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Silent Film Actress Dorothy Janis 1910-2010

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jlp

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Mar 11, 2010, 6:39:37 AM3/11/10
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Dorothy Janis, who made a few film appearances at the dawn of the
sound era and was the widow of bandleader Wayne King, died Wednesday
morning in the Phoenix area, according to musician Lew Williams, who
received the news from Janis’ granddaughter. Janis, one of the last
surviving performers to have played at least one major role in silent
films, was either 98 or 100, depending on the source.

A pretty, petite brunette with sensuous lips — according to (possibly
made-up) reports from the period, she was half-Native American —
Dorothy Janis was born in Dallas on Feb. 19, 1910 or 1912. Her most
notable movie role was that of the half-Pacific Islander, half-white
heroine in W. S. Van Dyke’s The Pagan (1929), one of MGM star Ramon
Novarro’s biggest box-office hits.

In the film, which has no dialogue but features a music score, Novarro
got to sing Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown’s highly popular "Pagan
Love Song," at times accompanied by Janis — who actually just mouthed
the lyrics; another female voice was heard on the film’s soundtrack.


Shot on location in French Polynesia, the deceptively simple The Pagan
also happens to be one of the best productions made during that
difficult transition from silent to talking pictures. The paragraph
below is from my Novarro biography Beyond Paradise: The Life of Ramon
Novarro:

"Similar in theme to White Shadows in the South Seas, The Pagan
presents European civilization as indisputably the villain—an uncommon
approach in films of the period. On the surface, the story is about a
carefree but wealthy half-caste, Henry Shoesmith, Jr., who attempts to
please a ruthless white trader so he can romance the man’s ‘Christian
duty,’ a pretty half-caste girl. On a deeper level, The Pagan deals
with the subversion of the island’s way of life by white invaders,
from their belief that the value of nature lies only in pounds and
dollars to their imposition of an alien and unsuitable religion.
Although both Novarro’s and Janis’s characters are part European,
their behavior is all idealized Pacific Islander: playful and
innocent. Renée Adorée’s Madge is the only good white character,
though, significantly, she is a prostitute and an outcast in her own
Euro-Christian society. Frances Marion and Novarro himself wrote the
initial treatments—he expressly wanted to emphasize that the ‘pagan’
Henry Shoesmith behaved more like a Christian than the intolerant
followers of Jesus—though Dorothy Farnum received the final adaptation
credit. John Howard Lawson, one of the future Hollywood Ten, was
responsible for the perceptive intertitles."

Before The Pagan, Janis had appeared in three minor releases: the
oaters Kit Carson (1928) and The Overland Telegraph, and the drama
Fleetwing (1928), playing opposite minor leading man Barry Norton. Her
only talkie was Lummox (1930), starring the former wife of cowboy star
William S. Hart and 1910s leading lady Winifred Westover, then
attempting a motion-picture comeback. Though directed by the renowned
Herbert Brenon, an Academy Award nominee in the first year of the
awards, Lummox was not a success.

Janis’ only other film appearance was in Harry Garson’s The White
Captive, shot on location in Southeast Asia for Universal. In the
Sept. 27, 1930, issue of the Norwalk Hour, a brief note mentioned that
Garson "reports some of the most remarkable jungle material ever
secured and the first to be taken with sound equipment." Perhaps
Garson was making that up, or perhaps his work was ruined either
during the trip back to California or at some local lab, for The White
Captive was deemed unreleasable. The film did, however, gain a certain
degree of notoriety when the wife of technician Sidney Desmond Lund,
with whom she had recently gotten married, filed a $25,000 lawsuit
against Janis for stealing her husband’s affections during the months-
long shoot. The lawsuit was eventually dropped.

Janis made no more films after that. At about the time of the scandal
she met Wayne King, whom she married in 1932. Their marriage lasted
until his death in 1985. "After I met Wayne," Janis would tell author
Michael Ankerich nearly six decades later, "it was to heck with it
all."

In the early ’90s, Ankerich published an account of his correspondence
with the actress in Broken Silence: Conversations With 23 Silent Film
Stars. With Ankerich as the middle man, about ten years ago I
attempted to interview Dorothy Janis for my Novarro biography.
Unfortunately, I never heard back from her.

Recently, thanks to Warner Home Video "on-demand" releases of rare
films found in the Time Warner library, Janis was able to watch a good
print of The Pagan once again. A family member told Lew Williams "she
enjoyed it immensely."

With Dorothy Janis’ passing, I can think of only two surviving
performers who had major adult roles in silent feature films: Barbara
Kent (Lonesome) and Miriam Seegar (Valley of the Ghosts).

apairateef

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Mar 11, 2010, 10:50:25 PM3/11/10
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"jlp" <jayp...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:efe308bc-350e-4229...@z11g2000yqz.googlegroups.com...

Dorothy Janis, who made a few film appearances at the dawn of the
sound era and was the widow of bandleader Wayne King, died Wednesday
[snip]

Oh dear...sad about her yes.. but more unfortunate for her husband with a
name like that....

S

Charlene

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Mar 11, 2010, 10:53:13 PM3/11/10
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On Mar 11, 9:50 pm, "apairateef" <arf...@flipflop.com> wrote:
> "jlp" <jaypay...@aol.com> wrote in message

Luckily, the word "wanking" was unknown in America until maybe ten
years ago. He would have never had a problem.

wd45

Brad Ferguson

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Mar 11, 2010, 11:20:50 PM3/11/10
to
In article
<b0a47f7d-6aa6-49b6...@d2g2000yqa.googlegroups.com>,
Charlene <charlene...@gmail.com> wrote:


There was a technician at NBC News named The Wanker, who was known for
doing what Linda Ellerbee called in her book "that activity for which
one need never look his best."

apairateef

unread,
Mar 12, 2010, 3:25:01 PM3/12/10
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"Charlene" <charlene...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:b0a47f7d-6aa6-49b6...@d2g2000yqa.googlegroups.com...

wd45
************************************************************

Reallly?! Only 10 years ago! Sheesh

LOLZ

S

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