Eliza Rosanna Gilbert (17 February 1821 – 17 January 1861), better known by the stage name Lola Montez (), was an Irish dancer and actress who became famous as a Spanish dancer, courtesan, and mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, who made her Gräfin (Countess) von Landsfeld. At the start of the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states, she was forced to flee. She proceeded to the United States via Austria, Switzerland, France and London, to return to her work as an entertainer and lecturer.

Biography

Early life

thumb|Lola Montez portrait by before 1840

thumb|Lola Montez's lithography

left|thumb|Lola Montez with Alights-on-a-Cloud, 1850s

Elizabeth Rosanna Gilbert was born into an Anglo-Irish family, the daughter of Ensign Edward Gilbert and Elizabeth ("Eliza") Oliver. Elizabeth's birthdate has been subject to confusion, and for many years it was accepted that she was born in Limerick, as she herself claimed, possibly on 23 June 1818; this is the year that was engraved on her headstone. However, her baptismal certificate came to light in the late 1990s, and it bears an annotation indicating that she was born on 17 February 1821 in the village of Grange in the north of County Sligo, where her father's regiment (the 25th Scottish Borderers) had been billeted.

Elizabeth's parents were married on 29 April 1820. Her father's exact origins are a mystery, but are probably "legitimately or otherwise", from the Anglo-Irish nobility or well-to-do gentry. He was 24 when his daughter was born, and his wife Eliza was 15. Her family, the Olivers, were a prominent Anglo-Irish family of the Protestant ascendancy in County Cork, where Edward Gilbert's regiment was stationed. But Eliza was an illegitimate child, and at the time of her wedding she was apprenticed as a milliner's assistant. Her father Charles Silver Oliver was a former High Sheriff of Cork and former member of Irish Parliament for a constituency in County Limerick. Their residence was Castle Oliver, which stood a thousand yards to the south-west of the current castle of the same name in Limerick.

The newly constituted family's principal residence was at King House in Boyle, County Roscommon, until early 1823, when they journeyed to Liverpool, England (where Elizabeth was baptized at St. Peter's Church on 16 February), to depart there for India on 14 March.

Shortly after their arrival in India, Edward Gilbert died of cholera. Her mother, who was then 19, married Lieutenant Patrick Craigie the next year. Craigie quickly came to care for the young Eliza, but her spoiled and half-wild ways concerned him greatly. Eventually, it was agreed she would be sent back to Britain to attend school, staying with Craigie's father in Montrose, Scotland. But the "queer, wayward little Indian girl" rapidly became known as a mischief-maker.

At the age of ten, Eliza was moved again—this time to Sunderland, England, where her stepfather's older sister, Catherine Rae, set up a boarding school in Monkwearmouth with her husband. Eliza continued her education there. Her determination and temper became her trademarks. Her stay in Sunderland lasted only a year, as she was then transferred to a school in Camden Place (now Camden Crescent), Bath, for a more sophisticated education.

In 1837, 16-year-old Eliza eloped with Lieutenant Thomas James. The couple separated five years later, in Calcutta, India, and she became a professional dancer under a stage name.

thumb|Coat of arms given to Montez when she was made Countess of Landsfeld by [[Ludwig I of Bavaria]]

Life as a courtesan

thumb|right|

thumb|Lola Montez ([[Gouache by , 1847)]]

In 1844, Eliza, now known as Lola Montez, made a personally disappointing Parisian stage debut as a dancer in Fromental Halévy's opera Le lazzarone. She met and had an affair with Franz Liszt, who introduced her to the circle of George Sand. After performing in various European capitals, she settled in Paris, where she was accepted into the city's literary bohemia, becoming acquainted with Alexandre Dumas, with whom she was also rumoured to have had a dalliance. In Paris she met , "owner of the newspaper with the highest circulation in France, and also the newspaper's drama critic". Through their romance, Montez revitalised her career as a dancer. Later, after the two had their first quarrel over Montez's attendance at a party, Dujarrier attended the party and, in a drunken state, offended . When Dujarrier was challenged to a duel by de Beauvallon, Dujarrier was shot and killed.

In 1846, Montez arrived in Munich, where she was discovered by and became the mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria. She soon began to use her influence on the king and this, coupled with her arrogant manner and outbursts of temper, made her extremely unpopular with the Bavarian people (particularly after documents were made public showing that she was hoping to become a naturalised Bavarian subject and be elevated to nobility). Despite opposition, Ludwig made her Countess of Landsfeld and Baroness of Rosenthal on his next birthday, 25 August 1847, and along with her title, he granted her a large annuity.

For more than a year, Montez exercised great political power, which she directed in favour of liberalism, anti-Catholicism, and in attacks against the Jesuits.

