22.00USD
Belle Epoque Violin Playing Robot, circa 1905
In the French newspaper Le Gaulois, #9558, there is a notice of the appearance, on December 15th, 1903, at 8:30 PM at the Olympia Theater in Paris, of La Motogirl. Now, we don't know if she was actually a robot who played the violin and dreamed of becoming a real girl, or if she was a real girl who played the violin and had always dreamed of becoming a robot. But, she was certainly billed as a violin playing robot, and in this image, she really does look like one.
Appearing on the same bill that evening was Helene Dutrieu, known as La Fleche Humaine, or the Human Arrow, who was to become a famous pioneer aviatrix (the Girl Hawk!), but on that evening was probably reprising her act of earlier in the year at the Eldorado club in Marseilles, where she, as a world champion bicycle racer, performed the stunt of cycling a loop inside a vertical track. Mlle Dutrieu was also an automobile racer. This gal liked to go fast!
This is clearly a fine item to be added to any collection of entertainment ephemera from this period.
The print, itself (full disclosure), is less than really fine. Particularly bothersome is the visible ghost appearance of the horizontal lines on the reverse of the card, showing through a bit on the front.
Please examine our high res scans for detail.
Postage is for first class shipping in a secure photo mailer, and we happily combine shipping on all paper goods. If you purchase two cards, we will refund the postage on the second card, and when you purchase three or more cards from us at the same time, your shipping will be entirely free, except for international orders which, because of sudden increases in international shipping rates will still be charged one card's shipping fees on orders of three or more.
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