Janis Paige

Janis Paige
Paige in the television series It's Always Jan
Born	Donna Mae Tjaden (1922-09-16) September 16, 1922 Tacoma, Washington, US
Occupation(s)	Actress, singer
Years active	1944–2001
Spouses	Frank Martinelli, Jr. ​ ​ (m. 1947; div. 1951)​ Arthur Stander ​ ​ (m. 1956; div. 1957)​ Ray Gilbert ​ ​ (m. 1962; died 1976)​

Janis Paige (born September 16, 1922) is an American film, musical theatre and television actress.

Early life and career

Born Donna Mae Tjaden in Tacoma, Washington, she began singing in public at age five in local amateur shows. She moved to Los Angeles after graduating from high school and was hired as a singer at the Hollywood Canteen during World War II.

The Hollywood Canteen was a studio-sponsored club for members of the military. A Warner Bros. agent saw her potential and signed her to a contract. She began co-starring in low budget musicals, often paired with Dennis Morgan or Jack Carson. She co-starred in Romance on the High Seas (1948), the film in which Doris Day made her movie debut. Paige later co-starred in adventures and dramas, in which she felt out of place. Following her role in Two Gals and a Guy (1951), she decided to leave Hollywood.

Paige appeared on Broadway and was a huge hit in a 1951 comedy-mystery play, Remains to Be Seen, co-starring Jackie Cooper. She also toured successfully as a cabaret singer. In April 1947 Paige was crowned "Miss Damsite" and participated at the ground-breaking ceremony for the McNary Dam, on the Columbia River, alongside Cornelia Morton McNary, the Senator's widow, and Oregon's governor, Earl Snell.

Stardom came in 1954 with her role as "Babe" in the Broadway musical The Pajama Game. She was given the December 1954 cover of Esquire magazine, where she was featured in a seductive pose taken by American photographer, Maxwell Frederic Coplan. For the screen version, the studio wanted one major movie star to guarantee the film's success, so Raitt's role of Sid was offered to Frank Sinatra who would have been paired with Paige. When Sinatra turned it down the producers offered Paige's role of Babe to Doris Day, who accepted and so Day was paired with Raitt. After six years away, Paige returned to Hollywood in Silk Stockings (1957), which starred Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse, the Doris Day comedy Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960), and as a love-starved married neighbor in Bachelor in Paradise (1961) with Bob Hope.

A rare dramatic role was as "Marion," an institutionalized prostitute, in The Caretakers (1963).

Musical theatre

Paige returned to Broadway in 1963 in the short-lived Here's Love. In 1968, when after nearly two years Angela Lansbury left the Broadway production of the musical Mame to take the show on a limited US tour, Paige was the star chosen to be the first Broadway replacement, and she admired the character, saying, "She's a free soul. She can be down, but never out. She's unbigoted. She says what she thinks with a kind of marvelous honesty, which is the only way to say anything." She also appeared in touring productions of musicals such as Annie Get Your Gun, Applause, Sweet Charity, Ballroom, Gypsy: A Musical Fable, and Guys and Dolls. In 1984 she was back on Broadway with Kevin McCarthy in a non-musical play, Alone Together The tryout tour gave Paige her first experience of the Eastern Summer Stock circuit, where she said audiences "laughed so hard you just had to wait," and she enjoyed the role so much she played it again in 1988 at the Coconut Grove Playhouse, this time with Robert Reed.

Television

In the 1955–1956 television season, Paige starred in her own CBS situation comedy, It's Always Jan, co-starring Merry Anders. The 26-week program preceded the first season of Gunsmoke on the Saturday evening schedule. The plot, set in New York City, centered around Paige as Jan Stewart, a widowed mother, and her two female roommates played by Anders and Patricia Bright.

Paige made her live dramatic TV debut June 27, 1957, in "The Latch Key" on Lux Video Theatre. She appeared as troubadour Hallie Martin in The Fugitive episode "Ballad For a Ghost" (1964). Paige had a recurring role as "Auntie V", Tom Bradford's erstwhile sister, in Eight Is Enough.

