Arline Stanley, from the Actors and Actresses series (N45, Type 1) for Virginia Brights Cigarettes 1885 - 1891

Curator: There's something unexpectedly tender about this card, a relic of a bygone era. It’s Arline Stanley from the "Actors and Actresses" series, a promotional card produced by Allen & Ginter for Virginia Brights Cigarettes sometime between 1885 and 1891. I imagine it was slipped right into the cigarette pack. Editor: You know, tender isn't the first word that comes to mind. There's an undeniable sense of the exotic and performative, even objectification. The sepia tones definitely lend an air of nostalgia and faded glamour. It's a little sad and fragile looking now, given its age and function. Curator: Fragile yes, it makes you think about celebrity, doesn't it? Here's this moment captured, mass-produced, then discarded, like the cigarette pack it came in. Consider the scale; a small intimate object distributed widely to promote tobacco... It says so much about the commodification of image and fame during this time. The public persona reduced to this size. Editor: And what persona! Dressed like that, she's definitely playing with conventions and hinting at more risqué stage roles. Though posed against this faux-classical backdrop, the theatrical quality clashes with what the cigarette brand signifies. Bright lights and late nights come to mind. Do we know anything more about her stage work? Curator: Finding records of specific roles played by figures like Arline Stanley can be challenging—many actresses were typecast or worked under temporary stage names. Still, it emphasizes this odd intersection of desire, commerce, and art—or, rather, a version of it. Do you see the ambition and struggle to legitimize theatrical performance reflected here? To me, it shows so much more than its base function. Editor: I think so. Looking closely, beyond the staged elements, there’s also an underlying sense of her as a person—of presence. This photograph, transformed into a print, offered a type of fleeting accessibility. These images become these intimate little objects, these "cigarette cards", which feel surprisingly modern in some ways... it also gives pause on the evolution of the performance from stage, to ephemeral commercial object. Curator: Exactly. An actress momentarily brought down to earth to be enjoyed, considered, before dissolving once more into the haze of cigarette smoke and forgotten fame. Editor: Ah, yes, and what a heady, fleeting and smoky sentiment to remember her by, indeed.