Cannon Television Show Pipe Smoking Observations

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quint

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jul 1, 2017
132
0
Growing up in the 1970s, I used to religiously watch the Cannon television show . It was always one of my favorites. Love William Conrad. Great actor. It had been many years since I've seen the show, and I recently purchased the entire series on dvd. The show is just as good as I remember it.
Here are some of my observations regarding private detective Frank Cannon (William Conrad):
1. He usually smokes a different pipe each episode.
2. He only smokes billiards or slightly bent straights.
3. He doesn't like cigars. He refuses a Cuban cigar in one episode, claiming he only smokes pipes. And in another episode, he complains to a cigar smoker about the smell.
4. He usually uses a lighter outside, and matches inside to light his pipes.
5. He never tamps!
6. He probably smoked Amphora Full Aroma during filming, as that was supposedly his favorite blend.
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aldecaker

Lifer
Feb 13, 2015
4,407
42
Great show, great character, great actor. Don't I remember an episode with Cannon lighting some bad guys up with a BAR?

 

quint

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jul 1, 2017
132
0
Great show, great character, great actor. Don't I remember an episode with Cannon lighting some bad guys up with a BAR?
Correct. According to Wikipedia:
He carried a gun for self-defense, usually a snub-nosed .38 Special revolver (which appeared to be a Colt Detective Special). Sometimes he used other guns (Including an M1911 and a B.A.R).
Link

 

weezell

Lifer
Oct 12, 2011
13,653
49,165
Jim owns one of his pipes! It would be cool if we could see some footage of him smoking it in one of the shows...

 

quint

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jul 1, 2017
132
0
Jim owns one of his pipes! It would be cool if we could see some footage of him smoking it in one of the shows...
Very cool. 8)
Interestingly, his pipe smoking was completely dropped from the Cannon show starting with the fourth season. Not sure why.

 

JimInks

Sultan of Smoke
Aug 31, 2012
61,243
563,161
Quint: the networks requested that smoking be toned down on TV a couple years or so after the 1971 TV and radio ban of cigarette advertising. Somewhere in the middle of the run of Mannix, he, except for a very rare occasion, stops smoking on screen. Kojak starts sucking on lollipops, too. In the pilot Cannon movie, he eats peppermint sticks and doesn't smoke. Funny thing about the cigar comments: in real life, Conrad loved cigars, and smoked a lot of them. You can see him smoke a pipe and cigars on Hollywood Squares in the 1970s.
Sablebrush gifted me the Conrad pipe I own. It's a smooth, straight apple shape, probably from the early 1960s. A great smoker, too. I always wanted one as Conrad is one of my favorite actors, especially on radio where he helped create the Matt Dillon role he was so great at.

 

quint

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jul 1, 2017
132
0
Hey Jim, that's awesome. You're very fortunate to own own of his pipes. A piece of history from a great actor. Maybe you could share a picture of it with us.
That's what I suspected about them eventually removing all pipe smoking from the show, but I wasn't sure. What a shame, because it really added to his character's uniqueness.
Regarding Frank Cannon disliking cigars- I wonder if that drove William Conrad crazy due to him being an avid cigar smoker in real life. :?

 

JimInks

Sultan of Smoke
Aug 31, 2012
61,243
563,161
Quint: it was probably an "in joke". Conrad was a practical joker, loved to razz people, and enjoyed life. I'm sure he had fun "hating" cigars in Cannon.

 
Jun 27, 2016
1,273
117
anthony416
I have been watching "Jake and the Fatman" and he only smokes cigars!
That must be why I thought "Cannon!?! Didn't he smoke cigars?" I watched some Jake when it was in production, but I was too young to have seen Cannon originally. I think that they would sometimes show Cannon and then Barnaby Jones together in re-runs during the 80's. I know that I have seen that. Maybe they were showing the tie-in episodes together. :puffy:

 

quint

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jul 1, 2017
132
0
Here's my Conrad Charatan.
conrad3-copy-600x450.jpg
Very nice. Thanks for sharing. I will keep a lookout for that pipe while watching Cannon. Who knows... it may be in one of the episodes. :)

 

JimInks

Sultan of Smoke
Aug 31, 2012
61,243
563,161
Quint: I'd sure love to have a photo of him smoking it. Maybe you'll get lucky and see it.

 

quint

Starting to Get Obsessed
Jul 1, 2017
132
0
Quint: I'd sure love to have a photo of him smoking it. Maybe you'll get lucky and see it.
In the first couple of seasons, he smokes a pipe at least once during each episode. I will look more closely and take a screenshot and post it if I think I see your pipe. Who knows! :puffy:

 
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