Lecture 23.doc

Lecture 23 CREATEDATE 4/22/09 9:53 AM Eddie Cantor Minstrel show with the setting in the classroom Not done in black face Integrated, but not regularly Picked up by Ziegfeld In Ziegfeld Follies Actor?s Equity was trying to get power Actor?s Union Skeptical because the producers could drop them and they?d be out of a job He was one of the only one who came out and led the strike and made it very powerful Big rival of Al Jolson Cantor mirrored Jolson in a lot of ways Blackface Very active performer, maybe more hyper than Jolson Sings the same kinds of songs Upbeat, pop songs Biggest difference on stage was that Cantor played the nerd and Jolson was always the guy people took their problems too Woody Allen is Eddie Cantor today Had enormous eyes Used them in such a way that they looked bigger Eddie ?Banjo Eyes? Cantor Working with Ziegfeld led to a series of book shows Big success was a show called ?Whoopee? Sang a song called ?Making Whoopee? 1928 Jolson goes to Hollywood to make ?The Jazz Singer? now is the biggest star in Hollywood making equivalent to $4 million dollars of today?s money invested it all in the stock market, 1929 rolls around and he has nothing and is in major debt gets on the radio ? slowly but surely earns his money back infantile paralysis huge percentage of kids between 8-13 were afflicted with this disease ? now known as polio talked about it on the radio and told all his listeners to send him a dime March of Dimes ? still around today ?Yes Sir, That?s my Baby? ?Margie? one about WWI ?Dinah? very successful in radio entertained the troops and was very popular made a movie about his life ? not as popular or as good as the Jolson Story went on TV ? one of the few shows that could challenge Bonanza doesn?t show the Cantor persona except in one film died of a heart attack ? had a heart condition that slowed his pace down but never eliminated it discovered Eddie Fischer and Dinah Shore Maurice Chevalier Only voice you?ll hear with an accent Becoming a star in France when WWI broke out Learned to speak English because he was with English soldiers Made a few pictures in France and then was urged to come to USA in 1929 Strong accent and not very good looking Doesn?t really have a good singing voice but he was French and the women loved his accent Sometimes you couldn?t exactly understand what he was saying but you knew it was kind of naughty Part of his charm At the height of his popularity in USA when the French were getting taken over by the Nazis ? he returned to France Performances were limited Became popular in his country 1950s ? was an aging man cast in a motion picture as an aging man and brought his career totally back to life ?Gigi? filmed totally separate, never together lived until 1972 Jimmy Durante Proof that a ?homely? guy can sing a love song and make it believable Wonderful performer Has a physical liability ? has a huge nose ? his tagline The great Shnozola Magnificent jazz pianist Considered at one point in his career a great rag time pianist Decided he could make more money singing