Adah Isaacs Menken
Adah Isaacs Menken, a Jewish poet and actress, shocked American and European audiences in the 1860s for her bold acting style. She became notorious for her role in the play Mazeppa, where she appeared on stage barely clothed tied to the back of a running horse. Menken was born in 1835 near New Orleans and learned French, German, Spanish and Hebrew in school. Around 1856 she published her first book of poems and married Alexander Isaacs Menken, whose name she kept through divorce and subsequent remarriages and liaisons. Called the most perfectly developed woman in the world, she moved between Europe and the United States as she performed. Adah Isaacs Menken died of tuberculosis in Paris in 1868 and was buried there in the Montparnasse Cemetery.
Photo: World History Group Archives
