Elsie Janis

Elsie Janis (Elsie Bierbower, 1889-1956) in THE CENTURY GIRL (1916-17). Photo by White Studios

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. did not just produce the ZIEGFELD FOLLIES; his Broadway career actually began with A PARLOR MATCH in 1896 and ran to a revival of SHOW BOAT in 1932. Many of the performers in the FOLLIES started in another Ziegfeld show, or moved on to other Ziegfeld productions.

Elsie Janis never appeared in the ZIEGFELD FOLLIES, but she was featured in some of Charles Dillingham’s productions (beginning with THE HOYDEN, 1907-8) before the joint Dillingham-Ziegfeld musical OVER THE RIVER (1912), to which she also contributed lyrics. 

After other Dillingham shows, Elsie Janis appeared in an even more successful joint production, THE CENTURY GIRL. Dillingham and Ziegfeld also produced ELSIE JANIS AND HER GANG (1919-20), a Janis-penned revue that showcased Miss Janis’s multiple talents as a performer, lyricist, and producer. (Just to underline the fact, she presented her own production of ELSIE JANIS AND HER GANG in 1922.)

Errol on parade

Leon Errol (Leonce Errol Sims, 1881-1951) filming Elsie Janis’s production of PARAMOUNT ON PARADE (1930). Photo by Don English 

Ah, Leon Errol! A native of Sydney, he dropped out of medical school — early enough that he was only 17 when he reached San Francisco in 1898 — and spent the next decade rising through the vaudeville ranks. In 1911, he reached the ZIEGFELD FOLLIES (with his wife Stella Chatelaine). His next show was Ziegfeld’s A WINSOME WIDOW (1912). He was in the 1912 FOLLIES, and again in 1913 (with his wife); he performed with Stella in the 1914 edition, which he also directed (with Flo Ziegfeld). 

Errol co-directed “The Blue Follies” in 1915, and for the next few years he directed or staged a run of hits: the 1915 ZIEGFELD MIDNIGHT FROLIC, THE CENTURY GIRL (1916-17), DANCE AND GROW THIN (1917), HITCHY-KOO (1917), and WORDS AND MUSIC (1917-18 and again in 1918). He took a break to appear as Connie, a waiter, and the Duke of Czechogovinia in SALLY (1920-22), which established Marilyn Miller as a star. 

Josephine Harriman

The dancer Josephine Harriman by Moffett Studio.

Like Elizabeth Brice and Charles King, Josephine Harriman appeared in Charles Dillingham’s THE SLIM PRINCESS (1911); Elsie Janis was another member of the cast. Her time on Broadway was short, stretching from 1907 (THE GIRL BEHIND THE COUNTER) to 1915 (THE PEASANT GIRL). With Elizabeth Brice, she was a member of the 1913 ZIEGFELD FOLLIES cast.

Moffett photographed her in 1914, when she was a member of the cast of Charles Frohman’s production of THE LAUGHING HUSBAND.