Fanny Rice, from the Actors and Actresses series (N45, Type 8) for Virginia Brights Cigarettes 1885 - 1891

This is a photograph of Fanny Rice, printed by Allen & Ginter for Virginia Brights Cigarettes as part of their Actors and Actresses series. In the late nineteenth century, the rise of mass media coincided with an explosion of consumer culture in the United States. Tobacco companies like Allen & Ginter produced collectible cards of popular entertainers as a promotional strategy. These cards, like the photograph of Fanny Rice, were inserted into cigarette packs. Considered within the context of advertising and celebrity culture, this image reveals a great deal about the social role of actors and actresses in the Gilded Age. The image presents Fanny Rice as an object of admiration and desire. In her coy pose, she represents a fantasy figure and a cultural ideal. By studying popular ephemera such as these cards, cultural historians can better understand the complex relationship between art, commerce, and the construction of identity.