Paige appeared as a waitress named Denise in both the seventh and ninth seasons of All in the Family. In her first appearance, she has a flirtation with Archie Bunker.

She also appeared on 87th Precinct, The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom, Trapper John, M.D., All in the Family, Columbo and Caroline in the City, and in the 1975 television movie John O'Hara's Gibbsville (also known as The Turning Point of Jim Malloy). In the 1980s and 1990s, she was seen on the soap operas Capitol (1987, as Sam Clegg's first wife, Laureen), General Hospital (1989-1990, as Katharine Delafield's flashy Aunt Iona, a lady counterfeiter and Santa Barbara (1990-1993, replacing the much older Dame Judith Anderson as matriarch Minx Lockridge). In 1982, she appeared on St. Elsewhere as a female flasher who stalked the hallways of the hospital to "cheer up" the male patients. Although her character said she was "celebrating her 50th birthday," Ms. Paige was actually 60 at the time of filming.

In 1986, she appeared with Richard Kline and Bert Convy on Super Password.

Walk of Fame

Paige was given a square on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6624 Hollywood Blvd.

Personal life

Paige has been married three times. She married Frank Louis Martinelli Jr, restaurateur, in 1947 and divorced him in 1951. She married Arthur Stander, television writer and creator of It's Always Jan, in 1956 and divorced him in 1957. Paige married Ray Gilbert, composer and music publisher in 1962. Gilbert died March 3, 1976. He wrote the classic song "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah".

In 2001, Paige found that her voice was cracking with nearly irreparable vocal-cord damage. She went to a singing teacher a friend recommended. Paige's voice ended up worse with her not being able to talk at all. "He literally took my voice away," she said. "I lost all my top voice. I couldn't hold a pitch for a second. Finally, I couldn't make a sound. He said that this will all come back. It didn't." Another singing teacher told her she go to the voice clinic at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. "There were bits of skin hanging off my vocal cords," she said. "They told me to go home and not talk for three months." Paige finally was introduced by a doctor to another voice teacher, Bruce Eckstut. He helped her regain her voice and singing voice.

Paige has no children.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1944	Bathing Beauty	Janis	Musical film directed by George Sidney.
	Hollywood Canteen	Studio Guide	Musical romantic comedy film directed by Delmer Daves.
1946	Her Kind of Man	Georgia King	Crime film noir directed by Frederick De Cordova.
	Of Human Bondage	Sally Athelny	Drama film directed by Edmund Goulding The second screen adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's 1915 novel with the 1934 Pre-Code drama film directed by John Cromwell.
	Two Guys from Milwaukee	Polly	Comedy film directed by David Butler.
	The Time, the Place and the Girl	Sue Jackson	Musical film directed by David Butler. Also known as in these languages: Austrian dialect of German: [Der Himmel voller Geigen] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), Finnish: [Aika, paikka ja tyttö] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), Swedish: [Här kommer Broadway] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), German: [Krieg nach Noten] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), Italian: [L'ora, il luogo e la ragazza] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), French: [La fille et le garçon] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help), and Danish: [Tiden, stedet og pigen!] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help).
1947	Love and Learn	Jackie	Comedy film directed Frederick de Cordova.
	Cheyenne	Emily Carson	Romantic western film directed by Raoul Walsh.
	Always Together	Polly	Comedy film directed Frederick de Cordova. Uncredited
1948	Winter Meeting	Peggy Markham	Drama film directed by Bretaigne Windust & written by Catherine Turney from the novel of the same title by Grace Zaring Stone under the pseudonym Ethel Vance.
	Wallflower	Joy Linnett	Comedy film directed by Frederick de Cordova.
	Romance on the High Seas	Elvira Kent	Musical romantic comedy film directed by Michael Curtiz. Also known as It's Magic in the United Kingdom.
	One Sunday Afternoon	Virginia Brush	Musical film directed by Raoul Walsh. Based on James Hagan's play of the same name, which was produced on Broadway in 1933.
1949	The Younger Brothers	Kate Shepherd	Western directed by Edwin L. Marin.
	The House Across the Street	Kit Williams	Comedy film directed by Richard L. Bare.
1950	Fugitive Lady	Barbara Clementi	Crime–drama film directed by Sidney Salkow and Marino Girolami (Uncredited). Also known as [La strada buia] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help) in Italian. Based on the novel Dark Road by Doris Miles Disney.
	This Side of the Law	Nadine Taylor	Film noir directed by Richard L. Bare.
1951	Mr. Universe	Lorraine	Comedy–romantic sports film directed by Joseph Lerner.
	Two Gals and a Guy	Della Oliver / Sylvia Latour	Comedy film directed by Alfred E. Green. Also known as Baby and Me.
1957	Silk Stockings	Peggy Dayton	Metrocolor Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer CinemaScope musical film adaptation of the 1955 stage musical of the same name, which itself was an adaptation of the film Ninotchka.
1960	Please Don't Eat the Daisies	Deborah Vaughn	Metrocolor Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer CinemaScope comedy film directed by Charles Walters and partly inspired by the book of the same name by Jean Kerr.
1961	Bachelor in Paradise	Dolores Jynson	Metrocolor romantic comedy film directed by Jack Arnold.
1963	Follow the Boys	Liz Bradville	Comedy film directed by Richard Thorpe.
	The Caretakers	Marion	Drama produced and directed by Hall Bartlett and based on the novel of the same name by Dariel Telfer.
1967	Welcome to Hard Times	Adah	Western film directed by Burt Kennedy. and based on the novel of the same name by E. L. Doctorow.
1994	Natural Causes	Mrs. MacCarthy	Action–drama thriller film directed by James Becket.

