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{{Short description|American comedian and actor (1892–1964)}}
{{Use American English|date=May 2021}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Eddie Cantor
| image              = Eddie Cantor 1945.JPG
| imagesize          =
| caption            = Cantor in 1945
| birth_name         = Isidore Itzkowitz
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1892|1|31}}
| birth_place        = [[New York City]], U.S.
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1964|10|10|1892|01|31}}
| death_place        = [[Beverly Hills, California]], U.S.
| resting_place      = [[Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery]] in [[Culver City, California]]
| occupation         = {{hlist|Actor|comedian|dancer|singer|songwriter|film producer|screenwriter|author}}
| years_active       = 1907–1962
| spouse             = {{marriage|Ida Tobias|1914|1962|end=d.}}
| children           = 5
| module2            = {{infobox officeholder |embed=yes
| office             = President of the [[Screen Actors Guild]]
| term_start         = 1933
| term_end           = 1935
| predecessor        = [[Ralph Morgan]]
| successor          = [[Robert Montgomery (actor)|Robert Montgomery]]
}}
}}
'''Eddie Cantor''' (born '''Isidore Itzkowitz''';<ref>Eddie Cantor, with Jane Kesner Ardmore, Take My Life, Mr. Cantor's second autobiography, 1957.</ref><ref>Kenrick, John.[http://www.musicals101.com/who2.htm Who's Who in Musicals: Ca-Cl] Musicals101.com, accessed September 5, 2011.</ref> January 31, 1892 – October 10, 1964) was an American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, film producer, screenwriter and author.<ref>Obituary ''[[Variety Obituaries|Variety]]'', October 14, 1964.</ref> Cantor was one of the prominent entertainers of his era.

Some of his hits include "[[Makin' Whoopee]]", "Ida (Sweet as Apple Cider)", "[[If You Knew Susie]]", "[[Ma! He's Making Eyes at Me]]", “[[Mandy (Irving Berlin song)|Mandy]]”, "[[My Baby Just Cares for Me]]”, "Margie", and "[[How Ya Gonna Keep 'em Down on the Farm (After They've Seen Paree)?]]" He also wrote a few songs, including "[[Merrily We Roll Along (song)|Merrily We Roll Along]]", the ''[[Merrie Melodies]]'' [[Looney Tunes|Warner Bros. cartoon]] theme.

His eye-rolling song-and-dance routines eventually led to his nickname "Banjo Eyes". In 1933, artist Frederick J. Garner caricatured Cantor with large round eyes resembling the drum-like pot of a banjo. Cantor's eyes became his [[trademark]], often exaggerated in illustrations, and leading to his appearance on Broadway in the musical ''[[Banjo Eyes]]'' (1941).

He helped to develop the [[March of Dimes]] and is credited with coining its name.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.marchofdimes.org/about-us/mission/history/origin-our-name|title=Origin of our name|work=March of Dimes Official Website|access-date=May 29, 2024}}</ref> Cantor was awarded an honorary [[Academy Awards|Oscar]] in 1956 for distinguished service to the film industry.

==Early life==
Reports and accounts of Cantor's early life often conflict with one another. He was born in [[New York City]], the son of Mechel (a.k.a. Michael) Iskowitz, an amateur violinist; and his wife (a.k.a. Maite) Meta Kantrowitz Iskowitz, a young Jewish couple from [[Russian Empire|Russia]].<ref>{{cite book |author= David Weinstein| title=The Eddie Cantor Story: A Jewish Life in Performance and Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N0UzDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA7| date= November 7, 2017|publisher=Brandeis University Press|isbn=978-1-5126-0134-3|page=7}}</ref> It is generally accepted that he was born in 1892, though the day is subject to debate, with either January 31 or [[Rosh Hashanah]], which was on September 10 or September 11, being reported.<ref name="International">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/10/11/eddie-cantor-dead-comedy-slar-was-72.html|title=Eddie Cantor Dead. Comedy Star Was 72.|agency=United Press International|date=October 11, 1964|work=The New York Times|access-date=May 13, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url= http://movies2.nytimes.com/books/first/g/goldman-banjo.html|title=Banjo Eyes|website= [[The New York Times]]|access-date=May 13, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.eddiecantor.com/bio.html|title=The Eddie Cantor Story|work=eddiecantor.com| publisher= Eddie Cantor official website|access-date=September 2, 2013}}</ref> Although it was reported Cantor was an orphan, his mother dying in childbirth and his father of [[pneumonia]], official records say otherwise; Meta died from complications of [[tuberculosis]] in July 1894, and the fate of Mechel is unclear, as no [[death certificate]] exists for him. There is also discrepancy as to his name; both his 1957 autobiography and ''The New York Times'' obituary for Cantor report his birth name as Isidore Iskowitch, although some articles published after the 20th century give his birth name as Edward (a nickname given him by his future wife, Ida, in 1913) or Israel Itzkowitz.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://jewishtimes.com/73343/whoopee/arts_life/|title=Whoopee!|date=January 3, 2018|website=Baltimore Jewish Times |language= en-US|access-date=May 13, 2019|archive-date=August 18, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200818020137/https://www.jewishtimes.com/73343/whoopee/arts_life/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="International"/> 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.<ref name="International"/> No [[birth certificate]] existed for him, though this is not unusual for someone born in New York in the 19th century.

