Breaking the Habit is a 1964 American animated[1] short documentary film directed by John Korty about cigarette smoking and lung cancer.
[2] Freelance animator Korty moved to Stinson Beach, California, where one day he met sound artist Henry Jacobs who had prepared the soundtrack for a future short film about smoking, sponsored by the California division of American Cancer Society.
Korty began work on the film under his own company Korty Films, employing cutout animation, conceptualized the characters and prepared the animation frames in his home studio and finally shooting them using a homemade camera stand.
[2][7][8] An article in The Kingston Daily Freeman stated that the film "reveals both the danger and the essential silliness of smoking".
[2] The Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction included Breaking the Habit in its list of prescribed films to be shown in schools to discourage smoking and creating awareness regarding medical issues caused by it.