Janice Page is an American actress and singer known for many Hollywood films and television series. The actress has appeared in more than 70 productions and has been awarded a star on the Walk of Fame.
Childhood and early career
Donna Mae Tiaden (Janice Page) was born on September 16, 1922 in Tacoma, Washington, USA. Janice started singing on local amateur shows at the age of 5, which was the beginning of her creative career.
Paige graduated from high school in Los Angeles, and during the Second World War earned money at the "Hollywood Canteen", performing various compositions for the military. This establishment existed from October 1942 to November 1945 as a place offering food, dancing and entertainment for employees. The dining room was also open to the allied countries; the serviceman's ticket upon admission was in his uniform, and everything in the canteen was provided free of charge.
It was there that the future star was noticed by a man from "Warner Brothers" who was looking for talented artists. He saw great potential in a girl performing on stage and immediately signed a contract with her. Then it was only revealed that the singer performed under a pseudonym: the name "Janice" from the artist of the First World War and "Paige" in honor of her grandmother's maiden name. Janice was cast in a supporting role in Bathing Beauty, and a movie was soon made about the dining room in which she played the girl messenger.
Hollywood and Broadway
Janice Page's professional career began with little-known films and supporting roles. In 1948, she starred in Romance on the High Seas, which debuted the equally famous actress Doris Day. Then followed by adventure and dramatic productions, in which she felt out of place, and after the role in "Two Gals and a Guy" she decided to leave Hollywood.
Paige later appeared on Broadway and had huge success in the 1951 comedy-mystery play Remains to Be Seen, starring Jack Cooper. She also toured successfully as a cabaret singer. In April 1947, she was crowned "Miss Damsite" and participated in the groundbreaking ceremony for the McNary Dam on the Columbia River with Cornelia Morton McNary, widow of Senator Charles McNary and Oregon Governor Earl Snell.
Janice has successfully toured as a cabaret singer, performing everywhere from New York to Miami. Final fame came in 1954 with the role of "baby" in the Broadway "The Pajama Game" opposite John Wright. The plot was tied to labor problems in a pajamas factory, where workers' demands for higher wages are ignored. In the midst of this ordeal, love blossoms between baby, the head of the complaints committee, and Sid, the new factory manager.
Paige later returned to Hollywood starring in the film Silk Stockings, the comedy Please Don't Eat the Daisies, and the role of a love-hungry married neighbor in Bachelor in Paradise (1961). This was followed by a period of work on Broadway and it began with the work "Here's Love". Janice has appeared in touring productions of musicals such as "Annie Get Your Gun", "Applause", "Sweet Charity", "Ballroom", "Gypsy: A Musical Fable" and many others.
Television
From 1955-1956, Paige starred in the short comedy, It's Always Jan, starring Merry Andres as Janice Stewart, a widowed mother and her two female roommates, played by Anders and Patricia Bright. In 1957, she made her television drama debut in The Latch Key. She appeared as troubadour Halle Martin in the episode "Ballad For a Ghost" and also played for the production of "Auntie V."
On account of Janice Page participation in such television works as the film by John O'Hara "Gibbsville", the soap opera "Capitol", "General Hospital" and "Santa Barbara". In 1982, she appeared on the American medical television series "St. Elsewhere" as a defiant girl who walked the corridors of a hospital "cheering" on male patients. In 1986, she appeared alongside Richard Klein and Bert Convey in Super Password.
Personal life
Janice Page managed to be married three times. The first spouse was Frank Louis Martinelli, who worked as a restaurateur. The marriage lasted only 5 years, and then Janice decided to tie the knot with Arthur Stander, television writer and creator of "It's Always Jan," starring his wife. The second marriage also lasted a short time, already in 1962 Page begins a new relationship with composer and music performer Ray Gilbert. Unfortunately, Gilbert passed away on March 3, 1976, leaving this marriage childless.
In 2001, Janice suffered a serious illness associated with damage to her vocal cords. She tried to recover with the help of a singing teacher she knew, but this led to even more serious consequences. Her voice practically disappeared, forcing her to seek medical help. "He literally took my voice. I could not hold the sound for a second. He said it was all temporary. It turned out not to be so," Paige recalls. As a result, the problem was solved at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.
Janice also became a member of a major publicized misconduct. In 2017, at the age of 95, Page wrote a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter, in which she stated that Alfred Bloomingdale tried to rape her when she was 22 years old. Alfred was the heir to the state of Bloomingdale's department store chain and the "father of the credit card".
