. By Joel Richardson-TWP

 

 

 

 

Leah Garchik
891 words
18 July 1986
The San Francisco Chronicle
FINAL
10

WHO SAID WHAT

"When my grandfather began making cigarets, he did not know that they cause heart disease, emphysema and cancer. Now that this has been absolutely proven, I want to help people wake up and quit. Am I biting the hand that feeds me? If the hand that once fed me is the tobacco industry, then that hand has killed 10 million people and may kill millions more."

Patrick Reynolds, grandson of tobacco company founder R. J. Reynolds, who testifies at a congressional hearing today in favor of a ban on cigaret advertising. Reynolds' father, R. J. Reynolds Jr., died of emphysema - caused by heavy smoking - at the age of 58.

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1; Late Final Desk

Congress Urged to Prohibit All Cigarette Ads

AP
307 words
18 July 1986
Los Angeles Times
Late Final
1

(Copyright, The Times Mirror Company; Los Angeles Times 1986 All Rights Reserved)

Congress should ban all cigarette advertising to save lives and protect future generations of Americans from becoming nicotine addicts, a House subcommittee was told today.

"Captain Kangaroo," Yul Brynner's daughter and the grandson of tobacco magnate R. J. Reynolds joined the medical establishment in endorsing a bill to outlaw all promotion and advertising of tobacco products and to ban any tobacco company from using a brand name in sponsoring public events such as sports tournaments.

Patrick Reynolds, whose grandfather founded a tobacco empire in 1913, said his father, Richard J. Reynolds, "died from emphysema after years of heavy smoking."

Reynolds, who said he sold his tobacco company stock years ago and claimed he is not estranged from his family over his militant anti-smoking stance, called cigarette advertising "the single biggest lie perpetrated on the American people."

`Proven Killers'

"To allow continued advertising of cigarettes when they are proven killers is plainly immoral," Reynolds said.

Bob Keeshan, a former smoker and creator of the Captain Kangaroo television character, called tobacco use a threat to the well-being of the nation's youth.

"The future of America is alive today, in the minds, the healthy hearts and the healthy lungs of today's youngsters," Keeshan said. "I implore you . . . to . . . take steps to assure the continued health of our young people."

Victoria Brynner, a professional model who lives in Paris, showed the subcommittee a videotaped statement by her actor-father before he died of lung cancer last year.

Now being aired, the segment features Brynner saying heavy smoking caused his fatal illness and urging others to stop smoking.

The subcommittee did not hear today from Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, who supports the advertising ban, but a presidential spokesman said Koop will testify Aug. 1.