One of the interesting things about being raised among the first television generation was that the airwaves were filled with people who had made their bones in an earlier generation, including more than one aging vaudevillian. Because of that voracious need of the young medium Jimmy Durante who was born before the Spanish-American war was fought became a fixture of my childhood imagination. He not only appeared on the evening variety shows favored by my parents but versions of his immediately recognizable profile not to mention his gravelly New York accent mangling the English language appeared in cartoons recycled from theatrical releases of the prior three decades were a feature on near all Saturday mornings…
Jimmy also known as the Great Schnozzola, or just the Schnoz was born on this day in 1893. One hundred and twenty-three years ago.
I find that reach of time thanks to the emerging medium of television absolutely mind boggling. And I know we boomers were just the beginning of this new age of wildly expanded cultural reference, now extending back generations still alive thanks to visual recording, and now also reaching across the globe.
Utterly fascinating…
Happy birthday, Jimmy!
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