TV Radio Mirror (Jan - Jun 1956)

basically a sentimental gal. Ruth has made sure that Jan is home for every Christmas, since that bleak Christmas in 1950, shortly after Jan's return from Italy. Jan then lived in a bare New York apartment without rugs or stove — she cooked on an ironing board. It was the first Christmas Jan had been away from home, and one of the loneliest periods in her life. Then, on Christmas Eve, Ruth and Lyle came into the apartment loaded with gifts and a tree. Jan dissolved into tears of happiness. "These two," she says of Ruth and Lyle, "never left me alone when I needed them. They've been through every happiness and crisis with me . . . they are like my own family . . ." There have been times in Jan's career when she has been afraid, and times when she was low, but she has always had the courage to wade in and battle life. Born Donna Mae Tjaden, one September 16 in Tacoma, Washington, she says of her early life, "We were always apartment dwellers — we never lived in a house. I slept on the day bed, and I was always falling off. Later, in New York, the first thing I bought was a king-size bed. What luxury!" Jan and her mother and sister went to live with her grandfather when she was still very young. Jan describes her grandfather as a kind and understanding man. "He was the one," she says, "who slipped me a dollar when the fair came to town." Jan's biggest regret is that her grandfather died just as her career hit the big time. "Grandfather was always there when I needed him," she recalls. "He was the biggest single influence in my life. I remember one day when my sister Betty and I were coming home from school and Ira, the bully on the block, started to push us around. He'd teased us every day and I decided we'd had enough. I hauled off and hit him on the nose. When he spouted blood, he was so surprised he ran home. I was scared to death — I thought I'd killed him. Betty and I turned and ran, too. "We flew into the house looking for Mother. She wasn't home, but Grandfather was. 'Granddad,' I cried, 'I've been in a fight. I hit Ira.' "Grandfather asked, 'Why?' "I said, 'Because he teased and pushed us and I hit him and gave him a bloody nose!' " 'That's good enough for me,' Grandfather said. 'Forget it and go wash your face.' "Fifteen minutes later, Ira and his parents rang our bell. When Grandfather opened the door, they said, 'Look what your granddaughter did to our son!' "Grandfather laughed, 'Isn't that a shame?' he said. 'In the future, you tell your son to leave my granddaughter alone. If he picks on her and hits her — and she doesn't hit him back — I will.' "Then Grandfather closed the door on their surprised faces, saying, 'Honey, don't look for trouble. But, when you've been knocked down, that's the time to swing back the hardest.' " As a child Jan was always singing. She had a rich voice. Both family and friends nursed visions of an operatic career for her. As a teenager, her singing won her the lead roles in Tacoma Stadium High School's annual musical comedies. Jan remembers that on opening nights she was too ill to eat. "But I learned from my grandfather," she says, "that, with life, you've got to go out and try. Even if you get belted, so what? You're learning." T Once out of high school, Jan worked as V a secretary in a Seattle plumbing and H supply store. But she wanted to sing. Knowing a singing career wouldn't come to her until she first went after it, in 1944 she and her mother bought a second-hand car and drove to Hollywood. In Hollywood, in the middle of the war, Jan donated some of her time to pouring coffee and making sandwiches for service men at the Hollywood Canteen. Then, one night, one of the scheduled performers couldn't make it and Jan stepped in with a song. The next thing she knew, she was under contract to M-G-M. From M-G-M, Janis went to Warners', where she starred in many of their leading musical productions from 1944 to 1948. It would be nice to say that Janis Paige became a big Warners' movie star and lived happily ever after, but such was not the case. By 1948, Jan had become a star, had made many good pictures — and several not so good. She was unhappy with the scripts and finally bought back her contract. Then began a trying period in Jan's life. Her savings shrunk to nothing, she was forced to sell her possessions to live. Because of her own personal integrity and honesty, she had dropped from stardom's Janis Paige and Arthur Stander extend the partnership to marriage. peak to a valley of ill health and despair. Then Jan remembered her grandfather's advice: When you're most down and out, that's the time to swing the