Cantor, Eddie [né Isidore Itzkowitz] (1892–1964), comedian and singer. The slim, jumpy, pop‐eyed performer was born in New York and won an amateur night contest at Miner's Bowery Theatre when he was fourteen. A year later he first performed in professional vaudeville at the Clinton Music Hall, working as a singing waiter when bookings were unavailable. In 1914 he went to England, where he played more vaudeville and made his legitimate debut in
Not Likely. Returning to America he played a blackface chauffeur in the touring
Canary Cottage (1916), catching the eye of Florenz
Ziegfeld who signed him to perform in the
Ziegfeld Follies of 1917. Playing in blackface with an all‐too‐innocent leer, rolling his eyes, and finishing by prancing off waving a handkerchief, he scored a hit with “That's the Kind of Baby for Me.” Further successful appearances followed in the 1918 and 1919 editions of the
Follies (introducing Irving
Berlin's “You'd Be Surprised” in the latter),
Brevities (1920), and
Make It Snappy (1922). In the last revue he introduced his celebrated skit in which he played a mousy tailor whose customer demands a coat with a belt in the back. The “belt” the customer received was not the sort he expected. After a brief stint in the
Follies of 1923, Cantor returned to book musicals with
Kid Boots (1923) and
Whoopee (1928), beginning his successful movie career re‐creating the last on the screen. After many years in Hollywood and on national radio, he made his final Broadway appearance in a musical version of
Three Men on a Horse, called
Banjo Eyes (1941). Among the many songs with which he was associated were “Dinah,” “Makin' Whoopee,” “Ida,” “If You Knew Susie,” and “Margie.” Autobiographies:
My Life Is in Your Hands, 1927;
Take My Life, 1957.
