Jimmy Durante was a famous Italian American jazz singer, comedian and actor, who became one of the most admired entertainers of the Twentieth Century.
Frank Sinatra definitely paved the way for Italians to finally be accepted in the U.S. and to be able to fully assimilate into American culture, though Durante was the first famous paisan to get the ball rolling for our people in this country.
He was born in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan in 1893, to Bartolomeo Durante and Rosa Lentino, both immigrants from the Italian city of Salerno. He began his music career playing piano at some restaurants in Manhattan in 1911. He eventually started playing piano with a band on Coney Island once a week.
In the late 1920s, Durante got roles in plays and became a local star all over NYC. In the early 1930s, he started to get small roles in movies, then his own radio show in 1933. He was also given the opportunity to sign a recording contract in 1934. Later that year, he recorded "Inka Dinka Doo." The song became his signature tune. He often joked about his nose as a comedian, referring to it as the schnozzola, which he got from the Jewish slang word schnoz, meaning a big nose.
Other famous songs by Durante include "September Song," "The Glory of Love," "Make Someone Happy" and the famous Christmas song "Frosty the Snowman." Unfortunately, only "September Song" and "The Glory of Love" were hits. Despite only having a few hit songs, the other songs remained favorites for his fans and "The Glory of Love" is quite popular on Pandora.
Although he passed away in 1980, he will never be forgotten.
