James Francis Durante (/dəˈrænti/ də-RAN-tee, Italian:
[duˈrante]; February , â€" January , ) was an American actor,
comedian, singer, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower
East Side accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced songs, and
prominent nose helped make him one of America's most familiar and
popular personalities of the s through the s. He often referred to his
nose as the schnozzola (Italianization of the American Yiddish slang
word schnoz "big nose"), and the word became his nickname.Durante was
born on the Lower East Side of New York City. He was the youngest of
four children born to Rosa (Lentino) and Bartolomeo Durante, both of
whom were immigrants from Salerno, Italy. Bartolomeo was a barber.
Young Jimmy served as an altar boy at St. Malachy Roman Catholic
Church, known as the Actor's Chapel.Durante dropped out of school in
seventh grade to become a full-time ragtime pianist. He first played
with his cousin, whose name was also Jimmy Durante. It was a family
act, but he was too professional for his cousin. He continued working
the city's piano bar circuit and earned the nickname "ragtime Jimmy",
before he joined one of the first recognizable jazz bands in New York,
the Original New Orleans Jazz Band. Durante was the only member not
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. In the group was renamed Jimmy Durante's Jazz
Band.
[duˈrante]; February , â€" January , ) was an American actor,
comedian, singer, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower
East Side accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced songs, and
prominent nose helped make him one of America's most familiar and
popular personalities of the s through the s. He often referred to his
nose as the schnozzola (Italianization of the American Yiddish slang
word schnoz "big nose"), and the word became his nickname.Durante was
born on the Lower East Side of New York City. He was the youngest of
four children born to Rosa (Lentino) and Bartolomeo Durante, both of
whom were immigrants from Salerno, Italy. Bartolomeo was a barber.
Young Jimmy served as an altar boy at St. Malachy Roman Catholic
Church, known as the Actor's Chapel.Durante dropped out of school in
seventh grade to become a full-time ragtime pianist. He first played
with his cousin, whose name was also Jimmy Durante. It was a family
act, but he was too professional for his cousin. He continued working
the city's piano bar circuit and earned the nickname "ragtime Jimmy",
before he joined one of the first recognizable jazz bands in New York,
the Original New Orleans Jazz Band. Durante was the only member not
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. In the group was renamed Jimmy Durante's Jazz
Band.
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