Anna Held (1870?-1918) was America's most popular musical comedy star during the two decades preceding World War I. In the colorful world of New York theater during La Belle poque, she epitomized everything that was glamorous, sophisticated, and suggestive about turn-of-the-century Broadway. Overcoming an impoverished life as an orphan to become a music-hall star in Paris, Held rocketed to fame in America. From 1896 to 1910, she starred in hit...