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Biography of Eddie CantorName: Eddie CantorBirth Date: January 31, 1892 Death Date: October 10, 1964 Place of Birth: New York, New York, United States Nationality: American Gender: Male Occupations: singer, comedian, radio host, actor Eddie Cantor Eddie Cantor (1892-1964) was a singer and comedian in vaudeville and on stage and a radio and film star.Eddie Cantor was born Isador Iskowitz on January 31, 1892, in the Lower East Side of New York City. His parents died before he reached the age of two, and he was raised by his maternal grandmother, Esther. Due to his poverty, Cantor was forced to drop out of school before he reached the sixth grade. He took on a variety of odd jobs--delivery boy, shooting gallery attendant, and, finally, performing in the streets for small change. At the age of 16 Cantor was in an amateur singing contest in which he won .00. He subsequently became a singing waiter in a saloon in Coney Island in which Jimmy Durante played the piano.Cantor's first vaudeville appearance was in 1907 at the Old Clinton Music Hall in which he played with the juggling team Bedini and …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…favorites were a summer camp for poor children, the March of Dimes (which he helped to create), and various Jewish causes. In 1962 the State of Israel gave him the Medallion of Valor for his extraordinary efforts on behalf of that nation.He was a devoted family man who married his childhood sweetheart, Ida Tobias. They had five daughters. Cantor died October 10, 1964, at the age of 72. Associated Works Ziegfeld Follies (Show) Further Reading Biographies of Eddie Cantor can be found in Daniel Blum's Great Stars (1952); Anthony Slide's The Vaudevillians (1981); and John Parker, editor, Who's Who in the Theatre, 9th edition, (1939).The World of Flo Ziegfeld (1974) by Randolph Carter and On with the Show (1976) by R. C. Toll shed light on Cantor's career with Ziegfeld. The Palace (1969) by Marian Spitzer gives a description of his return to vaudeville in 1931.Koseluk, Gregory, Eddie Cantor: a life in show business, Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1995. |