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Elsie Janis | |
|---|---|
 The Theatre Magazine (November 1915) | |
| Born | Elsie Bierbower March 16, 1889 Marion, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | February 26, 1956(1956-02-26) (aged 66) |
| Other names | Little Elsie |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1894–1940 |
| Spouse | Gilbert Wilson (m.1932) |
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Elsie Janis (bornElsie Bierbower, March 16, 1889 – February 26, 1956) was an American actress of stage and screen, singer, songwriter, screenwriter and radio announcer. Entertaining the troops duringWorld War I immortalized her as "the sweetheart of the AEF" (American Expeditionary Force).
Elsie Bierbower was born inMarion, Ohio, the daughter of Josephine Janis and John Eleazer Bierbower. She had a brother, Percy John.[citation needed]
Bierbower debuted on stage in 1896 in a production ofEast Lynne at Columbus's Southern Theatre.[1] By age 11, she was a headliner on thevaudeville circuit, performing under the nameLittle Elsie. As she matured, using thestage name Elsie Janis, she began perfecting her comedic skills.[citation needed]
Acclaimed by American and British critics,[citation needed] Janis was a headliner onBroadway and London. On Broadway, she starred in a number of successful shows, includingThe Vanderbilt Cup (1906),The Hoyden (1907),The Slim Princess (1911), andThe Century Girl (1916).
Elsie performed at the grand opening of the Brown Theatre inLouisville, Kentucky on October 5, 1925.
Janis also enjoyed a career as a Hollywood actress, screenwriter, production manager and composer. She was co-credited alongsideGene Markey for writing the original story forClose Harmony (1929) and as composer and production manager forParamount on Parade (1930). She and directorEdmund Goulding wrote the song "Love, Your Magic Spell Is Everywhere" forGloria Swanson for her talkie debut filmThe Trespasser (1929). Janis's song "Oh, Give Me Time for Tenderness" was featured in theBette Davis movieDark Victory (1939), also directed by Goulding.
Before he entered service for World War I, English actor-singerBasil Hallam fell in love with Janis, with whom he had starred inThe Passing Show of 1915.[2] They set up home in the city ofLiverpool, England.[3] The couple never married; Hallam was killed in theBattle of the Somme in August 1916 while serving with theRoyal Flying Corps.[4][5]
Janis advocated for British and American soldiers fighting in World War I. She raised funds forLiberty Bonds. Accompanied by her mother, Janis also took her act on the road, entertaining troops stationed near the front lines – one of the first popular American artists to do so in a war fought on foreign soil. Ten days after the armistice, she recorded forHis Master's Voiceseveral numbers from her revueHullo, America, including "Give Me the Moonlight, Give Me the Girl".[7] She wrote about her wartime experiences inThe Big Show: My Six Months with the American Expeditionary Forces (published in 1919), and recreated these inBehind the Lines, a 1926 Vitaphone musical short.
A musical about this period of her life calledElsie Janis and the Boys, written by Carol J. Crittenden and composer John T. Prestianni, premiered under the direction of Charles A. Wallace as part of the Rotunda Theatre Series in the Wortley-Peabody Theater in Dallas, Texas on August 15, 2014.
In 1934, Janis became the first female announcer on theNBC radio network.[8]
Janis wanted to have children of her own.[9][10] She became a foster mother to a 14-year-old Italian war veteran and orphan, Michael Cardi, in 1919.[11][12]
Janis maintained her private home “ElJan” on the east side of High Street inColumbus, Ohio. The home was across the street from what wasOhio State University'sOhio Field, the precursor to Ohio Stadium. Janis sold the house following her mother's death.
In 1932, Janis married Gilbert Wilson, who was 16 years her junior, which caused some scandal.[13] There is some evidence it might have been abearded relationship.[14][15] The couple lived in the Phillipse Manor section ofSleepy Hollow, New York, formerly named North Tarrytown, until Janis moved to the Los Angeles area of California where she lived until her death. Her final film was the 1940Women in War.
Elsie Janis died in 1956 at her home in Beverly Hills, California, aged 66, and was interred in theForest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery inGlendale, California.
For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Elsie Janis has a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame at 6776 Hollywood Blvd.
