Adventurous Story of Adah Isaacs Menken,
Star of lictzeppa; Notorious Actress and
Poetess, Friend of Whitman, Dumas, Napoleon

Adah Isaacs Menken left an in-
teresting heritage. She was a no-
torious woman. She had become
involved in affairs with a number
of the world's most distinguished
Personalities. It was thanks to her
that semi-nudity became respect-
able on the stage, and as "The
Naked Lady" she created sensa-
tions in this country, in England
and in France.
Nearly a century has passed
since her death, yet she has been
the subject of many articles, in
these columns and in the press of
the world for many decades.
Her life story again attracts at-
tention as a result of the interest-
ing biography of the remarkable
woman written by Paul Lewis
under the • title "Queen of the
Plaza" and published by Funk and
Wagnalls ■ 360 Lexington, NY 17).
The title of the book stems from
the claim Adah had made after a
year's stay in Havana that she had
scored triumphs there as an ac-
tress and that she had been named
"Queen of the Plaza." Actually, she
had earned her living there for a
year as a prostitute cifter she was
abandoned by a man'who lured her
there when she was 18.

The spinner of many tales that
could have established her as the
world's most notorious liar, the
facts relating to her harlotry are
based on notes in her "Diary,"
Apparently her sad experiences
in Havana left her "frigid," but
she had so many affairs in the
ensuing 13 years of her life after
she had left Havana that her
promiscuity was among her ma-
jor qualifications for fame. Yet,
her literary interests, her poems,
the intelligence with which she
was able to meet the world's
most distinguished authors on
equal ground, have earned for
her an indelible place in the hall
of fame.

She had made many fantastic
claims about her origin, at times
stating she was born Jewish, and
on one occasion she even claimed
to have been part Negro. But it has
been established that she was born
April 11, 1835, and was christened
Adah Bertha Theodore, daughter
of Auguste and Marie Theodore, in
Milneburg, La.; that she was mar-
ried to Isaac Menken, son of a cry
goods store operator in Cincinnati,
and adopted the Jewish faith, and
that she was given final Jewish
rites on Aug. 12, 1868.
She had written many poems for
the American Israelite of Cincin-
nati in the news and editorial col-
urns of which she was referred to
very f r e q u e n t l y affectionately.
Thus, while actually she was a
Jewess briefly. by conversion, her
having remained a Jewess — al-
though her son _ was baptized—re-
tains for her the Jewish interest

that has always been given this was disgraced by total banishment
from the court. Adah was indeed
notorious character.
Born and raised in poverty, avenged!

It was in "Mazeppa or the
it was Adah's struggle to find
Wild Horse of Tartary," a
sustenance for herself, and to as-
very poor play, • that Adah
sist her mother and her step-
starred. She was never a good
sister Annie, that caused her to
actress, but as one of the most
yield to the man Who seduced her
beautiful women who exposed
and to resort to the many pro-
herself
in pink tights — which
miscuities so that she might ac-
gave the impression that she was
quire means to buy expensive
naked — who daringly strutted
clothes, to have much food—she
down the theater aisle strapped
was an avaricious eater—and to
to a horse, she was a sensation.
live eventually in luxury, al-
It was a sensation that was re-
though she died a pauper because
peated overseas.
she was so free with what she
possesed, passing out expensive
The sensation brought her money
gifts to her friends and associates and fame in San Francisco and in
and always impractical in plan- Virginia City, Nev., where she
ning for her own future.
was showered with hundreds of

CANBERRA (JTA) —Two Aus-
tralian cabinet ministers indicated
that the government had no inten-
tion of bowing to any Arab boycott
of Australian trade with Israel.
The issue was raised in the
House by W. C. Haworth, Liberal
deputy, who asked External Affairs
Minister Paul Hasluck if the gov-
ernment was aware of the Qantas
Airlines affair, which involved
charges that the airline had can-
celed plans to open an office in
Tel Aviv under Arab pressure.
The cabinet member replied that
he had seen evidence of an organi-
zation known as the Arab Boycott
League which had sent letters to
Australian businessmen warning
them of blacklisting if they traded
with Israel.
The minister added that the
League was not an official or-

private organization carrying on
"this campaign" against Israel,
adding that Australian policy was
"quite clear."
"We wish to live in friendly
relations with Israel and the
United Arab Republic and we be-
lieve that at present we do have
friendly relations with both of
them," he said.

