JIMMY DURANTE

February 10, 1893

James Francis Durante was born on the Lower East Side of New York City. He was the youngest of four children. His distinctive gravelly voice, New York accent, and prominent nose helped make him one of America’s most popular personalities from the 1920s through the 1970s. He often referred to his nose as ‘The Schnozzola’ (Yiddish slang meaning big nose), which became his nickname.

Durante dropped out of school in seventh grade to become a ragtime pianist.

His routine of breaking into a song to deliver a joke became a Durante trademark.

By the mid-1920s, Durante had become a vaudeville star and radio personality. 

Durante appeared in the Cole Porter musical The New Yorkers, which opened on December 8, 1930. 

Earlier in 1930, he made his screen debut (above center) in Roadhouse Nights.

Five years later, in 1935, Lucille Ball played a nurse in his Columbia film Carnival. Ball was uncredited. 

On October 29, 1947, Lucille Ball appeared on “The Jimmy Durante Show” on radio. Their comic banter concerned making movies. 

On April 28, 1948, Lucille Ball, then starring in Sorrowful Jones and preparing to do “My Favorite Husband”, appeared once again on Jimmy Durante’s radio show. Lucy tries to convince Jimmy that if he wants to be elected President of the US in 1948, he should champion women in industry.

Durante made his television debut on November 1, 1950 as the host of “4-Star Revue” (aka “All-Star Revue”). 

In October 1952, Lucille Ball and Jimmy Durante were on the cover TV Digest.  

In “Hollywood at Last!” (ILL S4;E16), Durante’s caricature on the wall at the Brown Derby restaurant takes up two frames – one for his nose. Durante himself was not in the episode but Lucy and Ethel mention his name. 

Nor is he actually featured in “Lucy Meets Harpo Marx” (ILL S4;E28), in which Lucy Ricardo dons a novelty store mask and trench coat to impersonate Durante for a nearsighted Carolyn Appleby.

In December 1965, Lucille Ball appeared with Durante (as well as Jerry Lewis and Danny Thomas) on “The Wonderful World of Burlesque”.

Durante finally appeared on a Lucille Ball sitcom in “Lucy Goes to a Hollywood Premiere” (TLS S4;E20) on February 7, 1966. Durante has a wordless cameo as himself, attending a Hollywood premiere with his real-life wife, Margie Little.

In a December 1967 episode of “The Lucy Show” air hostesses Lucy and Carol imitate Jimmy Durante as they sing “Start Out Each Day with a Song” which was written by Durante in 1944.

In May 1969, Desi Arnaz sang a duet with Durante on “The Lennon Sisters Hour”. Durante calls Desi’s conga drum a “Cuban waste basket”!  Lucille Ball was not part of the show. 

In the TV special “Lucy Gets Lucky” (1975) Lucy Collins is strolling through the Hall of Fame at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas.

Lucy does a ‘ha-cha-cha-cha’ in front of a photo of Jimmy Durante. She also pauses at photographs of Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, and (yes) even Lucille Ball. 

Other programs that featured both Ball and Durante include: 

• “A Tribute To Eleanor Roosevelt on Her Diamond Anniversary” ~ October 11, 1959
• “The Ed Sullivan Show” ~ February 12, 1961
• “The 14th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards” ~ May 22, 1962
• Candid Hollywood ~ 1962
• “The 23rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards” ~ April 22, 1971

Durante’s first wife Jeanne died in 1943. He and his second wife Margie adopted a baby girl, Cecelia Alicia (aka CeCe) on Christmas day 1961.

Jimmy Durante died on January 29, 1980 at age 86. 

“Goodnight, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are.” ~ Jimmy Durante