Home » Music » Musicians

Jane Green

6 Comments

3 Like

Like 3

Pin It

Ranked #9,882 in Music, #268,668 overall

A Bird Under the Wing...

Jane Green
(2 January 1897 - 28 August 1931)
was a United States singer popular
in the 1920s.
Green was born in Kentucky as Martha Jane Greene. She appeared in the Ziegfeld Follies and recorded over 30 phonograph records, and appeared in some early sound films.

This CD is Available on
Superbatone Records
To purchase a copy of the LP Jane Green: Wild Romantic Blues, email Brad Kay at: Superbatone Records

~SOURCE MATERIALS including photos, texts and music are used courtesy of Brad Kay and Superbatone Records. More information can be found in the 8 page booklet/liner notes that accompany the Superbatone LP: Jane Green - Wild Romantic Blues.

Biography

Early Life

Born Martha Jane Greene in 1897 in Kentucky,
Jane was the youngest of four children -
the rest were brothers.
When the family moved to Los Angeles,
in 1911 Jane and her brother Fred became
known as "Those Kentucky Kids" and
entertained on Spring Street.
Jane's mother, being part Cherokee Indian,
had taught her to be proud of her Indian
heritage resulting in Jane's appearances
in rodeos as a championship trick horse rider.

The Cinderella of Broadway

In 1916 Jane met Jimmy Blyler who was already a successful songwriter. The team of Green and Blyler took off performing in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York. Ziegfeld signed the duo for the Broadway shows "9 O'clock Revue" and "Midnight Frolic". Jane and Jimmy were married in 1918. Jane's recording career started in 1920 with a recording of "Wild Romantic Blues" (Pathe 020480).

The next year Jane appears in Eddie Cantor's "The Midnight Rounder's of 1921" performing the song "If I Knew". In 1923 Jane is back on Broadway in the musical revue "Nifties of 1923" shown at the Fulton Theatre. Tragically Jimmy Blyler fell ill and died in 1924. Later that year Jane teamed up with Isham Jones and his orchestra. A two-year love affair ensued resulting in Jones' composition of "My Castle In Spain" written especially for Jane.

Jane traveled to London in 1925 and performed at the Piccadilly Hotel and the Kit Kat Club. In the mid-1920's she was at her performance and popularity peek. She appears with Nat Shilkret and his orchestra. In 1927 she married pianist Ron Wilson. Also that year Jane was seriously injured in New York City when the taxi she was riding in struck a streetcar. Jane's nose had been broken and this affected her vocals.

In 1928 Jane appeared only in a couple of "Vitaphone Varieties" film shorts - "Singin' The Blues" and "The Melody Girl". Husband Ron Wilson accompanies her on piano in both shorts. This is Jane's last recording.

On August 28, 1931 Jane died at the young age of 34 in her Berkeley apartment. Later obituaries note that she died of a paralytic stroke. This was not sufficiently substantiated to some observers who note the strange behavior of her husband Ron. He signed her death certificate and listed Jane's occupation as "housewife".

Despite Prohibition, the '20s was the decade of jazz, flappers and hip flasks. While some took their vote and joined the Woman's Christian Temperance Movement, others, well, took liberties. Compiled here for the first time are more than 200 publicity stills and photos of some of America's first "It" girls-the silent film-era starlets who paved the way for the cacophony of Monroes and Madonnas to follow. Accompanying these iconic images are the stories behind them, including accounts from surviving Ziegfeld Girls, as well as ads featuring them that helped perpetuate the allure of It girl glamour. When rare and striking portraits of these women surfaced on the internet in 1995, author Robert Hudovernik began researching their source. What he discovered was the work of one of the first "star makers" identified most with the Ziegfeld Follies, Alfred Cheney Johnston. Johnston, a member of New York's famous Algonquin Round Table who photographed such celebrities as Mary Pickford, Fanny Brice, the Gish Sisters, and Louise Brooks, fell out of the spotlight with the demise of the revue. A sumptuous snapshot of an era, this book is also a look at the work of this "lost" photographer.

Videos

Guestbook

So what do you think of Miss Jane Green??

Reply

Dave H. Jul 26, 2009 @ 2:54 am | delete

I think Jane Green(e)'s voice is exceptionally charming. To me, she sounds like the "girl next door", and I really think she would've been a really cool person to know. Her death is mysterious, and I was thinking about that the other day...the booklet which accompanies her "Wild Romantic Blues" LP alludes to Jane having been in some sort of sanitarium, and if she was, perhaps she caught TB. My mother was in a sanitarium before she met Dad...Mom was in there for 3 years and she told me at that time, she'd been very sick. Perhaps Jane went thru some of that? No one seems to know a lot of details of what she'd been up to in 1929-31. It's tragic she died so young. My favorite Jane Green song? "My Castle in Spain"...one of the best vocals I've ever heard by ANYONE, EVER.

Reply

robertsellyn Mar 22, 2009 @ 6:36 pm | delete

Are you familiar with the work of Ziegfeld Photographer Alfred Cheney Johnston? He may have taken some of the pictures of Jane Green. You can see his work at http://www.squidoo.com/jazzagebeauties.