FORGOTTEN ONES: EDDIE CANTOR

Eddie Cantor, born Isidore Itzkowitz in 1892, was one of the most influential entertainers of the early 20th century. Known for his expressive "Banjo Eyes," comedic timing, and musical hits like Makin’ Whoopee and If You Knew Susie, Cantor was a household name across vaudeville, Broadway, radio, and early television. Yet behind the cheerful persona and philanthropic efforts lay a more complex and sometimes controversial figure whose legacy is not without shadows.

Cantor was at the center of what is considered one of television’s earliest acts of censorship. In 1944, during a live broadcast, NBC abruptly cut the audio and shifted the camera away as Cantor performed a song with suggestive lyrics and a comedic dance. The network deemed the material potentially offensive, sparking a public dispute. Cantor, furious at the last-minute censorship, accused NBC of acting like “little Hitlers,” highlighting the tension between creative freedom and broadcast standards in the early days of television. 

This wasn’t the first time Cantor faced censorship. NBC admitted it had previously silenced him, though details remain vague. Cantor’s frustration reflected a broader struggle entertainers faced in balancing humor, innuendo, and public decency during a rapidly evolving media landscape.

Like many performers of his era, Cantor used blackface in his early vaudeville routines—a practice now widely condemned for its racist caricatures and dehumanizing portrayals. His character “Jefferson,” created in 1912, was part of a tradition that perpetuated harmful stereotypes. While Cantor later advocated for racial equality and supported Black performers like Sammy Davis Jr., his early career remains a troubling reminder of the entertainment industry’s complicity in systemic racism. 

Cantor was unusually outspoken for a celebrity of his time, especially regarding his Jewish identity and opposition to Nazism. In the late 1930s, he used his radio platform to denounce fascism and support Jewish refugees. This activism came at a cost—his sponsor canceled his show in 1939, a move widely interpreted as retaliation for his political stance. Cantor’s willingness to speak out, even when it jeopardized his career, marked him as a courageous but polarizing figure. 

Despite his success, Cantor wrestled with the limitations of his public persona. Typecast as a naive, effeminate character in films well into his forties, he sought to reshape his image as a serious and intelligent figure. His efforts to support Jewish causes and redefine his legacy often clashed with the comedic roles that had made him famous. 

Cantor’s immense popularity faded rapidly after his death in 1964. Though he was once one of the most bankable stars in Hollywood, today he is largely forgotten—a phenomenon some scholars attribute to his hybrid identity as both singer and comedian, which defied easy categorization. His contributions to entertainment and activism are undeniable, but his legacy remains complicated by the cultural norms of his time and the contradictions within his career...

FORGOTTEN ONES: GEORGIE PRICE

Classic Hollywood and entertainment is full of talent that never quite made it. One such entertainer was Georgie Price. Price was an American vaudeville singer and comic who performed in Vitaphone shorts in the 1920s and 1930s. Born in 1901, Price began as a child performer in public places such as barrooms and streetcars, before winning amateur competitions. At six years old, he so impressed opera singer Enrico Caruso that he performed with Caruso in a benefit concert for a deceased police officers family. It was Price, as a vaudeville child star, who in 1909 introduced the famous Edwards-Madden song "By the Light of the Silvery Moon" in Gus Edwards' revue School Boys and Girls. As a boy performer he also appeared on Broadway with girl actor Lila Lee, later a well-known film actress. As an adult professional he drew comparisons to Al Jolson and Eddie Cantor. As a recording artist, he had hit songs with "Morning Will Come" (1923), "Barney Google" (1923), "California, Here I Come" (1924) and "Isn't She the Sweetest Thing?" (1925), all for Victor Records.

When he graduated to long pants he was famously hired by the Shuberts as a replacement for Jolson, and then stiffed by them when Jolson returned to the fold (although Price managed to serve out the balance of his contract). He starred in big time vaudeville, becoming a staple of the Palace throughout the 20s and early 30s. A bitter dispute with Shubert theatre magnate, Jacob J. Shubert, caused Price to be blacklisted by other theater and movie producers. Shubert had originally hired Price with the promise to turn him into a major headliner, but then reneged and in turn refused to fulfill the financial obligations on Price's contract.

In 1934 Georgie left show business in 1934 to become a stock broker. He always kept a hand in, though, serving as president of AGVA (the American Guild of Variety Artists), and making the occasional appearance at benefits and on television.

