New Britain herald., 1918-08-13
ANNA HELD, FAMOUS
 ACTRESS, IS DEAD
Began Life as Singer in the
 Streets Of Paris

l several months from sickness that | puzzled the physicians It was stated 1 to be 8 pernicious form of aenemia. Miss Held's physicians abandoned 1 hope for her recovery several times during the months of her illness, but she rallied with an amazing force | with each relapse until two weeks ago, when she began slowly sinking. The actress became unconscious l early yesterday morning and re- mained oblivious to her surroundings until the end came. With Miss Held
 were Liant Carrera, her daughter;
 Susanne Westford-Allen, who is sister to Lillian Russell: Connie Miles, for four years her personal
 representative; Beatrice Driosch, her maid for the last seventeen years. and Dr. F. M. Overton.
 Imm ediately following her death notification was sent to Samuel King
 ston, who had charge of her theatr- cal affairs, and he said that he would
 make the necessary arrangements for
 the funeral.
 Miss Held was a Polish Jewess,
 born in Warsaw 45 years ago of par
 ents in humble station. Her father
 a glove stitcher, left Poland for Paris
 when Miss Held was a little girl, and
 it was the necessity of earning enough money to keep the family in bread and under roof that sent the
 small mademoiselle out among the
 cafes of the Quartier Latin to dance and sing among the students.
 Even then. when she was a mere slip of a girl with only the lghtest
 of trills for singing voice, her wholly original mannerisms-a little trick of using her big dark eyes, a, suggestion in gesture and pose of the improprieties to which her audiences
 were by no means hosti1e provided the touch was dainty and charm ingly moulded figure-made her eX- traordinarily popular in the gay quar- ter and suggested the fame that wait ed for her in the future
 Her fathers employment was pre- carious and poorly paid and the daughter worked very hard often spending half the night at cleaning and curling hat plumes after she had sung and danced in the evening. As she grew older she worked in shop where fur caps were manufactured. and while she toied thus, dreaming
 of the days when she hoped to be rich and famous her father died.
 First Stage Appearance in London. Tn London were relatives of her mother and herself and presently Anna was a resident of Whitechapel, where a manager of a music hall ob- served her prettiness and originality and figured that she could draw money to his box office He gave her her first chance to appear in public upon a real
 stage, and it was not long until she had attained local fame and was known as the Little Whitechapel Beauty
 In 1889 she returned to Paris after a short tour in Holland and the gay French capital welcomed her with open arms. She was a novelty. a new diversion, matching the requirements in beauty and grace and impotence required by the Parisians, and by the time she was ready to make an Amer ican venture in 1896 she was already celebrated in the light opera and com edy field of France.
 It was on September 1 A. 1896. that she arrived in this country, and a week 1 later she tripped upon the stage of the 1 Herald Square theater at Broadway 1 and Thirty fifth street, to flash her ! provocative glance at the susceptible l ones in the front rows A song she l sang then is remembered to this day, and a quarter of a century is q long 1 time, indeed for bit of such non- l sense to survive. As she sang it the l words were: "Oh won't you come and play wiz me? 1 For I have soOch a, nize fiddle way wiz l I wish you'd come an play wiz me"
 And with this went her naughty ] twinkle and f1tckering of eyelashes and l the graceful undulations that always l nf a mo than ten years she remained in musi- l cal comedy, earning popularity such 1 as very few entertainers of the stage ] have attained. Her name and her pie l ture were as familiar in YanktOn IS ] in New York, and no visitor from l north, south or west ever thought of 1 coming to New York in those days | without seeing Anna Held,
 Press Agent Ever Active. Skilful and not too veracous press 1 agents (the gentle art of press agent 1 ing was }ust forming Miss Held i seized her opportunities) kept her in 1 cessantly before public attention One 1 read daily of Miss Held's milk baths, | by means of which she maintained an ! incomparable complexion; Of her ca- 1 nine pets. of pearl necklaces. worth a l
 kings ransom, lightly tossed in her i lap by princes.
 One story which gained wide circu l
 ation described her as leapng from l
 her bicycle on Coney Island Boule- l
 yard, snatching at the dangling reins | of a runaway saddle horse, mastering i
 the animal and so saving the life of 1 Civil Justice E. Clarence Murphy Oc-
 casionally she was the victim Of start i ling jewel robberies. In 19O6 she was [
 credited with wearing boot heels 1 studded with diamonds, and it was about that time that thieves pur-