Ena Bertoldi

Ena Bertoldi (born Beatrice Mary Claxton) (1878 – 1906) was an English contortionist who was the subject of one of the first kinetoscope films.

Career She was born Beatrice Mary Claxton to performer and agent Thomas Claxton Gregory, and began performing in circuses at the age of eight. In 1891, she travelled to America and performed with the Howard Athenaeum Specialty Co. In 1894, she performed at Koster & Bial's theatre and at the Union Square theatre as part of the B.F. Keith circuit.

Along with many of the circus and vaudeville acts at Koster & Bial's, she went to New Jersey to make films for the Thomas Edison Kinetoscope system at the Black Maria studio. Her films, filmed in the spring of 1894 and released that year, were Bertoldi (Table Contortion) and Bertoldi (Mouth support). The films were shown at the Holland Brothers parlour, where patrons paid twenty-five cents to watch a twenty- to thirty-second film through a slot in a wooden box.

In 1898 – 9, she carried out a twelve-month contract for G.A. Payne for £1300, She claimed to be able to carry out her feats 'without feeling.' She filed for separation from him in 1904 on the grounds of physical abuse.