Janet Reade

Biography

Janet Reade (Helen Dorothy Rulon) was born on July 21, 1910, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She began performing in vaudeville when she was just eight years old. Janet spent several years touring the country with the Templeton Brothers Act. She was nicknamed "The Dynamo of Vaudeville". While singing in a Philadelphia nightclub in 1929 she was discovered by producer Florenz Ziegfeld Jr.. He gave her a featured part in his new show Whoopee starring Eddie Cantor. Janet married Walter Batchelor, a theater manager, in 1929 but the marriage was short-lived. In 1931, she made her film debut in the comedy short Sky High (1931). She appeared in several more shorts including The Mild West (1933) and Here Comes Flossie! (1933). Janet had a lovely singing voice and often sang onscreen. Unfortunately, her movie career never took off, and she returned to performing in vaudeville. She married dancer Pat Rooney [Jr.] in 1935. The couple separated a few years later, and she quit show business. Janet made headlines in 1942 when she announced she was divorcing her husband so she could marry her father-in-law Pat Rooney Sr. On July 21, 1942 she married sixty-two-year-old Pat in New Jersey. Although they seemed happy in public, Janet was suffering from alcoholism. She died on February 6, 1943, from a liver ailment. Janet was only thirty-two years old.