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James Francis "Jimmy" Durante (February 10, 1893 -
January 29, 1980) was an American
entertainer, one of the most popular and
recognized personalities of the 1920s-1960s.
Durante was a pianist, actor, comedian, as well as
a singer with a distinctive hoarse voice with a
strong working class New York City accent. He was
noted for his large nose which he frequently made
jokes about, which earned him the nickname
Schnozzola. 

Jimmy Durante was born New York City. He dropped
out of school in eighth-grade to play ragtime
piano.

In his youth Durante worked as pianist and
entertainer in New York city, nickmaned "Ragtime
Jimmy".  About 1917 he joined one of the first
jazz bands in New York, The Original New Orleans
Jazz Band (all other musicians were from New
Orleans).  Durante's outgoing personality and
ability to "sell" a number to the audience started
attracting greater attention, and by 1920 the band
was renamed Jimmy Durante's Jazz Band.  

In the mid 1920s he became a star on Vaudeville
and radio with his music & comedy trio Clayton
Jackson & Durante (with Lou Clayton and Eddie
Jackson); despite third billing Durante was the
star of the act.

He had big hit in 1934 with his composition Inka
Dinka Do, a novelty number he sang and played
piano on, and which became his signature song.

In 1935 he starred in Billy Rose's spectacle,
Jumbo. In the show, a policeman stops him while
leading a live elephant and asks "What are you
doing with that elephant?" Durante stopped the
show by saying "Elephant? What elephant?" 

He was featured in a series of comedy motion
pictures paired with Buster Keaton in the early
1930's.

Durante had a nationally broadcast Old-time
radio|radio variety show; in the 1950s he had a
television show as well. He continued making
film|movie appearances through 1963 and television
appearances until 1970.

He married Jeanne Olsen on 19 June 1921, who
remained his wife until her death on 14 February
1943. Though it did not become public knowledge
until after his own death, she was the mysterious
"Mrs. Calabash" to whom he always referred with
what became the sign off line to all his radio and
TV shows: "'Goodnight Mrs. Calabash, wherever you
are." Calabash was a private name between them for
Calabasas, California, where she spent the final
years of her life. 

Durante courted his second wife, Marjorie Little,
whom he met as a hatcheck girl at the Copacabana,
for 16 years before they married in 1960, when she
was 39, and he 67. On Christmas day 1961, they
adopted a baby girl, Cecelia Alicia, whom they
nicknamed "CeCe". Cecelia became a
horseback-riding instructor near San Diego,
married a computer designer, and has two sons.

Jimmy Durante died in Santa Monica, California of
pneumonia, and was interred at Holy Cross
Cemetery, Culver City, California|Culver City.

==Filmography==
*Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford (1921)
*Roadhouse Nights (1930)
*The New Adventures of Get-Rich Quick Wallingford
(1931)
*The Cuban Love Song (1931)
*Jackie Cooper's Birthday Party (1931) (short
subject)
*The Christmas Party (1931) (short subject)
*Hollywood on Parade: Down Memory Lane (1932)
(short subject)
*The Wet Parade (1932)
*Hollywood on Parade (1932) (short subject)
*Speak Easily (1932)
*Blondie of the Follies (1932)
*The Phantom President (1932)
*Give a Man a Job (1933) (short subject)
*What! No Beer? (1933)
*Hollywood on Parade No. 9 (1933) (short subject)
*Hell Below (1933)
*Broadway to Hollywood (1933)
*Meet the Baron (1933)
*Palooka (1934)
*George White's Scandals (1934)
*Strictly Dynamite (1934)
*Hollywood Party (1934)
*Student Tour (1934)
*Carnival (1935)
*Land Without Music (1936)
*Start Cheering (1938)
*Sally, Irene and Mary (1938)
*Little Miss Broadway (1938)
*Melody Ranch (1940)
*You're in the Army Now (1941)
*The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942)
*Two Girls and a Sailor (1944)
*Music for Millions (1944)
*Two Sisters from Boston (1946)
*It Happened in Brooklyn (1947)
*This Time for Keeps (1947)
*On an Island with You (1948)
*The Great Rupert (1950)
*The Milkman (1950)
*Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Premiere (1955)
(short subject)
*The Heart of Show Business (1957) (short subject)
*Beau James (1957) (Cameo)
*Pepe (1960) (Cameo)
*The Last Judgment (1961)
*Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962)
*It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963)
*Just One More Time (1974) (short subject)

	Web Quotableonline.com Frasescelebres.org Greatbookscollection.org

James Francis "Jimmy" Durante (February 10, 1893 -
January 29, 1980) was an United States|American
entertainer, one of the most popular and
recognized personalities of the 1920s-1960s.
Durante was a pianist, actor, comedian, as well as
a singer with a distinctive hoarse voice with a
strong working class New York City accent. He was
noted for his large nose which he frequently made
jokes about, which earned him the nickname
Schnozzola. 