The late Ron Hutchinson of the Vitaphone Project had the good fortune to meet Price’s daughter and has been generous enough to share his account:

“I became interested in [Price] after hearing the soundtrack to his 1929 Vitaphone short Don't Get Nervous. It is set in the actual Brooklyn studios and has Georgie arriving there to make a short. He is very nervous and tells the director, Bryan Foy (of the Seven Little Foys) that he needs a real audience in order to perform. Foy obliges, and Georgie sings several songs in a rich voice that reminds you of a combination of Jolson and Cantor. In the early 1990’s we were able to get the short restored and seen again by audiences.

I tracked down Georgie’s daughter, Penny Price, in New Hope, PA and was able to let her see this short as well as several others Georgie made in the thirties. She was thrilled, and shared many stories of her father. Penny has long performed on the stage in musical comedy, and her brother Peter made several films in the fifties, including The Great Caruso.

His daughter told me a great story about Georgie’s friend Bert Wheeler. After Georgie died in 1964, Bert came by to offer Penny his condolences. Bert was going through financially lean times. As he turned to leave, Bert asked if he might have one of Georgie’s suits, as they were the same size. Then he asked for his shoes. Penny said that by the time Bert left, he even took Georgie’s underwear!”

Georgie Price, a footnote in the history of musical theater, died in New York City on May 10, 1964 of a heart attack. His daughter Penny died in 2016 at the age of 82...

FORGOTTEN ONES: EVELYN NESBIT

One of the real life people that was portrayed in the musical Ragtime was vaudeville star Evelyn Nesbit. Not many people at all remember her and what she brought to the Ragtime era. Known as "the Girl in the Red Velvet Swing", her husband, Harry Kendall Thaw, killed her lover, noted New York Architect Stanford White, and the story was made into a movie, The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing (1955), with actress Joan Collins playing her role.

Her life was considered typical of the excesses of the Gilded Age before World War I. Born Florence Evelyn Nesbit, in Tarentum, Pennsylvania, she was the daughter and oldest child of a moderately wealthy and influential lawyer, Winfield Scott Nesbit. When her father died in 1893, leaving large debts, the family suddenly became destitute, and for years, the family lived in poverty. In 1900, when Evelyn turned 16, her copper colored hair and adolescent beauty became noticed by local artists, and she earned money for the family by posing as a model, soon becoming the family's sole breadwinner. To earn more money, in 1901 the family moved to New York City, where she would pose for noted artists of the time, including painters Charles Dana Gibson and Frederick Church, and photographer Rudolf Eickemeyer.

Gibson supposedly used her to illustrate his famous Gibson Girl paintings. That same year, she caught the attention of acclaimed architect Stanford White, who although married, was a notorious womanizer who had numerous affairs. In 1901, White was America's leading architect, considered the principle designer and arbiter of what was taste in architecture. He had founded several elite clubs, made large donations to charity and promoted several New York civic institutions.

White also had a dark side, specializing in sex with young teenaged girls, and despite his sexual appetite, he would also take care of them financially while he was courting them. In his private penthouse apartment at Madison Square Gardens which he had furnished with wall and ceiling mirrors, and a red velvet swing for his young girls to ride in, he would seduce the young girls. He supposedly took Evelyn's virginity and had a short affair with her, before moving on to other lovers. A few months later, when she became pregnant by young actor John Barrymore, White arranged for her to be sent away to a New Jersey boarding school, where she had an abortion disguised as an operation for appendicitis. Returning to New York City, Evelyn became lovers with Harry Thaw, lazy and wealthy son of a coal and railroad baron. Thaw was spoiled, living off his parents largesse at the tune of $80,000 a year, had a hot temper, and was considered a sexual sadist among the showgirls he courted; despite these less than desirable qualities, she eventually married him on April 4, 1905, at the age of 20. They would have one child, a son, Russell William Thaw (1910-1984). Harry Thaw was extremely jealous of her previous lovers, and when they ran into Stanford White twice on the evening of June 25, 1906, once at a dinner restaurant and later at the performance of the play "Mam'zelle Champagne" at the Madison Square Garden Theater, Thaw suddenly produced a pistol and shot White three times in the face, killing him instantly, while shouting "You'll never see that woman again."

Thaw was tried twice for murder, the first trial was deadlocked, and the second trial found him guilty of temporary insanity after Evelyn testified that White had raped her (while White had seduced her, there is some question about whether it was rape; different stories exist). Thaw spent several years in the Mattawan State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, and in 1915 was declared legally sane and released. Following his release, Thaw divorced Nesbit, and she returned to vaudeville to earn a living, later becoming a silent film actress and dancer. In 1916, she briefly married her dancing partner, Jack Clifford, who abandoned her two years later, and she spent much of the remainder of her life living quietly with her son in Northfield, NJ. She would struggle with alcoholism, drug addiction, and move around a lot, struggling to make ends meet. Occasionally, her ex-husband Thaw would help her with some money, but never for very long. When Thaw died in 1947, he remembered Evelyn with $10,000 in his will (his estate was worth over $1 million). In her later years, she would teach ceramics to earn money, and died at the age of 82 in a nursing home in Santa Monica, California..

