A smoker was a men-only tradition. Men gathered in private rooms to smoke cigars, play poker, and talk freely — away from the formal expectations of mixed company. On the evening of May 20, 1941, the Young Women’s Republican Club of Milford, Connecticut, decided that tradition was theirs to claim.
The women arrived in a mix of dressy and casual outfits, settling into a spacious room arranged with poker tables and comfortable chairs. Cigars and cigarettes were lit almost immediately. The air thickened with smoke, and the atmosphere shifted into something relaxed and deliberate — exactly what a smoker was supposed to feel like.
Poker was the centerpiece of the night. Some women came in as seasoned players. Others were picking up the rules as the hands were dealt. Either way, the tables filled fast. Laughter, shouts of triumph, and groans of defeat moved through the room as the games rolled on.
Between hands, the women swapped political stories, cracked jokes, and held the kind of candid conversations that smokers were built for. The camaraderie was real. This was a room where the usual social rules didn’t apply, and the women leaned into that fully.
One of the night’s boldest moments was a playful striptease — performed in good humor and met with cheers and applause from the crowd. It was a deliberate nod to the rowdier side of men’s smokers, done with full awareness of what they were mimicking.
LIFE photographer Nina Leen was there to document the entire evening. Her camera moved through the room, catching women mid-laugh, mid-deal, and mid-puff. Leen’s presence made the event part of the broader visual record of American life in 1941.
Leen’s photographs show a group of women who were completely at ease. There was nothing tentative about the night. They played hard, smoked freely, and held their own at every table.
