10-11-2011, 12:00 AM
Eddie
Cantor was born on the Lower East Slde of New York City in 1892 (exact
date in question) and lost his parents by the age of three. Upon
receiving the news that her grandson was now an orphan, his grandmother,
Esther, took care of him. They eked out a meager existence in the
basement of a tenement on Henry Street; Esther sold candles and ran an
employment agency for girls who hoped to get work as servants. As Eddie
got older, his close proximity to the opposite sex was not in the least
bit annoying to him. He began to show signs of being an entertainer by
singing in the streets, juggling and just plain making a spectacle of
himself. He also took jobs at local businesses like Issac Gellis on
Market Street. Phyllis Rosenteur, who helped him write one of his last
books The Way I See It, recalls him sending her Issac Gellis hot dogs,
staying loyal to that product some fifty years later!
The streets
of the Lower East Side were not unlike that of our tough urban
neighborhoods today. You basically had a choice-make something of
yourself or end up in trouble with the law. Eddie credited Grandma
Esther and the Henry Street Settlement with keeping him on the right
track. The Settlement still exists in the same spot today.
As he
reached his teens, he began to win local talent contests at theaters
like Miner's Bowery; he also won the attention of one Ida Tobias who
lived up the street from him at 123 Henry. It was the tenement with the
nude statues out front. (They're still there). Ida was extremely
supportive and encouraged his entertaining endeavors. They married in
1914. Their honeymoon was spent in London, where he appeared in one of
Charlot's musicals.
He
teamed up with Al Lee and was booked in Los Angeles, where songwriter
Earl Carroll recommended him to theatrical producer Oliver Morosco.
Morosco featured him in Carroll's show, Canary Cottage. It was from this
show that the great Florenz Ziegfeld scooped him up for his "Midnight
Frolic" at the New Amsterdam Theater on 42nd Street in New York. His
energy was enormous; with a performance at 1:15 a.m. he felt he could
also ask Max Hart to book him into vaudeville. Ziegfeld wouldn't hear of
it. After 27 weeks, Frolic closed and Ziegfeld put him into the
"Ziegfeld Follies of 1917".
The Follies were good to Cantor. Not
only was he becoming a major star, but so were his good friends, like
W.C . Fields, Bert Williams, Fanny Brice and Will Rogers . He performed
in the Follies of 1917, 1918, and 1919. It was at this point that he
became active in Actor's Equity Association and closed down Broadway
theaters in a strike to give rights to actors. Ziegfeld was furious and
now refused to have him star in a leading role. However, that didn't
stop the Shuberts, who cast him in the touring revue, "Midnight
Rounders" . The tailor scene from this show is preserved on film in a
segment of a 1930 movie called "Glorifying the American Girl".
After
starring in yet another show for the Shuberts, "Make It Snappy" at the
Winter Garden in 1922, Ziegfeld got him back for the Follies in June of
1923 and his own vehicle "Kid Boots" at the end of that year. This show
ran for 479 performances and became his first silent feature for
Paramount in 1926. Finally, Ziegfeld starred him in his Follies of 1927.
Ziegfeld's
"Whoopee" made Eddie Cantor a millionaire. It was also during this time
that he lost it all because of the Crash. But being the prolific and
resilient man that he was, he came up with a book entitled "Caught
Short", which became an enormous hit and helped revive his fortune. (It
also didn't hurt being one of the most popular stars in show business by
then.)
