Card Number 145, Lee, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-1) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Cross Cut Cigarettes 1880s

Editor: Here we have card number 145 featuring “Lee” from the Actors and Actresses series. It's a promotional print by W. Duke, Sons & Co. for Cross Cut Cigarettes, dating back to the 1880s. The sepia tone gives it such a specific antique mood… but, honestly, what strikes me most is how bizarre this whole composition feels! It's like high art meeting a sales pitch in some odd dreamscape. What do you see in it? Curator: Ah, yes! It's bizarre because it is from a bizarre time! A heady, hazy era of rampant industrialization meets, well, a deep yearning for the finer things – or at least, the *appearance* of finer things. We have here this performer, "Lee," radiating an almost defiant elegance even as she hawks cigarettes, puffing out smoke, really embodying "cool." Notice the backdrop – attempts at classical motifs… juxtaposed with this blatant commercial text slapped right on. Is that cheeky? Or maybe just… honest? Editor: It’s certainly… a lot. But it's also this snapshot of a bygone era, isn't it? I mean, thinking about these cards distributed with cigarette packs… like tiny portals into the Victorian mindset. What does it even say that they chose an actor for this? Was "Lee" famous? Curator: More likely it was that actors were famous adjacent! And printing photographs was pretty cutting-edge at the time! Suddenly everyone could feel up-to-date with fashionable culture, literally in the palm of their hand! Of course, with a side of nicotine addiction! All packaged in an increasingly stylish modernity. It does speak volumes about a society’s aspirations, wouldn't you say? And I am left wondering whether the subject, “Lee”, really enjoyed a Cross Cut cigarette… Editor: That's quite the picture! It's fascinating how this small card reflects such a broad cultural moment. Definitely seeing more to it now than I initially did! Curator: And sometimes that’s all it takes.