Gisela Brož

Gisela Antonia Brož (Brosch) (April 4, 1865[1] – January 28, 1944[2]), also sometimes referred to as Gisela Madigan, was an Austrian-American circus performer, tightrope dancer, and clown. Her parents were shoemaker Joseph Brož and his wife Maria.[3] She went to convent school in Transylvania and at the age of 15 she got to know the Madigan circus family, including John and Laura, who at that time toured with Circus Krembser in Vienna. Gisela became their foster child and got to learn tightrope dancing, along with the couple's two-year-younger daughter Elvira Madigan, on the slack wire.[4]

Gisela Brož
Gisela Brož from a photo in the Circus Archive in Stockholm
Born(1865-04-04)April 4, 1865
Vienna, Austrian Empire
DiedJanuary 28, 1944(1944-01-28) (aged 78)
New York, USA

The girls performed a unique routine where they danced at the same time on separate ropes, one just above the other. The routine became a sensation, and for years the girls performed as the "Daughters of the air" at circuses and varieties all over Europe. After a performance at Tivoli in Copenhagen in 1886 in front of the Danish royal family, the girls were each awarded one golden cross by the king of Denmark. In Copenhagen, Gisela got to know the German circus performer Alexander Braatz (1864-1914), with whom she got engaged.[5] In the year after she left the Madigan family and married Alexander in London in the summer of 1888.[6]

The couple immigrated to the US, where the couple, along with Alexander's brother and another relative, founded a group of musical clowns called Barra Troupe; the group toured the United States and Europe.[7][8]

Gisela and her husband became American citizens in 1894. Alexander died around 1914; Gisela then lived as a widow in New York City until her death in 1944.[9] The couple had two children together, Alice (n. 1888) and Walther (b. 1891).[10]

References
  1. Birth register, Maria Treu parish, Vienna
  2. New York Death Index 1852-1956, here as "Gisilla Braatz"
  3. Grönqvist, Klas (2013). En droppe föll – En bok om Elvira Madigan. Norsborg: Recito. ISBN 978-91-7517-506-5
  4. Jansen, Henrik M. (1989). Elvira Madigan & Sixten Sparre. Som samtiden opfattede dem - og 100 år senere. Skrifter fra Svendborg og Omegns museum, 0106-2220 ; 21. Svendborg: Svendborg og Omegns museum. ISBN 87-87769-09-3
  5. Jansen, Henrik M. (1989). Elvira Madigan & Sixten Sparre. Som samtiden opfattede dem - og 100 år senere. Skrifter fra Svendborg og Omegns museum, 0106-2220 ; 21. Svendborg: Svendborg og Omegns museum. ISBN 87-87769-09-3
  6. Grönqvist, Klas (2013). En droppe föll – En bok om Elvira Madigan. Norsborg: Recito. ISBN 978-91-7517-506-5
  7. "Familjen Madigan". Archived from the original on 14 December 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  8. "Folke Löfgren, Stig Henricson - rundvandring Gävle gamla kyrkogård, Del 2". Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  9. Slout, William L (1998). Olympians of the sawdust circle : a biographical dictionary of the nineteenth century American circus. San Bernardino, CA: Borgo Press. ISBN 978-0-8095-1310-9
  10. Grönqvist, Klas (2013). En droppe föll – En bok om Elvira Madigan. Norsborg: Recito. ISBN 978-91-7517-506-5
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