==Stage==
[[File:George Jessel and Eddie Cantor, circa 1913.webp|left|thumb|[[George Jessel (actor)|George Jessel]] and Eddie Cantor, while in ''Kid Kabaret,'' {{Circa|1913}}]]

===Saloon songs to vaudeville===
By his early teens, Cantor began winning talent contests at local theaters and started appearing on stage. One of his earliest paying jobs was doubling as a waiter and performer, singing for tips at Carey Walsh's [[Coney Island]] saloon, where a young [[Jimmy Durante]] accompanied him on piano. He made his first public appearance in [[Vaudeville]] in 1907 at New York's Clinton Music Hall. In 1912, he was the only performer over the age of 20 to appear in [[Gus Edwards (vaudeville)|Gus Edwards]]'s ''Kid Kabaret'', where he created his first [[blackface]] character "Jefferson". He later toured with [[Al Lee]] as the team Cantor and Lee. Critical praise from that show got the attention of Broadway's top producer [[Florenz Ziegfeld]], who gave Cantor a spot in the Ziegfeld rooftop post-show, ''Midnight Frolic'' (1917).<ref name="International" />

===Broadway===
A year later, Cantor made his Broadway debut in the ''[[Ziegfeld Follies|Ziegfeld Follies of 1917]]''. He continued in the ''Follies'' until 1927,<ref name="bway">[http://www.ibdb.com/person.php?id=5198 "Eddie Cantor Broadway Credits"] Internet Broadway database listing, retrieved December 24, 2009.</ref> a period considered{{by whom|date=April 2024}} the best years of the long-running revue. 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. Other co-stars with Cantor during his time in the ''Follies'' included [[Will Rogers]], [[Marilyn Miller]], [[Fanny Brice]], and [[W.C. Fields]].<ref>Cullen, Frank; Hackman, Florence; McNeilly, Donald. "Vaudeville, Old & New: An Encyclopedia of Variety Performers" (2007). Routledge. {{ISBN|0-415-93853-8}}, p. 193.</ref> He moved on to stardom in book musicals, starting with ''[[Kid Boots]]'' (1923) and ''[[Whoopee!]]'' (1928).<ref name="bway" /> The successful Broadway run of ''Banjo Eyes'' was cut short when Cantor suffered a major [[heart attack]], the first of several that would plague his later years.

===Steel Pier, Atlantic City===
Cantor was a headliner at the [[Steel Pier Theater]] in [[Atlantic City]].

[[File:Eddie Cantor Midnight Rounders.jpg|thumb|Flyer for ''Midnight Rounders'']]
* ''Ziegfeld Follies of 1917'' – [[revue]] – performer
* ''Ziegfeld Follies of 1918'' – revue – performer, co-composer and co-lyricist for "Broadway's Not a Bad Place After All" with [[Harry Ruby]]
* ''Ziegfeld Follies of 1919'' – revue – performer, lyricist for "(Oh! She's the) Last Rose of Summer"
* ''Ziegfeld Follies of 1920'' – revue – composer for "Green River", composer and lyricist for "Every Blossom I See Reminds Me of You" and "I Found a Baby on My Door Step"
* ''The Midnight Rounders of 1920'' – revue – performer
* ''Broadway Brevities of 1920'' – revue – performer
* ''[[Make It Snappy]]'' (1922) – revue – performer, co-bookwriter
* ''Ziegfeld Follies of 1923'' – revue – sketch writer
* ''[[Kid Boots]]'' (1923) – musical comedy – actor in the role of "Kid Boots" (the Caddie Master)
* ''Ziegfeld Follies of 1927'' – revue – performer, co-bookwriter
* ''Whoopee!'' (1928) – musical comedy – actor in the role of "Henry Williams"
* ''Eddie Cantor at the [[Palace Theatre (New York City)|Palace]]'' (1931) – solo performance
* ''Banjo Eyes'' (1941) – musical comedy – actor in the role of "Erwin Trowbridge"
* ''[[Nellie Bly]]'' (1946) – musical comedy – co-producer

