Anna Held
Born	Helene Anna Held (1872-03-19)19 March 1872 Warsaw,Congress Poland
Died	12 August 1918(1918-08-12) (aged 46) New York City, U.S.
Resting place	Gate of Heaven Cemetery
Occupations	Actress singer
Spouse	Maximo Carrera ​ ​ (m. 1894; div. 1908)​
Partner	Florenz Ziegfeld (1897–1913)
Children	1

Helene Anna Held (19 March 1872 – 12 August 1918) was a Polish-born French stage performer of Jewish origin onBroadway. While appearing in London, she was spotted by impresarioFlorenz Ziegfeld, who brought her to America as hiscommon-law wife. From 1896 through 1910, she was one of Broadway's most celebrated leading ladies, presented in a succession of musicals as a charming, coquettish Parisian singer and comedienne, with an hourglass figure and an off-stage reputation for exotic behavior, such as bathing in 40 gallons of milk a day to maintain her complexion. Detractors implied that her fame owed more to Ziegfeld's promotional flair than to any intrinsic talent, but her audience allure was undeniable for over a decade, with several of her shows setting house attendance records for their time. Her uninhibited style also inspired the long-running series of popular revues, theZiegfeld Follies.

Born inWarsaw, Held was named Helene Anna Held, daughter of aGerman Jewish glove maker, Shimmle (aka Maurice) Held, and hisFrench-Jewish wife, Yvonne Pierre.^[1]

Sources list a variety of birth years, ranging from 1865 to 1873, but 1872 has been accepted in general. In 1881,anti-Semiticpogroms forced the family to flee toParis. When her father's glove manufacturing 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 inJewish theatres in Paris and, later, after her father's death, London, where her roles included the title role in a production byJacob Adler ofAbraham Goldfaden'sShulamith; she was also in Goldfaden's ill-fated Paris troupe, whose cashier stole their money before they ever played publicly.^[2]

As a young woman in France, Held converted to Roman Catholicism.^[3][4]

Her vivacious and animated personality proved popular and her career as a stage performer gained momentum as she became known for her risqué songs, flirtatious nature and willingness to show her legs on stage. In 1894, she married the much-olderUruguayan playboy Maximo Carrera, with whom she had a daughter, Lianne (1895–1988), who was also an actress and producer, sometimes billed as Anna Held Jr.^[5]

Touring through Europe, Held was appearing in London in 1896, when she metFlorenz Ziegfeld, who asked her to return to New York City with him.^[6] He set about creating a wave of public interest in her, feeding stories to the American press, such as her having had ribs surgically removed. By the time Held and Ziegfeld arrived in New York, she was already the subject of intense public speculation.^[7][2] When she finally performed in a revival ofA Parlor Match, the critics were dismissive, but the public approved.^[8]

Held, in a publicity photo

Anna Held, by Aimé Dupont

David Monod ofWilfrid Laurier University has suggested that Held succeeded more on image than talent, the illusion she presented to post-Victorian era audiences who were beginning to explore new social freedoms.^{[9]: 296–297} From 1896, Held enjoyed several successes on Broadway, includingThe Little Duchess (1901) andA Parisian Model (1906–1907). These, apart from bolstering Ziegfeld's fortune, made her a millionaire in her own right. Ziegfeld's talent for creatingpublicity stunts ensured that Held's name remained well known.^[10]

Held influenced the format for what would eventually become the famousZiegfeld Follies in 1907, and she helped Ziegfeld establish the most lucrative phase of his career. Held could not perform in the firstFollies when she become pregnant by Ziegfeld in late 1908. Held's daughter Lianne later claimed in her unpublished memoirs that Ziegfeld forced Held to have an abortion because he did not want her pregnancy interfering withMiss Innocence, a show in which she would star in 1908–09.^[10] The claim was repeated in an autobiography by Held entitledAnna Held and Flo Ziegfeld, however, Richard and Paulette Ziegfeld, (authors ofThe Ziegfeld Touch) concluded that Held never wrote her memoirs, and Lianne was the real author of the autobiography.^[11]: 23Eve Golden, Held's biographer, wrote that Lianne's abortion claim was likely a lie designed to demonize Ziegfeld, whom Lianne loathed.^[10]