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FORGOTTEN ONES: BUDDY DOYLE

The entertainment world is full of forgotten artists, talented people who just never quite made it. One name that will not be remembered by anyone is the name of Buddy Doyle. Doyle was born on April 20, 1894 in Brooklyn, New York. Born Benjamin Taubenhaus) to Russian immigrants, he began acting in high school in minstrel shows in Brooklyn, New York. After he was discovered by comedian and vaudeville actor Lew Dockstader, his career as an impersonator, comedian, and singer landed him lead roles in all the major vaudeville circuits.

He had to quit vaudeville to fight during World War I, but returned after the war had ended. On Broadway he performed in the original 1923 revue Artists and Models. His film credits include At a Talkie Show (1929) and The Great Ziegfeld (1936), which he understudied for before playing Eddie Cantor. He also performed in several editions of The Ziegfeld Follies and was a replacement actor for Henry Williams in the 1928 Broadway production of Whoopee. Buddy was not only a performer but a song writer as well. He wrote a song with Gene Austin entitled All That You Left Me Were Two Empty Arms in 1926.

In 1927, Doyle married the beautiful Peggy Hoover. Peggy Hoover was an American dancer and actress for vaudeville, Broadway, and regional theater. She began dancing as a child in Denver, Colorado under Gladys Moore. During her freshman year of high school she was picked up by vaudevillian Gus Edwards to perform in his fifteenth annual revue at the Orpheum Theatre in Denver. Hoover would continue to perform with Edwards for several years in shows across the United States and in London. She also appeared in Bobby Sanford's well-received Showboat Revue and performed in multiple editions of Earl Carroll's Vanities. She made her Broadway debut in Hello, Yourself in 1928.

Buddy died suddenly during an appendix operation on November 9, 1939 in New York City, New York. He was only 45. Peggy Hoover later remarried and continued her career in radio and melodrama under the name Peggy Bloodgood. It's sad because as forgotten as Eddie Cantor is today - Buddy Doyle is forgotten even more...

 

THE FADED MEMORY OF EDDIE CANTOR

I wish I had written this article - I think it is far too good, and it really sums up the sad thing that has happened to Eddie Cantor's memory...

THE DEATH OF EDDIE CANTOR
by Michael Sean Morris

Prior to his death, Eddie Cantor was one of the biggest stars in the world. Time, though, has not been kind to his memory, and in the years since then his contemporaries - George Burns, Bob Hope, Jack Benny - saw their careers flourish while Cantor's legacy has languished.

Cantor's career began as a singing waiter at Coney Island, where his accompanist was his fellow future legend Jimmy Durante. Cantor made the transition to vaudeville as early as 1907, working his way up to headlining for Florenz Ziegfeld by 1916 alongside such stars as Will Rogers and W.C. Fields, at which point he'd already begun appearing in films. Cantor's first radio appearance was in 1931, and he made the transition to television almost the minute it went on the air in the late 1940s.

Although he was financially wiped out by the Stock Market Crash of 1929, the Great Depression also gave Cantor's career (not to mention his bank account) just the boost it needed. His recordings of songs like Cheer Up, Smile, Nertz! were just what the public needed, and his book Caught Short! A Saga of Wailing Wall Street was credited by none other than H. L. Mencken himself for single-handedly taking the depression out of the Depression.

Part of the reason Cantor's popularity has not been sustained, I think, is that he often worked in blackface; even though he frequently worked alongside the black minstrel Bert Williams - unlike, say, Al Jolson - blackface of the malicious variety practiced on Amos 'n' Andy has rightly been out of favour since the 1930s.

Despite his use of blackface, though, Cantor's politics were always in the right place.

When he was hosting The Colgate Comedy Hour in the 1950s he had on a young performer named Sammy Davis, Jr. Cantor was so familiar with Davis during the broadcast - hugging him, wiping Davis' brow with his own handkerchief, and so forth - that NBC protested by threatening to pull their backing from the show. Cantor's response was to book Davis for the rest of the season. He had responded in a similar manner when during the late 1930s he was outspoken in his opposition to Adolf Hitler's Nazis, and many affiliates refused to carry his show.

