Oct. 10, 1964 - Eddie Cantor (pictured in 1940), the 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.
The comedian, famed for his charitable works, continued to be a show-business figure a decade after giving up public appearances.
Semi-retired since suffering a heart seizure in 1953, Cantor wrote books and took pride in his discovery of new talent. His energy and drive made him one of the best-loved performers of his generation.
For years, Cantor joked about the fact that he had five daughters and no sons. But he leaves only four of those daughters. His fourth daughter, Marjorie, who was also his secretary, died of cancer in 1959 at the age of 44.
Ida Cantor, his wife, died in 1962 at the age of 70. She became known to millions of Americans because of her husband’s theme song, “Ida,” and the jokes he used to tell about his family.
Pop-eyed, peppy Eddie Cantor was one of the most successful vaudeville comedians who ever lived. His song-and-dance specialties and his nonstop patter of puns and gags remained essentially vaudevillian in character throughout his years of success in musical comedy, films, radio, and T.V.
That success was tremendous. By the time vaudeville succumbed to sound movies in the late 1920s, Cantor set records for long runs at all major variety houses in the U.S., including Keith’s Palace, capital of them all. He earned millions of dollars by his art, and Florenz Ziegfeld once boasted he paid Cantor the largest salary ever given to a comedian “in the history of the world.”
No one could have started to achieve fame and wealth by his own efforts with fewer advantages than Cantor. As he pointed out in his autobiography, he was one of many poor boys from the Lower East Side of the 1890s who turned out to be celebrated actors, politicians, or gangsters.
Eddie was born in a crowded tenement flat over a Russian tearoom on Eldridge St. in 1892. His real name was Isidor Iskowitch, and his parents were impoverished young Russian-Jewish immigrants. He never really knew them, since his mother died in childbirth when he was 1 year old, and his father, an unemployed violinist, perished of pneumonia a year later.
The orphan was brought up by his grandmother, Esther, a widow, who supported herself and the baby by peddling. She lived to see her grandson become star, and he always revered her.
Cantor worked as hard at philanthropy as at his theatrical career. It was said he never refused a legitimate request for aid, either personal or organizational. He played as many as six benefit shows in one night, and he toured endlessly for the United Service Organizations during World War II.
He raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Jewish refugees from Hitler, for Israel, and for Christian and non-denominational causes. He was said to have coined the phrase “March of Dimes” in his campaigns for the Warm Springs Foundation for Infantile Paralysis.
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