There have been some pretty, leggy ladies hanging around my desktop these last weeks, and I thought they had better have their moment ... so let me introduce you (and me) to Miss Zélia Lagarde
Well, (a) I don't know whether Mons Boudeville existed or if he's just a type ... PS he was real! (b) I don't see Zélia anywhere but at the Folies-Dramatiques in 1868, as one of the decorative pageboys in Chilpéric, and playing 'une cuisinière in the accompanying playlet. And then she was gone: direction Buenos Aires ... from where she never returned, I imagine.
Rather more durable and, clearly, more talented was the lady known as Alice DE RIZZA. Rather an unprepossessing nom de bataille, but maybe it was real.
Alice was said to have been a pupil of Révial (at the Conservatoire?) and 'finished by Lamperti'. She appeared in concert at the Salle Herz, then apparently tootled off to see Cuba and America. I find no trace, but a lot of gels went that way. On her return, in 1871, she was hired for the Folies-Dramatiques, where she appeared in the prize role of Méphisto in Le Petit Faust, as Fiorella in Les Brigands, Pandore in La Boîte à Pandore .. to pleased notices. Thereafter I see her at Rouen (Césarine in Fleur de Thé, Zanetta in La Princesse de Trébizonde 'voix si expressive, bien vibrante et métallique et séduisante') before she was contracted for St Petersburg (Petit Faust, Boîte de Lait, Les Chevaliers de la Table Ronde etc). In 1874 I see her in Brussels (Rothomago), in 1875 playing Albert in Les Pillules de diable at the Châtelet ..
Thereafter, I see her only in the odd concert and her name (there can't have been two thus named!) as lyricist on several published ballads. But she resurfaces in the 1900s, giving declamation and singing lessons from various Paris addresses .. and there I leave her.
This, however, was the photo which grabbed me. What a stunning woman!
Who was Emmy Braatz?
Well, I've spent the best part of two days trying to track her details. Maddening that the back of the photo has been destroyed. And no date. There is absolutely no problem with identifying her as one of the Braatz family of gymnasts, jugglers and show folks .. but I challenge ANYONE to put together a family tree for these Braatzes. Usual showbiz reasons. Some of the boy and girls who appeared with the Braatz entertainment (up to 7 men, 3 girls) probably weren't kosher Braatzes at all. And some of them who may have been, operated under a variety of names ...
Here is my first Braatz: Clara dite Mlle Euphrosine (Frau Ernst Rost, 1844-1871) first spotted (by me) as Euphrosina the 'Königin der Ascension' in 1862. 'seiltänzerin'. Tightrope artist. Estimated to be as good as Marguerite Saqui ... 1868 in Pest ..
She seems to have changed wire names at leisure. But she is out of the picture in August 1871. She fell from her wire 'forty feet above the ground' in a performance in Arad and died from her injuries. Aged 27.
On her marriage certificate, she confided that her father was named Fritz.
So who are all the others? In 1868 there is Anna Braatz 'well-known in Vienna' wirwewalking in Pest. In the 1870 topbilled at the Orpheum there are 'the sisters Emmy and Anna' juggling. Also billed" 'The Braatz family'. Anna also does wirewalking. They are said to have played 180 nights in Hamburg. They vasried their acts, and came together in a piece called 'Die 7 Athleten der Zukunft', while the 'brothers Paul and Gustav Braatz performed on the Strabaten-Schwung trapez, and Paul gave the 'gefahrvolle Stuhlpiramide'. Then we have Paul and Otto Braatz doing 'Die beiden Violonisten an der persiche Stange' and an 'entrée comique de deux clowns' while ther two girls continue, each, their specialities. They were retained for the next seaspn when Emmy introduced an act with a bicycle on the highwire. And they advertise a company of fourteen! Gustav and joined Emmy in their großartige Velocipedefahrt 40 feet above the ground ..
They moved on to the Neue Welt in Pest - Emma, Anna, Otto, Paul, Gustav, Richard, Daniel, Alexander ... were they really all Braatzes? Brothers? Sisters? Related to 'Euphrosine'-Clara or not ...? Children of Fritz, or grandchildren, or not ...
Is it a coincidence that after 1871, and Euphrosine's death, we don't see Anna anymore. I think I have the occasional glimpse of Emmy ... Paul? The nebulous Daniel and Richard ?
I have found a crinkled photo of ?Emmy said to be taken in Odessa in 1874 ...
There are Alexander and Otto in 1878 doing a Violonduett auf dem musikalische Bambusohr ... whatever that is ...
1883, Gustav (A Gustav anyhow) is doing a gymnastic act with the sisters Alice and Wally ....
Well, there is so little proof of who is who that I decided maybe I should work backwards and maybe that way I would get the family sorted.
OK. This looks promising: Alexander Braatz of Oranienburg nr Berlin patents, in 1902, a property horse for stage purposes ..
Alexander Braatz marries Gisela Antonia Broz (Brosch) in London. Just in time. Gisela was a successful performer.
