Born in Warsaw, Poland, on March 18, 1865 (some sources say 1873 or 1877, probably incorrectly), Anna Held grew up from about 1871 in Paris. The details of her early life are obscure, not the least as a result of the boisterous press-agentry applied to the subject in later years. The loss of the family╒s modest means about 1877 sent her out to work, and after the death of her father about 1885 she and her mother made their way to London, where she found a position in Jacob Adler╒s Yiddish Theatre troupe. After about five years touring with that company she broke into musical comedy. In that genre she was quickly a success, and by the middle 1890s she was the leading musical hall performer in Europe. Her diminutive figure, blond hair, and carefully cultivated ╥naughty╙ stage character all contributed to her success. In 1896 the brash young Florenz Ziegfeld, visiting London, overwhelmed her with orchids, diamonds, and persuasion and signed her to an American tour under his management.
Held made her American debut at the Herald Square Theatre in New York City in September 1896 in Ziegfeld╒s revival of A Parlor Match. Supplementing her own charms was Ziegfeld╒s publicity campaign, which bombarded newspapers with stories of her milk baths, her fabulous wardrobe, her heroic deeds, and other whole-cloth inventions. Sometime in 1896 or 1897 they were married, apparently in a common-law ceremony. Anna Held appeared with great success in a series of revues, farces, and operettas in which her singing and costumes competed for attention: Oscar Hammerstein╒s production of La PoupÄe, 1897, Ziegfeld╒s Papa╒s Wife, 1899, The Little Duchess (in which she sang ╥Maiden With the Dreamy Eyes╙), 1901, Joe Weber╒s Higgledy-Piggledy, 1904, The Parisian Model (╥I Just Can╒t Make My Eyes Behave╙ and ╥It╒s Delightful to be Married╙), 1906, Ziegfeld╒s Follies of 1907, the first of his famous annual lavish revues, and Miss Innocence, 1908.
From 1908 to 1912 Held was back in Paris. In the latter year she returned to America for a vaudeville tour. She divorced Ziegfeld in 1913. In the midst of appearing in productions in Europe and America she made a motion picture, Madame la PrÄsidente, in 1915. Her last production, Follow Me, opened in November 1916. While on tour with it, she fell ill in Milwaukee in January 1918, and she died in New York City on August 12, 1918.
>styl ` ! ¬ 5¬ 5¬ # !I 5¬ !I ê !I û !I ` !I i !I | !I ç !I Å !I í !I τ !I ° !I !I !I n !I } !I ▒ !I ┐ !I ╔ 5¬ ╩ !I ▒ !I ┼ !I µ !I ∩ !I link `
