Card Number 76, Ida Mulle and Guenn (?), from the Actors and Actresses series (N145-1) issued by Duke Sons & Co. to promote Cross Cut Cigarettes 1880s

Curator: Let's discuss "Card Number 76, Ida Mulle and Guenn (?), from the Actors and Actresses series," a piece created in the 1880s by W. Duke, Sons & Co. This is a photographic print that was originally issued as a promotional item for Cross Cut Cigarettes. Editor: It's a touching, if a little unsettling image. There's a fragility in the two figures; one’s casual embrace, the other’s hesitancy. It gives a feeling of the delicate, brief encounter. Curator: It’s interesting that you pick up on that feeling of brief encounter. Tobacco cards such as these were immensely popular in the late 19th century and reflect the celebrity culture that was beginning to emerge, especially for actresses and performers. Consider the rapid distribution of images of women—often associated with theatre and the “new woman”—and the social anxieties they evoked at the time. Editor: The women are not overtly sexualized. The aprons are quite striking—as these visual cues relate directly back to ideas of idealized domesticity. It brings to mind ideas of performativity, of “playing” a specific gendered role in American society. What is being sold here? Tobacco, sure. But also? Images. Ideals. Status. Curator: Exactly! This particular card, preserved at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, speaks volumes about how advertising intertwined with cultural representations of femininity, performance, and even class during the late 19th century. Think of the broader debates about the visibility and mobility of women that were playing out in this period. Editor: The visual language definitely constructs an approachable ideal: "buy these cigarettes, achieve an aspirational lifestyle like these stars.” Their slightly melancholy appearance is almost an acknowledgment that even fame doesn't solve inherent societal concerns, yet hints they use cigarettes to perhaps cope? Curator: It’s a compelling interplay between commercial promotion and a burgeoning celebrity culture. Consider it as a small, powerful artifact revealing anxieties around gender identity in a rapidly modernizing society. Editor: Seeing how our perspectives differ yet align on its symbolism highlights just how multilayered what we think is simply an old advertisement really is. Thanks! Curator: Indeed! A window into history, condensed into the space of a cigarette card. A complex image!