The Eddie Cantor Story is a 1953 American film about the life of Eddie Cantor, starring Keefe Brasselle as Cantor, and released by Warner Brothers. [11] He is interred in Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery, a Jewish cemetery, in Culver City, California. Cantor himself was frequently caricatured in Warner cartoons of the period, (see Film and television: Animation).
It was adapted as the themesong for the Merrie Melodies series of animated cartoons, distributed by Warner Brothers Pictures between 1937 and 1964. Ha! He also served as emcee of The $64 Question during 1949–50, and hosted a weekly disc jockey program for Philip Morris during the 1952–53 season. Cantor appeared on radio as early as February 3, 1922, as indicated by this news item from Connecticut's Bridgeport Telegram: Cantor's appearance with Rudy Vallee on Vallee's The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour on February 5, 1931 led to a four-week tryout with NBC's The Chase and Sanborn Hour. [13], By his early teens, Cantor began winning talent contests at local theaters and started appearing on stage. For several years, Cantor co-starred in an act with pioneer comedian Bert Williams, both appearing in blackface; Cantor played Williams's fresh-talking son. Cantor was the only subject who was told of the "surprise" in advance; he was recovering from a heart attack and it was felt that the shock might harm him. ", a phrase said to have originated in vaudeville, when the audience chanted to chase off an act on the bill before Cantor. Some of his hits include "Makin' Whoopee," "Ida (Sweet as Apple Cider)," "If You Knew Susie," "Ma! [citation needed] George Burns, in his memoir All My Best Friends, claimed that Warner Bros. created a miracle producing the movie in that "it made Eddie Cantor's life boring". His charity and humanitarian work was extensive, and he helped to develop March of Dimes (and is credited with coining its name). It sold 400,000 copies by Christmas of that year.[17]. [citation needed], Warner Bros., in an attempt to duplicate the box-office success of The Jolson Story, filmed a big-budget Technicolor feature film, The Eddie Cantor Story (1953). Routledge. He continued in the Follies until 1927,[14] a period considered the best years of the long-running revue. [citation needed], Something closer to the real Eddie Cantor story is his self-produced feature Show Business (1944), a valentine to vaudeville and show folks, which was RKO's top-grossing film that year. Ida died on August 9, 1962 at age 70 of "cardiac insufficiency",[11][12] and Eddie died on October 10, 1964, in Beverly Hills, California, after suffering his second heart attack at age 72. Eddie and Ida Cantor were seen in a brief prologue and epilogue set in a projection room, where they are watching Brasselle in action; at the end of the film, Eddie tells Ida, "I never looked better in my life"... and gives the audience a knowing, incredulous look. The film found an audience but might have done better with someone else in the leading role.
He was offered the lead in The Jazz Singer after it was turned down by George Jessel. [8][5] His grandmother, Esther Kantrowitz (died January 29, 1917), took custody of him, and referred to him as Izzy and Itchik, both diminutives for Isidor, and his last name, due to a clerical error, was thought to be Kantrowitz and shortened to Kanter. This is considered the first instance of television censorship.[21]. At the 1939 New York World's Fair, Cantor publicly denounced antisemitic radio personality Father Charles Coughlin and, subsequently, was dropped by his radio sponsor, Camel cigarettes. One of the top entertainers in the first half of the 20th century, and the first president of the Screen Actor's Guild.
The Eddie Cantor Story is a 1953 American film about the life of Eddie Cantor, starring Keefe Brasselle as Cantor, and released by Warner Brothers.[2]. There is also discrepancy as to his name; both his 1957 autobiography and The New York Times obituary for Cantor listed his birth name as Isidore Iskowitch but newer articles, published after the 20th century, list his birth name as Edward Israel Itzkowitz. His radio sidekicks included Bert Gordon, (comic Barney Gorodetsky, AKA "The Mad Russian") and Harry Parke (better known as "Parkyakarkus").
Cantor, one of the first major stars to agree to appear on television, was to sing "We're Havin' a Baby, My Baby and Me".