The herald., 1918-08-22
ELSIE JANfS-AMERIcA'S GREAT.
EST AcTRESS-FOR ONE
NIGHT ONLY.


And at last, with warning toots from
a distant whistle and great wave Of
laughter as the order was passed along
to clear the track, a locomotive trun-
died in out of the night. in its cab a
pair of proud and grinning engineers,
on It's cOwcatcher Elsie Janis. A mo-
ment later and the engine was near
enough to the stage for her to clear the
space at single jump and there she
was, with her black velvet tam pushed
back on her tossing hair, with her
eyes aught and her hands upliftGd, her
whole voice thrown into the question
which is the beginning and the end OF
morale, which is the most important
question in the army:
"Are we dOwnheartedT
The Thunderous Response.
You can only family imagine the
thunderous NO" with which the train
shed echoed. And 1t Is the whole point
Of Elsie Janis-as well as the whole
point of all the mummerS now being
booked to play for the A. +. F.-that
whatever the spirit of the boys before.
her coming. they really meant that
mo" with all there was in them, that
any who might have been just little
| downhearted before, felt better about
| 1t after seeing and hearing her. For,
| like the rare officer who can inspire his
men ia very prodigies of valOr, so the
flashing Elsie is compact Of that price
Oh ~
! pedsntc phrase, we must call positive
magnetism. More than one company
| has marched off to its first night in the
trenches with brighter eyes, squarer
shoulders and a more gallant swing be-
cause, at the very threshold of safety,
this lanky and lovely lady from Co
lumbus, Ohio, waved and sang and
cheered them on their way.
That Is why, when the history OF
this great expedition comes to be writ
ten, there should be chapter devOt-
ed to the play-girl of the western front,
the star of the A. f. F., the fOrerunner
of those players who are now being
booked in the greatest circuit of them
all, The Y. M. G. A. huts of France.
For her, and for her like, there Is
always room. And work aplenty to
do. There are troops to be fired-as
by martial music-on the edge of the
advance.
Elsie Janis (and mother) are having
the time OF their lives, and she meant
every word of it when she cabled
back to all her brothers and sisters of
the stage to come or they would never
know what they had missed.
Barn. Stormlng With Vengeance.
For Elsie it has been transforming
with a vengeance, tour of tank towns
In more senses than one. 1t has meant
travelling without a maid for once In
a way, playing a whole season with
one-dress wardrobe, bivouacking In
strange and uninviting hotels.
1t has meant warbling as cabaret
singer among tables of some officers
mess or mounting a bench to sing
through the windows Of come conta'
gion barracks where the isolated
doughboys had been tearing their in
fected hair with disappointment be
cause they had heard she was In the
post and knew they could not get out
to see her.
1t has meant lingering for an extrs
performance at some hut because
whole new audience was coming
through the starlit heavens from the
aviation camp down the lines.
In all her years on the stage sh'
has known no such tumultuous, heart
warming welcomes as are her night!
portions In the biggest time booking
Office can offer to a player in the yea
1918.
The boys swarm up on the stag
and slap her on the back and vow Their
never was such a girl since the worl'
began. They cheer her until they ar