==Radio and recordings==

===Radio===
Cantor appeared on radio as early as February 3, 1922, as indicated by this news item from Connecticut's ''[[Bridgeport Telegram]]'':
{{blockquote|Local radio operators listened to one of the finest programs yet produced over the radiophone last night. The program of entertainment which included some of the stars of Broadway musical comedy and vaudeville was broadcast from the Newark, New Jersey station [[WDY]] and the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania station [[KDKA (AM)|KDKA]], both of the [[Westinghouse Electric (1886)|Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company]]. The Newark entertainment started at 7 o'clock: a children's half-hour of music and fairy stories; 7:[35?], Hawaiian airs and violin solo; 8:00, news of the day; and at 8:20, a radio party with nationally known comedians participating; 9:55, Arlington time signals and 10:01, a government weather report. G.E. Nothnagle, who conducts a radiophone station at his home 176 Waldemere Avenue said last night that he was delighted with the program, especially with the numbers sung by Eddie Cantor. The weather conditions are excellent for receiving, he continued, the tone and the quality of the messages was fine.<ref>"Radio Operators Hear a Good Concert", ''Bridgeport Telegram'', February 4, 1922.</ref>}}
[[File:Bert Gordon Eddie Cantor NBC.JPG|thumb|180px|Cantor (right) with Bert Gordon, AKA "the Mad Russian"]]
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 ''[[The Chase and Sanborn Hour]]''. Replacing [[Maurice Chevalier]], who was returning to Paris, Cantor joined ''Chase and Sanborn'' on September 13, 1931. This hour-long Sunday evening variety series teamed Cantor with announcer Jimmy Wallington and violinist Dave Rubinoff. The show established Cantor as a leading comedian, and his scriptwriter, [[David Freedman]], as "the Captain of Comedy". Freedman's team included, among others, Samuel "Doc" Kurtzman, who also wrote for song-and-dance man, Al Jolson, and the comedian [[Jack Benny]]. Cantor soon became the world's highest-paid radio star. His shows began with a crowd chanting "We want Can-tor! We want Can-tor!", a phrase said to have originated in vaudeville, when the audience chanted to chase off an act on the bill before Cantor. Cantor's theme song was his own lyric to the Leo Robin/Richard Whiting song, "One Hour with You". His radio sidekicks included [[Bert Gordon (comedian)|Bert Gordon]], (comic Barney Gorodetsky, AKA The Mad Russian) and [[Harry Parke]] (better known as Parkyakarkus). Cantor also discovered and helped guide the career of singer [[Dinah Shore]], first featuring her on his radio show in 1940, as well as other performers, including [[Deanna Durbin]], [[Bobby Breen]] in 1936, and [[Eddie Fisher]] in 1949.

Indicative of his effect on the mass audience, he agreed in November 1934 to introduce a new song by the songwriters [[J. Fred Coots]] and [[Haven Gillespie]] that other well-known artists had rejected as being "silly" and "childish". The song, "[[Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town]]", immediately had orders for 100,000 copies of sheet music the next day. It sold 400,000 copies by Christmas of that year.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Collins|first1=Ace|title=Stories Behind the Greatest Hits of Christmas|date=October 5, 2010|publisher=Zondervan|isbn=978-0310327950|page=[https://archive.org/details/storiesbehindgre0000coll/page/224 224]|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/storiesbehindgre0000coll|chapter-url-access=registration|quote=Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.|access-date=August 20, 2014|ref=Stories Behind|chapter=4 Santa Claus Is Coming to Town}}</ref>

His NBC radio show ''Time to Smile'' was broadcast from 1940 to 1946,{{Citation needed |date=March 2024}} followed by his ''[[Pabst Blue Ribbon]] Show'' from 1946 through 1949. The Pabst program ended when the sponsor wanted Cantor to add a weekly television program. Cantor refused to take on the additional broadcast. The trade publication ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' reported that Cantor and Pabst "parted friends" after "several months of negotiation."<ref name=Pabst>{{cite magazine |date=June 4, 1949 |page=5 |title=Cantor & Pabst Break; 'Riley' For AM-TV Deal |magazine=Billboard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vw4EAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22Screen+Directors+Playhouse%22+NBC&pg=PT4 |accessdate=March 27, 2024 }}</ref> He also served as emcee of ''[[Take It or Leave It (radio show)|Take It or Leave It]]'' during 1949–1950, and hosted a weekly disc jockey program for [[Philip Morris USA|Philip Morris]] during the 1952–1953 season. In addition to film and radio, Cantor recorded for [[Hit of the Week Records]], then again for Columbia, for [[Banner Records|Banner]] and [[Decca Records|Decca]] and various small labels.

In the early 1960s, he syndicated the short radio segment "Ask Eddie Cantor".<ref>{{cite book|author=David Weinstein|title=The Eddie Cantor Story: A Jewish Life in Performance and Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N0UzDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA226|date=November 7, 2017|publisher=Brandeis University Press|isbn=978-1-5126-0134-3|pages=226–}}</ref>

His heavy political involvement began early in his career, including his participation in the strike to form Actors Equity in 1919, provoking the anger of father figure and producer, [[Florenz Ziegfeld]]. At the [[1939 New York World's Fair]], Cantor publicly denounced [[antisemitic]] radio personality [[Father Charles Coughlin]] and then was dropped by his radio sponsor [[Camel cigarettes]]. A year and a half later, Cantor was able to return to the air because of help from his friend Jack Benny.

===Recordings===
Cantor began making [[phonograph record]]s in 1917, recording both comedy songs and routines and popular songs of the day, first for [[Victor Talking Machine Company|Victor]], then for [[Aeoleon-Vocalion]], [[Pathé Records|Pathé]], and [[Emerson Records|Emerson]]. From 1921 through 1925, he had an exclusive contract with [[Columbia Records]], returning to Victor for the remainder of the decade.

