Louise Valentine, from the Actresses series (N245) issued by Kinney Brothers to promote Sweet Caporal Cigarettes 1890

Curator: This is a promotional print from the Kinney Brothers Tobacco Company, around 1890, part of their "Actresses" series, specifically N245, featuring Louise Valentine. Editor: The whole image is like something steeped in old sepia tea! Louise looks kind of nonchalant, posed with her banjo. There’s a stillness to her, as if a song's just ended, and everyone’s waiting for her to start another. Curator: These cards were included in Sweet Caporal Cigarette packs. Advertising aimed at male consumers often used images of popular actresses, which reinforced the cultural currency of actresses as celebrities while normalizing tobacco use. Editor: Oh, like these actresses become the 'it girls' for the working stiffs of that era. It's funny how something like smoking gets entangled with fame and fantasy, right? She's playing her banjo; you can almost hear the plucking of the strings, the faint strains of an old melody. It feels like an intimate moment, as if we've caught her in a candid rehearsal. Curator: Precisely! Her androgynous appearance allowed her to gain celebrity performing in musical theater. But this portrait, and the broader marketing campaign, created cultural associations around the image of modern femininity. How were women meant to appear in public? What roles were available to them in society? This was all part of the performance. Editor: It all boils down to controlling the narrative, doesn’t it? Back then and even now! Still, I can’t help but find her gaze compelling, even through all this history. There's a playful glint in her eyes, daring you to underestimate her, even now. Curator: It reminds us of the complex, interconnected forces that create lasting cultural impressions of female entertainers that exist to this day. Editor: That’s a perfect frame, actually! These prints, these faces… they echo long after the smoke clears.