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.)

James Abbe Day

Lillian Gish (1893-1993) by James Abbe (1883-1973).

By inviting Abbe to join the crew of THE WHITE SISTER (1923) in Italy, Lillian Gish changed the course of his life: he never returned to New York, where he had been based, and he left his second wife for his third, the Ziegfeld Follies dancer Polly Platt. 

Lillian Gish's keen eye for talent is most obvious in her choice of James Abbe as a portrait and stills photographer, so it is nice to have one of Abbe's portraits of her to mark that relationship.

Lillian Gish and Ronald Colman (1891-1958) filming THE WHITE SISTER.

Marion Davies by Alfred Cheney Johnston

Alfred Cheney Johnston was especially noted for his portraits of the showgirls in the ZIEGFELD FOLLIES. While Marion Davies was a member of the 1916 FOLLIES cast, it appears that this image was taken for YOLANDA (1924), a film whose cast included Ian Maclaren and Leon Errol, both of whom had also appeared in the FOLLIES.

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.

Marion Davies

Marion Davies (Marion Cecilia Douras, 1897-1961) by Ira L. Hill (1876-1947).

She first appeared on Broadway in Charles Dillingham’s CHIN CHIN (1914) as a member of the Ensemble. After a named role in NOBODY HOME (1915), she returned to the chorus for Dillingham’s MISS INFORMATION (1915), then another named part in STOP! LOOK! LISTEN! (1915-16). She had finally arrived, joining the 1916 ZIEGFELD FOLLIES with Ina Claire and Fanny Brice.

Photo by Ruth Harriet Louise, MGM’s chief portrait photographer 1925-30.

Legend has it that Marion Davies met William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951) during the run of the 1916 FOLLIES; in the latter half of the decade Hearst took firm control of her career. More than three decades her senior, the heir to great wealth who had gone on to make even more, he had ample confidence in his own judgment as he wagered several fortunes on this lovely, stammering beauty — a mimic and a comedian, whom Hearst wished to mold into another one of those stately Ziegfeld dolls.

Lupino and Lauri Lane

Lupino Lane (Henry William George Lupino, 1892-1959) with his son Lauri Lupino Lane (1921-1986).

Lupino first went on the stage at the age of four, and he was professional from early adolescence. Lane achieved renown in a 1921 pantomime production of ALADDIN, where (per Wikipedia) he “dived through sixty three stage traps in six minutes” at the Hippodrome in London. He had already appeared on Broadway in AFGAR (1920-21) with his wife, Violet Blythe. Three years later he was back, performing in the long-running ZIEGFELD FOLLIES OF 1924 (1924-25) with Will Rogers. His final appearance in New York was as Ko-Ko in the Shuberts’ MIKADO (1925).

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. 

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.

Lillian Roth

Lillian Roth (Lillian Rutstein, 1910-1980) by Eugene Robert Richee, before a background by Claire Van Scoy.

The daughter of a stage mother, Lillian became the face of Educational Pictures when she was three; she made her Broadway début in 1917, and she had her first film part (as an extra) the following year. At seventeen she was back on Broadway as an ingenue in EARL CARROLL’S VANITIES, and she joined the ZIEGFELD MIDNIGHT FROLIC in 1929.

Roth was soon signed by Paramount Pictures; an early role, in Ernst Lubitsch’s THE LOVE PARADE (1929), shows off her endearing pert quality as well as a charming voice. (She is paired with Lupino Lane, another Ziegfeld alumnus.)

Troubles with alcohol, and marrying the wrong men, sabotaged her career; her autobiography formed the basis for Susan Hayward’s later star turn, I’LL CRY TOMORROW (1955). Still, Lillian Roth remained a draw on Broadway: she was elevated to star status (so above the title) during the Broadway run of I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE (1962), while Barbra Streisand (making her Broadway début) was listed below.

Ina Claire

Ina Claire (Ina Fagan, 1893-1985) by De Mirjian Studio.

