In Europe and the United States, a cigarette girl is a person who sells or provides cigarettes from a tray held by a neck strap. They may also carry cigars and other items like candy, snacks, and chewing gum on their trays.
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 girl.
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]
Popularity and decline
The modern image of the cigarette girl developed in the 1920s with the urbanization of the United States.[1] Though largely not seen other than in speakeasies and supper clubs,[1] cigarette 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]
With the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, speakeasies across the US closed and cigarette girls soon found employment in more popular business destinations.[1]
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]
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 are still some casinos and nightclubs that still employ cigarette girls today, especially on the Las Vegas Strip.[1][3]
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