In 1931 he started in radio and became one of the biggest
stars of that medium for the next two decades . He was also signed by
Samuel Goldwyn, where he had major successes in films like "Whoopee",
"Palmy Days", "The Kid From Spain", "Roman Scandals", "Kid Millions" and
"Strike Me Pink." In 1937, he signed with 20th Century Fox to do "Ali
Baba Goes To Town". By the 40s he was featured in "Forty Little Mothers"
for MGM and "Show Business" and "If You Knew Susie" for RKO. He also
helped write a song for "Palmy Days" entitled "There's Nothing Too Good
For My Baby". Strangely, he recorded the song in an unbilled guest
appearance with Gus Arnheim and his Cocoanut Grove Orchestra in
Hollywood. This was one of quite a few writing contributions. Henry
Tobias recalls, "Eddie was never a cut-in; Jolson put his name on songs,
but not Eddie. He always made a real contribution." And so he did. A
little known fact is that the Merry Melodies-Warner Brothers cartoon
theme was actually written by Murray Mencher, Charles Tobias and Eddie
Cantor!
When World War II broke out, Cantor supported and
entertained our troops tirelessly. He travelled to Europe and actually
helped get men, women and children on boats to safety. He got together
with President Roosevelt and created The March of Dimes to help cure
infantile paralysis. He served as the second national president of the
Screen Actor's Guild (SAG) from 1933 to 1935, as well as the first
national president of the American Federation of Radio Artists (later
AFTRA) and the Jewish Theatrical Guild. The New York Times reported that
his "loans" to down-on-their-luck actors were uncountable.
Cantor
went on to star in television on a show for NBC called the Colgate
Comedy Hour. The show alternated guest hosts and when Eddie Cantor
hosted, it was the only time NBC ever beat Ed Sullivan! In 1952 he
suffered his flrst heart attack. A second one a while later forced him
into semi-retirement. He did, however, continue to write books, articles
and do occasional guest appearances on radio and television.
The
death of his daughter, Margie, in 1959 devastated both him and Ida. Her
death in 1962 weakened him even more. He died on October 10, 1964.
http://eddiecantor.com/bio.html
MY COMMENT:
I
was wondering why I've been obsessed with Eddie Cantor today. I just
started thinking about him out of nowhere. Then I saw this article on
the Internet and when I reached the end I was shocked!!
((( TODAY IS OCTOBER 10th!!! )))
This is yet another example of how Intent can speak to me
The Universe is indeed Sentient, Conscious & Alive!!!
Cantor was born on the Lower East Slde of New York City in 1892 (exact
date in question) and lost his parents by the age of three. Upon
receiving the news that her grandson was now an orphan, his grandmother,
Esther, took care of him. They eked out a meager existence in the
basement of a tenement on Henry Street; Esther sold candles and ran an
employment agency for girls who hoped to get work as servants. As Eddie
got older, his close proximity to the opposite sex was not in the least
bit annoying to him. He began to show signs of being an entertainer by
singing in the streets, juggling and just plain making a spectacle of
himself. He also took jobs at local businesses like Issac Gellis on
Market Street. Phyllis Rosenteur, who helped him write one of his last
books The Way I See It, recalls him sending her Issac Gellis hot dogs,
staying loyal to that product some fifty years later!
The streets
of the Lower East Side were not unlike that of our tough urban
neighborhoods today. You basically had a choice-make something of
yourself or end up in trouble with the law. Eddie credited Grandma
Esther and the Henry Street Settlement with keeping him on the right
track. The Settlement still exists in the same spot today.
As he
reached his teens, he began to win local talent contests at theaters
like Miner's Bowery; he also won the attention of one Ida Tobias who
lived up the street from him at 123 Henry. It was the tenement with the
nude statues out front. (They're still there). Ida was extremely
supportive and encouraged his entertaining endeavors. They married in
1914. Their honeymoon was spent in London, where he appeared in one of
Charlot's musicals.
He
teamed up with Al Lee and was booked in Los Angeles, where songwriter
Earl Carroll recommended him to theatrical producer Oliver Morosco.
Morosco featured him in Carroll's show, Canary Cottage. It was from this
show that the great Florenz Ziegfeld scooped him up for his "Midnight
Frolic" at the New Amsterdam Theater on 42nd Street in New York. His
energy was enormous; with a performance at 1:15 a.m. he felt he could
also ask Max Hart to book him into vaudeville. Ziegfeld wouldn't hear of
it. After 27 weeks, Frolic closed and Ziegfeld put him into the
"Ziegfeld Follies of 1917".
