Lillian Leitzel
Alfredo Codona
Inglewood Park Cemetery
This 17-foot-tall statue
of an angel reaching down to embrace a woman is a hauntingly beautiful memorial
to two of the most famous -- and most tragic -- circus aerialists, Lillian Leitzel
(1892 - 1931) and Alfredo Codona (1893 - 1937).
The diminutive Leitzel -- she was only 4-foot-9, and weighed just
95 pounds -- was one of the early stars of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey
circus in the 1920s. She was promoted on circus posters as "The Queen of
the Air" and "The World's Most Marvelous Lady Gymnast." Leitzel was best
known for a feat called the one-arm plange, or swing-over, in which she would
perform a nearly vertical rotation while hanging from a ring by only one arm.
Leitzel came from a European circus family. Her mother and
two aunts were famous throughout Europe with their trapeze act known as the
Leamy Ladies; her grandmother, Julia Pelikan, was still swinging from the
trapeze at the age of 84; and her uncle, Adolph Pelikan, was a popular circus
clown. Although Leitzel received an extensive education in Germany, at schools
in Breslau and Berlin -- she was fluent in six languages and was a talented
The Leamy Ladies returned to the United States again in 1911,
but when they went home to Europe at the end of their tour, Leitzel stayed
behind, and became a popular performer on the vaudeville circuit.
In 1914, Leitzel joined the Ringling Bros. circus and, by
the time the circus merged with Barnum & Bailey five years later to become
"The Greatest Show on Earth," Leitzel was the undisputed star. When
Leitzel was announced by the ringmaster, all the lights in the three-ring
tent would be turned off. She was the only performer in the circus who
did her act alone.
The highlight of her act came when Leitzel would grab a
padded rope loop attached to a swivel, and would repeatedly throw herself
over the loop. While she was swinging high over their heads, the audience
would keep count of her rotations. Her record was 249 revolutions, which
is an incredible feat, considering that each time Leitzel would complete
a swing-over, her shoulder became partially dislocated, then snapped back
into place. Once asked why she would put herself through such a difficult
and painful routine, Leitzel gave a prophetic response: "I'd rather be a
racehorse and last a minute than be a plow horse and last forever."
Outside the circus tent, Leitzel had a reputation as a
temperamental prima donna, unpredictable and demanding. She was known
to curse or slap circus employees, and she was the first circus performer
to travel in her own private Pullman rail car, complete with a baby
grand piano.
In 1928, Leitzel married another hot-tempered circus performer,
trapeze artist Alfredo Codona of the Flying Codonas, a stylish and graceful
performer known for his daring triple somersault. Although Codona wasn't
the first aerialist to perform the triple somersault, he was the first to
include it as a regular part of his act.
Leitzel and Codona shared similar temperaments, and their
tumultuous marriage featured numerous arguments, public shouting matches,
breakups and reconciliations.
Alfredo Codona also came from a circus family. His father,
Eduardo, owned and operated a small circus in southern Mexico, and several
In 1917, the Flying Codonas joined the Ringling Bros. circus,
where Leitzel was already a star. When Eduardo retired, the Flying Codonas
became the Three Codonas, with Alfredo, his brother, Lalo, and sister, Victoria.
When Victoria quit the act, she was replaced by Vera Bruce.
The Three Codonas appeared in a short film titled "Swing High" (1931),
which was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Short Subject. Alfredo
Codona also performed most of the aerial stunts for the early "Tarzan" films
starring Johnny Weissmuller in the early 1930s.
In addition to their combustible personalities, Leitzel and
Alfredo Codona were also both tireless performers. Both craved the spotlight
and the attention they received, and they often scheduled performances during
their winter breaks from the circus. During one of these outside performances,
on Feb. 13, 1931, in Copenhagen, Denmark, one of the brass connections
on Lietzel's rope broke, and she fell 45 feet to a concrete floor, suffering
a concussion and spinal injuries. Codona, who was performing in Berlin
at the time, rushed to Copenhagen, but Leitzel insisted that her injuries
weren't serious, and she urged Codona to return to Berlin to finish his engagement.
Two days later, and a few hours after Codona left her side, Leitzel's
condition worsened and she died.
Codona was devastated by Leitzel's death. He built the memorial
to her, "In everlasting memory of my beloved, Leitzel Codona -- Erected by her
devoted husband, Alfredo Codona."
At first glance, it appears that the statue, titled "Reunion,"
represents an angel embracing Leitzel and taking her to heaven. But if the
figure of the woman on the statue is supposed to represent Leitzel, the
handsome, wavy-haired angel looks amazingly like Codona, based on the
small photograph of him on his grave marker. Perhaps the angel is not
really an angel at all, and the statue is merely a representation of
Codona's love for Leitzel, with the wings as a symbol of his life as
an aerialist.
Just below the woman's feet on the statue are carved two
small rings -- the same type of rings Leitzel used in her famous swing-over
routine. One of the rings is firmly attached to a rope, but above the
other ring, the rope is broken.
After Leitzel's death, Codona married Vera Bruce in September
1932, and started to become increasingly reckless in his act. When he was
seriously injured in a fall in 1933, doctors told him that torn ligaments
in his shoulder would prevent him from ever performing again, and he was
permanently "grounded." Still mourning Leitzel's death, and now faced
with the end of his own career, Codona's marriage started to crumble.
Codona was working at a garage in Long Beach, CA, when Bruce
filed for divorce in 1937. While the couple was in Bruce's attorney's office,
along with Bruce's mother, in July 1937 to discuss divorce proceedings,
Codona asked to speak to his wife in private. Bruce's mother
refused to leave. After the attorney left the room, Codona locked the door,
pulled a pistol from his coat pocket, shot his wife four times as her
horrified mother watched, then shot himself once in the head. Codona
died instantly, and Bruce died the next day.
After the shooting, Codona's family found a suicide note
containing his last request -- to be buried beside Leitzel.
On one side of Codona's grave is a large marker over the
grave of his brother, Lalo Codona (1895 - 1951), and on the other side
is a small marker over the grave of his sister, Victoria Codona Adolph
(1891 - 1983). Behind the angel statue are the graves of Codona's parents,
Eduardo (1859 - 1934) and Hortensia (1869 - 1931).
Leitzel was born Leopoldina Alitza Pelikan on Jan. 2, 1892,
in Breslau, Germany (some sources say Bohemia). She died on Feb. 15,
1931, in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Codona was born on Oct. 7, 1893 in Sonora, Mexico. He
died on July 30, 1937, in Long Beach, CA.
1892 - 1931
1893 - 1937
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