RiffBlog

Following is a transcript of the video.

Narrator: In a recent episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," Larry David holds up a pack of cigarettes. Specifically, Morley cigarettes.

Now, let's rewind back to 1960 and the Alfred Hitchcock classic "Psycho." Take a look at the cigarettes the psychiatrist is smoking in the final scene of the film. Look familiar?

Morleys have appeared in hundreds of TV shows and movies throughout the last century, in everything from "The Twilight Zone" to "Seinfeld." And, to be clear, Morleys are not a real cigarette brand.

So, what exactly is going on here? Is this some deep, secret connected cinematic universe that ties Norman Bates to George Costanza?

If you pay really close attention to shows and movies, you'll start to notice many of the same objects over and over again, like this newspaper. There are several fake brands that cross over into other works, including Acme, Oceanic Air, and Heisler Beer.

But one of the most reused brands is Morley.

Jonathan Kuntz: Morley cigarettes is the most prominent brand of fictional cigarettes that has been used for the past 60 years in films, television shows, and video games.

Narrator: Jonathan Kuntz says they come from a company in Sun Valley, California.

Kuntz: The Earl Hays Press is a 100-year-old prop house that supplies fake-brand props to Hollywood. And they are the main suppliers of Morley cigarettes.

Narrator: According to its website, Earl Hays Press pretty much sells fake everything, from chips and beer to magazines and license plates. Morley's design is based on the most popular real cigarette brand in the United States, Marlboro, with its signature red and white packaging.

Commercial: Come to where the flavor is. Come to Marlboro Country.

Narrator: Marlboros are often nicknamed Marleys, hence the fake name Morley. Earl Hays Press sells Morleys in a few different varieties, including Morley Lights, as you can see here. But to understand why Morley even exists in the first place, we have to go back and take a look at the love-hate relationship between tobacco companies and Hollywood.

Granny: What's that?

Jed: Winston cigarettes. Try one, Granny. They is first rate.

Narrator: In the 1950s, you mostly had sponsors for TV and radio, where the advertising agencies paid for and produced the show. The characters even used the same products. And many of these early advertisers were, you guessed it, tobacco companies.

"I Love Lucy" was famously sponsored by Philip Morris, so you would see brand integrations like this.

Lucy: Have you tried a Philip Morris lately?

Desi: You'll love 'em. They're so smooth and mild, and they taste so good.

Narrator: Movies were also typically cross-promoted with tobacco companies.

Here's Joan Crawford, for example, smoking Chesterfield cigarettes in a poster promoting her film "Flamingo Road."

If a show wasn't sponsored, it would use a fake brand instead, since it wasn't getting paid to show the real brand.

Enter Morley.

This fake brand can be traced all the way back to episodes of "Perry Mason" and one of the most memorable horror movies of all time, "Psycho," although the box shows an earlier white design as opposed to the newer red and white version.

Kuntz: And I think this is what really started the Morley cigarettes craze.

Narrator: Morleys popped up in TV shows like "Naked City" and "The Twilight Zone," most famously "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet," with William Shatner lighting up a Morley on a plane. But Morleys weren't used as much during the 1970s and 1980s. Why?

For one, the 1970 Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act banned cigarette ads from airing on television and radio. This was part of a big push to stop smoking in TV shows. And the appearance of cigarettes on TV decreased in general around this time by about 70%. Tobacco companies turned to movies instead, paying big bucks to have their cigarettes appear in popular films throughout the '80s. So there wasn't much of a need for fake brands like Morley in movies either.

But this all changed again in 1998 with what's known as the Master Settlement Agreement, which banned tobacco advertising in both films and TV, paving the way for the fake brand's triumphant return.

Kuntz: The real explosion of Morley cigarettes in popularity in pop culture comes at the end of the 1990s in "The X-Files."

Scully: Well, you'll be interested to know that Morley Tobacco has subpoenaed all of our files of the case.

Narrator: In the show, The Cigarette Smoking Man is a villainous character played by William Davis. He famously smoked Morleys. And the fake tobacco company was actually incorporated into the plot in the episode called "Brand X," something you couldn't do very easily with a real brand.

But more on that in a bit.

Following "The X-Files," Morley started showing up everywhere, even in video games and music videos.

Kuntz: It has literally appeared in hundreds of movies and television shows.

Narrator: Here's George smoking a pack in "Seinfeld." And Chandler holding a pack in an episode of "Friends." They're also found in "Justified" and the 2019 "Breaking Bad" movie "El Camino." Shows technically have the freedom to show real brands these days for historical realism, as long as it's not a paid ad.

Don Draper: Lucky Strikes is toasted. Narrator: So, why would they opt for a made-up brand from the '60s? Well, real brands are a big risk.

Kuntz: There are several reasons why film and TV producers would avoid using real brand names without permission. There is a little bit of legal jeopardy if your product is used to kill somebody or is defamed in any way. You might be subject to lawsuits.

Narrator: A study found that villains are the ones who are typically depicted smoking in films and TV. And brands likely do not want their image associated with criminals. Apple, for instance, reportedly doesn't let villains use its products in movies.

Real products are typically covered up or disguised when used in shows or movies. In the 1930s and '40s, the brand letters on cars in films were carefully removed.

Kuntz: Hollywood was quite careful to keep brand names out of their films. They didn't want to be associated with any particular product line, and they didn't want to offend the people that were using a rival product.

Narrator: So these days, Morleys are mainly used as the replacement brand, an inside joke, similar to those 555 phone numbers and the Wilhelm scream. [screams]

Kuntz: Morley cigarettes have become almost like a meme on the web, something where you can kind of wink your eye at the audience and say, you know, "We know that you know that this really a movie or a television show, and we're just kind of playing with things."

Narrator: And just as there's a risk associated with smoking real cigarettes, there's a risk with Morleys as well.

Kuntz: The problem with the popularity of Morley cigarettes is that when you see it now in a movie or in a television show, it kind of pulls you out of the fiction.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This video was originally published in April 2020.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7o8HSoqWeq6Oeu7S1w56pZ5ufony4tNhmqpqllWKzorfEZpqin5GnsrXAxGaZq5memXq2v8SdZKKmXanDbrnOr6Ceq12ivLO4xLJka2hiZXp1