Bird Millman
Encyclopedia
Mud Shows & Vaudeville
Born Jennadean Engleman in Cañon City, ColoradoCañon City, Colorado
The City of Cañon City is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Fremont County, State of Colorado. The United States Census Bureau estimated that the city population was 16,000 in 2005. Cañon City is noted for being the location of nine state and four ...
, as a child, Bird traveled in mud shows (small circuses) with her parents, Dyke F. Engleman and Genevieve Patton Engleman In 1904, the Millman Trio entered big-time vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
, playing such destinations as Keith's Union Square and Hammerstein’s Roof Garden. At one point Bird was dubbed, perhaps ironically, "the Eva Tanguay
Eva Tanguay
Eva Tanguay was a Canadian-born singer and entertainer who billed herself as "the girl who made vaudeville famous".-Early life:...
of the Wire." At Berlin's Wintergarten Theatre
Berlin Wintergarten theatre
The Berlin Wintergarten theatre was a large variety theatre in Berlin that opened in approximately 1887 and was destroyed by bombs in June 1944. The name was eventually taken on by a theatre in Potsdamer Strasse in 1992....
, Bird gave a command performance before the court of Kaiser Wilhelm II Upon her return to the United States, her act became Bird Millman & Co., adding the New York Hippodrome
New York Hippodrome
The Hippodrome Theatre, also called the New York Hippodrome, was a theatre in New York City from 1905 to 1939, located on Sixth Avenue between 43rd and 44th Streets in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan. It was called the world's largest theatre by its builders and had a seating capacity of...
and the Palace Theatre (Broadway) to her list of credits. One of the troop’s new members, Fern Andra
Fern Andra
Fern Andra was an American actress, film director, script writer and producer. Next to Henny Porten and Asta Nielsen she was one of the most popular and best-known actresses in German silent films of the 1910s...
, did not return after a brief European tour; later, she resurfaced as a star of German silent film
Circus & Follies
In 1913, Bird became a center-ring performer with the Barnum and Bailey Circus, where she remained after its merger with the Ringling Brothers CircusRingling Brothers Circus
The Ringling Brothers Circus was a circus founded in the United States in 1884 by five of the seven Ringling Brothers: Albert , August , Otto , Alfred T. , Charles , John , and Henry...
. In the seasons of 1919 and 1920, the side rings were vacant during Bird's performance; such singularity was reserved for the circus’s greatest stars. Bird's peers were equestrienne May Wirth and aerialist Lillian Leitzel
Lillian Leitzel
Lillian Leitzel was an acrobat and strongwoman for the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus.-Early life:...
, the latter widely considered the greatest circus star of all time. Bird spent the circus’s off-season on Broadway, appearing in The Ziegfeld Follies
Ziegfeld Follies
The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air....
of 1916 and in several editions of Ziegfeld’s Frolics
In 1921, she appeared in John Murray Anderson
John Murray Anderson
John Murray Anderson was a theatre director and producer, songwriter, actor, screenwriter, and lighting designer. He worked almost every genre of show business, including vaudeville, Broadway, and film....
's Third Annual Greenwich Village Follies In 1920, she performed a specialty number in The Deep Purple, a silent film directed by Raoul Walsh
Raoul Walsh
Raoul Walsh was an American film director, actor, founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the brother of silent screen actor George Walsh...
Bird never relied on novelty or hair-raising stunts; rather, she was acclaimed for her unusual speed and seemingly effortless grace. Contrary to several well-meaning accounts, she did, indeed, employ a parasol for balance. During several exhibitions, she performed high above the streets of New York City; in addition to selling war bonds at such exhibitions, she gained widespread publicity Following her retirement from show business, the cross-dressing Berta Beeson, “the Julian Eltinge
Julian Eltinge
Julian Eltinge , born William Julian Dalton, was an American stage and screen actor and female impersonator. After appearing in the Boston Cadets Revue at the age of ten in feminine garb, Eltinge garnered notice from other producers and made his first appearance on Broadway in 1904...
of the Wire,” paid homage to her legacy in both form and content
Personal life
Her first two marriages were brief, one ending in annulment, the other in quick divorce. Her third husband was Harvard graduate and military veteran, Joseph Francis O'Day, who died shortly after losing his fortune in the stock market crashStock market crash
A stock market crash is a sudden dramatic decline of stock prices across a significant cross-section of a stock market, resulting in a significant loss of paper wealth. Crashes are driven by panic as much as by underlying economic factors...
of 1929.
Death
Destitute, Bird joined her mother and extended family in her native Colorado, where she died of uterine cancerUterine cancer
The term uterine cancer may refer to any of several different types of cancer which occur in the uterus, namely:*Uterine sarcomas: sarcomas of the myometrium, or muscular layer of the uterus, are most commonly leiomyosarcomas.*Endometrial cancer:...
several months before her fiftieth birthday. Her eulogy was written by author Dixie Willson (sister of composer Meredith Willson
Meredith Willson
Robert Meredith Willson was an American composer, songwriter, conductor and playwright, best known for writing the book, music and lyrics for the hit Broadway musical The Music Man...
).
Circus Hall of Fame
Bird Millman was inducted posthumously into the International Circus Hall of Fame in 1961.Resources
Items of interest- Vanity Fair, October 1916 (cover)
- “Why Bewitching Bird Millman ‘Hushed’ Her Goldspoon Marriage,” Denver Post (Magazine Section), 12 October 1924, p. 2
- Willson, Dixie. Little Texas (1929); Mystery in Spangles (1950)
Collections
- The Royal Gorge Regional Museum & History Center in Cañon City, ColoradoCañon City, ColoradoThe City of Cañon City is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Fremont County, State of Colorado. The United States Census Bureau estimated that the city population was 16,000 in 2005. Cañon City is noted for being the location of nine state and four ...
houses several artifacts, including personal letters and Bird's vaudeville scrapbook. - The Robert L. Parkinson Library and Research Center at the Circus World MuseumCircus World MuseumThe Circus World Museum is a large museum complex in Baraboo, Wisconsin devoted to circus-related history. The museum, which features not only circus artifacts and exhibits, but also hosts daily live circus performances throughout the summer, is owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, and...
houses programs, photographs, and more.