Jimmy Durante was born New York City. He dropped
out of school in eighth-grade to play ragtime
piano.

In his youth Durante worked as pianist and
entertainer in New York city, nicknamed "Ragtime
Jimmy".  About 1917 he joined one of the first
jazz bands in New York, The Original New Orleans
Jazz Band (all other musicians were from New
Orleans).  Durante's outgoing personality and
ability to "sell" a number to the audience started
attracting greater attention, and by 1920 the band
was renamed Jimmy Durante's Jazz Band.  

In the mid 1920s he became a star on Vaudeville
and radio with his music & comedy trio Clayton
Jackson & Durante (with Lou Clayton and Eddie
Jackson); despite third billing Durante was the
star of the act.

He had big hit in 1934 with his composition Inka
Dinka Do, a novelty number he sang and played
piano on, and which became his signature song.

In 1935 Durante starred in Billy Rose's stage
spectacle, Jumbo (musical)|Jumbo. In the show, a
policeman stops him while leading a live elephant
and asks "What are you doing with that elephant?"
Durante stopped the show by saying "Elephant? What
elephant?" 

Durante enjoyed a long career in motion pictures,
starting in the early 1930s with a series of
comedies pairing him with Buster Keaton. Among his
more memorable film appearances were The Man Who
Came to Dinner (1942), Ziegfeld Follies (1946),
and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963).

Durante had a nationally broadcast Old-time
radio|radio variety show in the 1940s; in the
1950s he had a television show as well. He
continued making film|movie appearances through
1963 and television appearances until 1970.  In
1963 he found unexpected success as an interpreter
of pop standards with a best-selling album
(music)|album, September Song.

He married Jeanne Olsen on 19 June 1921, who
remained his wife until her death on 14 February
1943. Though it did not become public knowledge
until after his own death, she was the mysterious
"Mrs. Calabash" to whom he always referred with
what became the sign off line to all his radio and
TV shows: "'Goodnight Mrs. Calabash, wherever you
are." Calabash was a private name between them for
Calabasas, California, where she spent the final
years of her life. 

Durante courted his second wife, Marjorie Little,
whom he met as a hatcheck girl at the Copacabana,
for 16 years before they married in 1960, when she
was 39, and he 67. On Christmas day 1961, they
adopted a baby girl, Cecelia Alicia, whom they
nicknamed "CeCe". Cecelia became a
horseback-riding instructor near San Diego,
married a computer designer, and has two sons.

Jimmy Durante died in Santa Monica, California of
pneumonia, and was interred at Holy Cross
Cemetery, Culver City, California|Culver City.

==Filmography==
*Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford (1921)
*Roadhouse Nights (1930)
*The New Adventures of Get-Rich Quick Wallingford
(1931)
*The Cuban Love Song (1931)
*Jackie Cooper's Birthday Party (1931) (short
subject)
*The Christmas Party (1931) (short subject)
*Hollywood on Parade: Down Memory Lane (1932)
(short subject)
*The Wet Parade (1932)
*Hollywood on Parade (1932) (short subject)
*Speak Easily (1932)
*Blondie of the Follies (1932)
*The Phantom President (1932)
*Give a Man a Job (1933) (short subject)
*What! No Beer? (1933)
*Hollywood on Parade No. 9 (1933) (short subject)
*Hell Below (1933)
*Broadway to Hollywood (1933)
*Meet the Baron (1933)
*Palooka (1934)
*George White's Scandals (1934)
*Strictly Dynamite (1934)
*Hollywood Party (1934)
*Student Tour (1934)
*Carnival (1935)
*Land Without Music (1936)
*Start Cheering (1938)
*Sally, Irene and Mary (1938)
*Little Miss Broadway (1938)
*Melody Ranch (1940)
*You're in the Army Now (1941)
*The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942)
*Two Girls and a Sailor (1944)
*Music for Millions (1944)
*Two Sisters from Boston (1946)
*It Happened in Brooklyn (1947)
*This Time for Keeps (1947)
*On an Island with You (1948)
*The Great Rupert (1950)
*The Milkman (1950)
*Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Premiere (1955)
(short subject)
*The Heart of Show Business (1957) (short subject)
*Beau James (1957) (Cameo)
*Pepe (1960) (Cameo)
*The Last Judgment (1961)
*Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962)
*It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963)
*Just One More Time (1974) (short subject)

== External links ==

* http://www.redhotjazz.com/jdurante.html Durante
on RedHotJazz.com
* http://www.imdb.com/Name?Durante,+Jimmy Internet
Movie Database listing
* http://www.bigbandsandbignames.com/durante.html
Review of 1951 performance at the Copacabana 
*
http://www.skypoint.com/members/schutz19/durante.h
tm An alternate theory about Mrs. Calabash