In 1909, Ziegfeld began an affair with the actressLillian 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 married in 1914.^[12]

New York entertainment entrepreneurOliver Morosco cast Held in the lead forMadame la Presidente in 1916. According to an interview she gave to Hector Ames forMotion Picture Classic, she was paid $25,000 for her performance.^[13]

AfterMiss Innocence, Held left Broadway. She spent the years ofWorld War I working invaudeville and touring France, performing for French soldiers and raising money for the war effort. She was considered a war heroine for her contributions, and was highly regarded for the courage she displayed in traveling to the front lines, to be where she could do the most good.^[14]

Held's grave inGate of Heaven Cemetery

Held's footstone

The year 1917 was one of constant touring for Held; she toured the United States in a production ofFollow Me until ill health caused her to close the show in January 1918. She then checked into the Hotel Savoy in New York City where her health continued to decline.^[11]: 124 Held had been battlingmultiple myeloma, a cancer of plasma cells, for a year. News coverage began reporting that it had been caused by her practice of excessive lacing of her corsets to give her a tiny waist.^[15]

According to theWashington Times, Held had been in and out of consciousness for about a week. On 12 August 1918, her doctor pronounced her dead, and the media was alerted. Approximately two hours later, Held revived, and the media notified she was still alive, only to have Held finally die shortly thereafter.^[16][17]

Held's funeral was held atSt. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan on 14 August.^{[11]: 23 [18]} Florenz Ziegfeld did not attend; he had a phobia about death and never attended funerals. Held is interred atCemetery of the Gate of Heaven inHawthorne, New York.^[11]: 23

• The MGM filmThe Great Ziegfeld (1936) tells a sanitized version of the Ziegfeld-Held relationship.Luise Rainer won anAcademy Award for her performance as Held. Ziegfeld and Burke were played byWilliam Powell andMyrna Loy.^[19]
• In 1978,Columbia Pictures released amade-for-television film on NBC,Ziegfeld: The Man and His Women. Held was portrayed byBarbara Parkins.^[20]
• The American poetCarl Sandburg wrote a memorial poem for Anna Held,An Electric Sign goes Dark, in the collectionSmoke and Steel.^[21]
• In 1976, Held's daughter Lianne Carrera opened a museum of her mother's personal and stage items inSan Jacinto, California.^{[citation needed]}

• Eve Golden,Anna Held and the Birth of Ziegfeld's Broadway, Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2000

Wikimedia Commons has media related toAnna Held.

• Anna Held at theInternet Broadway Database
• Anna Held atIMDb
• New York Times article announcing Held's death
• Article about Held inTheatre Magazine
• Anna Held picture gallery
• Anna Held portraits (New York Public Library)
• Portrait gallery (University of Washington, Sayre collection)
• Anna's 1901 film; "Champagne"(Wayback Machine)
• Anna Helddriving herMaxwell motorcar

• 1872 births
• 1918 deaths
• 19th-century French actresses
• 20th-century French actresses
• Actresses from Paris
• Burials at Gate of Heaven Cemetery (Hawthorne, New York)
• Deaths from cancer in New York (state)
• Converts to Roman Catholicism from Judaism
• Deaths from multiple myeloma in the United States
• French emigrants to the United States
• 19th-century French women singers
• French film actresses
• French musical theatre actresses
• French Roman Catholics
• French silent film actresses
• French stage actresses
• Emigrants from the Russian Empire to France
• Jewish French actresses
• Jewish women singers
• 20th-century American women singers
• 20th-century American singers
• Vaudeville performers
• Ziegfeld girls

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