Miss Ray, from the Actors and Actresses series (N171) for Old Judge Cigarettes 1886 - 1890

Curator: This is "Miss Ray, from the Actors and Actresses series (N171) for Old Judge Cigarettes," made sometime between 1886 and 1890. The Goodwin & Company produced it. Editor: Immediately, I'm struck by how ephemeral it feels. Like a fleeting glimpse into a past both glamorous and precarious. Curator: Indeed. These cards were inserted into cigarette packs, essentially trading cards that promoted not only Old Judge Cigarettes but also the burgeoning celebrity culture of the late 19th century. Think of them as early advertising meeting performance art, democratizing access to popular figures. Editor: The scale fascinates me. It's so small, almost intimate, yet it represents mass production. And the production itself must have involved a layered process: photography, printing, and mass distribution inseparable from the exploitation of labor within the tobacco industry. How many hands touched this, for so little artistic credit? Curator: Precisely! Miss Ray was likely a stage actress. These cards offered a visual link to her performances. It blurred the lines between her public persona and private life, commodifying her image for consumption alongside tobacco. There's an interesting tension here. Was she empowered by this visibility or exploited by it? Editor: The toning gives it a fragile quality. The light pencil work and possible charcoal gives her face dimension, but the card looks faded. You can almost imagine the rough feel of the paper, the smell of ink, perhaps even the lingering scent of tobacco clinging to its surface. I'd wager many of these were creased or stained, tucked into pockets or discarded carelessly. Curator: And who were the consumers? Working-class men primarily. They found entertainment in collecting these cards, swapping them, much like kids do with baseball cards today. Miss Ray becomes a fantasy figure, a symbol of aspiration packaged within a vice. The visual and marketing are brilliant! Editor: I think your insights into the politics of imagery are a potent counterweight to how ephemeral my first impression was. It is also worth recognizing the often erased labour behind the scenes. The print process also highlights the convergence of art, commerce, and mass media that has ultimately shaped celebrity culture and its problematic ties to marketing and advertisement. Curator: That’s a keen insight. Analyzing through materiality brings forth many hidden realities that would have been ignored.