Alexander Braatz (wife Gisela) born Berlin 29 May 1864 'artist' takes out American passport. Oh dear, he's 5ft 5ins tall. Children: Alice Gisela (b London 5 September 1888) and Walter (b 10 March 1891). Both became performers.
Alexander and Otto and Frau Elise Braatz 1878
1908 'Alice Dianda' daughter of Alexander and Gisela marries writer Hermann Frey ...
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| Gisela |
How about Otto Alfred Friedrich Braatz born Berlin 30 July 1866 died 30 July 1945. Wife (1) Mathilde Rauch (9 October 1888), Children Nellie Franziska Elvira (7 December 1888) and Werra (29 January 1897) both performers for a time.
And his ?brother Fritz [J G O doubtless for Otto) (b 1 May 1865 Berlin), acrobat, 5ft 8, son of Friedrich Otto Braatz and Anna Johanna Pauline Steinhard. A sister Ella Ottilie Amalia Marie Braatz ... oyoy there's an Ella coming up 'equilibrist and gymnast' in 1888? Oh. ... Fritz married (19 November 1888) Clara E E Neumann dite Newman ..
Accompanied ?niece Selma, famous juggler, to Australia in 1913 ... Clara had been a solo dancer in the Kiraly Brothers' revival of Mazulm, the Night Owl, for which 'the Brothers Braatz' were imported from Europe. So Fritz, referred to in 1915 as a crippled acrobat was clearly one of the 'Brothers'.
I don't know how many Braatz Brothers there were in the Kiralfy act. Fritz and Alexander. Maybe only the two. They were doing a hand to hand spesh. Or head to head. Certainly there weren't the seven of the previous decade.
The group was apparently known as the Barra troupe latterly, and Otto was in charge.
Another who has to be accounted for is Elizabeth Braatz. She was doing a pedestal contortion act in 1872. And there's another ?Elizabeth in 1883 doing an act with Marguerite on the high wire.
Well, Marguerite (b 16 February 1856; d 8 November 1941) was kind enough to go on for a long time and to die unwed. The Elizabeth was her younger sister ka Lizzie. There was a brother, George, as well, who became an acrobat ... and they are all recorded in the American censi.
Well, more or less. George was born 8 June 1873, and died NYC 29 January 1950. He was one of the ten children of Marie née Steinhard(t) (b January 1833; d 1915?) and her husband Friedrich, Frederick or Ferdinand. Steinhardt? Oh-oh. We've already bumped into that name with Fritz. Fritz = Fred??? But his mother was Anna Johanna. Sigh.
Marie, Marguerite, Lizzie and George can be seen at 23 7th Street for many years ....
Elizabeth became the wife of Augustus Schumann, acrobat ('Gus Alteno') and lived to 22 November 1946. There was no 'Braatz brothers' nowadays for George to join, so he became one of the so-called Everett Brothers. George Frederick Braatz died, unmarried, in New York.
The most famous of the latter day Braatzes was undoubtedly Selma. Selma is a kind of a mystery. She has been written about a lot by juggling enthuiasts, and generally described as [one of] 'the greatest female jugglers of her lifetime', performing tricks said to be only to be done by males. Her acts are described in detail in 20th century papers and books. Exaggerated? Well, Anna Braatz had been going the juggling-torches act over thirty years before her ?great niece.
So, I won't linger in detail over what she did, I'm trying to work out who she WAS. Maybe a by blow? She got the most coverage of her private life when she visited Australia, in 1913-4, allegedly still in her twenties. Even Australia's journalists didn't get birth details. Fritz and Clara were said to be her uncle and aunt. Her birthdate given as 1885. Oh, wait Fritz and Clara weren't wed till 1888, so she couldn't be theirs. But I do wonder why she is listed on an early shiplist as Selma Neumann ...
'Father was one of Bros Braatz'. No one says which one. 'She was trained by her aunts, Clara and Welda ...'. Who is Welda? Is she the Mrs Welda Ida Braatz who wed (2) Rudolf Ernest Otto Müller ... or is the the 'Wally' maybe Braatz at the Tivoli Copenhagen in the 1880s? Or Wally Valeska Alice ...
So nodody can yet divulge Selma's parentage, nor yet her date and place of birth.
Selma had a long career, always much praised. But she died in 1975 and was buried in an unmarked grave ...
The Braatzes lingered in show business. After Frau Elise there was Madame Braatz's trained horses. Herr(en) Braatz's performing dogs. Alice Dianda's brother Walter (b 10 March 1901; d Bronx 28 March 1983) worked on, wed, had a daughter, Rita who preferred the schreibmaschine to the high wire.
Two days I've ligered in the cirus ring and on the high wire ... I've come up with quite a few bits of the jigsaw, and I've managed to put quite a few of them together ... but the puzzle is still incomplete. But that's showbiz. And circus is showbizziest showbiz there is. And if (IF) I have identified the original photo correctly, I still don't truthfully know ... who was ELLY BRAATZ?
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