Card Number 125, Marion Minnola, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-4) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Cameo Cigarettes 1880s

This card, number 125 in the "Actors and Actresses" series, was produced by W. Duke, Sons & Co. as a promotional item for Cameo Cigarettes. The sepia-toned card features a full-length portrait of Marion Minnola, and immediately draws attention to the formal attire and staged backdrop. Note how the composition is carefully arranged to balance the textual elements below with the portrait above. Minnola's pose, with a walking stick, divides the space, creating distinct visual zones. The background, blurred yet suggestive, contrasts with the sharp focus on Minnola, whose costume and accessories—the elaborate hat, the flowers, the puffed sleeves—speak to artifice and theatricality. Considering the card's function as advertisement, one can interpret the subject’s stylized depiction as a sign. This image is part of a semiotic system of signs which conveys ideas about beauty, status and consumer desire. Think about how it challenges conventional notions of portraiture by embedding it within a framework of commerce and mass production. The card functions on multiple levels, not just as a portrait but also as a commodity, its meaning mediated by the context of its creation and distribution.