"Matters relating to Australian
trade and freedom to trade with
any country are entirely matters
of the Australian government," he
stressed. He said the government
would watch carefully any attempt
to interfere with the freedom of
Australian businessmen to trade
freely with any part of the world.
G. Whitelam, the deputy leader
of the opposition, then asked John
McEwen, minister of trade, when
he had first learned that Australian
firms trading with Israel had been
threatened.
ganization and had no interna-
tional standing. He called it a
The minister gave the same an-
swer as his colleague and added he
and retained the name of her Jew- would be prepared to examine any
ish husband. Her surviving son, particular case of boycott threats
who was baptized a Catholic, was on its merits.
an infant at her death and was
given in adoption. No one knows Hebrew Corner
what had happened to him. But on
Aug. 12, 1868, when she was 33,
"Adah was buried in the Jewish
section of Pere Lachaise, the 'poor
man's cemetery." Dumas walked in
The first time that you meet Mr.
the tiny procession, followed by
Moshe Levine, whose exhibitions of
Minnie (Adah's maid), the gover- the
Mishkan was opened in Jerusalem,
ness and two other servants, one you see big blue dreaming eyes. His
are long, fingers thin and sen-
of whom led the star's saddled hands
sitive. These eyes went over hundreds
mare. "There were no other mour- of pages in the Bible commentaries
of
all
generations,
only then did these
ers, rain fell steadily, and the
hands work out what the eyes con-
rabbi who performed a brief grave- ceived: an extra ordinary model of
site ceremony did not tarry when the Mishkan, exact and clear.
Mr. Levine is an owner of a diamond
he had completed his task."
cutting plant. His hobby shines no
work in handicraft; a hobby that
"People forgot (her) almost over- less;
developed an interesting accomplish-
night," a monument erected for ment: a model of the Mishkan with
its various parts.
her in Montparnasse was torn down all He
studied every detail. He accu-
in 1875 because it impeded with mulated all the authentic materials
of
which
part was made and
street-widening, and it was not created it every
from anew — in a minia-
known whether her remains, which ture model of gold, silver and copper.
Many thousands of people visited
had been placed under the monu- the
exhibition in Jerusalem. Students
ment, had ever been moved.
and teachers, Talmudic students and
rabbis, writers, ministers and men of
In a sense, the Menken story higher learning, all were enthusiastic.
President of the State that visited
ends like a tragedy. It had many The
the exhibition showed great interest
comic aspects. It was filled with in all the particulars of the models.
remarkable feats. Paul Lewis turn- The General Secretary of the Ministry
of Education called upon the teachers
ed it into a great adventure in to bring the pupils to the exhibition.
"Queen of the Plaza."
A known figure in education notified
Levine that "Now with your crew+
—P. S. Mr.
lion, at last it is possible to under-

