Lisa Bonet was born in San Francisco to an African-American father and a Jewish-American mother.  She began acting at age 11, and became most famous for her role as Denise Huxtable on The Cosby Show beginning in 1984.  She also starred in the somewhat controversial Angel Heart with Mickey Rourke in 1987.  She was married to musician Lenny Kravitz from 1988 to 1993, and they had a daughter.

So, what's up with the pipe?  Some people are so eager to point to certain celebrities as pipe smokers that they will jump at the chance to call anyone a pipe smoker who pops a stem in his/her mouth.

I must remain skeptical in this instance as to the question of her pipe smoking status, for these reasons:

1.  There is no smoke rising from the bowl of the pipe.
2.  The angle of the photo makes it impossible to see if the pipe is loaded or not.
3.  If this meerschaum pipe has ever been smoked at all, it could not have been smoked very much, because it shows absolutely no coloration.

Still, this is probably the only legitimate reason I'll ever have to post a photo of Lisa Bonet on my blog, so carpe diem.

Archie Shepp was born in Florida and raised in Philadelphia, where he studied piano, clarinet, and alto sax while he was growing up.  He went to Goddard College in New York to study drama, but was unsuccessful as an actor so he turned to music professionally, focusing on the tenor sax, piano, and vocals.

His music career began when pianist Cecil Taylor invited him to join his group in 1960.  He later went on to collaborate with saxophonist John Coltrane and other pioneering jazz musicians.

Shepp, along with Taylor, was one of the first musicians to seriously explore "free jazz."  He is also completely fluent in traditional jazz, spirituals, and the blues.


Archie Shepp currently lives in Massachusetts, where he is a professor of music history at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Brett was the British actor probably most famous for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes.  He trained as an actor at the Central School of Speech and Drama in London.  He made his first (although uncredited) appearance on film in 1954, and on stage in 1956.  He played many classical and Shakespearean roles on stage, and a wide variety of roles on film.

He auditioned for the role of James Bond twice, but lost both times to George Lazenby and Roger Moore.

His singing in My Fair Lady was overdubbed, although he was actually a very good singer.

He was married to actress Anna Massey during 1958-62 (after which they divorced), and they had one son in 1959, David Huggins.  He is now a cartoonist and novelist.

Brett remarried in 1976 to Joan Wilson, an American producer for PBS.  She died of cancer in 1985, and he was devastated by the loss.  His health began to decline and he never recovered from it.  He never remarried again.

Brett was a very heavy cigarette smoker, but he also took up the pipe after being cast as Sherlock Holmes.  He based his portrayal of Holmes on the original stories by Arthur Conan Doyle, rather than on previous portrayals by other actors (which is what just about every other actor seems to have done).  An obvious difference is the pipes he used as Holmes.  They are both historically accurate and in line with the descriptions given in the stories--not a single calabash to be seen.

Jeremy Brett suffered from bipolar disorder, which worsened after Joan Wilson's death.  He died of heart failure in 1995, probably brought on not only by his heavy cigarette smoking, but also by the medication he had to take to control his bipolar disorder and by a case of rheumatic fever he had when he was 16.

Norman Rockwell is another very famous pipe smoker who I won't be able to say anything new about.  So here's some stuff you probably already know.

He became art editor of Boy's Life magazine when he was only 19.  He painted several covers for the magazine and went on to illustrate numerous Boy Scout calendars throughout his life.

During World War I he tried to enlist, but was turned down for being underweight (6 feet tall, 140 pounds).  He went home and gorged himself, then went back the next day and made the cut.  However, he was assigned as a military artist and did not see combat during his tour.

He successfully submitted his first illustration to Saturday Evening Post in 1916.  He is perhaps most famous for his numerous cover illustrations for this magazine.  Other magazines for which he painted covers are Literary Digest, The Country Gentleman, Leslie's Weekly, Judge, Peoples Popular Monthly and Life.

His paintings are famous both for realism and for their portrayal of American life.  Many of his works are set in rural and small town settings.  Later in life, he turned his attention to the civil rights struggle.

The above graphic is Rockwell's "Triple Self Portrait."  Pipe smoking was featured in many of his works such as:



And my favorite:

Segovia was born in Linares, Spain, and was introduced to the guitar as a child.  He made it his purpose in life to turn the guitar into a classical instrument, and did.