<table>
{{Audio sample
| type = song
| header = A 1922 recording by Cantor
| file = Sophie (1922 Recording, Eddie Cantor).mp3
| description = Sophie, from [[Make It Snappy]], recorded in 1922
}}
</table>

Cantor was one of the era's most successful entertainers, but the [[1929 stock market crash]] took away his multimillionaire status and left him deeply in debt. However, Cantor's relentless attention to his own earnings to avoid the poverty he knew growing up caused him to use his writing talent, quickly building a new bank account with his highly popular, bestselling books of humor and cartoons about his experience, ''Caught Short! A Saga of Wailing Wall Street''<ref>[https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/381325 "'Caught short! A saga of wailing Wall street', OCLC Number: 381325"] worldcat.org, accessed September 5, 2011.</ref> in 1929 "A.C." (After Crash), and ''Yoo-Hoo, Prosperity!''

Cantor was also a composer, with his most famous song seldom attributed to him. In 1935, along with Charles Tobias (Ida's brother) and Murray Mencher, Cantor wrote "Merrily We Roll Along". It was adapted as the theme song for the ''Merrie Melodies'' series of animated cartoons, distributed by [[Warner Brothers Pictures]] between 1936 and 1964. Cantor himself was frequently caricatured in Warner cartoons of the period, (see Film and television: Animation).<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Merrie Melodies Theme: "Merrily We Roll Along" {{!}}|url=https://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/the-merrie-melodies-theme-merrily-we-roll-along/|access-date=2021-06-02|website=cartoonresearch.com}}</ref>

==Film and television==
{{Expand section|date=July 2021}}
[[File:Getting A Ticket (1929).webm|thumb|left|Cantor in a 1929 musical-comedy short, ''Getting A Ticket'']]
Cantor also made numerous film appearances. He had previously appeared in a number of short films, performing his ''Follies'' songs and comedy routines, and two silent features (''Special Delivery'' and ''Kid Boots'') in the 1920s. He was offered the lead in ''[[The Jazz Singer]]'' after it was turned down by [[George Jessel (actor)|George Jessel]]. Cantor also turned the role down (so it went to [[Al Jolson]]), but he became a leading Hollywood star in 1930 with the film version of ''[[Whoopee! (film)|Whoopee!]],'' shot in two-color [[Technicolor]]. He continued making films over the next two decades until his last starring role in ''If You Knew Susie'' (1948). 
[[File:Eddie Cantor - 1933.jpg|thumb|in ''[[Roman Scandals]]'' (1933)]]
On May 25, 1944, pioneer television station WPTZ (now [[KYW-TV]]) in Philadelphia presented a special, all-star telecast which was also seen in New York over WNBT (now [[WNBC]]) and featured cut-ins from their Rockefeller Center studios. 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". Arriving shortly before airtime at the New York studios, Cantor was reportedly told to cut the song because the NBC New York censors considered some of the lyrics too risqué. Cantor refused, claiming no time to prepare an alternative number. NBC relented, but the sound was cut and the picture blurred on certain lines in the song. This is considered the first instance of television censorship.<ref>"[https://www.nytimes.com/1944/05/27/archives/cantor-censored-in-televised-act-nbc-official-says-part-of-the.html Cantor Censored in Televised Act"]. ''The New York Times''. May 27, 1944.</ref>

[[File:Eddie cantor television 1952.JPG|thumb|180px|Cantor as host of ''The Colgate Comedy Hour'', 1952]]
From 1950 to 1954, Cantor was a regular guest host on the television variety series ''[[The Colgate Comedy Hour]]''. In 1950, he became the first of several hosts alternating on the NBC television variety show ''[[The Colgate Comedy Hour]]'', in which he would introduce musical acts, stage and film stars and play comic characters such as "Maxie the Taxi". In the spring of 1952, Cantor landed in an unlikely controversy when a young [[Sammy Davis Jr.]], appeared as a guest performer. Cantor embraced Davis and mopped Davis's brow with his handkerchief after his performance. When worried sponsors led NBC to threaten cancellation of the show, Cantor's response was to book Davis for two more weeks. Cantor suffered a heart attack following a September 1952 Colgate broadcast, and thereafter, curtailed his appearances until his final program in 1954. In 1955, he appeared in a filmed series for syndication and a year later, appeared in two dramatic roles ("George Has A Birthday", on NBC's ''Matinee Theatre'' broadcast in color, and "Size.man and Son" on CBS's ''Playhouse 90''). He continued to appear as a guest on several shows, and was last seen on the NBC color broadcast of ''The Future Lies Ahead'' on January 22, 1960, which also featured [[Mort Sahl]].

