Elsie, who was born Elsie Jane Bierbower on 16th Marach 1889 in Columbus, Ohio, USA , used the pen-name Elsie Janis. She wrote and published several collections of poems in her long and illustrious career as a talented music-hall entertainer, actress, film star (both silent and talking), film producer, film director, screenwriter, poet and writer.
One of Elsie's poems was dedicated to the Troops of the American Expeditionary Force who she went to entertain on The Western Front in 1917.
One soldier wrote home: “Elsie Janis entertained us a few evenings ago and say, if she couldn’t make you forget all your troubles in a half minute, you might as well dig a six-foot hole and crawl in. She sang a few of Broadway’s latest and told some good stories and kept us all laughing for an hour and a half. She even had us singing like a bunch of kids, including a half dozen generals in the front row.”
The poem is entitled "Lest we Forget!" which surely earned Elsie the title "The Sweetheart of the AEF".
After WW1, Elsie toured with a show called "Elsie Janis and her Gang in a Bomb-Proof Review", which featured former soldiers, nurses and other WW1 workers.
Well boys! La guerre est finie,
And, of course, we all are glad.
But, as time goes on, we’ll realize
That the War was not so bad.
Of course, it had its drawbacks,
But it had its glories too
And for me, my greatest glory was
That I got to know you.
To know you in your hardships,
To know you in your joys
To know that my life’s finest hours
Were spent among you boys.
In dug-outs or in Y-huts,
In boxing ring or trench,
I loved to see you smile at me,
And yell in Doughboy French:
“Bonjour comment te hell est vous?”
And sing my songs with me.
Oh boys, I know it’s selfish,
But I’m sorry it’s “fini”
For as a boy remembers
The dear old swimming hole,
And as a girl remembers
The first kiss her sweetheart stole:
Just as your mother still can feel.
Your golden baby locks,
So are the days we spent in France
Locked in my memory box.
The War is dead Long live the War!
And the memory of the men
Who fought and died,
Or lived through hell
To come back home again.
So let us laugh, and let us say
Thank God we’re through,
And yet –
Let’s breath a tiny little prayer
Each day,
Lest we forget. (Janis, “Poems”, pp 58 – 59).
One of the most popular songs Elsie sang to the troops was “Don’t Forget the Red Cross Nurse” by Lew Orth and Chas. K. Hicks and published by Orth & Coleman, Boston, Mass. in 1917. 
All about sacrifice, the song captures the effort of the nurse who is likely to forgo herself and help soldiers first in the “field of battle mid cannon’s roar and rattle.” Serving in a time of conflict, the image of the American Red Cross nurse became a symbol of companionship, bravery, and motherly love.
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| Elsie entertaining troops in WW1 |
Elsie moved to Los Angeles, where she died in 1956.
Sources:
https://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/singing-and-fighting/music-and-entertainment-in-the-trenches.html
http://www.edwardlengel.com/elsie-janis-becomes-sweetheart-doughboys-1918/
