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Eddie Cantor (January 31, 1892 – October 10,
1964) was a comedian, singer, actor, songwriter,
and one of the most popular entertainers in the
United States|United States of America in the
early and middle 20th century. His nickname was
"Banjo Eyes."

Cantor was born as Edward Israel Iskovitz in New
York City, the son of Russian Jewish immigrants.
He was orphaned in childhood and made a living
entertaining for coins on the city streets of
Manhattan's Lower-East-Side. 

By his early teens he began winning talent
contests at local theaters, and started appearing
on stage and in 1907 became a billed name in
Vaudeville. 

In 1912 he appeared in Gus Edwards
(songwriter)|Gus Edwards Revue, and in 1917
debuted in the Ziegfeld Follies, where he would
appear for years. For some time Cantor co-starred
in an act with pioneer African-American comedian
Bert Williams, both appearing in blackface; Cantor
played William's son. 

Cantor started making phonograph records 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, then
returned to Victor for the remainder of the
decade. 

He starred in the Broadway musicals Kid Boots in
1923, Whoopee! in 1928, and Banjo Eyes in 1940. 

Cantor was one of the era's most successful
entertainers, but the 1929 Stock market crash
suddenly took him from multi-millionaire status to
being broke and deeply in debt. Cantor soon
bounced back thanks to Hollywood film|movies and
the radio. Cantor had appeared in a number of
short films in the 1920s, but became a feature
star in 1930 with the film Whoopee!. He continued
making feature films through 1948, the most
notable including Roman Scandals (1933), Ali Baba
Goes to Town (1937), and If You Knew Susie (1948).

In the 1930s he also began hosting his own radio
show, and by 1936 Cantor was the world's highest
paid radio star. His radio shows began with a
crowd chanting "We want Cantor - We want Cantor",
said to have originated when a vaudeville audience
used that chant to chase off an opening act who
was on a bill before Cantor. Cantor's theme song
was the 1903 pop tune "Ida, Sweet as Apple Cider",
dedicated to Eddie's wife Ida.

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. 

He was a founder of the March of Dimes, and did
much to publicize the battle against polio. 
Cantor also served as first president of the
Screen Actors Guild.

Cantor's career declined somewhat in the late
1930s due to his public denunciations of Adolf
Hitler and Fascism. Wishing to distance themselves
from any political controversy, many sponsors
dropped Cantor's shows.  However Cantor's career
bounced back with the United States entry into
World War II. 

In the 1940s his NBC national radio show was Time
To Smile.

In the 1950s he hosted the television show The
Colgate Comedy Hour. However, the show landed him
in unlikely controversy. When a young Sammy Davis
Jr. was the guest performer on one of the shows,
Cantor handed Davis his handkerchief after
performing. This caused outrage among Southern
censors, and they banned the program from their
stations. Cantor left the show soon after, due to
his strong beliefs in the kindly gesture.

Cantor wrote eight books, including Caught Short
(about the Crash of 1929) and his autobiography,
My Life is in Your Hands.

He was awarded an honorary Academy Award in 1964.

Eddie Cantor died of a myocardial infarction|heart
attack in Beverly Hills, California, and was
buried in Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery.

==Filmography==
*Widow at the Races (1911) 
*A Few Moments with Eddie Cantor (1924) (short
subject)
*Kid Boots (1926)
*Special Delivery (1927 film)|Special Delivery
(1927)
*A Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic (1929) (short subject)
*Glorifying the American Girl (1929)
*That Party in Person (1929) (short subject)
*Insurance (1930 film)|Insurance (1930) (short
subject)
*Getting a Ticket (1930) (short subject)
*Whoopee! (1930)
*Palmy Days (1931)
*Talking Screen Snapshots (1932) (short subject)
*The Kid from Spain (1932) 
*Roman Scandals (1933)
*The Hollywood Gad-About (1934) (short subject)
*Kid Millions (1934)
*Strike Me Pink (1936)
*Ali Baba Goes to Town (1937)
*The March of Time Volume IV, Issue 5 (1937)
(short subject)
*Forty Little Mothers (1940)
*Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943)
*Show Business (1944) (also producer)
*Hollywood Canteen (1944)
*Screen Snapshots: Radio Shows (1945) (short
subject)
*American Creed (1946) (short subject)
*Meet Mr. Mischief (1947) (short subject) (appears
on poster)
*If You Knew Susie (1948)
*Screen Snapshots: Hollywood's Happy Homes (1949)
(short subject)
*The Story of Will Rogers (1952)
*Screen Snapshots: Memorial to Al Jolson (1952)
(short subject)
*The Eddie Cantor Story (1953) (Cameo)