Card Number 109, Lucette, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-4) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Cameo Cigarettes 1880s

Curator: This card, dating back to the 1880s, is from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-4). It was produced by W. Duke, Sons & Co. to promote their Cameo Cigarettes. The card features a photographic portrait of an actress named Lucette. Editor: What strikes me first is this peculiar combination of high art and consumerism, all squeezed onto this tiny card. Lucette herself seems to float in front of a blurred pastoral backdrop; the flowers feel like a stage prop for her beauty. Curator: Precisely. The portrait style evokes traditional painting. Note her pose, the slightly averted gaze—it creates a sense of refined beauty. Such portraiture suggested respectability. Yet, its placement on a cigarette card… Editor: It's so paradoxical, isn’t it? Like, a little slice of high society casually tucked into your cigarette pack. But more than that, it presents such a romantic image! Does anyone actually think of romance and beauty while smoking a cigarette? Maybe that was the point: to evoke the dream that is smoking, and smoking in high society, or associating with actresses. Curator: It speaks to the aspirations of the consumer, the implied association with culture and fame. It implies, "smoke these, and perhaps you, too, will share in the refined lifestyle." Plus, these images helped to disseminate and codify beauty standards. Editor: And it reveals the birth of celebrity culture! Cigarettes might be terrible, but, at least they provided work for an actress and a moment of shared, aspirational experience. The portrait aesthetic, with her flowers and demure posture, tells another story. Her outfit says high-class country, maybe summer wear in that age. It seems that nothing has really changed at all, in regards to aspirations, celebrity, or what brands promise. Curator: This small card contains a complex interplay of marketing, cultural values, and emerging media. It truly reflects a particular moment of our visual and economic history. Editor: A sepia-toned window into a world of beauty, smoke, and the dawn of advertising. We may judge the ethics but, as a symbol, it has some enduring fascination.