Alternate board member of the Songwriters Guild of America.
Chose her first name in honor of Elsie Janis, beloved entertainer of troops during World War I; Paige was her maternal grandmother's name.
During her Broadway run of "The Pajama Game" in the mid-'50s, she accidentally developed poison oak. Co-star John Raitt had been clearing land and came to the theater with a rash on his hands. Janis missed three weeks of performances and had to endure potassium baths which made her turn purple.
Got her start working as a singer at the Hollywood Canteen, where she was discovered by a Warner Brothers talent scout. One of her first film roles was co-starring in the Warner Brothers film, Hollywood Canteen (1944), where she plays a Warner Brothers messenger girl working at the canteen.
Measurements: 37 1/2-25-37 (measured in 1954), (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)
She has developed a new autobiographical cabaret show in 2010 that she has been performing to great acclaim in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
She was nominated for a 1975 Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Guest Artist for her performance in the play, "The Gingerbread Lady," at the Candlelight Forum Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.
Stepmother of Joanne Gilbert.
Was only 12 years older than Nicolas Coster when she played his mother, Minx Lockridge (1990-1993), on "Santa Barbara" (1984).
When the hit musical "The Pajama Game" was being transferred to film, both lead stars, she and co-star John Raitt were told either might recreate their respective roles, but not both. The reason given was that neither were established movie stars at the time. Frank Sinatra was approached to do the film, which meant Janis would have co-starred, but he turned it down. Doris Day was offered the role and accepted, so Raitt was taken on board and Paige was out.