Late in life, Eddie Cantor suffered from heart troubles, and it was a heart attack that claimed him on this day in 1964; the following year he was awarded an honorary Oscar for his body of work in the movies, charitable work on behalf of the March of Dimes (which he co-founded), and in general his contributions in all areas of show business over most of the previous 60 years...

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FORGOTTEN ONES: GEORGE JESSEL

George Jessel. The name is buring among the ruins of 1920s vaudville, and many people will not even remember what George Jessel was famous for. Jessel, along with Al Jolson and Eddie Cantor, made up a trio of vaudville and broadway stars that not only made up a part of entertainment in those early years, but they were entertainment.

George Jessel, born on April 3, 1898 was an American illustrated song "model," actor, singer, songwriter, and Academy Award-winning movie producer. He was famous in his lifetime as a multitalented comedic entertainer, achieving a level of recognition that transcended his limited roles in movies. He was widely known by his nickname, the "Toastmaster General of the United States" for his frequent role as the master of ceremonies at political and entertainment gatherings.

His most famous comedy skit was called "Hello Mama" or "Phone Call from Mama", which portrayed a one-sided telephone conversation. In 1919 he produced his own solo show, "George Jessel's Troubles" and appeared in his first motion picture, the silent movie The Other Man's Wife. He co-wrote the lyrics for a hit tune, "Oh How I Laugh When I Think How I Cried About You", and performed in several successful comedy stage shows in the early 1920s. In 1921 he recorded a hit single, "The Toastmaster". He sometimes appeared in blackface in his vaudeville shows.

In 1925, he emerged as one of the most popular leading men on Broadway with the starring role in the stage production of The Jazz Singer. The success of the show prompted Warner Bros. -- after their success with Don Juan (1926) with music and sound effects only—to adapt the The Jazz Singer as the first "talkie" with dialogue and to cast Jessel in the lead role. However, when the studio refused his salary demands, Jessel turned down the movie role, which was eventually played by Al Jolson. According to Jessel during an interview around 1980, Warners still owed Jessel money for earlier roles and lacked enough funds to produce this movie with a leading star. Jolson, the biographical inspiration for the movie, became the movie's main financial backer.

His next movie role was in 1926 in Private Izzy Murphy. Whereas Jolson's film career skyrocketed after the 1927 release of The Jazz Singer, Jessel remained in smaller movie roles, often intended for audiences fond of Jewish and other "ethnic" humor.

In the middle 1940s, he began producing musicals for 20th Century Fox, producing 24 films in all in a career that lasted through the 1950s and 1960s. At the same time he became known as a host on the banquet circuit, famous for his good-natured wit aimed at his fellow celebrities. In 1946, he was one of the founding members of the California branch of the Friars Club. (A recording exists of an example of his "blue" work in front of a stag audience, although it was actually recorded at a roast hosted by the Friars' rival, the Masquers Club.) He also traveled widely overseas with the USO entertaining troops. As he grew older, he wrote eulogies for many of his contemporaries in Hollywood. He wrote three volumes of memoirs, So Help Me (1943), This Way, Miss (1955), and The World I Lived In (1975).

In the early 1950s he performed on the radio in The George Jessel Show, which became a television show of the same name from 1953 to 1954.

Jessel was the emcee on the short-lived The Comeback Story, a 1954 reality show on ABC in which mostly celebrities shared stories of having overcome adversities in their personal lives. He was replaced as emcee by Arlene Francis, but the program soon folded.

Thereafter, Jessel guest starred on NBC's The Jimmy Durante Show. In 1968 he starred in Here Come The Stars, a syndicated variety show. Jessel also appeared as himself in Valley of the Dolls in 1968. His attempt to extend his career was undermined, however, by a perception that his style of comedy was outdated, as well as by his outspoken support of the American entry into the Vietnam War and of conservative political causes.

On the other hand, he often crossed the era's stereotypical political lines with his support for the Civil Rights movement and criticism of racism and anti-Semitism.[citation needed] His outspokenness regarding his political opinions could sometimes get him into trouble. In 1971, while being interviewed by Edwin Newman on The Today Show on NBC, he repeatedly referred to The New York Times as "Pravda", the house organ of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union, and was ejected from the show.

