Cigarette girl (person)

Last updated March 28, 2019

Cigarette girl, in Europe and the United States, generally refers to a person who sells or provides cigarettes from a tray held by a neck strap. They may also carry cigars and many novelty items like lighted roses, candy, snacks, chewing gum, lighted jewelry, and lighted yo-yos on their trays.

Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. It comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia.

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.

A cigarette, also known colloquially as a fag in British English, is a narrow cylinder containing psychoactive material, usually tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. Most cigarettes contain a "reconstituted tobacco" product known as "sheet", which consists of "recycled [tobacco] stems, stalks, scraps, collected dust, and floor sweepings", to which are added glue, chemicals and fillers; the product is then sprayed with nicotine that was extracted from the tobacco scraps, and shaped into curls. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder and allowing smoke to be inhaled from the other end, which is held in or to the mouth. Most modern cigarettes are filtered, although this does not make them safer. Cigarette manufacturers have described cigarettes as a drug administration system for the delivery of nicotine in acceptable and attractive form. Cigarettes are addictive and cause cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart disease, and other health problems.

Uniform

The most common uniform is a red and black short saloon-style skirt above the knee dress accompanied with a matching pillbox hat,^[1] but different colors and styles are possible. Another title for a cigarette girl is candy girls.

A pillbox hat is a small hat, usually worn by women, with a flat crown, straight, upright sides, and no brim. It is named after the small cylindrical or hexagonal cases that pills used to be sold in.

Aside from serving cigarettes and other novelties, the attractive girls acted as eye candy and were often employed to flirt with male customers as well.^[1] Cigarette girls usually consented in the hopes of getting tips from wealthy businessmen.^[1]

Attractiveness or attraction is a quality that causes an interest, desire in, or gravitation to something or someone. Attraction may also refer to the object of the attraction itself, as in tourist attraction.

Flirting or coquetry is a social and sexual behavior involving verbal or written communication, as well as body language, by one person to another, either to suggest interest in a deeper relationship with the other person, or if done playfully, for amusement.

Popularity and decline

The modern image of cigarette girl developed in the 1920s with the urbanization of America.^[1] Though largely not seen other than in speakeasies and supper clubs,^[1] cigarettes girls were frequently shown in Hollywood films and soon became well-established among the general public.^[1] The cigarette girl of the nightclub became a staple figure of film and theatre.^[2]

A supper club is a traditional dining establishment that also functions as a social club. The term may describe different establishments depending on the region, but in general, supper clubs tend to present themselves as having a high-class image, even if the price is affordable to all. A newer usage of the term supper club has emerged, referring to underground restaurants.

Nightclub entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night

A nightclub, music club or club, is an entertainment venue and bar that usually operates late into the night. A nightclub is generally distinguished from regular bars, pubs or taverns by the inclusion of a stage for live music, one or more dance floor areas and a DJ booth, where a DJ plays recorded music. The upmarket nature of nightclubs can be seen in the inclusion of VIP areas in some nightclubs, for celebrities and their guests. Nightclubs are much more likely than pubs or sports bars to use bouncers to screen prospective clubgoers for entry. Some nightclub bouncers do not admit people with informal clothing or gang apparel as part of a dress code. The busiest nights for a nightclub are Friday and Saturday night. Most clubs or club nights cater to certain music genres, such as house music or hip hop. Many clubs have recurring club nights on different days of the week. Most club nights focus on a particular genre or sound for branding effects.

With the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, speakeasies across America closed and cigarettes girls soon found employment in more popular business destinations.^[1]

Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage, transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic beverages. The word is also used to refer to a period of time during which such bans are enforced.

Cigarette girls were a common sight in restaurants, clubs, bars, airports, and casinos in the 1930s and 1940s in the United States.^[1] From the end of World War II to the 1950s, cigarette girls further expanded into sporting events and the lobbies of theaters and music halls during intermissions.^[1]

World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. The major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China. It included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, and the only use of nuclear weapons in war.

With the rise of cigarette machines in the mid-1950s, however, venue owners no longer needed to seek out cigarette girls who worked for a paycheck, and the girls largely vanished from the public eye.^[1] There were still some casinos and nightclubs that still use cigarette girls today, especially in the Las Vegas Strip.^[1]^[3]

In popular culture

The 1924 Russian film Papirosnitsa ot Mosselproma (The Cigarette Girl from Mossel'prom), by Yuri Zheliabuzhsky (1888–1955), features a heroine who works as a street-corner vendor.^[4]

Related Research Articles

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A speakeasy, also called a blind pig or blind tiger, is an illicit establishment that sells alcoholic beverages. Such establishments came into prominence in the United States during the Prohibition era. During that time, the sale, manufacture, and transportation (bootlegging) of alcoholic beverages was illegal throughout the United States. Speakeasies largely disappeared after Prohibition was ended in 1933, and the term is now often inaccurately used to describe some retro style bars.

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Nat Sherman is the brand name for a line of handmade cigars and "luxury cigarettes." The company, which began as a retail tobacconist, continues to operate a flagship retail shop now located on 42nd Street, off Fifth Avenue, in New York City. Corporate offices are now located at the foot of the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

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Ashtray receptacle for ash from cigarettes and cigars

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References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "History of the Cigar Girl". famous-smoke.com. Retrieved May 2, 2014.
↑ Nathan, George J.; Angoff, Charles (1974). The Theatre Book of the Year, 1945–1946. p. 148. All the boys and girls, along with the old night club setting, are again in evidence: the dumb-cluck minor mobster, the love-lorn cigarette girl in the abbreviated costume, the oily head-waiter, the imperturbable night club boss....
↑ Stieg, Bill (10 March 1988). "Cigarette girls bring back romantic flavors". The Hour . Norwalk, Connecticut. p. 2. Retrieved 10 September 2013.
↑ Beumers, Birgit (2009). A History of Russian Cinema. p. 63.

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[uoppaa-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "History of the Cigar Girl". famous-smoke.com. Retrieved May 2, 2014.

[2] Nathan, George J.; Angoff, Charles (1974). The Theatre Book of the Year, 1945–1946. p. 148. All the boys and girls, along with the old night club setting, are again in evidence: the dumb-cluck minor mobster, the love-lorn cigarette girl in the abbreviated costume, the oily head-waiter, the imperturbable night club boss....

[3] Stieg, Bill (10 March 1988). "Cigarette girls bring back romantic flavors". The Hour . Norwalk, Connecticut. p. 2. Retrieved 10 September 2013.

[4] Beumers, Birgit (2009). A History of Russian Cinema. p. 63.