The Tragedy of Alfredo Codona

October 7 was the birthday of Alfredo Codona (1893-1937), the most celebrated (and later mourned) member of an international, multi-generational dynasty of showfolk.

Originally spelled Codoni, the family originated in Ticino, the Southernmost canton of Switzerland, where the cities of Locarno and Lugano are located, just across the border from Como, and a little farther, Milan. Francesco Codoni (1765-1849) moved to Scotland around the turn of the 19th century. Some of his descendants were to tour Europe with circuses. Others were to follow in Francesco’s footsteps as a fairgrounds showman. The family still had a footprint in that world with Codona’s Amusement Park, Aberdeen, which was established as recently as 1970.

Another branch of the family moved to the Americas. Francesco begat John began Henry (Enrique) begat Eduardo (1859-1934) who married Hortense Buislay, herself of a French dynasty of acrobats and trapeze artists. Circa. 1888 Eduardo started his own small Mexican circus with trapeze and acrobatics at its core, along with other such diversions as a Comanche native wrestling a bear. Their six Codona children joined the family act, the most notable of whom were the three oldest Victoria (1890-1983), Alfredo, and Abelardo, or Lalo (1895-1951).

In 1910, Victoria and Alfredo got gigs with Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey, Victoria with a slack wire act and Alfredo on trapeze. They returned to the family show after a couple of seasons, whereupon Eduardo developed a trapeze double act with his son, with himself as the catcher, Alfred as the flyer. Then he trained Lalo to replace him as the catcher. At various times, others were employed in the act as well, and they traveled in circuses billed as The Flying Codonas. Various incarnations of the act worked RBBB, the Wirth Circus, Sells-Floto, Cirque Medrano, Circus Hagenbeck, Cirque d’Hiver, the Wintergarten in Berlin, at al.

The star of the act was always the dashing, handsome and gifted Alfredo, whose claim to fame became the triple aerial somersault. The feat was not unprecedented when he began to work it into the act, but he was the first to make it a highlight of every performance. Such was the fame of The Flying Codonas, Alfredo in particular, that they were featured in one capacity or another in several films, including E.A. Dupont’sVarieté (1925), F.W. Murnau’s4 Devils (1928, now lost), and Jack Cumming’s documentary Swing High (1932). Alfredo was also in The Circus Clown (1932) with Joe E. Brown, and stunted for Johnny Weissmuller in two Tarzan movies (1932-34). The act was also immortalized in John Steuart Curry’s 1932 painting The Flying Codonas, which is what inspired this post.

From 1917 to 1927 Alfredo Codona was married to Australian acrobat Clara Groves, who was also part of the troupe. After his divorce from Clara came his fairy tale wedding to the great circus star Lillian Leitzel in 1928. This was greatly hyped at the time by RBBB, where they both stars. The happiness was to be shortlived however.

In 1931 came Leitzel’s tragic death when he apparatus broke and she fell onto a concrete floor. The following year, a grief stricken Alfredo married Vera Bruce, who had replaced Clara in the Codona act in 1928. Marital bliss was not to be their portion. His concentration shaken, Codona had bad falls (onto nets) in 1932 and 1933 that made further trapeze work impossible. He soldiered on for a time, working as Performance Director for Hagenbeck-Wallace (1934-35), and Equestrian Director for the Tom Mix Circus and Wild West (1936). It was painful for him to be so close to the spotlight without partaking of it, however. Meanwhile, Vera left the Codona act and formed a double with her brother Clarence Bruce.

Bitter and angry, in 1937, Codona left the circus business entirely and began working at his brother-in-law’s garage. That same year, Vera filed for divorce. In late July the pair met to finalize the details at the office of her attorney, whereupon Codona shot Vera five times, then turned the gun upon himself. Codona died instantly, Vera lingered until the next day.

Four months, later Lalo Codona had a fall similar to Alfredo’s, forcing his own retirement from show business, thus marking the end of The Flying Codonas. The last gasp of this branch of the family’s fame may be said to be the 1940 German bio-pic The Three Codonas, directed by A.M. Rabenalt

You can find out much more about this story in Dominique’s Jando’s terrific Circopedia article, from which I gleaned many of the details in the article.

For more about show business historyconsult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous.