Eddie Cantor

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Eddie Cantor

Eddie Cantor , actually Isidore Itzkowitz (born January 31, 1892 in New York , † October 10, 1964 in Beverly Hills ), was an American comedian , singer , actor , author and songwriter . He was also known as Banjo Eyes to Broadway , radio, and early television audiences because of his large brown eyes . In his very successful radio programs, he liked to tell private details about family life with his wife Ida and his five daughters.

life and work

Childhood and youth

Cantor was born in New York City to the Russian-Jewish immigrants Meta and Mechel Iskowitz and was named Edward Israel . His mother died when he was two years old, and after his father left the family, Israel was raised by his grandmother, Esther Kantrowitz. So he first got the surname Kantrowitz, which was later Americanized to Cantor. His girlfriend and future wife Ida Tobias gave him the nickname Eddie in 1903. They married in 1914 and stayed together until Ida's death in 1962.

As a teenager, Cantor won talent competitions at local theaters and began performing in public. One of his first paid jobs was a "double role" as a singing waiter, accompanied on the piano by the young Jimmy Durante .

Cover of a music book with the portrait of Eddie Cantor and the depiction of a Blackface Minstrelsy actor

From 1907 his name appeared on the advertising posters for vaudeville shows in Manhattan . In 1912 he was the only actor over 20 in Gus Edwards ' Kid Cabaret , where he developed Jefferson , his first blackface character. The good reviews brought him to the attention of Florence Ziegfeld Jr. , the top producer on Broadway , who gave Cantor a role on his late-night show Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic (1916).

Broadway and recordings

A year later Cantor made his debut with the Ziegfeld Follies , where he stayed until 1927. In the Follies he played a. a. alongside Bert Williams , the pioneer of African American comedians. Both played blackface roles, Cantor as Williams' son. Also with the Follies during this period were Will Rogers , Marilyn Miller , WC Fields and Fanny Brice (whose lives inspired the films Funny Girl and Funny Lady ). He became a famous musical star starting with Kid Boots (1923), then with Whoopee! (1928, with Cantor's hit “ Makin 'Whoopee ”) and Banjo Eyes (1940, set by Harry Horner ).

Cantor made his first recordings in 1917. He played comedy songs and sketches as well as popular songs of the time, first for Victor Records , then for Aeoleon-Vocalion , Pathé and Emerson Records . From 1921 to 1925 he had an exclusive contract with the Columbia label , for which, according to Will Friedwald, he made his best recordings with The Georgians ; "His energetic complaints go extremely well with the audacious audacity and bumpy rhythm of this central white jazz group". The title “If You Do - What You Do” makes it “clear that canto sometimes worked hard towards the actual blues . Eddie Cantor's record with the Georgians established the practice of bringing well-known bands together with singing stars, and it makes clear why Cantor had it done to so many black artists ”who appreciated his“ ingenious talent ”. Until 1929 Cantor took up again for Victor.

Cantor was one of the most successful entertainers of the era, but he lost his entire multi-million dollar fortune in the Wall Street crash in October 1929. To get back on his feet quickly, he wrote two funny books about it: Caught Short! A Saga of Wailing Wall Street and Yoo Hoo Prosperity , written in 1929 AC (After Crash), became very popular and successful.

Movie

Eddie Cantor had his first experiences in silent films , where he starred alongside Clara Bow in Kid Boots . His breakthrough as a star came with the advent of the talkie after first attempts with the new medium ( A Few Moments with Eddie Cantor ) under contract with Samuel Goldwyn . In 1930 the film adaptation of Whoopee! a great financial success and Cantor rose to become one of the most popular stars in cinema over the next few years. By the middle of the decade, Eddie Cantor's image was perceived as rather old-fashioned and his on-screen popularity declined.

radio

Cantor's first radio appearance was on February 5, 1931, this gave Cantor a four-week trial period on NBC's The Chase and Sanborn Hour . On September 13, 1931, he then replaced Maurice Chevalier , who was returning to Paris. This show established Cantor and his writer David Freedman as nationally known comedians. Soon Cantor was the highest paid radio star in the world.

In November 1934 he sang " Santa Claus Is Coming to Town ", a 1932 Christmas carol that had been rejected by other well-known singers as being too silly and childish. The sheet music was sold 100,000 times within one day, and 400,000 by Christmas.

Because of his early public position against Adolf Hitler and fascism , his career initially suffered a small slump in the late thirties. To avoid political controversy, many advertising contracts for his shows were canceled. With the entry of the USA into the Second World War , however, this changed again.

Around 1937 Cantor wrote the song " Merrily We Roll Along " with Charles Tobias and Murray Mencher , which became world famous as the theme song for the animated series Looney Tunes . Further hits for Cantor were the songs “ Ida, Sweet as Apple Cider ” (by Munson / Leonard 1903; later also interpreted by Frank Sinatra , Bill Haley , Glenn Miller and many others), “ Ma! He's making eyes at me! “(By Clare / Conrad 1921; later also interpreted by Count Basie , Ray Charles , Oscar Peterson and many others).