Documentary/short subjects

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1944	I Won't Play	Kim Karol / Sally	Short drama film directed by Crane Wilbur.
1947	So You Want to Be in Pictures	Herself	Uncredited Short film written and directed by Richard L. Bare.
2003	Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There	Herself	Documentary film by Rick McKay.

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1949–50	Bonnie Maid's Versatile Varieties	Herself	Contract role "Bonnie Maid" dressed in plaid kilts for sponsor Bonnie Maid Linoleum.
1953	Plymouth Playhouse	Guest	Episode: "Baby and Me" (S 1:Ep 10)
1954	Philip Morris Playhouse	Guest	Episode: "Make Me Happy, Make Me Sad" (S 1:Ep 17)
1955–1956	It's Always Jan	Jan Stewart	Contract role
1957	Lux Video Theatre	Iris	Episode: "The Latch Key" (S 7:Ep 39)
	Studio 57	Guest	Episode: "One of the Family" (S 4:Ep 6)
1958	Schlitz Playhouse	Bebe Evans	Episode: "Home Again" (S 7:Ep 18)
	Shower of Stars	Herself	Episode: "Episode #4.7" (S 4:Ep 7)
	Roberta	Scharwenka	Musical made-for-TV-Movie directed by Ed Greenberg and Dick McDonough.
1959	Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse	The Redhead	Episode: "Chez Rouge" (S 1:Ep 14)
	The Red Skelton Show	School Teacher	Episode: "Bashful Clem" (S 8:Ep 13)
1960	The Secret World of Eddie Hodges	Circus Star	Made-for-TV-Movie and musical directed by Norman Jewison.
	Maisie	Maisie Ravier	Made-for-TV-Movie and comedy directed by Edward Ludwig & based on Wilson Collison's Dark Dame novel.
	Hooray for Love	Leading actress	Made-for-TV-Movie and musical directed by Burt Shevelove.
	The Ann Sothern Show	Edith	Episode: "The Girls" (S 3:Ep 3)
1961	Wagon Train	Nellie Jefferson	Episode: "The Nellie Jefferson Story" (S 4:Ep 27)
	The Dinah Shore Chevy Show	Kathy Hewitt	Episode: "Happiest Day" (S 5:Ep 30)
1962	87th Precinct	Cheryl Anderson	Episode: "Girl in the Case" (S 1:Ep 30) (Series cancelled after 1st season)
	Alcoa Premiere	Connie Rankin	Episode: "Blues for a Hanging" (S 2:Ep 13)
	The Red Skelton Show	Mrs. Cavendish	Episode: "Ten Baby Fingers and 12 Baby Toes" (S 12:Ep 8)
1963	The Dick Powell Theater	Lavern	Episode: "Last of the Private Eyes" (S 2:Ep 30)
1964	Burke's Law	Sharon McCauley	Episode: "Who Killed the Swinger on a Hook?" (S 2:Ep 14)
	The Fugitive	Hallie Martin	Episode: "Ballad for a Ghost" (S 2:Ep 15)
1965	The Red Skelton Show	Hatta Mari	Episode: "Dial 'O' for Nothing" (S 14:Ep 23)
1969	Roberta	Scharwenka	musical made-for-TV-Movie directed by John Kennedy and Dick McDonough.
1971	Sarge	Marian Hart	Episode: "Psst! Wanna Buy a Dirty Picture?" (S 1:Ep 3)
1972	Columbo	Goldie Williamson	Episode: "Blueprint for Murder" (S 1:Ep 7)
	Banacek	Lydia	Episode: "To Steal a King" (S 1:Ep 5)
1973	Mannix	Georgia Durian	Episode: "A Way to Dusty Death" (S 7:Ep 2)
1974	Police Story	Harry's Wife	Episode: "A Dangerous Age" (S 2:Ep 1)
1975	Gibbsville	Lonnie	Episode: "The Turning Point of Jim Malloy"–Pilot Originally a made-for-TV-Movie co–written and directed by Frank D. Gilroy.
	Police Story	Irene	Episode: "The Return of Joe Forrester" (S 2:Ep 22) Pilot for Joe Forrester
	Doc	Guest	Episode: "The Other Woman" (S 1:Ep 3)
	Police Story	Mrs. Driscoll	Episode: "Vice: 24 Hours" (S 3:Ep 10)
