Violetta (performer)

Violetta in 1925

Aloisia Wagner (born 1906/1907, date of death unknown), better known by her stage name Violetta, was born without legs or arms with a condition known as tetra-amelia syndrome. She had a lengthy career in sideshow performance. She was born in Hemelingen, Germany.[1] Her mother was named Elise.

On March 23, 1924 she left Bremen-Hemelingen, Germany, with her stepbrother and manager, Karl Grobecker, aboard the SS George Washington. They arrived in New York on April 3, 1924.[2] She performed in sideshows as a singer, including Coney Island's Dreamland and the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. She moved herself by hopping from place to place on the bottom of her torso, and was able to manipulate objects with her mouth enough to comb her own hair, dress herself, thread a needle, and sew. Violetta was married and wore her wedding band on a gold chain around her neck.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Marc Hartzman -American sideshow: an encyclopedia of history's most wondrous 2005 p225 "Having not a single arm, leg, or stump, Violetta was known as the Trunk Woman and the Human Torso. She was born Aloisia Wagner in Germany in 1907, and came to America in April 1924 to exhibit herself at Coney Island Dreamland."
  2. ↑ List or Manifest of Alien Passengers for the United States Immigration Officer at Port of Arrival, SS George Washington Passengers Sailing from Bremen, March 23, 1924, Arriving at Port of New York, April 3, 1924.
  3. ↑ Wallace Stort, Amazing Account Of A Limbless Beauty Show, London Life magazine, 27 January 1940
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