Famous in his youth for his affairs with starlets, he also became known for keeping company with a wide assortment of younger show girls, even into his old age. By the late 1960s he had gained a reputation as being overly self-indulgent in reminiscing about former companions who were little known by younger audiences. Walter Winchell once said of him, "That son of a bitch started to reminisce when he was eight years old." In response, Jessel stated that "I have a funeral speech ready for Winchell. I hope it starts in fifteen minutes." He had achieved a somewhat iconic status, representing a Hollywood of yore, such that he extended his career by playing himself, rather than characters, as in the camp movie version of Valley of the Dolls (1968).

His last movie role was in Diary of a Young Comic in 1979. He also appeared as himself as an interviewed witness in the 1981 movie Reds. He entertained American military forces in Europe in 1972.

Jessel died of a heart attack on May 23, 1981 at the age of 83 in Los Angeles and was interred in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California...

SPOTLIGHT ON BUSTER KEATON: THE EARLY YEARS

In the hall of fame of actors, most people would place Cary Grant or Spencer Tracy. Many people, even fans of movies forget that the hardest job for an actor is to get a laugh. One star that deserves to be remembered with the handsome leading men is the great Buster Keaton. Keaton could do what no other comedian before or after has done on film. It is impossible to cover Buster's life and career in one blog entry, so this is the first of three entries. This first post covers his early years. Buster Keaton, with his sad worn out expression, always looked the same, but even Buster was a child at one time.

Keaton was born Joseph Frank Keaton on October 4, 1895 into a vaudeville family. He was named "Joseph" to continue a tradition on his father's side—he was sixth in a line bearing the name Joseph Keaton and "Frank" for his maternal grandfather, who disapproved of the parents' union. Later, Keaton changed his middle name to "Francis". His father was Joseph Hallie "Joe" Keaton, a native of Vigo County, Indiana. Joe Keaton owned a traveling show with Harry Houdini, the Mohawk Indian Medicine Company, which performed on stage and sold patent medicine on the side. Buster Keaton was born in Piqua, Kansas, the small town where his mother, Myra Edith Cutler, happened to go into labor.

According to a frequently-repeated story, which may be apocryphal, Keaton acquired the nickname "Buster" at about eighteen months of age. Keaton told interviewer Fletcher Markle that Harry Houdini happened to be present one day when the young Keaton took a tumble down a long flight of stairs without injury. After the infant sat up and shook off his experience, Houdini remarked, "That was a real buster!" According to Keaton, in those days, the word "buster" was used to refer to a spill or a fall that had the potential to produce injury. After this, it was Keaton's father who began to use the nickname to refer to the youngster. Keaton retold the anecdote over the years, including during a 1964 interview with the CBC's Telescope.

At the age of three, Keaton began performing with his parents in The Three Keatons. He first appeared on stage in 1899 in Wilmington, Delaware. The act was mainly a comedy sketch. Myra played the saxophone to one side, while Joe and Buster performed on center stage. The young Keaton would goad his father by disobeying him, and the elder Keaton would respond by throwing him against the scenery, into the orchestra pit, or even into the audience. A suitcase handle was sewn into Keaton's clothing to aid with the constant tossing. The act evolved as Keaton learned to take trick falls safely; he was rarely injured or bruised on stage. This knockabout style of comedy led to accusations of child abuse, and occasionally, arrest. However, Buster Keaton was always able to show the authorities that he had no bruises or broken bones. He was eventually billed as "The Little Boy Who Can't Be Damaged," with the overall act being advertised as "'The Roughest Act That Was Ever in the History of the Stage." Decades later, Keaton said that he was never hurt by his father and that the falls and physical comedy were a matter of proper technical execution.

Keaton claimed he was having so much fun that he would sometimes begin laughing as his father threw him across the stage. Noticing that this drew fewer laughs from the audience, he adopted his famous deadpan expression whenever he was working.

The act ran up against laws banning child performers in vaudeville. It is said that, when one official saw Keaton in full costume and makeup and asked a stagehand how old he was, the stagehand then pointed to the boy's mother, saying, "I don't know, ask his wife!" According to one biographer, Keaton was made to go to school while performing in New York, but only attended for part of one day.

Despite tangles with the law and a disastrous tour of music halls in the United Kingdom, Keaton was a rising star in the theater. Keaton stated that he learned to read and write late, and was taught by his mother. By the time he was 21, his father's alcoholism threatened the reputation of the family act, so Keaton and his mother, Myra, left for New York, where Buster Keaton's career swiftly moved from vaudeville to film.

Although he did not see active combat, he served in World War I, during which time he suffered an ear infection that permanently impaired his hearing. In 1917, Buster Keaton's life would change forever when he met fellow comedian Fatty Arbuckle...

PART 2:SPOTLIGHT ON BUSTER KEATON: THE SILENT YEARS