Mae West: Eddie Cantor

The year was 1927. MAE WEST went to see an old vaudeville pal - - the comedian EDDIE CANTOR - - when he was 35 years old and starring on Broadway in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1927. The hit opened at the New Amsterdam Theatre on 16 August 1927 and ran for 167 performances. By the time the show shuttered on 7 January 1927, it had also made the newcomer Ruth Etting a star.
• • Claire Luce (who worked for Texas Guinan) was also in this revue.
• • Later that year, on 4 November 1927 MAE WEST would debut in her new play "The Wicked Age" at Daly's 63rd Street Theatre . . . returning to the scene of the crime, as it were.

• • Born on the Lower Eastside of New York on 31 January 1892, Eddie Cantor was an American comedian, singer, actor, songwriter, and one of the most popular entertainers in the USA in the early and middle 20th century. He was known to Broadway, radio, and early television audiences as "Banjo Eyes" and "the Apostle of Pep." Cantor was regarded by millions as "a member of the family" because of his intimate radio shows that involved anecdotes and antics about his wife Ida and their five daughters.
• • Stages where MAE WEST and Eddie Cantor both performed in NYC include the Paramount (the one in Manhattan as well as the Brooklyn venue), The Palace, and many places in Coney Island.
• • On 20 January 1934, Eddie Cantor was the M.C. during a stage show at the Paramount Theatre (Broadway and West 43rd Street). In one number, he appeared in a Mae West costume. Yes, this actually happened onstage, so try to imagine it.
• • On 22 January 1934, both Mae West and Eddie Cantor entertained at the New Amsterdam Theatre - - at the 52nd annual benefit for the Actors' Fund.
• • For some time, Eddie Cantor paired with Mae West's idol: Bert Williams. Both vaudevillians performed in blackface, Eddie playing Bert Williams's son.
• • Eddie Cantor died in October [10 October 1964]. He is being remembered this month as a hard-working performer, a humanitarian, a native New Yorker, and an old trouper whose artistry Mae West enjoyed.
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Mae West
• • Illustration: Eddie Cantor film • • 1953 • •
NYC
Mae West.