The Follies were good to Cantor. Not
only was he becoming a major star, but so were his good friends, like
W.C . Fields, Bert Williams, Fanny Brice and Will Rogers . He performed
in the Follies of 1917, 1918, and 1919. It was at this point that he
became active in Actor's Equity Association and closed down Broadway
theaters in a strike to give rights to actors. Ziegfeld was furious and
now refused to have him star in a leading role. However, that didn't
stop the Shuberts, who cast him in the touring revue, "Midnight
Rounders" . The tailor scene from this show is preserved on film in a
segment of a 1930 movie called "Glorifying the American Girl".
After
starring in yet another show for the Shuberts, "Make It Snappy" at the
Winter Garden in 1922, Ziegfeld got him back for the Follies in June of
1923 and his own vehicle "Kid Boots" at the end of that year. This show
ran for 479 performances and became his first silent feature for
Paramount in 1926. Finally, Ziegfeld starred him in his Follies of 1927.
Ziegfeld's
"Whoopee" made Eddie Cantor a millionaire. It was also during this time
that he lost it all because of the Crash. But being the prolific and
resilient man that he was, he came up with a book entitled "Caught
Short", which became an enormous hit and helped revive his fortune. (It
also didn't hurt being one of the most popular stars in show business by
then.)
In 1931 he started in radio and became one of the biggest
stars of that medium for the next two decades . He was also signed by
Samuel Goldwyn, where he had major successes in films like "Whoopee",
"Palmy Days", "The Kid From Spain", "Roman Scandals", "Kid Millions" and
"Strike Me Pink." In 1937, he signed with 20th Century Fox to do "Ali
Baba Goes To Town". By the 40s he was featured in "Forty Little Mothers"
for MGM and "Show Business" and "If You Knew Susie" for RKO. He also
helped write a song for "Palmy Days" entitled "There's Nothing Too Good
For My Baby". Strangely, he recorded the song in an unbilled guest
appearance with Gus Arnheim and his Cocoanut Grove Orchestra in
Hollywood. This was one of quite a few writing contributions. Henry
Tobias recalls, "Eddie was never a cut-in; Jolson put his name on songs,
but not Eddie. He always made a real contribution." And so he did. A
little known fact is that the Merry Melodies-Warner Brothers cartoon
theme was actually written by Murray Mencher, Charles Tobias and Eddie
Cantor!
When World War II broke out, Cantor supported and
entertained our troops tirelessly. He travelled to Europe and actually
helped get men, women and children on boats to safety. He got together
with President Roosevelt and created The March of Dimes to help cure
infantile paralysis. He served as the second national president of the
Screen Actor's Guild (SAG) from 1933 to 1935, as well as the first
national president of the American Federation of Radio Artists (later
AFTRA) and the Jewish Theatrical Guild. The New York Times reported that
his "loans" to down-on-their-luck actors were uncountable.
Cantor
went on to star in television on a show for NBC called the Colgate
Comedy Hour. The show alternated guest hosts and when Eddie Cantor
hosted, it was the only time NBC ever beat Ed Sullivan! In 1952 he
suffered his flrst heart attack. A second one a while later forced him
into semi-retirement. He did, however, continue to write books, articles
and do occasional guest appearances on radio and television.
The
death of his daughter, Margie, in 1959 devastated both him and Ida. Her
death in 1962 weakened him even more. He died on October 10, 1964.
http://eddiecantor.com/bio.html
MY COMMENT:
I
was wondering why I've been obsessed with Eddie Cantor today. I just
started thinking about him out of nowhere. Then I saw this article on
the Internet and when I reached the end I was shocked!!
((( TODAY IS OCTOBER 10th!!! )))
This is yet another example of how Intent can speak to me
The Universe is indeed Sentient, Conscious & Alive!!!