Card Number 53, Kate Castleton, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-2) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Cross Cut Cigarettes 1880s

Editor: This is Card Number 53, a portrait of Kate Castleton from the Actors and Actresses series, created by W. Duke, Sons & Co. in the 1880s. It was actually used to promote Cross Cut Cigarettes. The print gives a very nostalgic feeling, like a sepia-toned photograph in an old album. What do you see in this piece? Curator: The aging and coloration of this particular print really stand out. This toning isn't accidental but a reflection of time, experience, memory. Think about what was being sold here: cigarettes, pleasure, indulgence. Kate Castleton, an actress, embodies these ideals. Editor: That’s interesting. It seems odd to see an actress used to sell cigarettes. What would that symbolise to people? Curator: The image presents Castleton as the ideal woman: glamorous and desirable, and by association, using "Cross-Cut Cigarettes" elevates the smoker. The advertisement links her to a sense of sophistication. Even the “cross-cut” text is in a decorative cursive script. But isn’t it compelling how her pose appears melancholy, almost bored? Editor: It does. Almost like she's weighed down by the performance. Do you think that melancholy was intentional, or just the style of the time? Curator: Perhaps it’s a subtle acknowledgement of the artifice. The fleeting nature of fame and the performance involved in projecting an image, even then. It's also about manufactured longing. By literally attaching this woman’s image to this consumer product, men could satiate some consumer desire. Editor: That connection between fame, consumerism, and longing is still relevant today, centuries later. I’m going to pay a bit more attention to what’s behind celebrity endorsements.