===Animation===
Cantor appears in caricature form in numerous ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' cartoons produced for Warner Bros., although he was often voiced by an imitator. Beginning with ''I Like Mountain Music'' (1933), other animated Cantor [[cameo role|cameos]] include ''Shuffle Off to Buffalo'' ([[Harman-Ising]], 1933) and ''[[Billboard Frolics]]'' ([[Friz Freleng]], 1935). Eddie Cantor is one of the four "down on their luck" stars (along with [[Bing Crosby]], Al Jolson, and Jack Benny) snubbed by [[Elmer Fudd]] in ''[[What's Up, Doc? (1950 film)|What’s Up, Doc?]]'' ([[Bob McKimson]], 1950). In ''[[Farm Frolics]]'' ([[Bob Clampett]], 1941), a horse, asked by the narrator to "do a canter", promptly launches into a singing, dancing, eye-rolling impression. The Cantor gag that got the most mileage, however, was his oft-repeated wish for a son after five famous daughters. ''[[Slap-Happy Pappy]]'' (Clampett, 1940) features an "Eddie Cackler" rooster that wants a boy, to little avail. Other references can be found in ''[[Baby Bottleneck]]'' (Clampett, 1946) and ''Circus Today'' ([[Tex Avery]], 1940). In ''Merrie Melodies'', ''[[The Coo-Coo Nut Grove]]'' Cantor's many daughters are referenced by a group of singing quintuplet girls. In ''Porky’s Naughty Nephew'' (Clampett, 1938) a swimming Cantor gleefully adopts a "buoy".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.i-foo.com/~eocostello/wbcc/eowbcc-c.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007104507/http://www.i-foo.com/~eocostello/wbcc/eowbcc-c.html|url-status=dead|title=From ''The Warner Bros. Cartoon Companion'', E.O. Costello, ed.|archive-date=October 7, 2011}}</ref> An animated Cantor also appears prominently in [[Walt Disney]]'s "[[Mother Goose Goes Hollywood]]" ([[Wilfred Jackson]], 1938) as [[Little Jack Horner]], who sings "[[Sing a Song of Sixpence]]".

==Books and merchandising==
[[File:Eddie Cantor and daughters ad postcard 1926.JPG|thumb|180px|Cantor and three of his daughters strike a pose in 1926 to promote his first film, ''Kid Boots'', and children's shoes.]]
Cantor's popularity led to merchandising of such products as ''Eddie Cantor's Tell It to the Judge'' game from [[Parker Brothers]]. In 1933, Brown and Bigelow published a set of 12 Eddie Cantor caricatures by Frederick J. Garner. The advertising cards were purchased in bulk as a direct-mail item by such businesses as auto body shops, funeral directors, dental laboratories, and vegetable wholesale dealers. With the full set, companies could mail a single Cantor card each month for a year to their selected special customers as an ongoing promotion. Cantor was often caricatured on the covers of [[sheet music]] and in magazines and newspapers. Cantor was depicted as a balloon in the [[Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/news/galleries/entertainment/entertainment.html |title=Floating back in time with Macy's balloons, 1940, photo No.11|author=New York Daily News|website=[[New York Daily News]] |date=November 28, 2008|access-date=November 28, 2008}}</ref> one of the very few balloons based on a real person.

In addition to ''Caught Short!'', Cantor wrote or co-wrote at least seven other books, including booklets released by the then-fledgling firm of [[Simon & Schuster]], with Cantor's name on the cover. (Some were "as told to" or written with [[David Freedman]].) Customers paid a dollar and received the booklet with a penny embedded in the hardcover. They sold well, and [[H.L. Mencken]] asserted that the books did more to pull America out of the [[Great Depression]] than all government measures combined.

== Activism and philanthropy ==
Cantor was the second president of the [[Screen Actors Guild]], serving from 1933 to 1935.

He invented the title "The March of [[Dime (United States coin)|Dimes]]" for the donation campaigns of the [[National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis]], which was organized to combat [[polio]]. It was a [[Play on words|play]] on ''[[The March of Time]]'' [[newsreels]] popular at the time. He began the first campaign on his radio show in January 1938, asking listeners to mail a dime to President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]. At that time, Roosevelt was the [[Franklin D. Roosevelt's paralytic illness|most notable American victim of polio]]. Other entertainers joined in the appeal via their own shows, and the [[White House]] mail room was deluged with 2,680,000 dimes—a large sum at the time.

Cantor also recorded a spoken introduction on a 1938 Decca recording of "[[Alexander's Ragtime Band]]" by [[Bing Crosby]] and [[Connee Boswell]] in which he thanks the listener for buying the record, which supported the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. That record hit No. 1 on the charts, though Cantor did not sing on it. A lifelong [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]], Cantor supported [[Adlai Stevenson II|Adlai Stevenson]] during the [[1952 United States presidential election|1952 presidential election]].<ref>''Motion Picture and Television Magazine'', November 1952, page 33, Ideal Publishers.</ref>

==Tributes==
Cantor was profiled on ''[[This Is Your Life (American franchise)|This Is Your Life]]'', a program in which an unsuspecting person (usually a celebrity) would be surprised on live television by host [[Ralph Edwards]], with a half-hour tribute. 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.{{citation needed|date=April 2019}}

