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Jimmy Durante: New York
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James Francis "Jimmy" Durante was an American entertainer, one of the most popular and recognized personalities of the 1920s-1960s. Durante was a pianist, actor, comedian, as well as a singer with a distinctive hoarse voice with a strong working class New York City accent. He was noted for his large nose which he frequently made jokes about, which earned him the nickname Schnozzola.
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One of Vegas' all time favorites, Jimmy Durante could do anything. The singer/dancer/comedian known as the great "Schnozzola", began his career as a piano player at parties on the Lower East Side of New York. From vaudville to radio, TV and movies Jimmy's talent and personality brought him fans from around the world.
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Often known as "The Schnozzola" because of his prominent, bulbous nose, Jimmy Durante started his career playing the piano and singing in New York City nightclubs. He moved to Broadway, appearing in the Ziegfeld production of "Show Girl" in 1919, and then went to Hollywood, making his film debut in "Roadhouse Nights" (1930).
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Jimmy Durante stars as a boxing manager and fast-talking hustler in this film version of the popular Ham Fisher comic strip. When Knobby Walsh comes accross simple farmboy Joe Palooka, the son of retired boxing champ Pete Palooka, he decides to take him to New York and make him as famous as his father. The fact that Joe doesn't seem to possess his father's natural ability in the ring doesn't stop him from beating champ Al McSwatt by sheer luck. With the money rolling in, Knobby arranges a series of crooked fights for Palooka, who is beginning to let the trappings of success get the best of him. After an overconfident Palooka accepts a rematch against McSwatt, he finds that his bright career may come to an abrupt end. The first in a series of films inspired by the long running comic strip, Palooka features James Cagney's younger brother William as Al McSwatt, and a performance by Durante of his signature song "Inka Dinka Doo."
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Jimmy Durante was a lot more than a celebrity who ... played a little jazz. He was one of the FIRST JAZZ RECORDING ARTISTS and like many others of that era, first became a celebrity as a jazz musician. Below is an excerpt from one of his bios. Cheers, Steve Barbone "Before Jimmy Durante became one of the most famous and lovable entertainers of the Twentieth Century, he was a hot piano player and bandleader. Durante was greatly influenced by Scott Joplin and had his first success in show business as a Ragtime piano player starting around 1911. He was billed as "Ragtime Jimmy" and played in New York City and Coney Island." "Durante was part of the same wild crowd of early White jazz musicians as the Original Dixieland Jazz Band and Johnny Stein.
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Jimmy Durante, nicknamed Schnozzola for his large nose, dies on this day in 1980 in Santa Monica, California, at the age of 97. Durante was born in 1893 and started playing ragtime piano in New York nightclubs at age 16. He became a vaudeville success and appeared on Broadway in 1929. MGM signed him in 1930. His movies, which include The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942) and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) were hugely popular, as were his radio and TV shows, were hugely popular, and he performed in Las Vegas clubs well into his 80s.
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