James Francis Durante ( də-RAN-tee, Italian: [duˈrante]; February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980) was an American comedian, actor, singer, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced songs, and prominent nose helped make him one of the United States' most familiar and popular personalities of the 1920s through the 1970s. He often referred to his nose as the schnozzola (Italianization of the American Yiddish slang word schnoz, meaning "big nose"), and the word became his nickname.
James Francis Durante was born on February 10, 1893, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. He was the youngest of four children born to Rosa (née Lentino) and Bartolomeo Durante, both immigrants from Salerno, Campania, in Italy. Bartolomeo was a barber. Durante served as an altar boy at St. Malachy Church in Manhattan, located in the Theatre District.
Durante dropped out of school in seventh grade to become a full-time ragtime pianist. He played in piano bars under the name "Ragtime Jimmy". He later joined the Original New Orleans Jazz Band, one of the first jazz bands in New York City. Durante was the only band member who did not come from New Orleans, Louisiana. During their performances, he would break into a song to deliver a joke, with band or orchestra chord punctuation after each line. This musical treatment became a Durante trademark. In 1920, the group renamed itself as Jimmy Durante's Jazz Band.
By the mid-1920s, Durante had become a vaudeville star and radio personality, playing with Lou Clayton and Eddie Jackson. They called themselves Clayton, Jackson, and Durante. When the trio played the Palace Theater on Broadway in June 1928, Betty Felsen's production of Ballet Caprice headlined the bill. Clayton and Jackson remained Durante's close friends for life, frequently reuniting with him in performances in later years.
Jackson and Durante appeared in the Cole Porter musical The New Yorkers, which opened on Broadway on December 8, 1930. The two men played the sidekicks to a bootlegger and nightclub owner. Earlier in 1930, the two appeared in the film Roadhouse Nights, ostensibly based on Dashiell Hammett's novel Red Harvest.
By 1934, Durante had recorded a hit record with his novelty composition, "Inka Dinka Doo", with lyrics by Ben Ryan. It became his theme song for the rest of his life. A year later, Durante starred on Broadway in the Billy Rose stage musical Jumbo. At the end of each performance, Durante lay on the stage while a live elephant placed its foot on his head. Durante also appeared on Broadway in the musicals Show Girl (1929), Strike Me Pink (1934), and Red, Hot and Blue (1936).
During the early 1930s, Durante alternated between Hollywood films and Broadway shows. One of his first films was The Phantom President (1932), a Paramount production starring George M. Cohan. Durante played "Curly Cooney", a gregarious sidekick to Cohan.
Durante then replaced Cliff Edwards as the comic foil in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and Buster Keaton comedies: Speak Easily (1932), The Passionate Plumber (1932), and What! No Beer? (1933). Although Durante's style of fast-talking comedy did not always mesh smoothly with Keaton's mimed visuals, the series proved successful. However, MGM ended the series after firing Keaton due to personal problems.
MGM then gave Durante lead roles in moderately budgeted comedies. In Meet the Baron, (1933), Durante plays "Joe McGoo", one of two bunglers rescued from a forest in Africa by Baron Munchausen. A second film was Hollywood Party (1934). Durante plays a Tarzan-like character searching for new lions for his act. Comedians Laurel and Hardy, as well as The Three Stooges, appear in the film. MGM released Durante from contract in 1934.
Durante went to England to work in a Richard Tauber film musical, Land Without Music (released in the United States as Forbidden Music). After returning to Hollywood, he was unable to find any movie roles. In 1937, Columbia Pictures finally offered him a role in its college musical Start Cheering. Durante played a comic sidekick in a story about a movie star going back to College. Durante received excellent critical notices, re-establishing him in films. From then on, he mainly appeared in strong supporting roles.
Durante played "Cornelius J. Courtney", a sidekick to Gene Autry, in the musical Western Melody Ranch (1940). He appeared in the comedy The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942), playing "Banjo", a character based on the comedian Harpo Marx. He appeared in the lavish musical comedy Ziegfeld Follies (1945), the musical (1950 film) the Milkman Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962), and the Cinerama comedy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963).
On September 10, 1933, Durante appeared on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) radio show, The Chase and Sanborn Hour, hosted by comedian Eddie Cantor through November 12th of that year. When Cantor left the show, Durante took over as host from April 22nd to September 30, 1934. He then moved on to The Jumbo Fire Chief Program on NBC (1935–1936).
Durante teamed with comedian Garry Moore for the Durante-Moore Show on NBC in March 1943. The show moved to the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) in October 1943. Durante's comic chemistry with the young, brush-cut Moore brought Durante an even larger audience. Durante's line "Dat's my boy dat said dat!" became an instant catchphrase, later inspiring the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy.
Durante and Moore were one of the top radio acts of the 1940s. In February 1945, during World War II, Durante starred with singer Dinah Shore on an episode of Command Performance, broadcast on the Armed Forces Radio Network to the American armed forces around the world.
Moore left the Durante-Moore Show in mid-1947; it continued as The Jimmy Durante Show for three more years. It featured a reunion of Clayton, Jackson, and Durante on his April 21, 1948, broadcast.
Durante first appeared on television in 1944. He made a surprise appearance that year on John Reed King's local audience participation show on WCBW (now WCBS-TV) in New York City. His brief, unannounced, appearance on The Missus Goes a-Shopping segment apparently surprised most of the staff, as well as the audience. Arrangements were made in the late afternoon for him to pop into camera range, which he did with the reported agility of a television veteran. Billboard Magazine reviewed the appearance: "Without script, rehearsal, or make-up, he went on and gave a top performance, proving that a star of Durante's caliber shines in any entertainment medium. Aware of camera angle importance, Schnozzle played his profile for all its irregularity. His ad libbing was fast and funny; his singing and playing, abetted by stooge Eddie Jackson, terrif".From 1950 to 1951, Durante was the host once a month on the NBC's comedy-variety series Four Star Revue. Durante continued with the show until 1954. He then hosted a half-hour variety show, The Jimmy Durante Show, on NBC from October 2, 1954, to June 23, 1956.
Beginning in the early 1950s, Durante teamed with the singer Sonny King, a collaboration that continued until Durante's death. Several times in the 1960s, Durante served as host of the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) variety hour The Hollywood Palace, which was taped live (and consequently included ad-libs by the seasoned vaudevillian). Durante's final regular television series paired him with the Lennon Sisters and was titled Jimmy Durante Presents the Lennon Sisters. The series lasted for one season on ABC (1969–1970).
Durante's first wife was Jean "Jeanne" Olson, whom he married on June 19, 1921. She was born in Ohio on August 31, 1896. She was 46 years old when she died on February 14, 1943, after a lingering heart ailment of about two years, although different newspaper accounts of her death suggest she was 45 or perhaps 52. As her death was sudden, Durante was touring in New York at the time. He immediately returned to Los Angeles to complete the funeral arrangements.