In 1951 he received an honorary doctorate from [[Temple University]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Humber, Charles J.|title=Cigar Box Lithographs: The Inside Stories Uncovered|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gsp7DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA73|page=73|year=2018|publisher=FriesenPress|isbn=978-1-5255-4060-8}}</ref>

There was an Eddie Cantor caricature featured in [[The Comedy Store|Comedy Store]], and flashing lights on it marked the end of auditions for comedians.<ref>{{Citation |title=Louis CK On David Letterman Full Interview | date=March 3, 2015 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQc7M6lE308 |language=en |access-date=2022-03-01}}</ref>

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). The film found an audience but might have done better with someone else in the leading role. Actor [[Keefe Brasselle]] played Cantor as a caricature with high-pressure dialogue and bulging eyes wide open; the fact that Brasselle was considerably taller than Cantor did not lend realism. 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.{{citation needed|date=April 2019}} [[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".<ref>All My Best Friends, by George Burns and David Fisher, Putnam, 1989, p. 162.</ref>

Probably the best summary of Cantor's career is on one of the ''[[Colgate Comedy Hour]]'' shows.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Pondillo|first1=Bob|title=Racial Discourse and Censorship on NBC-TV, 1948–60|journal=Journal of Popular Film & Television|date=2005|volume=33|issue=2|page=106|doi=10.3200/JPFT.33.2.102-114|s2cid=192199749}}</ref> Re-issued on DVD as ''Eddie Cantor in Person'', the hour-long episode is a virtual video autobiography, with Eddie recounting his career, singing his greatest hits, and recreating his singing-waiter days with another vaudeville legend, his old pal [[Jimmy Durante]].

Cantor appears as a recurring character, played by [[Stephen DeRosa]], on the series ''[[Boardwalk Empire]]''.

== Personal life and family ==
[[File:Eddie and Ida Cantor 1952.JPG|thumb|180px|The Cantors in 1952]]

Cantor adopted the first name "Eddie" when he met his future wife Ida Tobias in 1913, because she felt that "Izzy" was not the right name for an actor. Cantor and Ida (1892–1962) were married on June 6, 1914. They had five daughters – Marjorie (1915–1959),<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |date=1959-05-18 |title=Cantor's Daughter Killed By Cancer |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-lexington-herald-cantors-daughter-k/140407762/ |access-date=2024-02-06 |work=The Lexington Herald |pages=2}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1959-05-18 |title=Obituary for Marjorie Cantor |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-obituary-for-marjorie-ca/140407465/ |access-date=2024-02-06 |work=Chicago Tribune |pages=46}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1959-05-19 |title=Obituary for Marjorie Cantors |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/progress-bulletin-obituary-for-marjorie/140407575/ |access-date=2024-02-06 |work=Progress-Bulletin |pages=17}}</ref> Natalie (1916–1997), Edna June (1919–2003), [[Marilyn Cantor Baker|Marilyn]] (1921–2010), and Janet (1927–2018). The girls provided comic fodder for Cantor's longtime running gag, especially on radio, about his five unmarriageable daughters.<ref name=":0" /> Several radio historians, including [[Gerald Nachman (journalist)|Gerald Nachman]] (in his book ''Raised on Radio''), have said that this gag did not always sit well with the girls.

Natalie's first husband was Joseph Louis Metzger,<ref>{{Cite news |date=1937-05-07 |title=First of Cantor Daughters to Wed |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-vernon-daily-record-first-of-cantor/140409400/ |access-date=2024-02-06 |work=The Vernon Daily Record |pages=7}}</ref> a businessman from Boston; they married in 1937.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |date=1959-05-27 |title=Marjorie Cantor Names 4 Sisters (in will) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald-marjorie-cantor-n/140408022/ |access-date=2024-02-06 |work=Birmingham Post-Herald |pages=8}}</ref> Her second husband was the French-born American actor [[Robert Clary]], who was best known for his role as Corporal Louis LeBeau on ''[[Hogan's Heroes]]''.<ref name="WaPo">{{cite news |title=Robert Clary, 'Hogan's Heroes' actor, dies at 96 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2022/11/17/robert-clary-hogans-heroes-actor-dead/ |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=7 January 2023}}</ref> Edna married James Francis McHugh Jr., in 1938. McHugh Sr. was a songwriter who was close friends with Eddie Cantor.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=1938-09-18 |title=Honeymoon - Cantor's Third Daughter Weds |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-fresno-bee-honeymoon-cantors-thir/140410282/ |access-date=2024-02-06 |work=The Fresno Bee |pages=8}}</ref> Janet married the actor [[Roberto Gari]].<ref>[http://greatentertainersarchives.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-children-of-eddie-cantor.html The Children of Eddie Cantor] blog article by David Lobosco.</ref> Marilyn married a Canadian, Michael Baker, in 1960. She was the only child in the family to follow her father into show business.

