Card Number 60, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-1) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Cross Cut Cigarettes 1880s

Curator: This small paper card, one of a series produced in the 1880s by W. Duke, Sons & Co., was originally a promotional insert for Cross Cut Cigarettes. It’s titled “Card Number 60, from the Actors and Actresses series.” Editor: Immediately I see this faded beauty – time has not been kind, has it? – conjuring up an old daguerreotype found tucked away in grandma's attic. A ghostly figure amidst a brown sea… it whispers of forgotten theatres and vaudeville dreams. Curator: The materiality here is crucial; we have drawing, photography, and printmaking techniques all at play. The photograph, transferred to paper, then overlaid with printed text, speaks to the mass production of images even in this early period. Editor: There's something really poignant about seeing the wear and tear. Those reddish splotches almost feel like tears shed by the years, smudging the image. It reminds me of how fleeting fame is, how these bright stars eventually dim. Does anyone remember this actor or actress now, I wonder? Curator: The portrait format, with the subject gazing downward, invites a specific type of contemplation. It directs the viewer’s eye along a vertical axis, emphasizing a sense of introspection and quiet dignity. Editor: Even in this ghostly form, you can still see a certain elegance in their stance, a grace that transcends the decay. Imagine holding this little card, smelling the tobacco, glimpsing this tiny window into another world... the ritual is delicious! I wish I knew more about the person pictured here, they must have captivated the cigarette smokers! Curator: Indeed. The card also served as a functional object within a larger network of commodity culture, highlighting the complex relationship between art, advertising, and identity formation. It asks, "How were notions of celebrity crafted and disseminated at the turn of the century?” Editor: It really makes you think about all those layers of history pressed into this single object! Curator: Precisely, a fascinating study in popular visual culture of the late nineteenth century. Editor: It’s a lovely melancholic artifact—one of ephemera’s ghosts with stories whispering just beneath the surface.