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.)

Albert Carroll Day

Irene Lewisohn (1886-1944) and Albert Carroll (1895-1956) in THE ROYAL FANDANGO (1921). Photo by Francis Bruguière (1879-1945)

While not a name to conjure with today, Carroll was an important figure in Manhattan cultural circles a hundred years ago. There is something Zelig-like in the career of this journeyman actor, singer, dancer, diarist, and crossword puzzle author who appeared in the 1931 ZIEGFELD FOLLIES, the last edition produced by Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.

200th post

This blog has spun out in some unexpected directions, with many more unidentified (or vernacular) subjects than I thought at the start. 

For some identified sitters, I would suggest the Academy Founders link. I have written or posted a lot — more than a quarter of the entries to date — on Athletic Model Guild subjects; the Broadway link will lead to a variety of posts, as will Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.

Unidentified accounts for about 20% of the entries, for what that’s worth. As for the rest, there are dozens of single mentions of sitters (from Adele Astaire to Yves Grangeat), at least some of whom I hope to treat further in the future. 

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. 

Photos by Russell Ball (1891-1942)

Some familiar faces…

Billie Burke (Mary William Ethelbert Appleton Burke, 1884-1970), who was married to Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. 1914-32.

Mary Forbes

Ralph Forbes

Ben Lyon

Marilyn Miller by Ferenc of Vienna

After an early start in vaudeville, working in a family act, Marilyn Miller (Mary Ellen Reynolds, 1898-1936) became a star in the 1918 ZIEGFELD FOLLIES portraying the producer’s wife, Billie Burke, and singing “Mine Was a Marriage of Convenience.” In the 1919 FOLLIES, she sang Irving Berlin’s “Mandy”; and with SALLY (1920), where she performed Jerome Kern’s “Look for the Silver Lining,” she was further memorialized in Dorothy Parker’s verse:

From the alley's gloom and chill

Up to fame danced Sally.

Which was nice for her, but still

Rough upon the alley.

How it must regret her wiles.

All her ways and glances. 

Now the theatre owns her smiles, 

Sallies, songs, and dances.

Adele Astaire

Adele Astaire (Adele Marie Austerlitz, 1896-1981) by White Studios.

Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.’s production of SMILES (1930-31) was a disappointment, with just 63 performances — Marilyn Miller’s last show, ROSALIE, had run for 335 and for most of 1928. With a top-notch production team and a starry cast, it sounds sure-fire.

SMILES was Adele Astaire’s penultimate Broadway show, the last before THE BAND WAGON (1931-32). Her Broadway career, dancing with her brother Fred, gradually grew to encompass speaking parts, beginning with Alex A. Aarons’s FOR GOODNESS SAKE (1922), which opened as STOP FLIRTING in London in May 1923. London loved Americans, and the Astaires: the Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VIII and then Duke of Windsor) saw STOP FLIRTING ten times.

LADY, BE GOOD! (1924-25) followed in New York and London, then FUNNY FACE (1927-28), during the London run of which Adele met Lord Charles Cavendish, the younger son of an English duke.

After a two-year Broadway break, the Astaires returned with SMILES in 1930. Even with Marilyn Miller and Eddie Foy Jr., as well as Fred and Adele, SMILES was a bit of a flop. The Astaires’ last show together, in contrast, was a most satisfactory hit: THE BAND WAGON (1931-32) offered audiences Helen Broderick, Tillie Losch, and Frank Morgan. (Adele and Fred sang “I Love Louisa,” and Fred performed “New Sun in the Sky,” both of which can be seen in the 1953 film version.)

The show went on tour, and after a performance in Chicago in March 1932, Adele retired from the stage to marry Lord Charles; they wed in May. 

Luise Rainer

Luise Rainer (1910-2014), while filming HOSTAGES (1943). The photo is attributed to A. L. “Whitey” Schafer (1903-1951).

Miss Rainer was the first performer to win consecutive Academy Awards as Best Actress: first for playing Anna Held in THE GREAT ZIEGFELD (1936), and then as O-Lan in a very different film, THE GOOD EARTH (1937).

Ian Maclaren

Ian Maclaren (1875-1952) by White Studios.

