Jimmy Durante

The voice of a comic, voice of the 1900's. Jimmy was born on February 10th in1893 and died January 1980. "Ragtime Jimmy" lived a long life, of many accomplishments. all in the Field of entertainment. the stage was where you would find Jimmy. The "Roaring twenties" was a time were entertainment was a time to escape reality, and let loose. jimmy brought to the table something fresh. they say his charm and sense of humor are what brough him to his success.

     He was born James Francis Durante on February 10, 1893 into an Italian community on Manhattan's Lower East

Side. new york was his home, and where he staid through out his life.Starting Young, jimmy developed an incredible skill for the piano. By age 16 he was playing piano in nightclubs in New York City's Bowery.

A Rising Star

Jimmy created a ragtime band, playing for such spots as the Coney Island College Inn and Harlem's Alamo Club. In the 1920s the team of Durante, Lou Clayton, and Eddie Jackson starred in vaudeville and nightclubs. 1921 was the  beging step of jimmy’s career, he got to gather dancers from the area, that led to a professional partnership with dancer Eddie Jackson, Lou Jackson. Quickly they all became one of the best-known roughhouse teams of the 1920s but before jimmy joined one of the first recognizable jazz bands in New York, the Original New Orleans Jazz Band, he had to make his mark. Durante was the only member of the group who did not hail from New Orleans. His routine of breaking into a song to deliver a joke, with band or orchestra chord punctuation after each line became a Durante trademark. giving him a guarented spot with the band. "a charming guy" was a comon conspiculation of jimmy.

Although jimmy may not be the highlight of our generation today, his contributes will never evanescent, form the remembrance of the 1920s  

this video is a representation of how it was like to witness a show, of live comedians and performers

jimmy's Accomplishments

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