Anna Held

Held, Anna

Held, Anna (1873–1918), singer and actress. The tiny, slightly plump, coquettish entertainer, with reddish‐brown hair and large, expressive brown eyes was born in Paris of Polish‐French parentage. Her early years were impoverished, and when her father died young, her mother took her to London, where she appeared in the chorus of some musicals. In 1895 Florenz Ziegfeld, who later married her, saw Held perform and brought her to America. Playgoers first saw her in an 1896 revival of A Parlor Match. The “veiled naughtiness of her songs” coupled with her sly, teasing delivery won her instant fame. She appeared in La Poupee (1897), Papa's Wife (1899), The Little Duchess (1901), Mam'selle Napoleon (1903), Higgledy Piggledy (1904), The Parisian Model (1906), and Miss Innocence (1908). After her separation from Ziegfeld she devoted most of her time to vaudeville, but she returned to musical comedy for a final time in Follow Me (1916). Among the songs associated with her were “Won't You Come and Play with Me?,” “I Just Can't Make My Eyes Behave,” and “It's Delightful to Be Married.”

Show all research tools

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Held, Anna." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Held, Anna." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-HeldAnna.html

Gerald Bordman and Thomas S. Hischak. "Held, Anna." The Oxford Companion to American Theatre. 2004. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O149-HeldAnna.html

Learn more about citation styles

Anna Held

Anna Held 1873?-1918, American musical comedy actress, b. Paris. She is remembered for her beauty and charm and for her tempestuous off-stage life. After she had small singing and dancing parts in Paris, success came to her when Florenz Ziegfeld (whom she subsequently married) persuaded her to come to the United States to star in the first of his lavish productions, A Parlor Match (1896). She was long a favorite on the New York stage; some of her outstanding performances were seen in The Little Duchess, The Parisian Model, and Miss Innocence.

Show all research tools

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

"Anna Held." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 11 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"Anna Held." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (February 11, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Held-Ann.html

"Anna Held." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Retrieved February 11, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Held-Ann.html

Learn more about citation styles

Free newspaper and magazine articles

Anna Griffin, Inc. Goes Digital with Scrapblog(TM).
Business Wire; 7/18/2008
Anna's 100th moves 'beyond' the usual.(Anna's Linens)
Magazine article from: Home Textiles Today; 7/14/2003
Anna has sudden impact.(Baseball Ems)(The Ball State product homers and...
Newspaper article from: The Register Guard (Eugene, OR); 6/23/2008

Facts and information from other sites

Pictures from Google Image Search

Click to see an enlarged picture
Click to see an enlarged picture
Click to see an enlarged picture

See more pictures of Held, Anna