Following the death of their daughter Marjorie at the age of 44, Eddie's and Ida's health declined rapidly. She had been her father's secretary and a magazine writer.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1959-05-21 |title=Obituary for Marjorie Cantor |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-roberts-news-obituary-for-marjorie-c/140408652/ |access-date=2024-02-06 |work=The Roberts News |pages=6}}</ref> Ida died on August 9, 1962, at age 70 of "cardiac insufficiency",<ref name="International" /><ref>"Deaths", ''The New York Times'', August 10, 1962, p. 14.</ref> and Eddie died on October 10, 1964, in [[Beverly Hills, California]], after suffering his second heart attack at age 72.<ref>{{cite news|date=October 11, 1964|title=Eddie Cantor Dead. Comedy Star Was 72.|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/10/11/eddie-cantor-dead-comedy-slar-was-72.html?sq=%2522Eddie+Cantor%2522&scp=1&st=p|access-date=August 9, 2012|quote=Eddie Cantor, banjo-eyed vaudevillian whose dancing feet and double-takes brought him stardom in movies, radio and television, died of a coronary occlusion today at the age of 72.}}</ref> He is interred in [[Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery]], a Jewish cemetery in Culver City, California.

Cantor was a [[Freemasonry|Freemason]] via Munn Lodge No. 190 in New York City.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Famous Freemasons (A – Z) Continued – Freemasons Community |url=https://freemasonscommunity.life/famous-freemasons-z-continued/ |access-date=2023-05-19 |website=freemasonscommunity.life}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Today in Masonic History - Edward Israel Iskowitz (a.k.a. Eddie Cantor) Passes Away |url=https://www.masonrytoday.com/index.php?new_month=10&new_day=10&new_year=2020 |access-date=2023-05-19 |website=www.masonrytoday.com}}</ref>

==Filmography==
{{Div col}}
* ''[[A Few Moments with Eddie Cantor|A Few Moments With Eddie Cantor, Star of "Kid Boots"]]'' (1923, DeForest [[Phonofilm]] sound-on-film short film) as Himself
* ''[[Kid Boots (film)|Kid Boots]]'' (1926) as Samuel (Kid) Boots
* ''[[Special Delivery (1927 film)|Special Delivery]]'' (1927) as Eddie Beagle – the Mail Carrier
* ''[[That Party in Person]]'' (1929, Short) as Eddie Cantor
* ''A Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic'' (1929, Short) as Himself
* ''[[Glorifying the American Girl]]'' (1929) as Eddie Cantor – Appearance in Revue Scenes
* ''[[Getting a Ticket]]'' (1929, Short) as Himself
* ''[[Insurance (1930 film)|Insurance]]'' (1930, Short) as Sidney B. Zwieback
* ''[[Whoopee! (film)|Whoopee!]]'' (1930) as Henry Williams
* ''[[Palmy Days]]'' (1931) as Eddie Simpson
* ''[[Talking Screen Snapshots]]'' (1932, Documentary short) as Himself
* ''[[The Kid from Spain]]'' (1932) as Eddie Williams
* ''[[Roman Scandals]]'' (1933) as Eddie / Oedipus
* ''[[The Hollywood Gad-About]]'' (1934, Documentary short) as Himself (uncredited)
* ''[[Kid Millions]]'' (1934) as Eddie Wilson Jr.
* ''[[Strike Me Pink (film)|Strike Me Pink]]'' (1936) as Eddie Pink
* ''[[Ali Baba Goes to Town]]'' (1937) as Ali Baba
* ''[[The March of Time Volume IV, Issue 5]]'' (1937, Documentary short) as Himself
* ''[[Forty Little Mothers]]'' (1940) as Gilbert Jordan Thompson
* ''[[Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943 film)|Thank Your Lucky Stars]]'' (1943) as Eddie Cantor / Joe Simpson
* ''[[Show Business (1944 film)|Show Business]]'' (1944, also producer) as Eddie Martin
* ''[[Hollywood Canteen (1944 film)|Hollywood Canteen]]'' (1944) as Himself
* ''[[Screen Snapshots: Radio Shows]]'' (1945, Short) as Eddie – The Eddie Cantor Program
* ''[[American Creed]]'' (1946, Short) as Self
* ''[[Meet Mr. Mischief]]'' (1947, Short, appears on poster) as Face on Station Program Poster (uncredited)
* ''[[If You Knew Susie (film)|If You Knew Susie]]'' (1948) as Sam Parker
* ''[[Screen Snapshots: Hollywood's Happy Homes]]'' (1949, Documentary short) as Himself
* ''[[The Story of Will Rogers]]'' (1952) as Himself
* ''[[Screen Snapshots: Memorial to Al Jolson]]'' (1952, Documentary short) as Himself
* ''[[The Eddie Cantor Story]]'' (1953) cameo appearance and singing voice dubbing for [[Keefe Brasselle]]
{{div col end}}

