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Updates to the page: Update: July 2, 1998 -- James Brolin and Barbra Streisand were married last night. Update: July 3, 1998 -- Jan turns 49 today. Happy birthday, Jan!
Update: July 14, 1998-- Some info from Jim Yellin: "More then several months ago, I saw a feature on one of those entertainment TV news magazine shows on Jan that showed her leading a very peaceful, bucolic life as an artist." Cool if true. I wonder where, and wonder what kind of art? Maybe she needs a web page to display it? Also, the latest copy of People magazine has a bunch of pictures of the Streisand/Brolin wedding. Among the wedding party were Brolin's two groups of kids, the older ones and his 10-year-old daughter Molly. It's safe to assume that Jan is her mother, even if you ignore the obvious resemblance in the wedding photos. If anyone would like to scan the big photo of the wedding party with Molly in it, I'll be happy to post it and give you Cloth Monkey credit for it. (Don't mean nothing, but what the hell.) Update: August 10, 1998 -- Not a lot to add to the page lately. I just remembered the short-lived series The New WKRP in Cincinatti, which ran for one season back in '91-'92. If you remember, the older regulars were back (Jump, Bonner, Sanders) with a new bunch of young folks. But as the season went on, most of the original cast (Hesseman, Reid, Anderson) made guest appearances. The only two who never made it to the party were Gary Sandy (what the hell ever happened to him?) and our Jan. Ruined the series for me. Update: October 12, 1998 -- If you thought you were the only Bailey-lover in the world -- check out the Guestbook and the index of old guestbooks. It's gratifying that there are so many other Baileyphiles out there. "Hold me closer, tiny dancer!"
We're getting closer, gang . . .
along with traffic reports ("be sure to turn on your lights -- the freeway is a fright") and discussion of the previous night's Ravi Shankar concert. I'd love to talk to Howard sometime about what it was like at KMPX. Update - April 13, 2006: I finally found the first hour of the KMPX tape and MP3'd it. Here it is, from Saturday, May 27, 1967. (It's 53MB, so only download it if you have the time.) If anyone knows the name of the James Cotton Blues Band song that starts at 10:45 into the file, or knows the name of the DJ (I think it was Vince), let me know. Also, Tom Donahue's widow is now the director of the oldies broadcasts from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, so if anyone knows her, let Rachael know this clip exists - I'm sure she'd love to hear it. Or Howard Hesseman, for that matter . . . Update - January 17, 2007: Here's a photo for you - the staff of KMPX, circa 1967:
That's Howard in the natty ascot upper left (next to his wife), and Rachael Donahue in the derby, sitting on Tom Donahue's lap. People tend to forget that a big part of hippie culture in '67 revolved around Wild West garb and big frigging guns. Also, the blonde three over from Howard is Dusty Street, currently also with Sirius, and three over from her is Carl Gottlieb (DJ name "Egg"), who later gained fame by taking Peter Benchley's shitty shark novel and writing the script for "Jaws." (He played the newspaper editor in the movie.) And I'd love to know who the psychotic looking blonde next to Rachael is. Update: May 21, 1999 -- Finally! Here's an email from Peter R: I can tell you that Jan Smithers is living in Nova Scotia, Canada. and lives in a small town near the campus of St. Mary's University. Her shy life style was one of the reasons for the move to Canada. Canadians do not have the same "hounding" approach to celebrities as Americans do and for this reason Jan lives a very normal life. There you go, campers! I've asked Pete if he can let her know that we're out here. I'll keep you informed. Also, I was in Kansas City on business last month, and I saw Gary Sandy doing a TV ad for "Teahouse of the August Moon" at some local theatre. He looks just like he did 20 years ago, except for a few more lines around the eyes. Update: June 8, 1999 -- Peter R. has provided some further info: I don't actually know Jan personally but have many friends who do. In addition, here is a recent guestbook entry from Brian Hutchinson:
Update: June 17, 1999 -- I saw a teaser on Nick at Nite last night which seems to indicate that Nick is going to have a WKRP marathon on Friday, July 9. I certainly hope so -- despite the fact that I've written this page, I have not seen an episode of WRKP in 15 years. I think we're all ready for some episodes. This Jan Smithers page is the most popular of all the Cloth Monkey pages, with about
400 hits a week. I suspect that once WKRP is running nationally again, I'll get a
lot more hits. I'll keep you informed.
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Update: July 4, 1998
-- Jan Smithers acolyte David Turner sent me this photo he captured off of Entertainment
Tonight. It shows Brolin and Jan in happier times (a while back, I presume: he still
has dark hair and unless I'm mistaken, she's pregnant.) David promises to pass on more
scans as he finds them. Does anyone know if WRKP is playing anywhere these days? 
Update: December 9, 1998
-- Finally, the fabled Newsweek cover! Mark Heidotting sent me this photo from
the March 21, 1966 issue. (Personal note: oddly enough, I know exactly where I was that
week -- I was 9 years old and visiting my grandparents in Estes Park, Colorado, and
proudly wearing my new Batman sweatshirt every day that week.) Jan was 16 1/2 at the time,
and she looks mighty fine on the bike. (The bike's driver is unknown.) He also sent along
a photo which he thinks came from the article itself, and a photo from some ceremony of
some kind in the WRKP days (flanked by Tim Reid and Gordon Jump). Thanks, Mark.
(The full color photos is later on - wait for it . . .
Update: December 28,
1998 -- Jerry Gray sent me twelve photos of Jan from her 1974 movie "Where the
Lillies Bloom," of which I found this one the most winsome. "Lillies" was
her first movie, when she was 24 years old, eight years after the Newsweek cover.
Also, a new picture from Jed (no
last name), with unfortunately no date or hint of what occasion the photo was taken. But
it's Jan, so here it is. 
Update: March 29, 1999 --
The mysterious Jed has struck again and provided the photo at right of the WKRP cast early
in the show. Seeing Howard Hesseman at the turntable reminds me that I recently saw him as
a judge on "The Practice," bald and grey and still cooler than you and I will
ever be. I even have an interesting tidbit about Howard for you. Back in 1967, radio
station KMPX-FM in San Francisco, under the direction of the legendary Tom
Donahue, became what many consider to be the first
"underground" or "progressive" station, playing album cuts rather than
hits and being programmed exclusively by the DJs rather than some overall station plan.
One of those DJs was our Howard, who thus actually was involved in a seminal moment in
radio history. KMPX was obviously the model for the fictional WKRP. In 1967, my father,
quite taken with this weird station he had found, got out the reel-to-reel and recorded
two hours of KMPX during a Saturday evening. What a great collection of stuff!
Imagine a radio station today playing the following songs: 
Update June
24, 1999 -- Nick at Nite will start running WKRP on Monday, July 5 at 9PM ET. While
we wait, here is a color photo of Jan from Alex Dubiel of Toronto. It's the cover
from the Toronto Star TV magazine from July 1981. (Notice the reference to the upcoming
doomed Charles and Di wedding.) Thanks, Alex.