Gumsters

A recurring habit throughout my life has been old, black &white gangster/mafia movies. Everything the "tough guys" in the movie do is cool, from walking to chewing gum. I suppose gum at the time of these movies was a fairly new concept and the horror that some people attach to chewing gum in public had not yet been attached. These mobsters would be standing around in a hotel lobby chewing gum or flipping a coin and some detective would come up and start questioning them and all they would do is keep chewing or flipping. The cop or private eye would get more and more frustrated until eventually they just left the gangster alone. Then the gangster would go and do something cool like get mixed up in a gun fight or an old school car chase in a Packard convertible. From their head to toe these mobsters were cool; their hat, their clothes, their shoes, and especially their guns It is my goal to re-establish some small part of the "tough guy" approach, if only by making chewing gum look tougher. Next time I am chewing gum in a "no gum area" and somebody questions me about it I'm just going to lean back in my chair exposing the butt of a gun under my jacket, tip my hat back and say "how ya figure that?" If the interrogation continues as to why I am chewing in no chewing area I'll drop my hand down and let my fingers tap on the handle of my gun while I continue to make smart remarks. Unfortunately for me to properly pull off this sort of behavior would require a full change in dress, speech, and probably moral standards. I guess gum chewing left "tough guy" status when gangsters, started wearing baggy pants and gold chains. Oh how I miss the good old days...