The benefits of smoke - "An Album of Film Stars", John Player & Sons cigarette cards, 1934

 

John Player & Sons, most often known simply as Player's, was a tobacco and cigarette manufacturer based in Nottingham, England. Founded in 1877, the company merged with other companies to form The Imperial Tobacco Company in 1901, while retaining the Player's brand name.

Player's was one of the first British tobacco companies to include sets of general interest cards in their packs of cigarettes. These cards - now highly collectable - were generally produced in sets of fifty, and could be collected and put into specially created albums. One of the first sets, from 1893, was "Castles and Abbeys." Among the many, many sets they produced were those related to stage and screen performers, civil aircraft, motor cars, traditional British street vendors, flora and fauna identifying cards for Boy Scouts and Girl Guides, military uniforms, a coronation series in 1937, and several related to sports, including football (soccer), rugby, and cricket. John Player & Sons eventually issued more than two hundred sets of cards.

I find the phrase related to his marriage to Crawford, "at one time", rather amusing; they'd only divorced months before.

Again, "at one time."

This album from 1934 featured the film actors who were considered to be the "hot properties" of the moment. So interesting to consider which of these performers went on to continued or greater success, and which are those whose names are now only recognized by the most pedantic of film scholars.