Tightrope Dancer Marietta Zanfretta and Family

August 31 was the birthday of Marietta Zanfretta (1832-1898), one of the greatest female tightrope dancers in the world, then or now. To be a tightrope dancer is an order of difficulty beyond being a mere walker. The artist actually performs ballet up and down the wire. Zanfretta could even dance en pointe on the tightrope.

She was born into a family of acrobats in Venice, at a time when it was a possession of the Austrian Empire. Based in Northern Italy, the family performed throughout Europe throughout her youth, at venues like Franconi’s in Paris. At the age of 20, Zanfretta came to the States to take circus work, with the rest of her family following about 1855. Until the end of the decade and a bit beyond, the Zanfrettas were associated with the Ravel Family, performing with their travelling shows including a lucrative two year engagement at Niblo’s Garden. With her family and without them, Marietta toured variety theatres (prototypical vaudeville), pantomimes, and circuses regionally and in dedicated entertainment centers like New York’s Bowery. Tony Pastor’s Opera House was one the stops. She also expanded her repertoire to include bareback riding, performing her dance specialty atop a moving horse.

In New Orleans, Zanfretta met French trapeze artist, clown, and acrobat Francois Siegrist. The pair married and merged their acts. Now known as Madame Siegrist, Marietta had one biological daughter and adopted several additional children, all of whom were inducted into the acrobatic business. A fall whilst she was performing in Havana (he second major accident) convinced her to retire her dangerous act around 1880. Her husband died two years earlier. In her retirement she married actor/manager François ‘Frank’ Victor Kenebel.

Other members of the Zanfretta-Siegrist performing family included her siblings Alexandre and Augustine, and Francois’s brother Auguste Siegrist. Vaudeville star Harry Kelly claimed to be related to the Zanfretta family.

Marietta Zanfretta’s later years were spent living in a New York townhouse at 22 Charlton Street in Greenwich Village. Nearly 200 years old, the building still stands and is in great shape! Get some racy stories about life in that house at this terrific website here.

To learn more about the history of vaudeville, consult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous.