Janet Adair ~ The Tragic Vaudeville Star

Janet Adair was a a popular vaudeville singer who died young

She was born Janet Gould on November 28, 1890 in St. Louis, Missouri. Her parents, Nellie and Robert Gould, divorced when she was a child. In 1903 her mother married Edwin Adair who adopted her. When she was a teenager Janet started working as a stenographer. On her eighteenth birthday a friend dared her to go on stage and sing. Theatre manager Dan Fishell saw her and offered her a role in his vaudeville show. Janet toured the country and quickly became a popular singer. For several years she performed with piano player Hazel Hickey. She married vaudeville actor James "Fat" Thompson in 1914. Tragically in June of 1915 their son died just a few hours after he was born. Janet and James divorced soon after. In 1919 she made her film debut in The Crooked Dagger. She also appeared in the films Finders Keepers, Here Comes the Bridesmaid, and The Mikado.

During the 1920s she starred on Broadway in Bombo and The Grab Bag. Janet married Louis Silvers, a music composer, in 1924. When they met she said it was "love at first sight". She joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company's choir in 1926. Eventually she decided to retire and be a housewife. She and her husband bought a home in Pacific Palisades, California. In November of 1938 they were were told to evacuate their home because of a wildfire. As she was packing her belongings she collapsed and was taken to a hospital. Sadly on November 24, 1938 she died at the age of forty-seven. There were rumors that she had accidentally overdosed on sedatives. However her autopsy revealed that she had died from chronic myocarditis, a heart ailment. Janet was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

Janet and Hazel Hickey