Segovia claimed to have "rescued the guitar from the hands of flamenco gypsies."  He found flamenco technique appalling, and began building up a repertoire of classical performances using the guitar.  His first professional concert was at the age of 16 in Madrid, where he performed works by J.S. Bach.

Although many other musicians at the time did not believe the guitar could seriously be used to perform classical music, Segovia's astounding talent and technique convinced them otherwise.

Eventually he teamed up with luthier Herbert Hauser Sr. to create the new classical guitar.

In 1981 he was elevated to the Spanish nobility, with the title Marquis de Salobreña.  He was given a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1986.

He remains an influence on guitarists of many genres.

Edward Fox is from a family of actors and theatre people.  His big breakthrough film was Day of the Jackal in 1973.  Other movies he has starred in are A Bridge Too Far, Force 10 From Navarone, and Ghandi.

He was made an Officer of the British Empire in 2003.

Finding a good portrayal of the legendary Huck Finn wasn't easy.  This one looks a little too much like Alfred E. Newman, but it's the best I could find.


The lads came gayly back and went at their sports again with a will, chattering all the time about Tom's stupendous plan and admiring the genius of it. After a dainty egg and fish dinner, Tom said he wanted to learn to smoke, now. Joe caught at the idea and said he would like to try, too. So Huck made pipes and filled them. These novices had never smoked anything before but cigars made of grape-vine, and they "bit" the tongue, and were not considered manly anyway.

Now they stretched themselves out on their elbows and began to puff, charily, and with slender confidence. The smoke had an unpleasant taste, and they gagged a little, but Tom said:

"Why, it's just as easy! If I'd a knowed this was all, I'd a learnt long ago."

"So would I," said Joe. "It's just nothing."

"Why, many a time I've looked at people smoking, and thought well I wish I could do that; but I never thought I could," said Tom.

"That's just the way with me, hain't it, Huck? You've heard me talk just that way -- haven't you, Huck? I'll leave it to Huck if I haven't."

"Yes -- heaps of times," said Huck.

"Well, I have too," said Tom; "oh, hundreds of times. Once down by the slaughter-house. Don't you remember, Huck? Bob Tanner was there, and Johnny Miller, and Jeff Thatcher, when I said it. Don't you remember, Huck, 'bout me saying that?"

"Yes, that's so," said Huck. "That was the day after I lost a white alley. No, 'twas the day before."

"There -- I told you so," said Tom. "Huck recollects it."

"I bleeve I could smoke this pipe all day," said Joe. "I don't feel sick."

"Neither do I," said Tom. "I could smoke it all day. But I bet you Jeff Thatcher couldn't."

"Jeff Thatcher! Why, he'd keel over just with two draws. Just let him try it once. He'd see!"

"I bet he would. And Johnny Miller -- I wish I could see Johnny Miller tackle it once."

"Oh, don't I!" said Joe. "Why, I bet you Johnny Miller couldn't any more do this than nothing. Just one little snifter would fetch him."

"'Deed it would, Joe. Say -- I wish the boys could see us now."

"So do I."

"Say -- boys, don't say anything about it, and some time when they're around, I'll come up to you and say, 'Joe, got a pipe? I want a smoke.' And you'll say, kind of careless like, as if it warn't anything, you'll say, 'Yes, I got my old pipe, and another one, but my tobacker ain't very good.' And I'll say, 'Oh, that's all right, if it's strong enough.' And then you'll out with the pipes, and we'll light up just as ca'm, and then just see 'em look!"

"By jings, that'll be gay, Tom! I wish it was now!"

"So do I! And when we tell 'em we learned when we was off pirating, won't they wish they'd been along?"

"Oh, I reckon not! I'll just bet they will!"

So the talk ran on. But presently it began to flag a trifle, and grow disjointed. The silences widened; the expectoration marvellously increased. Every pore inside the boys' cheeks became a spouting fountain; they could scarcely bail out the cellars under their tongues fast enough to prevent an inundation; little overflowings down their throats occurred in spite of all they could do, and sudden retchings followed every time. Both boys were looking very pale and miserable, now. Joe's pipe dropped from his nerveless fingers. Tom's followed. Both fountains were going furiously and both pumps bailing with might and main. Joe said feebly:

"I've lost my knife. I reckon I better go and find it."

Tom said, with quivering lips and halting utterance:

"I'll help you. You go over that way and I'll hunt around by the spring. No, you needn't come, Huck -- we can find it."

