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James Francis Durante ( , ; February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980) was an American comedian, actor, singer, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced songs, and prominent nose helped make him one of the United States' most familiar and popular personalities of the 1920s through the 1970s. He often referred to his nose as the schnozzola (Italianization of the American Yiddish slang word schnoz, meaning "big nose"), and the word became his nickname.
By 1934, Durante had a major record hit with his own novelty composition, "Inka Dinka Doo", with lyrics by Ben Ryan. It became his theme song for the rest of his life. A year later, Durante starred on Broadway in the Billy Rose stage musical Jumbo. Durante also appeared on Broadway in Show Girl (1929), Strike Me Pink (1934), and Red, Hot and Blue (1936). During the early 1930s, Durante alternated between Hollywood and Broadway. Outstanding among his early motion pictures was The Phantom President (1932), starring George M. Cohan, with Durante as his gregarious pal. Durante then replaced Cliff Edwards as the comic foil in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and Buster Keaton comedies: Speak Easily (1932), The Passionate Plumber (1932), and What! No Beer? (1933). Although his style of fast-talking comedy did not always mesh smoothly with the mimed visuals of Keaton, their series proved successful enough and might have continued, but Keaton was experiencing personal problems, including loss of control over his movies, alcohol abuse, and a messy divorce, so MGM fired Keaton and kept Durante. MGM gave Durante leads in moderately budgeted comedies like Meet the Baron (1933) and Hollywood Party (1934), but he could not carry an entire feature film; he was more effective as somebody's sidekick, and MGM released him in 1934.
Durante went to England to work in a Richard Tauber film musical, Land Without Music (released in the United States as Forbidden Music). Upon his return to Hollywood, no movie jobs for him were available. Columbia Pictures offered him a major role in its college musical Start Cheering, filmed in 1937, and he received excellent critical notices, re-establishing him in movies. From then on, he almost always appeared in strong supporting roles.
Durante went on to appear in the Gene Autry musical Western Melody Ranch (1940), The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942, playing Banjo, a character based on Harpo Marx), Ziegfeld Follies (1945), Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962, based on the 1935 musical), and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963).
Durante teamed with Garry Moore for the Durante-Moore Show in 1943. Durante's comic chemistry with the young, brush-cut Moore brought Durante an even larger audience. "Dat's my boy dat said dat!" became an instant catchphrase, which later inspired the cartoon Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy. The duo was one of the nation's favorites for the rest of the decade. Their Armed Forces Radio Network Command Performance with Frank Sinatra remains a favorite of radio-show collectors today. Moore left the duo in mid-1947, and the program returned October 1, 1947, as The Jimmy Durante Show. Durante continued the show for three more years and featured a reunion of Clayton, Jackson, and Durante on his April 21, 1948, broadcast.
From 1950 to 1951, Durante was the host once a month (alternating with Ed Wynn, Danny Thomas, and Jack Carson) on NBC's comedy-variety series Four Star Revue, airing on Wednesday evenings at 8:00 pm. Jimmy continued with the show until 1954.
Durante then hosted a half-hour variety show, The Jimmy Durante Show, on NBC from October 2, 1954, to June 23, 1956.
Beginning in the early 1950s, Durante teamed with sidekick Sonny King, a collaboration that continued until Durante's death. Several times in the 1960s, Durante served as host of ABC's variety hour The Hollywood Palace, which was taped live (and consequently included ad libitum by the seasoned vaudevillian). His last regular television series paired him with the Lennon Sisters and was titled, appropriately, Jimmy Durante Presents the Lennon Sisters. The series lasted for one season on ABC (1969–1970).
Durante's radio show was bracketed with two trademarks: "Inka Dinka Doo" as his opening theme, and the invariable signoff that became another familiar national catchphrase: "Good night, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are." For years, no one knew to whom Mrs. Calabash referred, and Durante preferred to keep the mystery alive until 1966. One theory was that it referred to the owner of a restaurant in Calabash, North Carolina, where Durante and his troupe had stopped to eat. He was so taken by the food, the service, and the chitchat that he told the owner that he would make her famous. Since he did not know her name, he referred to her as "Mrs. Calabash". At a National Press Club meeting in 1966 (broadcast on NBC's Monitor program), Durante finally revealed that it was indeed a tribute to his wife. While driving across the country, they stopped in Calabash, a name she had loved. "Mrs. Calabash" became his pet name for her, and he signed off his radio program with "Good night, Mrs. Calabash." He added "wherever you are" after the first year. NBC Monitor, January 25, 1975 (sound clip at 48:08) From the Monitor Tribute Pages
Durante married his second wife, Margaret "Margie" Little, at St. Malachy Roman Catholic Church in New York City on December 14, 1960. As a teenager, she had been crowned queen of the New Jersey State Fair. She attended New York University before being hired by the legendary Copacabana in New York City. Durante and she met there 16 years before their marriage, when he performed there and she was a hatcheck girl. She was 41 and he was 67 when they married. With help from their attorney, Mary G. Rogan, the couple were able to adopt a baby, Cecilia Alicia (nicknamed CeCe and now known as CeCe Durante-Bloum), on Christmas Day, 1961. CeCe became a champion horsewoman and then a horse trainer and riding instructor. Margie died on June 7, 2009, at the age of 89.