A native of Devon, Maclaren made his Broadway début in THE BONNIE BRIER BUSH (1901); a decade later, he supported George Arliss in DISRAELI (1911). (In the aftermath of the TITANIC disaster in April 1912, he organized a benefit performance of HAMLET to mark William Shakespeare’s birthday.) His next Broadway appearance was in THE ZIEGFELD FOLLIES OF 1913.

His later Broadway roles ran the gamut, from a production of Shaw’s ANDROCLES AND THE LION (1915) to THE GREEN RING (1922) and THE LITTLE CLAY CART (1924-25, as Charudatta) with Albert Carroll (“A shampooer who turns monk” in the latter) and Carroll’s frequent co-star Irene Lewisohn. Carroll would appear in the last FOLLIES produced by Florenz Ziegfeld Jr., in 1931.

In films, Maclaren appeared in MONSIEUR BEAUCAIRE (1924), a vehicle for Rudolph Valentino; one of his first sound roles was in JOURNEY’S END (1930). By the end of the 1930s, he had slid into uncredited film roles; his last Broadway appearance was in 1941, in Charles Kennedy’s THE SEVENTH TRUMPET.

Mademoiselle Dazie

The storied Ziegfeld Follies began as a replacement show after Anna Held’s A PARISIAN MODEL (1906) closed in June 1907. The New York Times reviewed THE FOLLIES OF 1907, a “musical review,” as “a complete change in the bill” after it opened at the Jardin de Paris, atop the New York and Criterion Theatres, although it shared a chorus with the earlier show. Like Miss Held’s show, it was produced by Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.; this program was “another one of those things in thirteen acts.” 

Emma Carus starred as Topsy, “a soubrette lady” (among other roles); the featured performers in the first FOLLIES included Mlle. Dazie as Dolly and as Salome, a dancer.

Mlle. Dazie (Daisy Ann Peterkin, 1884-1952) by Emil Otto Hoppé (1878-1972)

First billed in vaudeville as “The Red Domino” (for a disguising domino mask), she remade herself as Mademoiselle Dazie; this print bears the legend “the toe dancer” (or ballerina) on the reverse. In 1913, she married Cornelius Fellowes, president of the St. Nicholas Hygeia Ice Company, but only announced the event in 1914. (Fellowes sounds like a model for Osgood Fielding in SOME LIKE IT HOT, although this marriage, his second, seems to have lasted.) 

Mademoiselle Dazie’s earliest appearance on Broadway was in 1900, as a specialty dancer in THE BELLE OF NEW YORK.

Will Rogers

Will Rogers (William Penn Adair Rogers, 1879-1935) by Alexander Paul Kahle (1886-1968)

Rogers started out as a trick roper in a circus in South Africa; over the course of the next fifteen years he gradually added ad-libbed speech to his act. In 1915, he joined the ZIEGFELD MIDNIGHT FROLIC cast — atop the New Amsterdam Theatre — extending his run into 1916. He moved on to the FOLLIES in 1917, becoming a regular (1917-18 and 1921-25); he also continued to appear from time to time at the MIDNIGHT FROLIC as well as Ziegfeld’s NINE O’CLOCK REVIEW.

He could make films during the day, in New Jersey, before reporting to the theater in Manhattan. Sam Goldwyn brought him out west, and Rogers later worked for Hal Roach. In all he made 71 films, most of them silent: with sound he became a superstar.

His dry wit managed to be sharp without alienating his listeners. His newspaper columns, like his live performances, radio shows, and film work, turned him into a beloved American sage. It was Will Rogers who said “I am not a member of an organized political party. I am a Democrat.” He also wanted his gravestone to read “I never met a man I didn’t like.”

He was committed to promoting American aviation, and died in Alaska on an aerial surveying trip with Wiley Post. 

Academy Founders

Just as I have collected photos of many of the performers in Florenz Ziegfeld’s FOLLIES, I have put together a group of images of the founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The numbers follow The Internet Movie Database's list order announcing the Academy in January 1927. 

1. Richard Barthelmess (1895-1963) of the Actors Branch. 

Barthelmess made his debut in Alla Nazimova's WAR BRIDES (1916) and played opposite Lillian Gish in BROKEN BLOSSOMS (1919) and WAY DOWN EAST (1920). He was nominated for Academy Awards for both THE PATENT LEATHER KID (1927) and THE NOOSE (1928). His career waned in the early sound era, although he made a comeback with ONLY ANGELS HAVE WINGS (1939).