Lois January

Lois January, born Laura Lois January on October 5, 1912, in McAllen, Texas, was an American actress and singer whose career spanned film, stage, and television from the 1930s through the 1980s. She died on August 7, 2006, in Los Angeles, California, of Alzheimer's disease, at the age of 93.

January's entry into show business was driven by her mother, Lucile Clara (née Buck), whom January described as "pushy." Her father, Charles James January, had competed in soccer at the 1904 Summer Olympics. She attended Virgil Junior High School and the Marlborough School for Girls, studied dance at the Denishawn School of Dancing and Related Arts, and participated in stage productions in Los Angeles before pursuing a professional career.

Her first credited screen role came in 1933 in the short subject UM-PA. Throughout the 1930s, January worked steadily in western films, frequently cast as the heroine opposite actors including Johnny Mack Brown, Bob Steele, Tim McCoy, and Bob Baker. In 1935 she appeared opposite Reb Russell in Arizona Bad Man, and in 1936 she starred with Brown in Rogue of the Range and alongside McCoy in Border Caballero. Under contract with Universal Pictures, she continued in heroine roles, starring opposite Bob Baker in Courage of the West in 1937. The reissue of the 1935 exploitation film The Pace That Kills under the title Cocaine Fiends brought her additional, if limited, exposure. Among her most recognized screen appearances is her role as the unnamed Emerald City manicurist in The Wizard of Oz, a character who sings to Dorothy that "we can make a dimpled smile out of a frown," whom many fans associate with the novel character Jellia Jamb.

January's Broadway career took place between 1939 and 1941. She appeared in Yokel Boy in 1939, a production that also featured Judy Canova and Buddy Ebsen, and in the musical High Kickers in 1941. By the mid-1940s her starring roles had diminished, though she continued to take on supporting parts. In 1942 she served as the poster representative for Chesterfield cigarettes. From 1960 through 1987, January appeared in small roles on television series including My Three Sons, Marcus Welby, M.D., and Barnaby Jones. Her final acting credit was in the 1987 television movie Double Agent. During the 1980s she also attended western film festivals.

In her personal life, January married theatrical agent Abraham Meyer in April 1937; the marriage ended in divorce on August 9, 1940. She subsequently married radio producer Bill Gernnant, and the couple had a daughter, Jan, born in 1949.