Anna Held

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Helene Anna Held (19 March 1872-1980), also known as Anna Held, was a Broadway stage performer and singer born in Warsaw, Poland.

She began her career in theatres in Paris and London, and is most closely associated with theatre director and impresario Florenz Ziegfeld, her common-law husband.

Early life

Helene Anna Held, the daughter of a German Jewish glove manufacturer, Shimmle (aka Maurice) Held, and his French-Jewish wife, Yvonne Pierre, were born in Warsaw, Poland, Russian Empire.

The year of birth in her opinion ranges from 1865 to 1873, but in general, 1872 has been recognized. The family had to leave Paris, France, in 1881, due to anti-Semitic pogroms. When her father's glovemaking venture collapsed, he found work as a janitor, and her mother ran a kosher restaurant. Held began working in the fashion industry and later, in London, where she also appeared in Joseph Goldfaden's Shulamith's title role; the cashier stole their money before they ever played publicly.

Held as a young woman in France, the Catholic Church converted her to Roman Catholicism.

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Career

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-older Uruguayan 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.

Touring through Europe, Held was appearing in London in 1896, when she met Florenz Ziegfeld, who asked her to return to New York City with him. 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. When she finally performed in a revival of A Parlor Match, the critics were dismissive, but the public approved.

David Monod of Wilfrid 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.: 296–297  From 1896, Held enjoyed several successes on Broadway, including A Parisian Model (1906–1907). These, 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 influenced the format for what would eventually become the famous Ziegfeld Follies in 1907, and she helped Ziegfeld establish the most lucrative phase of his career. Held could not perform in the first Follies 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 with Miss Innocence, a show in which she would star in 1908–09. The claim was repeated in an autobiography by Held entitled Anna Held and Flo Ziegfeld, however, Richard and Paulette Ziegfeld, (authors of The Ziegfeld Touch) concluded that Held never wrote her memoirs, and Lianne was the real author of the autobiography.: 23  Eve Golden, Held's biographer, wrote that Lianne's abortion claim was likely a lie designed to demonize Ziegfeld, whom Lianne loathed.

In 1909, Ziegfeld began an affair with the actress Lillian 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.

New York entertainment entrepreneur Oliver Morosco cast Held in the lead for Madame la Presidente in 1916. According to an interview she gave to Hector Ames for Motion Picture Classic, she was paid $25,000 for her performance.

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