Victoria Codona Adolph (1891–1983) was a fourth generation

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and uni ...

performer from the Codonas family. She was born in Vera Cruz,

Mexico Mexico ( Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guate ...

, to French and English parents. She performed in Mexican circuses as a

slackwire Slackwire (or slack wire) is an acrobatic circus act that involves the balancing skills of moving along a flexible, thin wire suspended in the air, connected to two anchor points. Slackwire is not to be confused with slacklining. Description an ...

artist. In 1909, agents of the

Barnum & Bailey Circus The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (also known as the Ringling Bros. Circus, Ringling Bros., the Barnum & Bailey Circus, Barnum & Bailey, or simply Ringling) is an American traveling circus company billed as The Greatest Show on Ear ...

recruited her and her younger brothers,

Alfredo Alfredo (, ) is a cognate of the Anglo-Saxon name Alfred and a common Italian, Galician, Portuguese and Spanish language personal name. People with the given name include: * Alfredo (born 1946), Brazilian footballer born as Alfredo Mostarda Fil ...

and Abelardo Codona, to perform with them. She worked for Barnum & Bailey until 1918 and also performed in Australia with the Brothers Circus. She was known as Princess Victoria and was a wire-walker. She retired from performing when she was pregnant with her first child with William K. Adolph, a race car driver, and they retired to

Palm Springs Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by lan ...

where she died in 1983 at the age of 92. In 2014, the

U.S. Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...

created a stamp of her as part of an eight stamp collection paying tribute to circus legends of the past.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Codona Adolph, Victoria 1891 births 1983 deaths Acrobats American circus performers Mexican emigrants to the United States Burials at Inglewood Park Cemetery