Franzina, Madam
Nationality - Unknown
Birth - Unknown, but probably c. 1845. Named Adele.
Marriage - Unknown
Death - Uknown
Career - Madame [Adela] Franzini, who performed on the “velocipede”, a bicycle-like contraption, arrived in Sydney from Plymouth by the 2000-ton Australia, on 9 March 1876 (Sydney Mail, 18 March 1876, p. 366). She was one of a troupe of performers headed by a Mr Sapphrini. Other members of the troupe were Kate Russell, a singer, and “Mr Onzalo”, a trapeze performer, whose true name was Alfred Rowe.
Copyright - Subject: Madam Franzina, Bycicle [sic] Performer, Sydney Date: 1876 Photographer: Not identified Courtesy: State Library of NSW, PXA 362/Vol. 3/p. 28
At St George’s Hall, Melbourne, 1876
The company of English and French performers who presented themselves at St. George’s-
Hall for the first time last Saturday night were well received by a large audience. They were
tolerably successful in their efforts and have been fairly patronised since. There are one or
two special features in their entertainment that deserve notice. Mdlle Franzini, the bicyclist,
displays a vast amount of cleverness, and a thorough command over the vehicle she per
forms upon. She affords a notable example of what might be accomplished by ladies, if they
took some trouble to learn to ride the bicycle. Attired in ordinary costume with’ a long skirt,
she sits side-saddle fashion on the machine and performs the most graceful evolutions. Steering her vehicle rapidly around the stage, and perilously along its edges, she runs in and out among a lot of pot plants, most skilfully evading them, and brings herself up very
cleverly. Afterwards, in order to avoid danger she appears in silk tights, and rides
about, up and down, in and out, among some five-and-twenty lighted torches stuck in champagne bottles, arranged about the stage. She jumps off and springs on again gracefully, and meanders in and out among the blazing flambeaux until the eye is fairly dazzled with her
rapid evolutions. She is certainly the most accomplished bicycle rider I have ever seen.
There is a Miss Kate Russell, who dances character dances and sings character songs. She
dances one measure, using a skipping rope at the same time, in a way that shows she must have worked very hard to attain the degree of proficiency necessary. Onzalo, the trapezist, is a very agile young gentleman, and does his dangerous work with a quiet nonchalance born
of perfect familiarity with his calling. His feats are not very different from other
muscular Christians of the same genus. My readers can imagine what he does by permitting
their recollections to travel back to other performers on the trapeze … (Weekly Times, 27 May 1876, p. 13).
At the Theatre Royal, Mount Alexander, 1876.
The English and French Variety Company, together with Mr Webb’s Marionettes are announced to appear at the Theatre Royal on Wednesday (to-morrow), evening. The programme appears to include some clever movements with and on a bicycle by Madame Franzini, a lady who, judging by the photographs scattered all abroad, is well up in the management of that instrument of progression. (Mount Alexander Mail, 27 June 1876 p. 2).
At the Victoria Theatre, Newcastle, 1877.
There was a good house at the there last night, and the company at present performing appear to have won the good opinion of the public generally. The marvellous feats of Madame Franzini on the bicycle win for her unbounded applause, and certainly the way in which she manages the two-wheeled horse is both a matter for wonder and admiration. (Newcastle Morning Herald, 16 June 1877, p. 4)
Franzina, Madam
Unknown
Unknown, but probably c. 1845. Named Adele.
Unknown
Uknown
Madame [Adela] Franzini, who performed on the “velocipede”, a bicycle-like contraption, arrived in Sydney from Plymouth by the 2000-ton Australia, on 9 March 1876 (Sydney Mail, 18 March 1876, p. 366). She was one of a troupe of performers headed by a Mr Sapphrini. Other members of the troupe were Kate Russell, a singer, and “Mr Onzalo”, a trapeze performer, whose true name was Alfred Rowe.
Copyright - Subject: Madam Franzina, Bycicle [sic] Performer, Sydney Date: 1876 Photographer: Not identified Courtesy: State Library of NSW, PXA 362/Vol. 3/p. 28
At St George’s Hall, Melbourne, 1876
The company of English and French performers who presented themselves at St. George’s-
Hall for the first time last Saturday night were well received by a large audience. They were
tolerably successful in their efforts and have been fairly patronised since. There are one or
two special features in their entertainment that deserve notice. Mdlle Franzini, the bicyclist,
displays a vast amount of cleverness, and a thorough command over the vehicle she per
forms upon. She affords a notable example of what might be accomplished by ladies, if they
took some trouble to learn to ride the bicycle. Attired in ordinary costume with’ a long skirt,
she sits side-saddle fashion on the machine and performs the most graceful evolutions. Steering her vehicle rapidly around the stage, and perilously along its edges, she runs in and out among a lot of pot plants, most skilfully evading them, and brings herself up very
cleverly. Afterwards, in order to avoid danger she appears in silk tights, and rides
about, up and down, in and out, among some five-and-twenty lighted torches stuck in champagne bottles, arranged about the stage. She jumps off and springs on again gracefully, and meanders in and out among the blazing flambeaux until the eye is fairly dazzled with her
rapid evolutions. She is certainly the most accomplished bicycle rider I have ever seen.
There is a Miss Kate Russell, who dances character dances and sings character songs. She
dances one measure, using a skipping rope at the same time, in a way that shows she must have worked very hard to attain the degree of proficiency necessary. Onzalo, the trapezist, is a very agile young gentleman, and does his dangerous work with a quiet nonchalance born
of perfect familiarity with his calling. His feats are not very different from other
muscular Christians of the same genus. My readers can imagine what he does by permitting
their recollections to travel back to other performers on the trapeze … (Weekly Times, 27 May 1876, p. 13).
At the Theatre Royal, Mount Alexander, 1876.
The English and French Variety Company, together with Mr Webb’s Marionettes are announced to appear at the Theatre Royal on Wednesday (to-morrow), evening. The programme appears to include some clever movements with and on a bicycle by Madame Franzini, a lady who, judging by the photographs scattered all abroad, is well up in the management of that instrument of progression. (Mount Alexander Mail, 27 June 1876 p. 2).
At the Victoria Theatre, Newcastle, 1877.
There was a good house at the there last night, and the company at present performing appear to have won the good opinion of the public generally. The marvellous feats of Madame Franzini on the bicycle win for her unbounded applause, and certainly the way in which she manages the two-wheeled horse is both a matter for wonder and admiration. (Newcastle Morning Herald, 16 June 1877, p. 4)
