Anna Held: The First Ziegfeld Girl

Who was the first Ziegfeld girl?

Arguably it was Anna Held (1872-1918), Florence Ziegfeld's common-law wife he lived with in a 13-room suite in Manhattan's Ansonia Hotel.

Bringing risqué jokes, flesh and women from around America on stage, Held was Ziegfeld's partner in crime for 14 years, from 1896 to 1910.

Leaving a daughter, Lianne Carrera (1895-1988) from her first marriage to a Paraguayan playboy, Held toured the French trenches during World War I and supposedly had a gown made of 3000 diamonds.