So Huck sat down again, and waited an hour. Then he found it lonesome, and went to find his comrades. They were wide apart in the woods, both very pale, both fast asleep. But something informed him that if they had had any trouble they had got rid of it.

They were not talkative at supper that night. They had a humble look, and when Huck prepared his pipe after the meal and was going to prepare theirs, they said no, they were not feeling very well -- something they ate at dinner had disagreed with them.

About midnight Joe awoke, and called the boys. There was a brooding oppressiveness in the air that seemed to bode something. The boys huddled themselves together and sought the friendly companionship of the fire, though the dull dead heat of the breathless atmosphere was stifling. They sat still, intent and waiting. The solemn hush continued. Beyond the light of the fire everything was swallowed up in the blackness of darkness. Presently there came a quivering glow that vaguely revealed the foliage for a moment and then vanished. By and by another came, a little stronger. Then another. Then a faint moan came sighing through the branches of the forest and the boys felt a fleeting breath upon their cheeks, and shuddered with the fancy that the Spirit of the Night had gone by. There was a pause. Now a weird flash turned night into day and showed every little grass-blade, separate and distinct, that grew about their feet. And it showed three white, startled faces, too. A deep peal of thunder went rolling and tumbling down the heavens and lost itself in sullen rumblings in the distance. A sweep of chilly air passed by, rustling all the leaves and snowing the flaky ashes broadcast about the fire. Another fierce glare lit up the forest and an instant crash followed that seemed to rend the tree-tops right over the boys' heads. They clung together in terror, in the thick gloom that followed. A few big rain-drops fell pattering upon the leaves.

"Quick! boys, go for the tent!" exclaimed Tom.

They sprang away, stumbling over roots and among vines in the dark, no two plunging in the same direction. A furious blast roared through the trees, making everything sing as it went. One blinding flash after another came, and peal on peal of deafening thunder. And now a drenching rain poured down and the rising hurricane drove it in sheets along the ground. The boys cried out to each other, but the roaring wind and the booming thunder-blasts drowned their voices utterly. However, one by one they straggled in at last and took shelter under the tent, cold, scared, and streaming with water; but to have company in misery seemed something to be grateful for. They could not talk, the old sail flapped so furiously, even if the other noises would have allowed them. The tempest rose higher and higher, and presently the sail tore loose from its fastenings and went winging away on the blast. The boys seized each others' hands and fled, with many tumblings and bruises, to the shelter of a great oak that stood upon the river-bank. Now the battle was at its highest. Under the ceaseless conflagration of lightning that flamed in the skies, everything below stood out in clean-cut and shadowless distinctness: the bending trees, the billowy river, white with foam, the driving spray of spume-flakes, the dim outlines of the high bluffs on the other side, glimpsed through the drifting cloud-rack and the slanting veil of rain. Every little while some giant tree yielded the fight and fell crashing through the younger growth; and the unflagging thunder-peals came now in ear-splitting explosive bursts, keen and sharp, and unspeakably appalling. The storm culminated in one matchless effort that seemed likely to tear the island to pieces, burn it up, drown it to the tree-tops, blow it away, and deafen every creature in it, all at one and the same moment. It was a wild night for homeless young heads to be out in.

But at last the battle was done, and the forces retired with weaker and weaker threatenings and grumblings, and peace resumed her sway. The boys went back to camp, a good deal awed; but they found there was still something to be thankful for, because the great sycamore, the shelter of their beds, was a ruin, now, blasted by the lightnings, and they were not under it when the catastrophe happened.

Everything in camp was drenched, the camp-fire as well; for they were but heedless lads, like their generation, and had made no provision against rain. Here was matter for dismay, for they were soaked through and chilled. They were eloquent in their distress; but they presently discovered that the fire had eaten so far up under the great log it had been built against (where it curved upward and separated itself from the ground), that a handbreadth or so of it had escaped wetting; so they patiently wrought until, with shreds and bark gathered from the under sides of sheltered logs, they coaxed the fire to burn again. Then they piled on great dead boughs till they had a roaring furnace, and were glad-hearted once more. They dried their boiled ham and had a feast, and after that they sat by the fire and expanded and glorified their midnight adventure until morning, for there was not a dry spot to sleep on, anywhere around.

