Sometimes a Cigar is Just A Cigar...

.. And sometimes it's a highly suggestive piece of pre-code movie memorabilia. The publicity department at Radio Pictures knew precisely what they were doing when they drew up this graphic for Wheeler and Woolsey's 1933 feature Diplomaniacs. A lot has been said over the years about the phallic nature of the classic comedians' omnipresent cigars (Groucho Marx, George Burns, Bobby Clark, and just about every burlesque comic who ever lived, including Lou Costello before he started making films) but this image really does drive the point home, so to speak.