1976	The Mary Tyler Moore Show	Charlene Maguire	Episode: "Menage-a-Lou" (S 6:Ep 19)
	All's Fair	Barbara	Epispde: "Jealousy" (S 1:Ep 2)
	The Nancy Walker Show	Guest	Episode: "Dear Dr. Dora" (S 1:Ep 8)
	All in the Family	Denise	Episodes: "Archie's Brief Encounter: Part 1" (S 7:Ep 1) "Archie's Brief Encounter: Part 2" (S 7:Ep 2)
1976–77	Lanigan's Rabbi	Kate Laniga	Contract role
1977	The Betty White Show	Wilma	Episode: "Mitzi's Cousin"( S1 :Ep 2)
1977–1980	Eight Is Enough	Aunt Vivian	Recurring
1978	The Love Boat	Phyllis Morrison	Episode: "A Selfless Love / The Nubile Nurse / Parents Know Best" (S 1:Ep 22)
	Fantasy Island	Charlotte	Episode: "The Beachcomber / The Last Whodunit" (S 2:Ep 3)
	Alice	Ruth	Episode: "The Cuban Connection" (S 2:Ep 18)
	Hawaii Five-O	Minnie Cahoon	Episode: "The Case Against Philip Christie" (S 11:Ep 4)
	Charlie's Angels	Joan Sayers	Episode: "Angels Ahoy!" (S 3:Ep 8)
	The Rockford Files	Miriam	Episode: "A Three-Day Affair with a Thirty-Day Escrow" (S 5:Ep 7)
	All in the Family	Denise	Episode: "Return of the Waitress" (S 9:Ep 9)
1980	Valentine Magic on Love Island	Madge	Romantic comedy made-for-TV-Movie directed by Earl Bellamy.
	Angel on My Shoulder	Dolly Blaine	Fantasy film made-for-TV-Movie directed by John Berry.
1981	Fantasy Island	Mabel Martin	Episode: "High Off the Hog / Reprisal" (S 4:Ep 10)
	Happy Days	Angela	Episode: "Mother and Child Reunion" (S 8:Ep 21)
	Bret Maverick	Mandy Packer	Episodes: "The Lazy Ace: Part 1" (S 1:Ep 1) "The Lazy Ace: Part 2" (S 1:Ep 2)
	Flamingo Road	Jenny	Episode: "The Powers That Be" (S 2:Ep 6)
	Lewis & Clark	Rose	Episode: "The Family Affair" (S 1:Ep 6)
1982	Too Close for Comfort	Irene Miller	Episode: "The Last Weekend" (S 2:Ep 15)
	Romance Theatre	Estelle	Recurring
1983	Matt Houston	Lauren Calder	Episode: "The Purrfect Crime" (S 1:Ep 12)
	St. Elsewhere	Dee Mackaluso	Episode: "Remission" (S 1:Ep 14)
	Fantasy Island	Brian's Mother	Episode: "The Devil Stick / Touch and Go" (S 6:Ep 18)
	The Other Woman	Mrs. Barnes	Made-for-TV-Move directed by Melville Shavelson.
	Gun Shy	Nettie McCoy	Contract role Series was based upon its popular The Apple Dumpling Gang films.
	Baby Makes Five	Blanche Riddle	Contract role
	Trauma Center	Guest	Episode: "Trail's End" (S 1:Ep 7)
1984	Night Court	Eleanor Brandon	Episode: "Welcome Back, Momma" (S 1:Ep 4)
	No Man's Land	Maggie Hodiak	Made-for-TV-Movie directed by Rod Holcomb.
	We Think the World Is Round	Nina	Animated made-for-TV-Movie directed by Rudy Larriva.
1985	Rockhopper	Helen Larabee	Adventure made-for-TV-Movie directed by Bill Bixby.
1985–1986	Trapper John, M.D.	Catherine Hackett	Contract role
1987	Capitol	Laureen Clegg	Episode: "Episode #1.1268"
1989	Mission: Impossible	Katherine Foster	Episode: "The Haunting" (S 1:Ep 9)
	General Hospital	Aunt Iona Huntington	Recurring
1990	Shades of L.A.	Ruth Lockwood	Episode: "Where There's No Will, There's a Weigh-In" (S 1:Ep 7)
1990–1993	Santa Barbara	Minx Lockridge	Recurring
1992	Room for Two	Charlotte Agnoletti	Episode: "Whose Mouth Is It Anyway?" (S 1:Ep 3)
1995	Legend	Delilah Pratt	Episode: "Clueless in San Francisco" (S 1:Ep 11)
1997	Caroline in the City	Loretta	Episode: "Caroline and the Bad Trip" (S 2:Ep 23)
2001	Family Law	Ann Fox	Episode: "The Quality of Mercy" (S 2:Ep 14)