As the sun began to steal in upon the boys, drowsiness came over them, and they went out on the sandbar and lay down to sleep. They got scorched out by and by, and drearily set about getting breakfast. After the meal they felt rusty, and stiff-jointed, and a little homesick once more. Tom saw the signs, and fell to cheering up the pirates as well as he could. But they cared nothing for marbles, or circus, or swimming, or anything. He reminded them of the imposing secret, and raised a ray of cheer. While it lasted, he got them interested in a new device. This was to knock off being pirates, for a while, and be Indians for a change. They were attracted by this idea; so it was not long before they were stripped, and striped from head to heel with black mud, like so many zebras -- all of them chiefs, of course -- and then they went tearing through the woods to attack an English settlement.

By and by they separated into three hostile tribes, and darted upon each other from ambush with dreadful war-whoops, and killed and scalped each other by thousands. It was a gory day. Consequently it was an extremely satisfactory one.

They assembled in camp toward supper-time, hungry and happy; but now a difficulty arose -- hostile Indians could not break the bread of hospitality together without first making peace, and this was a simple impossibility without smoking a pipe of peace. There was no other process that ever they had heard of. Two of the savages almost wished they had remained pirates. However, there was no other way; so with such show of cheerfulness as they could muster they called for the pipe and took their whiff as it passed, in due form.


And behold, they were glad they had gone into savagery, for they had gained something; they found that they could now smoke a little without having to go and hunt for a lost knife; they did not get sick enough to be seriously uncomfortable. They were not likely to fool away this high promise for lack of effort. No, they practised cautiously, after supper, with right fair success, and so they spent a jubilant evening. They were prouder and happier in their new acquirement than they would have been in the scalping and skinning of the Six Nations. We will leave them to smoke and chatter and brag, since we have no further use for them at present.

From Comiclopedia:

Jacques Faizant was one of France's most popular press illustrators. After studying at the hotel school in Nice, he worked in several hotels until 1938. He settled in Marseille and went to work as an illustrator. During the War, he drew for Le Dimanche Illustré and La Revue de l'Écran, while also composings songs and cooperating with Lortac on animation projects. Upon the Liberation, he headed for Paris and started out working for Carrefour and L'Ecran Français. He was eventually assigned by Jean Nohain of Bonjour Dimanche and its supplement Le Petit Canard. For this supplement, Faizant made comics like 'Le Colonel Broum et Patapoum', 'Pyk et Pato au Centre de la Terre', 'Monsieur Mite' and 'L'Invraisemblable M. Pluche'.

He also made several strips for the daily press, of which 'Adam et Eve' was the longest running (approx. 700 or 800 gags). This family comic debuted in France Dimanche in 1949, and was renamed 'Adam et Eve (et Caïn)' when the characters got their first child. In addition, Faizant made independent strips, as well as 'Le Tour en Dessins' in La Dépêche (1948), 'Les Aventures de M. Faribole' and 'Docteur Doublevé' in Le Parisien Libéré, 'Bouts (de crayons) Rimés' in Ici-Paris and 'M. Patraque' in La Vie Catholique. He also made the advertising strip 'Le Chimiste BP', that was published between 1954 and 1957 in Le Midi Libre, L'Union, La Dépêche and Le Main Libre.

From 1960, Faizant worked as a political cartoonist for Le Figaro, while also continuing to work as a humorous illustrator in Le Chasseur Français, La Vie du Rail, Détective, Rires Magazine and jardin des Modes until the 1990s.

Denslow was a humor and political cartoonist for a magazine called Philistine.  He was born in Philadelphia but by 1890 was living in Chicago, where he met L. Frank Baum.  Baum was impressed enough by Denslow's work that Denslow eventually provided illustrations for several of Baum's books, among them The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

He and Baum had a falling out over royalties from the 1902 stage version of The Wizard of Oz, for which Denslow designed the sets and costumes.  Nevertheless, Denslow became quite wealthy from royalties from the books and the play.  He purchased himself a small island off the coast of Bermuda where he lived out the rest of his days, dying in obscurity due to pneumonia and probably the effects of alcoholism.

He had a characteristic signature which included a stylized representation of a seahorse, as show in the autographed photo above.

Denslow was said to have preferred the corncob pipe because it was so light that it rarely required a hand to hold it, which kept both hands free for his work.

Every morning upon awakening, I experience a supreme pleasure: that of being Salvador Dalí, and I ask myself, wonderstruck, what prodigious thing will he do today, this Salvador Dalí.

The artist famous for his strikingly beautiful yet surreal works.  This self portrait was made in 1921, when he was only 17.