hardest. Jan built up an act and left Hollywood for the night-club circuits, playing all the small spots across country, and a few of the big ones. "Night-club audiences differ," she says. "One night, they clap and laugh. The next, they sit on their hands. You run hot and cold. But if you give up on your first bad night, you're lost forever. The only thing you can do is take the good with the bad. At least, if you keep trying — when your big break comes along, you are ready . . ." Jan's act had been building for a year, and was beginning to receive a great deal of acclaim. "Yet I was a long way from either California or New York," she says, "and this didn't exactly make me happy." Then she was suddenly offered the starring role in "Remains To Be Seen," on Broadway. "Lindsay and Crouse, Bretaigne Windust and Leland Hayward were like fathers to me," she remembers gratefully. "They knew the headaches that went into putting a stage show together. Having had no experience, I wasn't prepared. I was frightened to death every night I walked on the stage. But with 'Remains' I learned again that you can't be afraid to make mistakes. You get swatted down — so what? Just as I've always believed: As long as you're trying, you're learning. "Did I finally get over my fright?" Jan echoes. "Sure — closing night in Chicago." After "Remains To Be Seen," Jan went back to the night-club circuit. One night at the Copa in New York, Hal Prince, Bobby Griffith and Frederick Brisson, the producers for the then-unproduced Broadway show, "Pajama Game," came up to her and said: "Janis, we haven't any money for our new show yet . . . but, when we get it, you'd be great as Babe Williams . . ." "What kind of part is it?" asked Janis. "She's a pajama factory grievance committee leader," said they. Janis raised one eyebrow. "A what?" "That's the reaction of the money men," Prince and Griffith and Brisson went on. " 'Inside a pajama factory?' they say. 'What's that got to do with a Broadway musical?' But, believe us, Janis, it's going to make a great show. And, when we get the money, we'll call you. Okay?" "Okay," said Janis, who promptly forgot the interview and went back on the road. In February of 1954, Jan was in Windsor, Ontario, playing the Casino Royale. "It was a stormy day," she says, "and I was miserably cold. Then suddenly my manager, Ruth Aarons, called. 'Bob Hope has asked to have you on his show,' she told me. 'How would you like to come home to California?' " Jan's appearance on Bob Hope's Hollywood TV show was a great success. To top it off, Jan received word that she was to go into rehearsal for "Pajama Game"' the very next day! "I was so excited with all the good news," she says, "I nearly flipped! At the Burbank airport waiting for the plane, I was having such a great time celebrating with friends, I completely forgot the time — and I missed the plane! "I was terrified! It was the biggest chance of my life, and here I was sitting 3,000 miles away! I was even afraid to call New York, for missing a first rehearsal is unforgivable. But I finally got up enough nerve to call Ruth. " 'Well, Face' (Ruth's nickname for Janis' expressive visage), 'well, Face, it's about time you missed something!' " As Ruth later explained, "Janis is the regular 'On-Time Gal.' I was glad she was relaxing and having a ball — it was about time. And missing one rehearsal didn't really mean so much . . ." The rest is history: Janis Paige was a smash hit in "Pajama Game." Her reviews were the sort of thing Hollywood stars dream about but seldom get on Broadway. Jan became the toast of the town. "I never thought television would happen to me," she says. "I'm the biggest optimist in the world — but, when you think of people like Jackie Gleason and Lucille Ball on TV, you don't think of yourself in the same breath. Besides, so much had already happened to me in the last year that having my own show on TV, too, was almost too much to expect." As with everything in her life, Jan has given her all to her new career in television. Recently she made a flying trip to New York to see "Pajama Game." She says, "Whereas, it used to be 'Janis' or 'Miss Paige,' when I got off the plane, the stewardess said, 'Nice having you aboard. Goodbye, Jan.' " The prop man greeted her with, "Hello, Jan," the stage manager said, "Why, look who's back to see us — it's Jan!" And on the streets, in the subways — it seemed everyone was saying, "Why, it's Jan!" It's plain to see that, because she has thrown her heart into the TV ring and plunged in after it, Janis Paige has been taken into the hearts of the American public. "It's Always Jan" — and it always will be. I