Others on the list will have more specific information, I'm sure, but for a starting place you might check Wikipedia's list of smoking bans in the United States. Individual theatres and chains probably have their own policies, but state laws would seem to be the logical place to start. I know that movie theaters in New York City still had smoking sections into the 1980s or later, something that was not common in many places. The entry includes a few useful links as well. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_smoking_bans_in_the_United_States Don Larsson ____________________________________________ "Only connect!" --E.M. Forster Donald F. Larsson, Professor English Department Office: Armstrong Hall 301-L Phone: 507-389-2368 Email: [log in to unmask] Mail: AH 230 Minnesota State University Mankato, MN 56001 -----Original Message----- From: Film and TV Studies Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Catherine Clepper Sent: Friday, May 07, 2010 10:03 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [SCREEN-L] smoking in movie theatres Hello All, Does anyone know when smoking was banned in American movie theatres? Was it done on a chain by chain, theatre by theatre basis, or was it a general policy? Has anything been written on smoking regulation within theatre space? (All my efforts to research historical smoking bans were undone by the overwhelming number of popular/social science reports on diegetic/narrative smoking's effects on kid/teen viewers. Blerg.) Please respond directly to [log in to unmask] Any guidance on this matter would be greatly appreciated. Best, Catherine -- Catherine Clepper Doctoral Candidate, Screen Cultures Northwestern University ---- For past messages, visit the Screen-L Archives: http://bama.ua.edu/archives/screen-l.html ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.ScreenSite.org