JANIS PAIGE

Janis Paige first established a successful career in Hollywood before setting her sets on Broadway in the early ’50s. However, her Broadway stint was brief and she returned to acting in front of the cameras for the movie Silk Stockings. Before enjoying the glitz and glamor of Hollywood, Janis worked as a stenographer for a plumbing services company. In the early 2000s, Janis underwent surgery for vocal cord damage but has since recovered.

Born in Tacoma, Washington in 1922, her name was Donna Mae Tjaden, and has been singing publicly in local amateur shows since the age of 5. After graduating from high school, she moved to Los Angeles and got a job as a singer at Hollywood Canteen during the war years. Hollywood Canteen is a studio-sponsored hangout for military personnel, where she was discovered by talent scouts from Warner Bros. and signed a contract.