Lillian Leitzel
Encyclopedia
Acrobatics
Acrobatics is the performance of extraordinary feats of balance, agility and motor coordination. It can be found in many of the performing arts, as well as many sports...
and strongwoman
Strongwoman
Strongwoman refers to either a woman performing feats of strength in a show or circus, or a woman who competes in strength athletics. Traditionally, strongwomen have had a special appeal, as women involved in demonstrated feats of strength were exceptions....
for the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus.
Early life
Leitzel was born as Leopoldina Alitza Pelikan in a family of circus performers. Her father was a HungarianHungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
army officer and theater performer. Her mother was a Czech circus acrobat. She spent her childhood in Germany where she lived with her maternal grandparents. Although she had been well-educated and had prepared to pursue a career as a concert pianist, she joined her mother's aerobatic circus group, the Leamy Ladies.
In 1910, she came to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with the circus troupe and performed with Barnum and Bailey. The group later dissolved and its member returned to Europe, but Leitzel continued to attempt to perform in the American 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...
circuit. In South Bend, Indiana
South Bend, Indiana
The city of South Bend is the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total of 101,168 residents; its Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 316,663...
, she was seen by an agent of the Ringling Brothers who offered her a contract. When Ringling and Barnum and Bailey merged, she became a huge star and a headline performer for the circus.
Act and personality
Leitzel's act included one-armed planges, momentarily dislocating the shoulder during each plange.She would flip her body over her shoulder repeatedly, sometimes hundreds of times in a feat of endurance, encouraging the audience to count each one in unison. She was best known for her flirting rapport with the audience.
Only four feet, nine inches, she was also famous for her demanding personality and temper. Leitzel was the first performer in history to command her own private Pullman car completely furnished with her own baby grand piano. Her quick temper was legendary. It was not uncommon to witness Leitzel cursing or slapping a roustabout who did not adjust her rigging exactly to her liking. Further, Leitzel was known to fly off the handle and fire and rehire her personal maid, Mabel Cummings several times a day. In sharp contrast, it was the same hot tempered prima donna who was known to the children on the show as "Auntie Leitzel" and who would hold birthday parties for her fellow performers in her private dressing tent.
Although pursued by many wealthy suitors, she married a series of circus individuals and never had any children. She first married a minor circus stagehand, then the side show manager Clyde Ingalls (ending in divorce in 1924), and finally the circus trapeze
Trapeze
A trapeze is a short horizontal bar hung by ropes or metal straps from a support. It is an aerial apparatus commonly found in circus performances...
performer Alfredo Codona
Alfredo Codona
Alfredo Codona was an Italian American trapeze artistCodona was born in Sonora, Mexico to a circus trapeze family that became famous in the Ringling Brothers Circus. His father owned the circus and his mother, Hortense Buislay, was from a great family of trapeze performers...
in 1928.
Accident and death
On February 13, 1931, she fell to the ground from her rigging while performing in CopenhagenCopenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
when the swivel that held the rope in place crystallized and snapped. She and Codona had been performing in Europe separately, and he rushed to Copenhagen. They boarded a train to return to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
where Codona had a commitment. However, she died on February 15, two days after the fall, aged 39. In 1937, Codona shot Vera Bruce, his third wife, from whom he had just been divorced, and then he killed himself, also by gunshot.