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Venue	Notes
1951–52	Remains to Be Seen	Jody Revere	Morosco Theatre (October 3, 1951–March 22, 1952)	Directed by Bretaigne Windust, written by Howard Lindsay & Russel Crouse, and produced by Leland Hayward.
1954–55	The Pajama Game	Babe Williams	St. James Theatre (May 13, 1954–June 23, 1955)	Directed by George Abbott & Jerome Robbins, written by George Abbott & Richard Bissell, and produced by Frederick Brisson, Robert E. Griffith & Harold S. Prince. Based on the novel 7½ Cents by Richard Bissell.
1959	High Button Shoes	Unknown	State Fair of Texas in Dallas at Fair Park	Based on the semi–autobiographical novel The Sisters Liked Them Handsome by Stephen Longstreet. Written by George Abbott & Stephen Longstreet and directed by Abbott.
1963–64	Here's Love	Doris Walker	Shubert Theatre (October 3, 1963–July 25, 1964)	Directed & produced by Stuart Ostrow and written by Meredith Willson. Based on the classic film Miracle on 34th Street. Based on the novel Here's Love by Meredith Willson.
1968–70	Mame	Mame Dennis	Winter Garden Theatre (April 1, 1968–October 4, 1969) Broadway Theatre (October 6, 1969–January 3, 1970)	Directed by Gene Saks and produced by Fryer, Carr & Harris Inc Based on the novel Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis.
1970	Gypsy	Mama Rose	Hershey Community Theater (August 17–22, 1970)	With Jack Haskell.
1971	Applause	Margo Channing		Performed in Johannesburg, South Africa.
1973	Born Yesterday	Unknown	Country Dinner Playhouse (July 17, 1973–August 19, 1973)
1974	Desk Set	Bunny Watson	Thunderbird Dinner Theatre	Directed by Robert Bruce Holley.
1975	Annie Get Your Gun	Annie Oakley	National tour
1975	The Gingerbread Lady	Evy	Candlelight Dinner Playhouse (August 19, 1975–unknown)	Replacement for Carolyn Jones.
1978	Guys and Dolls	Adelaide	National tour
1979	Ballroom	Bea	National tour
1984–85	Alone Together	Helene Butler	Music Box Theatre (October 21, 1984–January 12, 1985)	Directed by Arnold Mittelman, written by Lawrence Roman, originally produced at the Whole Theatre Company, and produced by Arnold Mittelman and Lynne Peyser.
1987	Happy Birthday, Mr. Abbott! or Night of 100 Years	Unknown	Palace Theatre (June 22, 1987)
1987	The Gingerbread Lady	Evy	Equity Library Theater	Directed by Geoffrey C. Shlaes.
1989	The Gingerbread Lady	Evy	Coconut Grove Playhouse	Directed by Jack Allison.

