EARLY DAYS PRODUCTIONS
Durante was born on the Lower East Side of New York, the youngest of four children born to immigrants from Salerno, Italy. Durante dropped out of school in eighth grade to become a full-time ragtime pianist. He joined one of the first recognizable jazz bands in New York, the Original New Orleans Jazz Band. Durante was the only member not from New Orleans. His routine of breaking into a song to deliver a joke, with band or orchestra chord punctuation after each line, became a Durante trademark. In 1920, the group was renamed Jimmy Durante's Jazz Band.
1893 - 1980
Stats:
Real Name:
James Francis Durante
Height: 5' 7"
Hair: Dark Brown
Eye Color: Dark
Brown
Nicknam: "The Schnozzola"
Quote: "I like to make people laugh. Dey like me. What more could I want?"
Real Name:
James Francis Durante
Height: 5' 7"
Hair: Dark Brown
Eye Color: Dark
Brown
Nicknam: "The Schnozzola"
Quote: "I like to make people laugh. Dey like me. What more could I want?"
Durante became a vaudeville star and radio personality by the mid-1920s, with a trio called Clayton, Jackson and Durante. Lou Clayton and Eddie Jackson, Durante's closest friends, often reunited professionally. By 1934, he had a major record hit with his own novelty composition, Inka Dinka Doo, co-written 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, in which a police officer stopped him while leading a live elephant and asked him, "What are you doing with that elephant?" Durante's reply, "What elephant?", was a regular show-stopper.
He began appearing in motion pictures in a comedy series pairing him with silent film legend Buster Keaton and continuing with The Wet Parade (1932), Broadway to Hollywood (1933), The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942, playing "Banjo", a character based on Harpo Marx), Ziegfeld Follies (1946), Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962, based on the 1935 musical) and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
He teamed with Garry Moore for The Durante-Moore Show in 1943. Durante's comic chemistry with the young, brushcut Moore brought Durante an even larger audience. "Dat's my boy dat said dat!" became an instant catchphrase. The duo became one of the nation's favorites for the rest of the decade, including a well-reviewed Armed Forces Radio Network command performance with Frank Sinatra that remains a favorite of radio collectors today. Moore left in mid-1947, and the program returned October 1, 1947 as The Jimmy Durante Show. Durante worked in radio for three years after Moore's 1947 departure, including a reunion of Clayton, Jackson and Durante on his April 21, 1948 broadcast.
Durante made his television debut on November 1, 1950, though he kept a presence in radio as one of the frequent guests on Tallulah Bankhead's two-year, NBC comedy-variety show, The Big Show. Durante was one of the cast on the show's premiere November 5, 1950. From 1950-51, Durante was one of four alternating hosts on NBC's comedy-variety series, "4 Star Revue." He alternated Wednesdays with Danny Thomas (now a headliner), Jack Carson, and Ed Wynn.
Durante continued his film appearances through It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and television appearances through the early 1970s. He narrated the Rankin-Bass animated perennial Christmas special Frosty the Snowman in 1969. One of his last appearances was in a memorable television commercial for the 1973 Volkswagen Beetle, where he proclaimed that the new, roomier Beetle had "plenty of breathin' room... for da old schnozzola!" Durante retired from performing in 1972 after suffering a stroke that left him confined to a wheelchair. He died of pneumonia in Santa Monica, California, on January 29, 1980 and was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City.
For more information about Jimmy Durante please visit: Wikipedia
Jimmy Durante's Filmography
Roadhouse Nights (1930)
New Adventures of Get Rich Quick Wallingford (1931)
The Cuban Love Song (1931)
Jackie Cooper's Birthday Party (1931)
The Christmas Party (1931)
Hollywood on Parade: Down Memory Lane (1932)
The Wet Parade (1932)
Hollywood on Parade (1932)
Speak Easily (1932)
Blondie of the Follies (1932)
The Phantom President (1932)
Give a Man a Job (1933)
What! No Beer? (1933)
Hollywood on Parade No. 9 (1933)
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)
The Heart of Show Business (1957)
Beau James (1957)
Pepe (1960)
The Last Judgment (1961)
Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962)
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
Frosty the Snowman (1969)
Just One More Time (1974)
New Adventures of Get Rich Quick Wallingford (1931)
The Cuban Love Song (1931)
Jackie Cooper's Birthday Party (1931)
The Christmas Party (1931)
Hollywood on Parade: Down Memory Lane (1932)
The Wet Parade (1932)
Hollywood on Parade (1932)
Speak Easily (1932)
Blondie of the Follies (1932)
The Phantom President (1932)
Give a Man a Job (1933)
What! No Beer? (1933)
Hollywood on Parade No. 9 (1933)
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)
The Heart of Show Business (1957)
Beau James (1957)
Pepe (1960)
The Last Judgment (1961)
Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962)
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
Frosty the Snowman (1969)
Just One More Time (1974)
Early Days Productions: Jimmy Durante 10/08/2011
Full Movie: Palooka (1934)
Knobby discovers young hunk Palooka and trains him to fight the reigning champ, also drunken sot, Al McSwatt. - From the IMDB