In March 1848, under pressure from a growing revolutionary movement, the university was reopened, Ludwig abdicated in favor of his son, King Maximilian II, and Montez fled Bavaria, ending her career as a power behind the throne.

After a sojourn in Switzerland, where she waited in vain for Ludwig to join her, Montez made a brief excursion to France and then removed to London in late 1848. There she met and quickly married George Trafford Heald, a young army cornet (cavalry officer) with a recent inheritance. She married Patrick Hull, a local newspaperman, in July and moved to Grass Valley, California, in August. Her marriage soon failed; a doctor named as in the divorce suit brought against her was murdered shortly thereafter. Her restored residence is California Historical Landmark No. 292. She inspired another aspiring young entertainer, Lotta Crabtree, whose parents ran a boarding house in Grass Valley. Montez, a neighbour, provided dancing lessons and encouraged Lotta's enthusiasm for performance.

Australia tour

In June 1855, Montez left the U.S. to tour Australia and resume her career by entertaining miners at the gold diggings. She arrived in Sydney on 16 August 1855.

Montez earned further notoriety in Ballarat when, after reading a bad review of her performance in The Ballarat Times, she attacked the editor, Henry Seekamp, with a whip.

She departed for San Francisco on 22 May 1856. was lost at sea after going overboard. In 1857, she arranged to deliver a series of moral lectures in Britain and America written by Charles Chauncey Burr. She also found some success as a writer, beginning with the publication of her letters, which were well-received enough for her to write and publish The Arts of Beauty, or Secrets of a Lady's Toilet, with Hints to Gentlemen on the Art of Fascinating. She spent her last days in rescue work among women, In November 1859, The Philadelphia Press reported that Montez was:

<blockquote>living very quietly up town, and doesn't have much to do with the world's people. Some of her old friends, the Bohemians, now and then drop in to have a little chat with her, and though she talks beautifully of her present feelings and way of life, she generally, by way of parenthesis, takes out her little tobacco pouch and makes a cigarette or two for self and friend, and then falls back upon old times with decided gusto and effect. But she doesn't tell anybody what she's going to do.</blockquote>

Burial

thumb|Lola Montez's grave in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York

Reports of Montez's death vary, with contradictions among sources about both the cause and the year of her death. One source claims that by 1860, Montez was showing tertiary effects of syphilis and her body had begun to waste away. Another says she died of syphilis at age 39 on 17 January 1861 and is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York, where her tombstone erroneously lists her age at death as 42, reading "Mrs. Eliza Gilbert | Died 17 January 1861 | Æ. 42".<!-- On 30 June 1860, she suffered a stroke and was partially paralysed for some time. In mid-December, she had recovered enough to walk with a slight limp and went out for a stroll in the cold weather. She contracted pneumonia, lingering for nearly a month before dying one month short of her fortieth birthday. -->

Fiction

  • Several writers have mentioned Montez as a possible source of inspiration for the character Irene Adler in Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes story "A Scandal in Bohemia".
  • Montez's time in Bavaria is the subject of Miloš Crnjanski's 1932 novel A Drop of Spanish Blood.
  • Philip Van Doren Stern's novel Lola: A Love Story (1949) is based on her life.
  • Edison Marshall's novel The Infinite Woman (1950) is based on her life.
  • In one of J. B. Priestley's last fictional works, The Pavilion of Masks, she is the basis of the character Cleo Torres, Spanish dancer and mistress of a German prince.
  • Montez allegedly inspired Jennifer Wilde's historical romance novel Dare To Love (1978), whose protagonist Elena Lopez is also a British woman passing herself off as a Spanish exotic dancer. Elena has an affair with Franz Liszt, becomes friends with George Sand and has a friendship with the king of a small Germanic country obviously based on Ludwig I of Bavaria, then moves to California.
  • Montez appears in Royal Flash by George MacDonald Fraser, where she has a brief affair with Sir Harry Flashman.
  • Montez is described in Daughter of Fortune (original Spanish title Hija de la fortuna) and Portrait in Sepia (original Spanish title Retrato en Sepia) by Isabel Allende.

