Card Number 102, Vernona Jarbeau, from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-4) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Cameo Cigarettes 1880s

Curator: This is card number 102 from the "Actors and Actresses" series, featuring Vernona Jarbeau, produced by Duke Sons & Co. in the 1880s to promote Cameo Cigarettes. It is currently housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Editor: Oh, my. This gives me the strange sensation of holding a lost secret, like a whispered promise from a time that prized a peculiar theatricality. The sepia tone seems to amplify the sitter’s aura; she is, at once, an intimate yet untouchable figure. Curator: Yes, the sepia toning speaks volumes. It immediately links the image to the era, grounding the actress, Vernona, within a specific historical and cultural context. The gesture of her hand, the cut of her outfit – they each serve as signs pointing towards late 19th-century modes of performance and presentation. Editor: The pointed finger does indeed draw you into her world. A performative beckoning towards a realm unseen by our own eyes. Are we the stage, then? Or something else altogether? Her attire suggests the vaudeville tradition – short dress, elaborately trimmed stockings – that was the popular culture of the day, doesn't it? Curator: Exactly! The commercial nature of the card itself reveals a great deal. These cards functioned as collectibles and trade stimulators, yes, but their use of performers highlights the intertwined relationship between celebrity culture and product endorsement. It's also worth noting that photographs, like these, served as a popular portraiture for public figures during the later parts of the 1800's. Editor: I like that idea, seeing it as an accessible mode of portraiture. And while the cigarettes and her image seem unconnected today, there must be some connection. Did her persona reflect that product’s desired qualities perhaps? Freedom? Audacity? Curator: It's not merely about a superficial association. The image tapped into pre-existing notions of glamour, luxury, and aspiration. This intersection created meaning. And now? It serves as a material cultural record from a distant cultural moment, viewed today from within our own distinct cultural moment, thereby gaining further interpretive complexity through the act of continued observation. Editor: Looking at Vernona, it all seems suddenly connected—the puff of smoke, the promise of entertainment, even the strange confidence in her gaze. So many lost universes within this single fragment! Curator: Indeed. And that fragment carries far more semiotic weight than we might imagine at first glance.