Her mother remarried early, and thousands of dollars worth of sil-
from her step-father, Campbell ver. All that money later was
Josephs, a language instructor, squandered.
The "Mazeppa" story, in itself a
Aadah learned to ride a horse ex-
pertly, to handle a gun, to know remarkable tale of a young girl's
daring, in itself makes good copy.
1,
languages.
Thus, when Joseph died when But the more interesting occur-
Adah was 15, the girl who was to ences in Adah's life were her
become a famous woman first be- many love affairs, the readiness
gan to tutor in the several lan- with with she gave herself to men
guages she learned. She began to like Charles Algernon Swinburne,
read the newest works and retained Alexandre Dumas' pere, and many
her knowledge, she acquired a love others; the friendships she estab-
of poetry, writing verses early in lished with Charles. Dickens, to
her youth. She even campaigned whom she dedicated her book of
for Franklin Pierce for President, poems, "Infelicia," which was pub-
although Pierce apaprently never lished posthumously; George Sand,
Emile Zola, Walt Whitman, Edwin
got to know her.
It was as the tutor of a daughter Booth, poets, actors, literati of all
of Baron Friedrich von Everstadt, types.
Walt Whitman was one of her
Austrian nobleman; that she came
first and most devoted friends
to know him and when his family
who admired her. It was because
left New Orleans due to an epi-
she knew and loved poetry and
demic, that Adah consented to go
literature and was able to dis-
with him to Havana. He gave her
cuss them intelligently, that she
expensive clothes but when he
was able to be on a par with the
abandoned her she was penniless
most eminent men of her time.
and turned to prostitution. One
She had daring and even ac-
of the fantastic stories in this in-
teresting book is of the ven- cepted a bid to a duel from an en-
geance Adah exacted from the Ba- vious actress, and when the latter
ron several years later in Vienna. realized Adah meant business she
She was to have performed there swooned, after Adah had shot a
in her famous role in "Mazeppa" hole through her bonnet, and apol-
after her triumphs in this country, ogized.
So many fantastic tales are re-
in England and in France, and
Eberhardt showed up again and corded in this biography, Adah's
asked that she renew her relation- lies spun with skill and the true
ship with him. She bided her time incidents of her life, combine to
stand the Book of 'Exodus.' The pupil
and then asked as a condition that make "Queen of the Plaza" most
can examine it and get a real con-
she be introduced to the Emperor interesting reading. It is a book THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
ception of the form of the Mishkan.
that
holds
the
reader's
attention
Franz Josef. After some difficulty
(Translation of Hebrew column pub-
lished by Bait Ivrit Olarnit, Jerusalem)
it was made possible, and Adah from begining to end and while it 40—Friday, September 25, 1964
is
evident
that
the
story
is
about
kept the illicit suitor off until after
a woman who was most indiscrim-
the great reception.
Then came the climax. Franz inate in her choice of men, and
Josef demanded the highest moral reckless in her actions, admiration
standards. He would not permit for her grows. Just as Dickens,
anything that deviated from strict- who at first was shocked by her,
"PtPP5
est adherence to the most rigorous became her friend; just as George
moral • codes. But when Adah was Sand embraced her after tifts with
nvn 104 mittril? tAis rTntM
nt7;703
rinnv,r1
presented to the Emperor she set her, so the reader closes the book
:tr.r:g4 tAiD rTI 33'4 701'; rRIV.4
aside her cloak and appeared in "a with a feeling that the star of "Ma-
snug-fitting gown of flesh-colored zeppa" has remained among the
.nie?in
most
fantastic
personalities
of
the
nin rnis73t31 miz -lx
jersey. Franz Josef stalked from
the chamber. Adah was ordered ex- Civil War period with good reason.
Adah Isaacs Menken adopted
33V19.70 ,1 -1r;) - EMI nittO
1VP 1ra?71 ,13111qH1
pelled from Austria, and Eberstadt

Mishkan Model
Tabernacle

,r,v?

COTE IAL SCRAPBOOK

Tie War

the Union 1861-65 in Pictures

By CLARK KINNAIRD

(King Features

Syndicate)

In New York, a century ago, P.
T. Barnum's "Great American
Museum" in Broadway was attract-
ing crowds to see "General Tom

in a girls' finishing school in New

Orleans before she became a star
on the dramatic stage. She was the
first U.S.A. born actress to play
With notable success in London
and Paris. Her most popular per-
formances were in "Mazeppa"—a
melodrama based on Lord Byron's
poem about a legendary Cossack

Thumb" and other freaks. There
was high demand for tickets to
"Mazeppa," a play starring Adah
chief.
Isaacs Menken.

Menken was the first of her four
husbands. Charles Dickens, Dante
Gabriel Rossetti, Algernon Charles
Swinburne and Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow were among friends
she cultivated meanwhile. Alex-
andre Dumas Sr. was an admirer
Poster representing Adah Menken, she wanted to marry.
who was the Marilyn Monroe of
Adah, at 11, penned a book of
her era. as Mazeppa. Adah, who,
like Marilyn, adopted the Jewish verse, and taught Latin and French

faith for one marriage, died at 33.

Australian Govt. Won't Bow to Arabs
Threatening Boycott, 2 Ministers Vow

Adah played the male lead with-
out trying to look like one when
the role required her to be semi-
stripped of her clothing and lashed
to a horse by the villain. The
reputation that had preceded her
return to her homeland, and the
effect of Adah's appearance in the

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