Green’s Dictionary of Slang

a man, poss. rich, who hangs around theatre stage doors hoping to meet his female idols; fem. as stage-door Janie.

1897		Sante Fe Trail Mag. 3 34: His taste ran to reds and terrible saffron shades in shirts and ties, so that, when he had completed his toilette he might have been taken for a stage-door Johnnie.
1902		Bulletin (Sydney) 2 Aug. 14/4: Moral philosophers advance a reason for a certain comic opera girleen [...] securing all the laurels of a big drum-banging show. They say the tricky one has all her Johnnies, like so many poached eggs, on toast, and delays her choice of the lot to secure greater manifestations of worship from the sighing swains.
1906		T.A. Dorgan in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 78: The Stage-Door Johnnie — Waiting For The Kaufman-Berger Show To End.
1911		L.A. Dly Times pt II 10 Sept. 9/1: Some los Angeles Undesirables [...] The stage-door Johnnie, the street-corner Johnnie and Willie the sport.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 693: I’d like to sip those richlooking green and yellow expensive drinks those stagedoor johnnies drink with the opera hats.
1925		Dos Passos Manhattan Transfer 27: ‘But where’s Fifi Waters?’ [...] ‘She said she couldn’t get here for a half an hour. I guess the Johnnies won’t let her get by the stage door.’.
1929		W. Winchell On Broadway 12 Sept. [synd. col.] Two chorines [...] were at it again. ‘Be nice to all the stagedoor Johns,’ said the first.
1936		(con. 1920s) Dos Passos Big Money in USA (1966) 938: She would never let Tad meet her at the theater with the other stagedoor johnnies.
1938		W. Winchell ‘On Broadway’ 31 Mar. [synd. col.] The 1938 version of the Stage Door Johnny. The lads who gather nightly [...] to take out the Broadway and 44th Woolworth five-and-ten lookers.
1943		Pittsburgh Courier (PA) 6 Mar. 20/1: Edna Mae Holly, Vivian and Hilda Brown, who attracted the stage-door Johnnies.
1946		S. Jackson Indiscreet Guide to Soho 67: Keeping the stage door johnnies away from her girls.
1958		E. Dundy Dud Avocado (1960) 134: I was fawned upon by the odd Stage-door Johnny.
1962		C. Clausen I Love You Honey, But the Season’s Over 181: The men who took care of the big cats mooned around the cages like stagedoor Johnnies.
1974		B. Simon Hey, Listen ... in Gray Market Plays (1986) 131: Whoever’s the lucky winner of our Miss South Africa contest [...] she’s going to be right in the firing line! Not only will she have to ward off the stage-door Johnnies [etc.].
1989		B.T. Bradford Voice of the Heart 61: He was frightfully funny and even a bit risque. [...] Katharine asked. ‘Are you his idea of a modern “stage-door Johnny”’?