Anna Held

Anna Held
Anna Held, 1897Born Helene Anna Held
March 8, 1872
Warsaw, PolandDied August 12, 1918
New York City, New YorkSpouse(s) Maximo Carrera (1894-1908)

Helene Anna Held (March 8, 1872 – August 12, 1918) was a Polish-born stage performer, most often associated with impresario Florenz Ziegfeld, her common-law husband.

1 Early life
2 Acting career
3 Broadway success
4 The Great Ziegfeld
5 External links

Early life

Born in Warsaw, Congress Poland, Russian Empire she was the daughter of a Jewish glove maker, Shimmle (aka Maurice) Held, and his French-Jewish wife, Yvonne Pierre. Sources of her year of birth range from 1865 (the earliest) to 1873 (the latest). In 1881, anti-semitic pogroms forced the family to flee to Paris, France. When her father's glovemaking business failed, he found work as a janitor, while her mother operated a kosher restaurant. Held began working in the garment industry, then found work as a singer in Jewish theatres in Paris and, later, after her father's death, London, where her roles included the title role in a production by Jacob Adler of Abraham Goldfaden's Shulamith; she was also in Goldfaden's ill-fated Paris troupe, whose cashier stole their money before they ever played publicly.

Acting career

1910 sheet music cover with photo of Anna Held Anna Held, in an 1890s publicity photo

Her vivacious and animated personality proved popular, and her career as a stage performer began to gain momentum. She was soon known for her risque songs, flirtatious nature and willingness to show her legs on stage. Around this time, she became the wife of a much-older Uruguayan playboy, Maximo Carrera, with whom she had a daughter, Liane, who was born in 1895, shortly after their 1894 marriage, and who became an actress and producer, sometimes billed as Anna Held Jr.

Touring through Europe she was appearing in London in 1896 when she met Florenz Ziegfeld. Ziegfeld asked her to return to New York City with him and she agreed. He set about creating a wave of public interest in her, by feeding stories about her to the American press. By the time Held and Ziegfeld arrived in New York, she was already the subject of intense public speculation. When she finally performed, the critics were dismissive of her, but the public liked her.

Broadway success

From 1905 Held enjoyed several successes on Broadway which apart from bolstering Ziegfeld's fortune, made her a millionaire in her own right. Ziegfeld's talent for creating publicity stunts ensured that Held's name remained well known. Held suggested the format for what would become the famous Ziegfeld Follies in 1907, and helped Ziegfeld establish the most lucrative phase of his career. In 1909 he began an affair with the actress Lilliane Lorraine. Held remained hopeful that his fascination would pass and he would return to her, but instead he turned his attentions to another actress Billie Burke, whom he would marry in 1914.

The grave of Anna Held in Gate of Heaven Cemetery

Held spent the years of World War I working in vaudeville, and touring France, performing for French soldiers and raising money for the war effort. She came to be regarded as a war heroine for her contributions, and was highly regarded for the courage she displayed in travelling to the frontline to be where she could do the most good. After the war ended, she returned to America and starred in the film Madame le Presidente (1916). Shortly afterwards her health began to fail.

She collapsed onstage in 1918 and died after a few months from multiple myeloma at age 46. She is interred at Cemetery of the Gate of Heaven in Hawthorne, New York. Ziegfeld was castigated by the media he had so studiously courted, for his mistreatment of Held and apparent indifference to her illness, and his notable absence from her funeral.

The Great Ziegfeld

The film The Great Ziegfeld (1936) tells an often-glamorized story of the Ziegfeld-Held-Billie Burke triangle. Luise Rainer won an Academy Award for her performance as Held. Ziegfeld and Burke were played by William Powell and Myrna Loy.