Lady Viola was born Ethel Martin on March 27, 1898, in Covington, Kentucky.[1][2] In the 1920s she was tattooed by Frank Graf, a tattooer who worked the Bowery, Brooklyn and Coney Island.[1] The billing, on a period poster, was “the most beautiful tattooed woman in the world.”[4] The suit itself was a civics lesson in ink: Washington, Lincoln and Wilson on her chest, the Capitol on her back, the Statue of Liberty and the Rock of Ages on her legs.[1] She was still on a show at 73. This page follows that long career, and it treats a few of the more colorful claims as claims.
Quick facts
- Born
- Ethel Martin, March 27, 1898, Covington, Kentucky
- Died
- 1977; BME’s infobox gives April 15 and its text April 25 — a conflict not resolved here. Buried in Fulton County, Pennsylvania, according to the same source
- Known as
- Lady Viola; billed as “the most beautiful tattooed woman in the world”
- Tattooed by
- Frank Graf, in the 1920s
- Designs
- Portraits of Washington, Lincoln and Wilson across the chest; the Capitol on her back; the Statue of Liberty and Rock of Ages on her legs; small flowers with celebrity faces, including Charlie Chaplin and Tom Mix, per Bob Shaw
- Toured
- Ringling Bros., 1932; Gorman’s museum, Philadelphia, in 1930s winters; Thomas Joyland Show at 73
Ethel Martin and Frank Graf
The Tattoo Archive’s account is the backbone of what follows.[1] Ethel Martin was born in Covington in 1898 and, in the 1920s, went to Frank Graf for a full suit.[1] Graf’s working geography — the Bowery, Brooklyn, Coney Island — places her tattoos in the same New York world as Wagner and the Coney Island shops, even though she is remembered as a traveling attraction, not as a Canal Street neighbor.
An April 8, 1930, article, as cited by the Archive, put the cost of the suit at $485.[1] The same article said she had been tattooed in order to travel with a husband billed as “Captain Gulliver,” an 8-foot-3 giant.[1] That is a period newspaper claim, and it is reported here as such. A later blog post saying she lived seven weeks with Graf and his wife while the work was done has not been verified and is not used as fact on this page.
Bob Shaw, in a 1989 interview cited by the Archive, remembered tiny flowers on her that carried the faces of celebrities, including Charlie Chaplin and Tom Mix, along with the better-known presidential portraits, the Capitol, Liberty and the Rock of Ages.[1]
Ringling, winter museums and a last show at 73
She was with Ringling Bros. in 1932.[1] In the 1930s winters she worked at Gorman’s museum in Philadelphia, and she tattooed in the off-seasons, a second trade several tattooed women of her generation also took up.[1] The photographer and tattooer Fred Clark made pitch-card photographs of her.[1]
The career was unusually long. Around 1970 or 1971 she was still performing, with the Thomas Joyland Show, at the age of 73.[1] She died in 1977.[1][2] BME’s page gives two April dates, the 15th in an infobox and the 25th in the text; we leave the day unresolved and give the year.[2] The same source says she was buried in Fulton County, Pennsylvania.[2]
Between the 1920s Bowery-to-Coney sittings and that last show, she had worn the same American images — presidents, the Capitol, Liberty — through nearly half a century of circus and museum work. The billing never really changed. The woman in the poster had simply grown old in the act.
NYC Tattoo Shop is at 141 Canal St, a short walk from the Bowery and a subway ride from Coney Island, the two New York landscapes where Frank Graf worked. The history here belongs to New York. We’re proud to work nearby.
Photo gallery
Both images are from the NYC Tattoo Shop History Digital Archive. The poster matches Library of Congress record 2002707853 (rights status not evaluated by the Library). It is credited here to the shop archive, with the LOC record cited among the sources.