Durante's love for children continued through the Fraternal Order of Eagles, who, among many causes, raise money for disabled and abused children. At Durante's first appearance at the Eagles International Convention in 1961, Judge Bob Hansen inquired about his fee for performing. Durante replied, "Do not even mention money, judge, or I'll have to mention a figure that'll make ya sorry ya brought it up." "What can we do then?" asked Hansen. "Help da kids," was Durante's reply. Durante performed for many years at Eagles conventions free of charge, even refusing travel money. The Fraternal Order of Eagles changed the name of their children's fund to the Jimmy Durante Children's Fund in his honor, and in his memory have raised over $23 million to help children. A reporter once remarked of Durante after an interview: "You could warm your hands on this one." One of the projects built using money from the Durante Fund was a heated therapy swimming pool at the Hughen School in Port Arthur, Texas. Completed in 1968, Durante named the pool the "Inka Dinka Doo Pool".
In 1963, Durante recorded the album of pop standards, September Song. The album became a best-seller and provided Durante's reintroduction to yet another generation, almost three decades later. Jimmy Durante's Way of Life album featured his interpretation of the song As Time Goes By, which accompanied the opening credits of the romantic comedy hit Sleepless in Seattle, while his version of "Make Someone Happy" was in the film's closing credits. Both are included on the film's best-selling soundtrack. Durante also recorded a cover of the well-known song I'll Be Seeing You, which became a trademark song on his 1960s TV show and was featured in the 2004 film The Notebook.. The album also included Blue Bird of Happiness for which Durante provided his own modified lyrics and changled the spelling of the first word in the song's title from 'Bluebird' to 'Blue Bird'.
He wrote a foreword for a humorous book compiled by Dick Hyman, titled Cockeyed Americana. In the first paragraph of the "Foreword!", as Durante called it, he describes meeting Hyman and discussing the book and the contribution that Hyman wanted Durante to make to it. Durante wrote, "Before I can say gaziggadeegasackeegazobbath, we're at his luxurious office." After reading the material Hyman had compiled for the book, Durante commented on it: "COLOSSAL, GIGANTIC, MAGNANIMOUS, and last but not first, AURORA BOREALIS. Capitalization Four little words that make a sentence—and a sentence that will eventually get me six months."
Durante retired from performing in 1972, following a stroke that left him reliant on a wheelchair. He made a public appearance in 1974 when MGM held a reunion of its former stars, in connection with its new That's Entertainment! film.
Durante died as a result of pneumonia in Santa Monica, California, on January 29, 1980, 12 days before he would have turned 87. He received Catholic funeral rites four days later, with fellow entertainers Desi Arnaz, Ernest Borgnine, Marty Allen, and Jack Carter in attendance, and was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.
Many Looney Tunes/ Merrie Melodies cartoons had characters based on Durante, using lines like "Umbriago", "Everybody wants to get into the act", "I'm mortified!", "I'm disgustipated", "Those are the conditions that prevail", "I got a million of them!" and "Ha-cha-cha-cha-cha-cha" from his films, songs, and radio acts. One Harman-Ising short from 1933, Bosko's Picture Show, featured a caricature of Adolf Hitler chasing Durante with a meat cleaver. Three examples from the 1940s include A Gruesome Twosome, which features a cat based on Durante, and Baby Bottleneck, which in unedited versions opens with a Durante-like stork. He also appears as a walrus in the 1945 United States Armed Forces World War II-era training film In the Aleutians – Isles of Enchantment. Book Revue shows the well-known (at that time) 1924 Edna Ferber novel So Big featuring a Durante caricature on the cover. The "so big" refers to his nose, and as a runaway criminal turns the corner by the book, Durante turns sideways, using his nose to trip the criminal, allowing his capture. In Hollywood Daffy, Durante is directly depicted as himself, pronouncing his catchphrase "Those are the conditions that prevail!". In The Mouse-Merized Cat, Catstello (a Lou Costello mouse) briefly is hypnotized to imitate Jimmy Durante singing "Lullaby of Broadway". One of Durante's common catchphrases, "I got a million of 'em!", was used as Bugs' final line in Stage Door Cartoon.
A Durante-like voice was also used for Marvel Comics superhero the Thing in the Hanna-Barbera cartoon Fred and Barney Meet the Thing. The voice and appearance of Crispy, the mascot for Crispy Critters cereal, was also based on Durante. In Mickey Mouse Works, a character named Mortimer Mouse (voiced by Maurice LaMarche) was based on Durante, complete with the "ha-cha-cha!". One of the main characters in Terrytoons' Heckle and Jeckle cartoon series also takes to imitating Jimmy in 1948's "Taming the Cat" ("Get a couple of song birds today…").
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