== Bibliography ==
* ''My Life Is in Your Hands'' by Eddie Cantor (1928) with David Freedman; Harper & Bros.
* ''Caught Short!: A Saga of Wailing Wall Street'' by Eddie Cantor (1929) Simon & Schuster
* ''Between the Acts'' by Eddie Cantor (1930) Simon & Schuster
* ''Yoo-Hoo, Prosperity!: The Eddie Cantor Five-Year Plan'' by Eddie Cantor (1931) with David Freedman; Simon & Schuster
* ''The Rise of the Goldbergs'' by Gertrude Berg (1931) Foreword by Eddie Cantor; Barse & Co.
* ''Your Next President!'' by Eddie Cantor (1932) with David Freedman, Illus. by S.L. Hydeman; Ray Long & Richard R. Smith, Inc.
* ''Eddie Cantor in An Hour with You: A Big Little Book'' (1934) Whitman
* ''Eddie Cantor Song and Joke Book'' (1934) Illus. by Ben Harris; M. Witmark & Sons
* ''Ziegfeld: The Great Glorifier'' by Eddie Cantor (1934) with David Freedman; Alfred H. King
* ''World's Book of Best Jokes'' by Eddie Cantor (1943) World Publishing Co.
* ''Hello, Momma'' by George Jessel (1946) Foreword by Eddie Cantor, Illus. by Carl Rose; World Publishing Co.
* ''Take My Life'' by Eddie Cantor (1957) with [[Jane Ardmore|Jane Kesner Ardmore]]; Doubleday
* ''No Man Stands Alone'' by Barney Ross (1957) Foreword by Eddie Cantor; B. Lippincott Co.
* ''The Way I See It'' by Eddie Cantor (1959) with Phyllis Rosenteur, ed.; Prentice-Hall
* ''As I Remember Them'' by Eddie Cantor (1963) Duell, Sloan & Pearce
* ''Yoo-Hoo, Prosperity!'' and ''Caught Short!'' by Eddie Cantor (1969) Greenwood Press
* "The Eddie Cantor Story: A Jewish Life in Performance and Politics" by David Weinstein (2017) UPNE/Brandeis University Press
* ''The Golden Age of Sound Comedy: Comic Films and Comedians of the Thirties'' by Donald W. McCaffrey (1973) A.S. Barnes
* ''Radio Comedy'' by [[Arthur Frank Wertheim]] (1979) Oxford University Press
* ''The Vaudevillians: A Dictionary of Vaudeville Performers'' by Anthony Slide (1981) Arlington House
* ''American Vaudeville as Seen by Its Contemporaries'' by Charles W. Stein, ed. (1984) Alfred A. Knopf
* ''Eddie Cantor: A Life in Show Business'' by Gregory Koseluk (1995) McFarland
* ''Eddie Cantor: A Bio-Bibliography'' by James Fisher (1997) Greenwood Press
* ''Banjo Eyes: Eddie Cantor and the Birth of Modern Stardom'' by Herbert G. Goldman (1997) Oxford University Press
* ''The Great American Broadcast: A Celebration of Radio's Golden Age'' by Leonard Maltin (1997) Dutton
* ''My Life Is in Your Hands'' and ''Take My Life'' by Eddie Cantor (2000) Cooper Square Press
* ''Film Clowns of the Depression: Twelve Defining Comic Performances'' by Wes D. Gehring (2007) McFarland
* ''Eddie Cantor in Laugh Land'' by Harold Sherman (2008) Kessinger Publishing
* ''Angels We Have Heard: The Christmas Song Stories'' by James Adam Richliano (2002) Star Of Bethlehem Books (Includes a chapter on Cantor's involvement in the history of "Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town").
* ''The Eddie Cantor Story: A Jewish Life in Performance and Politics'' by David Weinstein (2018) UPNE/Brandeis University Press

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|author=Goldman, Herbert G.|title= Banjo Eyes: Eddie Cantor and the Birth of Modern Stardom |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1997}}
* Weinstein, David (2018). ''The Eddie Cantor Story: A Jewish Life in Performance and Politics''. Hanover, NH: UPNE/Brandeis University Press.
* [https://archive.org/details/eddie_cantor_1923 ''A Few Moments with Eddie Cantor, Star of "Kid Boots"'' (1923)] A six-minute film made in [[Phonofilm]] by [[Lee De Forest]] featuring Cantor telling monologues and singing two songs in one of the earliest surviving sound motion pictures.
* [http://www.otr.net/?p=ecnt OTR Network Library: ''The Eddie Cantor Show'' (11 1936 – 52 episodes)]

==External links==
{{Portal|Biography}}
{{wikisource|works=or}}
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{IMDb name|0134662}}
* {{IBDB name}}
* {{Tcmdb name}}
* [http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/07/a-tale-of-two-g.html Cantor's Sidekick: Bert 'The Mad Russian' Gordon @WFMU]
* [http://www.virtual-history.com/movie/person/1943/eddie-cantor Eddie Cantor] at Virtual History
* [https://archive.org/details/EddieCantorFBI FBI file on Eddie Cantor]

{{Academy Honorary Award}}
{{SAG Presidents}}
{{Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award}}
{{Authority control}}

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