Working Out, 1930s style

In the days of the 1930s, when 'fitness' and 'cigarettes' were yet opposed to one another, the fitness-concerned man or woman had to look no further than their nearest pack to find a handy-dandy workout routine. This particular set of 50 cigarette cards were each printed with an exercise, illustrated on the front and described on the back. There were 25 each for men and women--because, of course, men and women couldn't possibly benefit from the same exercises. I'm not a fitness-concerned woman (nor a smoker) so I can't vouch for the effectiveness of any of these exercises (though some raise my eyebrows), but, when combined with early twentieth century gym clothes, they sure make for some interesting visuals!

The backs of the cards, with the exercise descriptions, are accessible via the source links. The full set is here.

New York Public Library

For Slimming the Waist. Source

New York Public Library

A simple stretching exercise (or show-off of one's extremely short shorts). Source

New York Public Library

For the Leg Muscles. Source

Flying, 1920s Style

A terrific set of cigarette cards depicting a flight from London to Amsterdam in the early days of commercial air travel. The images (each "from an official photograph supplied by Imperial Airways") are accompanied by text detailing "our" flight, from check-in and take-off, to views over the Channel, France, and Brussels (where we land for lunch), to the final landing in Amsterdam. I've included the backs with the text, as the little details are fascinating insights into a time when planes held "as many as" 20 passengers, reached cruising altitudes of 3,000 feet, and got from London to Brussels in "only" two and a half hours. 

(The cards aren't specifically dated, but Imperial Airways existed from 1924-1936, the plane named (the [Armstrong Whitworth] Argosy) was used from 1926-1935, and the clothing is solidly late 1920s)

New York Public Library

New York Public Library

Check-in ("weighing-in"). Source

New York Public Library

Do you know...?

Illustrated cigarette cards from the 1920s and 30s with the theme of "do you know?" Though the set these belong to is the most visually interesting, this theme ran for hundreds of cards. The best part of them is just how random the trivia is, jumping from "Why do we clink glasses?" to "Why do we call them 'pistols'?" to "What is smoke?", all in this one set of 30. 

New York Public Library

New York Public Library

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New York Public Library

New York Public Library

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New York Public Library

New York Public Library

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(Terrible) Cigarette Card Puns

Another jaunt into the cigarette card collections of the New York Public Library. We've seen animal-illustrated phrases and flapper butterflies; today we've got some wonderfully awful visual puns. They don't come with a date, but appear to be about 1890-1910 by the clothing, and British. These are selected from a set of 50. With language change a couple have lost their double meanings, such as"decorated flat"--flat, of course, still means apartment many places, but the term 'flat' to refer to a dull person has gone out (many thanks to the reader who noted that meaning!) Others are very British (googling "5 years with the colors" in its American spelling, gets you only the record of that card!), Most of them,  however,  will still get groans a century on. 

New York Public Library

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New York Public Library

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New York Public Library

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Flapper Butterflies

For the first post of the blog's fourth (!) year, something totally unexpected and totally delightful. This is the blog's second post featuring cigarette cards from the collection of the New York Public Library. The subject this time is species of butterflies and moths found in the British Isles... if butterflies were stylish ladies of the 1920s. 

I have no other context for this. The wonderful NYPL shares the backs of objects online as well as the front, so if you follow the source links you can look at the backs of cards to read all about the species of butterfly--without any mention of the flapper part. It's pretty great. 

New York Public Library

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New York Public Library

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New York Public Library

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Cigarette Card Animals

From the mid 19th century to about the 1940s, cigarette cards were a common feature of cigarette packets. They would be published in series (usually 25 or 50), encouraging smokers to buy more from the same brand. Now, I don't condone smoking in any way-- but a lot of them are really great! The good old New York Public Library (this blog's star collection of the month, apparently!) has tens of thousands, a huge number of which are digitized. I am definitely going to be featuring these on a regular basis from now on! Today, a cute, silly series featuring animals and well-known phrases (from nursery rhymes to cliches to ad slogans). They are photomechanical reproductions of probably heavily retouched photos-- no date is provided but as one includes the phrase "back up your troubles in your old kit bag," from a song written in 1915, they must date from after that. My guess is 1915-1930.

New York Public Library

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New York Public Library

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New York Public Library

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