Janis Paige, Star of Broadway’s ‘The Pajama Game,’ Is Dead at 101

Janis Paige, an entrancing singer, dancer and actress who starred in the original 1954 Broadway production of the hit musical “The Pajama Game,” died on Sunday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 101.

Her death was confirmed by a longtime friend of hers, Stuart Lampert.

Ms. Paige made her mark at 22 in the all-star 1944 film “Hollywood Canteen,” but exposure in a string of 17 movies over the next seven years left her with little more than a collection of minor beauty titles, like Miss Wingspread and Miss Naval Air Reserve. When she ran away to try the New York stage, however, it took her only three years to become the toast of Broadway.

She was cast as Babe Williams, the feisty, romance-resistant union leader in “The Pajama Game,” opposite John Raitt. The production — involving theater luminaries like George Abbott (book), Richard Adler (music) and Hal Prince (one of the producers) — won three Tony Awards in 1955: for best musical, best featured actress in a musical (Carol Haney) and best choreography (Bob Fosse).

When the show was adapted for a movie, the producers at the Warner Bros. studio decided that at least one big Hollywood name was needed. So while most of the New York cast, including Mr. Raitt, made the transition to film, Ms. Paige was replaced by Doris Day.

Broadway continued to be kind to Ms. Paige, with four other starring roles. Notably, she replaced the seemingly irreplaceable Angela Lansbury in “Mame” in 1968. Clive Barnes, reviewing her performance in The New York Times, wrote that Ms. Paige had made “an excellent job of it.”