Women Who Dared

Anna Olga Albertina Brown

Superior Strength

1858-1919? -Germany

In the 1800s, circuses were a popular form of entertainment around the world. In 1858, two acrobats had a baby girl and named her Anna Olga Albertina Brown. It’s not surprising that she joined the family business. From a young age she was an accomplished trapeze artist, tightrope walker, and gymnast. Anna performed under the stage name “Miss La La.” She was tiny—under five feet tall. Although she looked like a child, she had the strength of a grown man—a very STRONG man. And that’s what set her apart from the other trapeze artists. Being biracial also gave her an air of mystery, which publicists capitalized on when they released stories about her background before her appearances. Rumors were rampant before performances. The more outlandish the story, the more tickets were sold. Anna’s act was astonishing and unique. She’d start out by hanging a hook with a dangling leather strap over a trapeze bar. She’d then bite down on the strap and hang there by her teeth—and spin! That was just the warm-up. She’d also hang by her knees from a trapeze bar while holding a leather strap connected to another trapeze bar in her teeth. But then, a child, a woman, and a man would hang on that trapeze bar! By that point the audience would be amazed by her poise and strength. But there was more to come. Much more. Anna would be lifted to the top of the circus tent, and with just one leg swung over a trapeze bar, this dainty acrobat in a ruffled skirt would hold three grown men aloft—one on each arm and one hanging onto a strap she held in her teeth. Her big finale was a booming success—literally. She would lift a cannon attached to a leather strap into the air with her teeth, and then it would be FIRED! She’d be flung back from the blast—still clenching the cannon—earning her the nickname “Iron Jaw.” When she was twenty-one, Anna was immortalized in a painting by the famous French impressionist artist Edgar Degas. He’d seen her perform several times in Montmarte, Paris, and wanted to capture her beauty, strength, and grace on canvas. The painting depicts her suspended from a rope attached to the roof of the circus tent—a rope she’s holding in her teeth. The oil painting, Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando, hangs in the National Gallery in London. One art critic proclaimed it to be one of the artist’s finest works. It certainly portrays one of the finest, strongest, and bravest women the circus has ever known!