Mademoiselle LaLa

Photographed at the Gaiety Theatre, Manchester in 1876 (Collection Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University)

Miss LaLa was born Anna Olga Albertina Brown to Wilhelm Brown and Marie Christine Borchardt, on April 21, 1858, in the former German (but now Polish) city of Stettin (Szczecin).

Although petite in stature, the delicate Miss LaLa possessed astonishing strength. Born April of 1858 in what is now Poland, she performed in circuses and music halls across Europe. Her graceful aesthetic was more akin to Cirque du Soleil than Ringling Brothers. Her versatile repertoire included wire walking, trapeze acrobatics, strength balancing and iron jaw routines. Miss LaLa started her career at the age of nine or ten. At twenty-one, she soared to fame when Edgar Degas immortalized her in his painting Miss La La At the Cirque Fernando. In it he captured her rising nearly 70 feet above her audience, supported only by a rope clenched between her teeth.

Miss LaLa was known by many names. Capturing her exotic mixed racial traits, she became Olga the Negress, Venus of the Tropics, African Princess, and Olga the Mulatto.

She performed from the late 1860s until 1888. Early on she was a star attraction of the traveling Troupe Kaira, along with Theophila Szterker a.k.a. Kaira la Blanche (1864-88). These astonishing performers often partnered in their acts. Together they were The Two Butterflies – Les Deux Papillions.

Miss LaLa also earned the name of The Cannon Woman or La Mulatresse-Canon while holding a 150-pound civil war cannon in her teeth. The cannon was then fired, sending her body twisting and turning in mid-air.

Miss LaLa quit performing in 1888, the same year her partner plummeted to her death. The ladies of steel floated through the air. Night after night, they concealed fear, exertion and physical discomfort. These ethereal butterflies paid a very high price for admiration.

The same year her partner died, she quit performing and married Emanuel Woodson, an American contortionist. Together they had three children. He later managed the Palais d’être circus in Brussels. She became Anna Woodson a.k.a. Olga Woodson. The last known date of her life came from a U.S. passport application filed in 1919. Thanks to Edgar Degas, she lives forever, floating in the great arched dome of the Cirque Ferando.

blackhistorybuff.com (March 2019); blackhistorybuffpodcast; racingnelliebly.com, Famed Aerialist Miss LaLa Mesmerized Fans Including Edgar Degas with Her Graceful Strength

Edgar Degas' etchings and painting Miss Lala at the Fernando Circus, 1879:
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