Vintage Victorian Bicycle Ride Invitation

Vintage image of Madge Lessing on a bicycle from 1902. Enhanced and restored by Scenesfromthepast.net. Famous Edwardian stage actress and singer Madge Lessing (1866-1932) celebrated many successes in European theatres and on Broadway during the Belle Epoque. In the 1910’s she also made some silent films in Germany. Madge Lessing’s film career began in 1913 and was concentrated exclusively in Germany. In 1910 the musical comedy star had created a sensation in Berlin when she appeared as a a modern dandy in a stage production at the Metropol Theatre. Her film debut was the comedy Wo ist Coletti? (1913, Max Mack), a Vitascope production starring Hans Junkermann. The plot is set in motion when Detective Coletti (Junkermann) goes into hiding, posting a 25,000-dollar reward for anyone who can ascertain his whereabouts within 48 hours. Among those eagerly searching for the missing gumshoe is Coletti's sweetheart, played by Lessing. In one scene, the incognito detective attends a moving picture show, permitting the director the opportunity to stage a film-within-a-film. A trick ending caps this inconsequential rib-tickler. Lessing’s film debut was soon followed by Die blaue Maus (1913, Max Mack). In the next years she appeared in a few more films including Die Welt ohne Männer (1914), Die blaue Maus, 2. Teil (1915; banned in Germany till 1919) and Fritzis toller Einfall (1916) again with Hans Junkermann. The director of her films was always the outstanding Max Mack, who directed 127 films between 1911 and 1935. After Madge Lessing returned to England she only worked in the theatre again. She was married with the stage manager George B. McLellan, the brother of playwriter C.M.S. McLellan.