Film and television

  • Montez's life was first portrayed in the 1919 biopic Lola Montez by Leopoldine Konstantin.
  • Montez's life is portrayed in the 1922 German film Lola Montez, the King's Dancer. She is played by Ellen Richter.
  • Fox made a 1926 silent film of her life, The Palace of Pleasure, directed by Emmett J. Flynn. Lola was played by Betty Compson. The film is now considered lost.
  • Montez is portrayed by Sheila Darcy in the film Wells Fargo (1937).
  • Montez was the last role played by Conchita Montenegro, in the biographical film Lola Montes (1944), with a moralising script, directed by Antonio Román.
  • A character named Lola Montez features in the 1948 film Black Bart, played by Yvonne De Carlo. This was after the success of her breakthrough portrayal of the titular Salome, Where She Danced (1945), which was loosely based on Montez's life story.
  • Montez was portrayed by Carmen D'Antonio in the film Golden Girl (1951).
  • Montez was portrayed by Martine Carol in the biographical film Lola Montès (1955), based on the novel La Vie Extraordinaire de Lola Montès by Cecil Saint-Laurent, directed by Max Ophüls and co-starring Peter Ustinov, Anton Walbrook, and Oskar Werner.
  • The actress Paula Morgan played Montez in the 1955 episode "Lola Montez" of the syndicated television anthology series Death Valley Days, hosted by Stanley Andrews.
  • Montez is the title character in season 2, episode 23 of Tales of Wells Fargo, "Lola Montez", played by Rita Moreno, first broadcast in 1959.
  • Montez is a character in the film Royal Flash (1975), based on the book of the same name by George MacDonald Fraser. She is played by Florinda Bolkan.
  • Montez is a character in the film Lisztomania (1975). She is played by Anulka Dziubinska.
  • Montez is played by Irish singer Camille O'Sullivan in the 2005 historical documentary Her Name was Lola, directed by Anne Roper for RTÉ's Hidden History series.

Stage and music

  • "Whatever Lola Wants" is a popular song, sometimes rendered as "Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets". The music and words were written by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross for the 1955 musical play Damn Yankees. The song is sung to Joe Hardy by Lola, the Devil's assistant, a part originated by Gwen Verdon, who reprised the role in the film. The saying was inspired by Montez. Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whatever_Lola_Wants
  • Montez's time in the Australian goldfields was the subject of the musical Lola Montez staged in Melbourne, Brisbane, and Sydney in 1958 starring Mary Preston. A recording of the musical was released on LP in 1958.
  • Trestle Theatre Company created a 2008 production titled Lola about the life of Montez.
  • Musician Joanna Newsom's title track on the 2010 album Have One on Me is about Montez.
  • Danish metal band Volbeat's song "Lola Montez" is on its 2013 album Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies. The lyrics reference Montez's spider dance and the incident with Henry Seekamp.
  • Lola Montez appears as a non-singing character in John Adams's opera Girls of the Golden West, performing the Spider Dance for miners in a California gold rush mining camp. In the 2017 San Francisco premiere, the role was played by Lorena Feijóo.
  • The song Lola Montez Danced The Spider Dance appears on Cass McCombs's 2025 album Interior Live Oak.

Historical account

  • Montez is mentioned in passing in Henry James' autobiographical A Small Boy and Others. He recalls seeing a poster of her "of a dazzling and unreal beauty and in a riding-habit lavishly open at the throat."
  • Montez appears briefly in Mary Seacole's autobiographical The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands.

Places

  • Two lakes (an upper and lower) named after Montez are in the Tahoe National Forest in Nevada County, California.
  • Mount Lola, Nevada County, California is named in her honour.
  • Bar Lola, in New York City's theatre district is named in her honor.

Works

References

Further reading

  • Browne, Nicholas, Castle Oliver & the Oliver Gascoignes
  • Kevin De Ornellas, "Lola Montez", in Melissa Hope Ditmore, ed., Encyclopedia of Prostitution and Sex Work, 2 vols, Westport: Conn., 2006, pp. 319-20.
  • Mackinlay, Leila, Spider dance: A novel based upon incidents in the life of Lola Montez
  • Morton, James, Lola Montez: Her Life & Conquests, Portrait, 2007
  • Pastor, Urraca, Lola Montes. Mª Dolores Rosana Y Gilbert, Condesa De Landfeld, Barcelona 1946
  • Saint-Laurent, Cecil, La Vie Extraordinaire de Lola Montès (basis for the 1955 movie Lola Montès)
  • Seymour, Bruce, Lola Montez, a Life, Yale University Press, 1996
  • Trowbridge, W. R. H. Lola Montez, 1818-1861 in Seven Splendid Sinners, p. 298
  • Information about Castle Oliver, Lola Montez's ancestral home
  • RTE Hidden History Summary about Eliza Gilbert
  • Article from Australian Dictionary of Biography
  • Bee Wilson: Boudoir Politics Review of Lola Montez: Her Life and Conquests by James Morton (Portrait, 2007) in London Review of Books Vol. 29 No. 11 dated 7 June 2007
  • Horace Wyndham, The Magnificent Montez: From Courtesan to Convert, New York: Hillman-Curl (1935). Project Gutenberg eBook.