About the Collection
An aspiring singer since the age of 5, Janis Paige, born Donna Mae Tjaden, moved to Los Angeles after high school and worked as a singer at the Hollywood Canteen. It was at the Canteen she was noticed and signed by a talent scout for Warner Brothers, where she spent the next few years in secondary musicals. In 1951, she transitioned from Hollywood to Broadway, finding success in Remains to Be Seen and The Pajama Game. After losing her role in the film version of Pajama Game to Doris Day, she returned to movies and television. Incidentally, one of those roles happened to be opposite Day, in the 1960 comedy Please Don’t Eat the Daisies. In addition to movies, Janis also dabbled in television over the next few decades, including original shows like It’s Always Jan, and appearances on All in the Family, Charlie’s Angels and Night Court.
In 1976, Paige joined the Songwriters Guild of America, a seat she inherited from her late husband Ray Gilbert, and stayed a member until 2001. Ray is best known as the songwriter who wrote “Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah” for the controversial Disney movie Song of the South. She also inherited Ray’s business, the Ipanema Music Corporation, allowing her to protect Ray’s songwriting legacy to this day, including the songs “You Belong to My Heart,” “Sooner or Later” and Casey at the Bat.” Her most recent public appearance was in 2012, giving a cabaret performance at Vitello’s in Los Angeles at the age of 90.
The Janis Paige Collection at Emerson includes over one hundred copies of all 26 episodes of It’s Always Jan, along with the scripts for each one and plenty of photos of Janis herself. Each episode is preserved in multiple formats, from DVDs and videotapes to 35mm and 16mm strips of film. Additionally, the set includes a complete interview with Paige in 2005, conducted by Robert Fleming, the current Executive Director of the Iwasaki Library at Emerson College.
The Janis Paige Collection at Emerson includes over one hundred copies of every episode of It’s Always Jan, along with the scripts for each one and plenty of photos of Janis herself. Each episode is preserved in multiple formats, from DVDs and videotapes to 35mm and 16mm strips of film. Additionally, the set includes a complete interview with Paige in 2005, conducted by Robert Fleming, the current Executive Director of the Iwasaki Library at Emerson College.
The Emerson College American Comedy Archives were founded by alumni Bill Dana in 2005 to chronicle the comedic achievements made in TV, radio, movies and live performances. Notable standouts include a compilation of Bill Dana’s own work on The Bill Dana Show and The Steve Allen Show, scripts from the show Mork and Mindy and an entire audiovisual collection featuring the works of Dom DeLuise. Dana and archivist/historian Jenni Matz also produced a collection of videotaped oral history interviews, all of which have been transcribed. Some of the most famous interviewees include Dick Van Dyke, Phyllis Diller, Janis Paige, Don Knotts, Betty White, Henry Winkler and “Weird Al” Yankovic.