Cigarette advertisement with girl belly dancing and enjoying a smoke.
This wonderful public domain advertisement photo is from the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. The subject of this cigarette ad is a young woman belly dancing, with a pack of cigarettes in one hand and a lit cigarette in the other. She is poses as though in the midst of a belly dancing routine. This image was originally copyrighted by the American Tobacco Co. It might therefore be assumed that the cigarette pack is from one of their brands.
This advertisement was published prior to 1923 and is therefore in the public domain.
1.34 megabyte TIFF. Hosted at the Library of Congress.
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03.15.10
A curvy young lady with floppy brown hair throws her hands up in a sexy fling. Right hand clutching a cigarette box,left hand playfully grasping the lit cigarette between two fingers.Smoke whirls out as she keeps her long , smooth arm outstretched. Her hair almost seems like an obstacle for her eyes that watch her elongated hand.Her outfit is a series of contradictions, a tiny top, detailed and beaded,plunges low to show her curves. She covers those very same curves with a sheer shrug that is almost as detailed as her halter.The lace and embroidery almost seem as if they are competing. Her “harem” pants reveal hips , but are accentuated by a wrap tied aound her meaty waist. She seems to be almost posed for a picture rather than in the middle of a dance. Her pointy shoes give the illusion of tiny feet as they peek out from under all the fabric of her pants. Just to her right is a small low stand, peeking into picture. I imagine that she will break out of her pose and transistion right back into her dance without missing a beat. Letting the music and the cigarette swirl all around her.
03.27.10
This is a black and white picture of a belly dancing girl holding a lit cigarette and some type of card in her hand – maybe a poker playing card or something. From the expression on her face, she is obviously feeling carefree and full of life – just having fun. The picture is really old because of the black and white and also the clothing on her, so I’m guessing this is a risky pose for the time period. She may be a prostitute as well as a belly dancer. Her clothes seem kinda funky and over the top, like the balloon pants, striped scarf tied around her waist and gauzy bulging sleeves. She seems to have a “who cares!” kind of attitude as well as “whatever!” if those phrases were even used back then. Her hair is outrageous as well – very much like those hairstyles that were “in” back in the day, but messier and more dramatic. What made me laugh a little are her pointy elf shoes. I don’t know if those were popular then or not, but they weren’t very common among regular people. The girl doesn’t seem to be very beautiful, but there’s something about her expression that is definitely eye-catching. It was fun to see a different point of view from her time period.