Jan Miner

Janice Miner (October 15, 1917 – February 15, 2004) was an American actress best known as the character Madge the manicurist in Palmolive dish-washing detergent television commercials from the 1960s to the 1990s.

Biography

Early life and career

Miner in ''Hilltop House'' (1953)
Janice Miner was the daughter of a dentist and a painter, and had three brothers, Sheldon, Donald and Lyndsey. She studied at the Vesper George School of Art in her native Boston, then studied acting under Lee Strasberg and others. She made her stage debut in 1945 in a Boston production of Elmer Rice's '' Street Scene''.

Miner then became established on radio, and worked through the 1950s in several series simultaneously. Among other roles, she was one of three actresses who played secretary Della Street on ''Perry Mason'' and one of five to play girlfriend Ann Williams on ''Casey, Crime Photographer''. She also appeared as Mary Wesley on ''Boston Blackie''.

Miner played featured roles in the anthology series '' Radio City Playhouse'', in "Soundless", "Portrait of Lenore" and other episodes. Her appearance in the premiere broadcast of the series "created a minor sensation in the play ''Long Distance''"; the episode proved so popular that she repeated her performance later in the season.

From circa 1948 through some time before the series ended in 1957, Miner starred as Julie Erickson, head of the titular orphanage in the soap opera '' Hilltop House'', during most of the show's revival beginning in 1948. The series was sponsored by the Colgate-Palmolive Company, for which she later appeared in a famous, long-running series of television commercials.

Broadway career

As radio drama faded with the popularity of television, Miner turned to the theater and made her New York City debut in the 1958 melodrama ''Obbligato'' at Theatre Marquee, adapted by Jane Hinton Gates from the novel ''Une Ombre'' by Paul Vialar; Miner starred as a spinster in romantic competition with her younger sister, played by Carol Vandermeir. In 1960 she made her Broadway debut in ''Viva Madison Avenue!'', a comedy about the advertising world by George Panetta, at the Longacre Theatre.

Television icon

Miner appeared on television in several shows, among them ''Boston Blackie'' and ''Casey, Crime Photographer'', in roles she originated on radio. She became an icon to TV viewers as Madge, the wisecracking manicurist in commercials for Palmolive dish-washing detergent. In an advertising campaign created by the agency Ted Bates Advertising, Madge worked at the Salon East Beauty Parlor and soaked her customers’ fingernails in Palmolive ("Palmolive softens hands while you do the dishes"). The campaign ran from 1966 to 1992.

Miner's Palmolive commercials appeared in other countries, where Madge was often given a different name. In France she was called Françoise; in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria she was known as Tilly; in Finland as Marissa; and in Denmark as Sylvia. In Australia and New Zealand, Madge was played by Robina Beard. Madge's trademark line, "You're soaking in it," became one of the more famous and parodied television commercial quotes.

Miner was a regular on the 1974 CBS situation comedy '' Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers'' in which she played the mother of the character portrayed by Paul Sand.

Theater and film career

Following her 1960 debut, Miner appeared on Broadway in '' The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore'' (1963) and ''Butterflies Are Free'' (1972) (in each as an understudy); the 1973 revival of '' The Women''; the 1976 revival of ''The Heiress'' with Jane Alexander; the 1980 revival of ''Watch on the Rhine'', by Lillian Hellman; the 1983–1984 Circle in the Square Theatre revival of ''Heartbreak House'', with Rex Harrison, Philip Bosco, Rosemary Harris, Amy Irving, Dana Ivey, and Stephen McHattie; and the Franco Zeffirelli productions of Terrence McNally's adaptation of ''The Lady of the Camellias'' (1963) and Eduardo De Filippo's ''Saturday Sunday Monday'' (1974).

She also appeared in Shakespeare on Broadway, as Emilia in the American National Theater and Academy production of ''Othello'' (1970), starring Moses Gunn; and as Juliet's nurse in director Theodore Mann's Circle in the Square production of ''Romeo and Juliet'' (1977). Other theater work included ''Major Barbara''.

In 1986, Miner appeared at the off-Broadway Lucille Lortel Theatre as Gertrude Stein in the play ''Gertrude Stein and a Companion'', by Win Wells, with Marian Seldes as Alice B. Toklas. Miner and Seldes reprised the roles in a June 1987 television version for Bravo. Miner also appeared for six seasons in repertory roles at the American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Connecticut.

Miner played Lenny Bruce's mother, Sally Marr, in the Bob Fosse film '' Lenny'' (1974) with Dustin Hoffman as Lenny Bruce and Valerie Perrine as Honey Bruce. She also appeared in '' The Swimmer'' (1968), '' Willie & Phil'' (1980), '' Endless Love'' (1981), and as the Mother Superior in ''Mermaids'' (1990). Her latter-day work in television included an episode of ''Law & Order''.

Personal life

Miner was married to actor and writer Richard Merrell (1925–1998) from 1963 until his death from heart failure at age 73, on September 13, 1998. The two often appeared together onstage, including in ''The Gin Game'' at the Missouri Repertory Theater, (later renamed the Kansas City Repertory Theatre), as well as in ''Night Must Fall'', '' High Spirits'', and what Miner called their favorite play together, Eugene O'Neill's ''Long Day's Journey Into Night'' at the Byrdcliffe Theater in Woodstock, New York.

Miner adopted a daughter named Molly Rose in the early 1960s. She resided in Southbury, Connecticut in her later years, and died at the Bethel Health Care Facility in Bethel, Connecticut, after several years of failing health. She was cremated.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

*
*
Jan Miner radiography at Radio Gold Index

Jan Miner performances in Radio City Playhouse
* ttp://archives.nypl.org/the/22655 Jan Miner papers, 1932–1993 held by the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miner, Jan
1917 births
2004 deaths
Actresses from Boston
Colgate-Palmolive
American stage actresses
American radio actresses
American film actresses
American television actresses
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American women