LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Jimmy Durante: Eddie Jackson
built 658 days ago
Legend has it that Durante was a shy man, unwilling to draw attention to himself because of the merciless teasing he had taken as a child about his looks. The majority of this taunting primarily focused itself on the size of his nose, which became even larger after a pack of schoolyard bullies broke it and it mended incorrectly. It was his friend Eddie Cantor who encouraged him to stand up while playing and start throwing insults at his drummer to break up the act. As first he demurred ("I couldn't do that, I'd be afraid people would laugh at me"), but very soon found that the sound of laughter from an audience wasn't such a bad thing after all. The die was cast. The act was certainly getting noticed, but Durante certainly wasn't getting rich from his success.
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Jimmy Durante was a great man. He was completely unselfish, and very grateful to those who helped him. Besides the well known instance of Mrs. Calabash, there is the case of Eddie Jackson himself. Agents urged Durante for years to drop Jackson, and he steadfastly refused to do so. He was loyal to the end. A great man.
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Durante made himself a bigger name with his nationally-broadcast radio variety show in the 1940s. Durante received his first radio job when the creators of Eddie Cantor's popular The Chase and Sanborn Hour (which ... made stars out of Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy) contacted him to fill in for Cantor. He made his first appearance on September 10, 1933. Durante was such a hit he was offered his own show.
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Eddie Jackson