#anna held

Anna Held

"One of Anna's Fencing Girls", 1902

Philadelphia, PA photo studio

~A lovely Gibson Girl photo, you can see she has a fencing mask on the couch. The Anna in the title refers to is Anna Held.

Held was a Polish-born actress, lyricist, and composer, known for her marriages to Maximo Carrera and Florenz Ziegfield, Jr.

She presented her troupe's performance of "The Little Duchess" at Macauley's Theatre on April 4, 1902. This is an unidentified actress from that production.

Anna Held: The Woman Who Invented Stardom

Before the Ziegfeld Follies dazzled Broadway, before the age of celebrity marketing took hold, there was Anna Held—a performer whose life blurred the line between myth and reality, and whose legacy helped shape the spectacle of American entertainment.

Born in Warsaw in 1873 to a Jewish family, Helene Anna Held fled with her parents to Paris to escape antisemitic violence. There, she cultivated a persona that would become her trademark: flirtatious, extravagant, and unapologetically theatrical. Her performances in Parisian cabarets caught the eye of Florenz Ziegfeld, a young American impresario who saw in her not just talent, but a marketing opportunity.

Ziegfeld brought Held to New York in 1896 and launched a publicity campaign that would become legendary. He claimed she bathed in milk, had ribs removed to accentuate her waist, and wore diamonds in her shoes. Whether true or not, these stories captivated the public and made Held a sensation. Her Broadway debut in A Parlor Match was a hit, and she quickly became one of the highest-paid performers of her time.

Held’s success was not merely the result of Ziegfeld’s promotion. She had a magnetic stage presence, a sly wit, and a voice that charmed audiences. Her roles in musicals like The Little Duchess and A Parisian Model showcased her comedic timing and coquettish flair. She embodied a new kind of femininity—glamorous, self-aware, and performative.

Her relationship with Ziegfeld was both personal and professional. Though they never married, they lived together for over a decade and Held was instrumental in shaping Ziegfeld’s vision. Her style and persona laid the groundwork for the Ziegfeld Follies, which would become synonymous with opulence and beauty. Yet as Ziegfeld’s ambitions grew, so did the distance between them. He became infatuated with other women, notably Lillian Lorraine and later Billie Burke, whom he married in 1914.

Held’s final years were marked by illness and fading fame. She died of multiple myeloma in 1918 at the age of 45. Ziegfeld did not attend her funeral.

“She was a Polish-born French stage performer of Jewish origin on Broadway. While appearing in London, she was spotted by impresario Florenz Ziegfeld, who brought her to America as his common-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, the Ziegfeld Follies.”

Starting out in her native country Poland, Held toured Europe, appearing in Paris and London. Meeting empresario Flo Zeigfeld in London, she was convinced to move to NYC, where she became a huge star. Her first starring appearance was on Broadway in 1906/1907's "A Parisian Model". Held had 14 appearances on Broadway, from 1896 to 1917. This then led to her appearing in Ziegfeld's Follies.

Held and Ziegfeld never married, but were romantic partners from approx 1897 to 1913, around when Ziegfeld dumped Held for actress Lillian Lorraine.

During WWI, Held performed for French soldiers and raising money for the war effort. She visited the men as close to the front lines as she could get.