References

Sources

• Jordan, R.T. (2004). But Darling, I'm Your Auntie Mame!: The Amazing History of the World's Favorite Madcap Aunt (Reprint ed.). New York City: Kensington Books. pp. 142–143. ISBN 978-0758204820.
• Campbell, Mary (November 21, 1984). "Janis Paige is back on Broadway". Deseret News. Salt Lake City: Deseret News Publishing Company. p. 16. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
• Saunders, Ann Wardell (June 23, 1957). "Looking 'n Listening". San Bernardino, California: Digital First Media. The San Bernardino County Sun. p. 22. Retrieved March 24, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
• Terrace, Vincent (2011). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 (2nd ed.). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. p. 516. ISBN 978-0786464777.
• Brown, Gene (1995). Movie Time: A Chronology of Hollywood and the Movie Industry from Its Beginnings to the Present (1st ed.). New York City: Wiley. p. 119. ISBN 0-02-860429-6.
• Roberts, Jerry (2009). Encyclopedia of Television Film Directors (1st ed.). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. p. 302, 539. ISBN 978-0810861381.
• Goble, Alan (1999). The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film (1st ed.). London: Bowker-Saur. p. 851. ISBN 978-1857392296.
• Maltin, Leonard (1987). Leonard Maltin's TV Movies and Video Guide. Signet. p. 722. ASIN B00SG162TI.
• Drew, Mike (March 22, 1983). "Surprise: adultery film not that bad". The Milwaukee Journal. Milwaukee: Gannett Company. p. 22. Retrieved May 24, 2015.
• Flander, Judy (April 1, 1983). "Tonight in preview: ABC's new comedy a joy". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 23. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
• Lamb, Andrew (2001). 150 Years of Popular Musical Theatre (1st ed.). New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. p. 323. ISBN 978-0300075380.
• Texas State Fair Musicals Contract Chevalier, Laine. United States: Prometheus Global Media. April 13, 1959. p. 63. Retrieved August 31, 2016. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
• Robinson, Mark A. (2014). The World of Musicals [2 volumes]: An Encyclopedia of Stage, Screen, and Song. Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 318. ISBN 978-1440800962.
• Green, Stanley; Green, Kay (2008). Broadway Musicals, Show by Show (6th ed.). Milwaukee: Applause Theatre and Cinema Books. p. 136. ISBN 978-1557837363.
• Kenyon, Carolyn (April 3, 1974). "Janis Paige delightful in 'Desk Set'". The Halyard. 1 (6). Gainesville, Florida: University of Florida: 11. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
• "Janis Paige" (PDF). Janis Paige. United States. p. 9. Retrieved August 31, 2016.

External links

• Janis Paige at IMDb
• Janis Paige at the Internet Broadway Database
• Janis Paige at AllMovie