Elsie Janis, Writer
Janis began writing very early in her career, not only songs and scripts, but individual poems as well as the collection, Poems Now and Then. In 1911 she published A Star for a Night: A Story of Stage Life, a novel adapted from her play of the same name. She published her first autobiography in 1919, The Big Show: My Six Months with the American Expeditionary Forces and followed up in 1932 with So Far, So Good!. Beginning in the 1930s, as she moved from performing to writing and production, Janis wrote a number of articles for various magazines, drawing from her friendships and working relationships with many stars such as John Barrymore and Helen Hayes.
Janis’s earliest published song, “I’d Rather Love What I Cannot Have, Than Have What I Cannot Love,” marked the addition of songwriter to her growing credits. She wrote songs for herself and her productions as well as music not specifically related to the shows in which she was appearing. Because of her growing body of work, including the popular vaudeville song “Anti Rag-Time Girl” (1912), Janis joined a distinguished group of writers and publishers to become a charter member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) founded by Victor Herbert in 1914. Janis enjoyed collaborations with some of the most important songwriters of her day including Irving Berlin and Jerome Kern.