Starting as a chorus girl in OUR MISS GIBBS (1910), Miss Claire quickly ascended the theatrical ladder, reaching the ZIEGFELD FOLLIES in 1915 (and again in 1916); she made her film début in Cecil B. DeMille’s THE WILD GOOSE CHASE (1915) alongside DeMille’s stock company of actors.

Photo by Sir Cecil Beaton (1904-1980)

In 1922, she originated the role of Lucy Warriner in Arthur Richman’s THE AWFUL TRUTH on Broadway. Seven years later, she starred in the 1929 film version of THE AWFUL TRUTH opposite Henry Daniell’s Jerry Warriner. Her supporting part as Grand Duchess Swana in NINOTCHKA (1939) stole sections of the film from Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas, and remains her most famous role.

She was married three times; John Gilbert was her second husband, from 1929 until 1931. This relationship began shortly after the explosive end of Gilbert’s romance with Garbo.…

Ruth “Film” Taylor

Ruth “Film” Taylor (1905 or 1908-1984) by Eugene Robert Richee (1896-1972), before a background by Claire Van Scoy (1885-1968). 

Just as William “Stage” Boyd worked at the same time as William “Film” Boyd, there was a Ruth Taylor featured in the 1918 and 1919 ZIEGFELD FOLLIES, just a few years before there was a Ruth Taylor in films. They are easy to mix up, but the film Ruth Taylor was born in 1905 (or 1908), so just a child of ten or thirteen in 1918.

This 1931 New York Times headline refers to Ruth “Stage” Taylor: “FINANCIER IS SUED BY EX-FOLLIES GIRL; Ruth Taylor Asks $600,000 Damages From J.R. Harbeck for Breach of Promise. SHE GOT $200,000 IN GIFTS And He Paid Expenses of $50,000 a Year for Six Years, She Asserts, Awaiting His Divorce.”

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.

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.

Elizabeth Brice

Elizabeth Brice (Bessie Shaler, 1885-1965) by White Studios.

Brice — no relation to Fanny, a Ziegfeld perennial — made her Broadway début in Lee and J. J. Shubert’s THE SOCIAL WHIRL (1906 and 1907); she appeared in the ZIEGFELD FOLLIES of 1913, although the IBDb page for the show does not list her part. 

Her Wikipedia page emphasizes her partnership in this period with Charles King (1886-1944), who would later appear in THE BROADWAY MELODY (1929, where he introduced the song “You Were Meant for Me”), THE HOLLYWOOD REVIEW OF 1929 (“Orange Blossom Time”), and CHASING RAINBOWS (1930, “Happy Days are Here Again”). In 1930, Brice and King recorded a dozen duets for the Victor, Columbia, and Brunswick record labels.

Eddie Cantor

Eddie Cantor (Isidore Itzkowitz, 1892-1964) by George Grantham Bain (1865-1944).

A member of the FOLLIES casts between 1917 and 1920, Cantor returned in 1923 and 1927. A beloved star, he tried and mastered all the performing arts in all the media available to him.

Helen Broderick (1891-1959) by Strauss-Peyton Studio

She made her Broadway début in the 1907 ZIEGFELD FOLLIES, as a dancer; her roles don’t appear in the IBDb listing for the production. In 1910, she married Lester Crawford, her partner in the vaudeville duo of Broderick & Crawford. As vaudeville wound down, she became a solo player and a lead on Broadway, although she made short films with Crawford in 1930 and 1931. She is remembered today for her acerbic turns in the Astaire and Rogers films TOP HAT (1935) and SWING TIME (1936).

Broderick’s son — named, inevitably, [William] Broderick Crawford (1911-1986) — won the Academy Award for best actor for his part as Willie Stark in ALL THE KING’S MEN (1949).

Grace La Rue (1882-1956)

Born Stella Parsons, she made her Broadway début in THE TOURISTS (1906), produced by Sam and Lee Shubert. She went on to a long career on Broadway, with occasional forays into film; in 1920 she married Hale Hamilton following a breach of promise suit brought by Hamilton’s second wife, Myrtle Tannehill. 

Both Mlle. Dazie and Grace La Rue appeared in the 1907 and 1908 editions of the ZIEGFELD FOLLIES.

Hale Hamilton (1880-1942)

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).