Time To Smile was his nationwide radio show in the 1940s . Boris Karloff was one of his guests . In addition to his film and radio work, he made numerous records, including for Hit of the Week Records , Columbia Records , Banner Records and Decca Records .

watch TV

In the 1950s he was one of the presenters on The Colgate Comedy Hour , where he introduced variety acts and played comic roles. Once he got into trouble when he hugged young Sammy Davis Jr. after his performance and dabbed his eyebrows with his handkerchief. Again he was threatened with the termination of advertising contracts, according to other sources this happened because he hired Sammy Davis for two weeks in a row. Cantor's reaction was to book Davis by the end of the year. A 40-year global career began. Other artists Cantor has encouraged are Dinah Shore and Deanna Durbin .

Books

Except Caught Short! Cantor wrote at least seven other books, including for the then newly founded Simon & Schuster - Verlag. They sold well, and Henry L. Mencken was convinced that these books more for it did the Americans from the "Great Depression" ( the Great Depression to pick) than any government action together. Cantor's autobiographies, My Life is in Your Hands (with David Freedman) and Take My Life (with Jane Kesner Ardmore) were reissued in 2000.

Humanitarian work

Cantor was very involved in the fight against poliomyelitis . Polio was an endemic disease until around the middle of the 19th century. However, epidemic-like outbreaks increased over the course of the 20th century. During the Eastern Polio epidemic of 1916, more than 6,000 people died of the disease. More than 8,900 cases of illness had been reported for the city of New York alone, with only the paralytic form being registered in each case. More than 2,400 people died of the sick. 80 percent of those who died were children under five. In the United States, regional epidemics followed every 5–6 years, with sporadic cases occurring at intervals. Young Franklin D. Roosevelt was one of the victims in the summer of 1921. Today it cannot be ruled out that Franklin D. Roosevelt suffered from Guillain-Barré syndrome . However, he and his doctors assumed that he had polio until the end of his life. Roosevelt, who was very active in the fight against polio, founded the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis on January 3, 1938. The aim of the charity was to raise funds for research and for the care of polio victims. Because of Franklin D. Roosevelt's connections, public figures quickly became involved in this struggle. Based on a well-known news program called The March of Times , Eddie Cantor invented the name March of Dimes for the appeal for donations and was involved in the charity appeals of this organization for many years. He had also unionized early in his career and became the first president of the Screen Actors Guild . The Screen Actors Guild has awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award for Deserved Actors since 1962. Eddie Cantor became the first actor to receive the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1962 .

Honors

Cantor was dedicated to an issue of the popular This Is Your Life series , which usually surprised celebrities with a half-hour tribute. Cantor was the only one informed beforehand as he was recovering from a heart attack.

In 1953, Warner Brothers tried to replicate the success of The Jolson Story by making a Technicolor feature film about Cantor's life, The Eddie Cantor Story (director: Alfred E. Green ) at great expense . The film wasn't a flop, but it could have been more successful if the main actor hadn't portrayed it as a caricature. Closer to the truth was the 1944 self-produced feature film Show Business , a bow to vaudeville and the people in show business. It was RKO's most successful film of the year.

Cantor received three stars in the Hollywood Walk of Fame and an honorary Oscar for his life's work in 1957 . The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) maintains an Eddie Cantor collection with the numerous awards for his work and humanitarian commitment, as well as rare photos, original scripts, film props, etc.

Quote : "It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice." –Eddie Cantor
something like, "It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice."

death

On October 10, 1964, Cantor suffered another heart attack and died in Beverly Hills.

Filmography

Broadway

  • Ziegfeld Follies of 1917 (1917) - Revue - Actor
  • Ziegfeld Follies of 1918 (1918) - Revue - Actor, co-composer and co-lyricist of " Broadway's Not a Bad Place After All " with Harry Ruby
  • Ziegfeld Follies of 1919 (1919) - Revue - Actor, lyricist of " (Oh! She's the) Last Rose of Summer "
  • Ziegfeld Follies of 1920 (1920) - Revue - composer of " Green River ", composer and lyricist of " Every Blossom I See Reminds Me of You " and " I Found a Baby on My Door Step "
  • The Midnight Rounders of 1920 (1920) revue cast
  • Broadway Brevities of 1920 (1920) Revue cast
  • Make It Snappy (1922) - revue - actor, co-screenwriter
  • Ziegfeld Follies of 1923 (1923) - Revue - Sketch author
  • Kid Boots (1923) - musical actor in the role of Kid Boots
  • Ziegfeld Follies of 1927 (1927) - Revue - Actor, co-screenwriter
  • Whoopee! (1928) - musical actor in the role of Henry Williams
  • Eddie Cantor at the Palace Theater (1931) - solo appearance
  • Banjo Eyes (1941) - musical actor in the role of Erwin Trowbridge
  • Nellie Bly (1946) - musical co-producer

literature

  • Herbert G. Goldman: Banjo Eyes. Eddie Cantor and the Birth of Modern Stardom . Oxford University Press, New York NY u. a. 1997, ISBN 0-19-507402-5 .
  • Will Friedwald : Swinging Voices of America. A compendium of great voices . Hannibal, St. Andrä-Wölker 1992, ISBN 3-85445-075-3 .

Audio samples

DVD

Eddie Cantor in person

Web links

Commons : Eddie Cantor  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.musicals101.com/who2.htm
  2. ^ All quotations from Friedwald: Swinging Voices of America. A compendium of great voices. 1992, p. 22 f.
personal data
SURNAME Cantor, Eddie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Itzkowitz, Isidore (real name); Banjo eyes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American comedian, singer, actor, writer, and songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH January 31, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH new York
DATE OF DEATH October 10, 1964
Place of death Beverly Hills