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buy your 50 mp3 old time radio shows, 5.00 includes shipping go to http://www.radioamerica.biz Big-nosed and boisterous, Durante was a vaudeville favorite who remained a hit in the early days of radio and TV. Originally a saloon piano player, he combined his ragged musical talents with a rumpled charm and endless jokes about his nose, a mighty instrument which earned him the nickname Schnozzola or just the Schnoz. The 1935 stage musical Jumbo paired Durante with an elephant and boosted his career; he was a popular guest on the radio shows of stars like Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, and eventually hosted his own shows as well. Durante’s dese-and-dose New York accent was much parodied by impressionists of the day. He had a musical hit with the novelty tune Inka Dinka Doo and his famous sign-off phrase was Goodnight, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are.

Archibald Alec Leach was born in Horfield, Bristol, England in 1904. He attended Bishop Road Primary School. An only child, he had a confused and unhappy childhood. His mother Elsie (who had apparently never overcome her depression after the death of a previous child in infancy), was placed by his father in a mental institution when Archie was ten. His father (who had a son with another woman) told him that she had gone away on a “long holiday”, and it was only in his thirties that he found out she was still alive, and institutionalized.
After being expelled from Fairfield Grammar School in Bristol in 1918, he joined the “Bob Pender stage troupe and travelled with the group to the United States in 1920 for a two-year tour. When the troupe returned to England, he decided to stay in the U.S. and continue his stage career. Still as Archie Leach, he performed on the stage at The Muny in St. Louis, Missouri, in such shows as Irene (1931); Music in May (1931); Nina Rosa (1931); Rio Rita (1931); Street Singer (1931); The Three Musketeers (1931); and Wonderful Night (1931).
Over time, he created a unique accent and persona that mixed working and upper class accents, while supporting himself as a hawker and a male escort for socialites.

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buy your 50 mp3 old time radio shows, 5.00 includes shipping go to http://www.radioamerica.biz
Big-nosed and boisterous, Durante was a vaudeville favorite who remained a hit in the early days of radio and TV. Originally a saloon piano player, he combined his ragged musical talents with a rumpled charm and endless jokes about his nose, a mighty instrument which earned him the nickname Schnozzola or just the Schnoz. The 1935 stage musical Jumbo paired Durante with an elephant and boosted his career; he was a popular guest on the radio shows of stars like Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, and eventually hosted his own shows as well. Durante’s dese-and-dose New York accent was much parodied by impressionists of the day. He had a musical hit with the novelty tune Inka Dinka Doo and his famous sign-off phrase was Goodnight, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are.

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