Elsie Janis (born Elsie Bierbower, March 16, 1889 – February 26, 1956) was an American actress of stage and screen, singer, songwriter, screenwriter and radio announcer. Entertaining the troops during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

immortalized her as " the sweetheart of the AEF" (

American Expeditionary Force The American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) was a formation of the United States Armed Forces on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front during World War I, composed mostly of units from the United States Army, U.S. Army. The AEF was establis ...

Early life

Elsie Bierbower was born in

Marion, Ohio Marion is a city in Marion County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located in north-central Ohio, approximately north of Columbus, Ohio, Columbus. The population was 35,999 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down slig ...

, the daughter of Josephine Janis and John Eleazer Bierbower. She had a brother, Percy John.

Stage

Bierbower debuted on stage in 1896 in a production of ''East Lynne'' at Columbus's Southern Theatre. By age 11, she was a headliner on the

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

circuit, performing under the name Little Elsie. As she matured, using the

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

Elsie Janis, she began perfecting her comedic skills. Acclaimed by American and British critics, Janis was a headliner on Broadway and London. On Broadway, she starred in a number of successful shows, including ''The Vanderbilt Cup'' (1906), ''The Hoyden'' (1907), ''The Slim Princess'' (1911), and ''The Century Girl'' (1916). Elsie performed at the grand opening of the Brown Theatre in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

on October 5, 1925.

Film, screenwriting and music

Janis also enjoyed a career as a Hollywood actress, screenwriter, production manager and composer. She was co-credited alongside Gene Markey for writing the original story for '' Close Harmony'' (1929) and as composer and production manager for '' Paramount on Parade'' (1930). She and director

Edmund Goulding Edmund Goulding (20 March 1891 – 24 December 1959) was a British screenwriter and film director. As an actor early in his career he was one of the 'Ghosts' in the 1922 silent film '' Three Live Ghosts'' alongside Norman Kerry and Cyril Chadwic ...

wrote the song " Love, Your Magic Spell Is Everywhere" for

Gloria Swanson Gloria Mae Josephine Swanson (March 27, 1899April 4, 1983) was an American actress. She first achieved fame acting in dozens of silent films in the 1920s and was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Actress, most famously for h ...

for her talkie debut film ''

The Trespasser Trespasser is, in the law of tort, property law and criminal law, a person who commits the crime of trespassing on a property. Trespasser or ''variant'' may refer to: * Trespasser (video game), ''Trespasser'' (video game), a 1998 computer game ma ...

'' (1929). Janis's song "Oh, Give Me Time for Tenderness" was featured in the

Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress of film, television, and theater. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in Hollywood history, she was noted for her willingness to play unsympatheti ...

movie ''

Dark Victory ''Dark Victory'' is a 1939 American melodrama film directed by Edmund Goulding, starring Bette Davis, and featuring George Brent, Humphrey Bogart, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Ronald Reagan, Henry Travers, and Cora Witherspoon. The screenplay by Casey ...

'' (1939), also directed by Goulding.

Life with Basil Hallam

Before he entered service for World War I, English actor-singer Basil Hallam fell in love with Janis, with whom he had starred in ''The Passing Show of 1915''. They set up home in the city of

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, England. The couple never married; Hallam was killed in the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme (; ), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and the French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place between 1 July and 18 Nove ...

in August 1916 while serving with the

Royal Flying Corps The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC sup ...

World War I

Janis advocated for British and American soldiers fighting in World War I. She raised funds for Liberty 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 for

His Master's Voice His Master's Voice is an entertainment trademark featuring a dog named Nipper, curiously peering into the horn of a wind-up gramophone. Painted by Francis Barraud in 1898, the image has since become a global symbol used across consumer elect ...

several numbers from her revue ''Hullo, America'', including " Give Me the Moonlight, Give Me the Girl". She wrote about her wartime experiences in ''The Big Show: My Six Months with the American Expeditionary Forces'' (published in 1919), and recreated these in ''Behind the Lines'', a 1926 Vitaphone musical short. A musical about this period of her life called ''Elsie 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.

Radio announcer

In 1934, Janis became the first female announcer on the NBC radio network.

Children

Janis wanted to have children of her own. She became a foster mother to a 14-year-old Italian war veteran and orphan, Michael Cardi, in 1919.

Later life

Janis maintained her private home “ElJan” on the east side of High Street in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

. The home was across the street from what was

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

's Ohio 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. There is some evidence it might have been a bearded relationship. The couple lived in the Phillipse Manor section of

Sleepy Hollow, New York Sleepy Hollow is a village in the town of Mount Pleasant, New York, Mount Pleasant in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States. The village is located on the east bank of the Hudson River, about ...

, 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 1940 '' Women in War''. Elsie Janis died in 1956 at her home in Beverly Hills, California, aged 66, and was interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in

Glendale, California Glendale is a city located primarily in the Verdugo Mountains region, with a small portion in the San Fernando Valley, of Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is located about north of downtown Los Angeles. As of 2024, Glendale ha ...

Legacy

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Elsie Janis has a star on the

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a landmark which consists of 2,813 five-pointed terrazzo-and-brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in the Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood dist ...

at 6776 Hollywood Blvd.

Partial filmography

* '' The Caprices of Kitty'' (1915) * '' Betty in Search of a Thrill'' (1915) * '' Nearly a Lady'' (1915) * ''

'Twas Ever Thus ''Twas Ever Thus'' is a 1915 American drama silent film directed by Hobart Bosworth, written by Elsie Janis, and starring Elsie Janis, Hobart Bosworth, Owen Moore, Myrtle Stedman, Harry Ham, and Helen Wolcott. It was released on September 23, ...

'' (1915) * '' The Imp'' (1919) * '' A Regular Girl'' (1919) * '' Bobbed Hair'' (1925) * ''Elsie Janis in a Vaudeville Act, “Behind the Lines,” Assisted by Men’s Chorus of the 107th Regiment'' (1926) * '' Close Harmony'' (1929) (screenplay) * '' Paramount on Parade'' (1930) (production supervisor) * '' Madam Satan'' (1930) (music) * '' The Squaw Man'' (1931) (screenplay) * '' Women in War'' (1940)

References

External links

* * * * *
Extensive biographical site
at

Elsie Janis collection:
SPEC.TRI.EJ Thompson Library Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee Theatre Research Institute
Elsie Janis diaries, 1920-1928
held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division,

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, is located at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, in the Lincoln Center complex on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, New York City. Situated between the Metropolitan O ...

Elsie Janis
images held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division,

selected recordings by Elsie Janis at Internetarchive.orgportrait of Elsie Janis from a play or early silent movie
moviecard)
Elsie Janis: Broadway Photographs
Univ. of South Carolina)
Elsie Janis
with ''Willys Overland'' motorcar 1917 {{DEFAULTSORT:Janis, Elsie 1889 births 1956 deaths 19th-century American actresses American stage actresses American film actresses American silent film actresses American women in World War I Songwriters from Ohio Screenwriters from California Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) Actresses from Beverly Hills, California Actresses from Columbus, Ohio People from Marion, Ohio People from Sleepy Hollow, New York American vaudeville performers 20th-century American actresses Musicians from Beverly Hills, California Singers from California Songwriters from California Screenwriters from Ohio Screenwriters from New York (state) 20th-century American singers 20th-century American women singers American women screenwriters American expatriate actresses American expatriates in England 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American screenwriters Victor Records artists 20th-century American songwriters