A Few Moments with Eddie Cantor

[ducdebrabant]

We produce performers today who are more versatile actors, better singers, better dancers, and all three simultaneously. But we no longer produce originals as often: people who were no cast in only their own mold. Cantor, like Fannie Brice, Ed Wynn, Victor Moore, Bert Williams, Sophie Tucker, Mae West, etc. etc. etc., was unique.

[wilburbonzo]

This is remarkable, not because it's Eddie Cantor, but because it's one of the first sound on film recordings, developed by Dr. Lee de Forest, an early radio pioneer.

[JAMIETNY]

Thank You for posting this jewel. 

[Vaioholic]

Boardwalk Empire got me here

[JanelleWithU]

My Honey just introduced me to Eddie.... Very nice to meet you, Mr. Cantor!

[ElephantParanoia]

Gawd. The "Yo Momma's So Fat" jokes have been around quite some time... only then it was "My Girl Is So Dumb".

[ostolero]

6:15

[peoman2]

I just heard about him in Boardwalk Empire. He's great! Love the song.

[Jmorkavich]

@jbjendra I'm 31 if that makes you feel better, and I find thus stuff to be really funny. The song the dumber they come gave me a good laugh. And the one liner jokes were good to. This just proves how far we have come as a society... Both good and bad

[drewtube20]

Do you have the song "On a Windy Day in Wai Kiki? Please post and send a message to blkbanjoman. Thank you.

[Joeker02]

You can tell that it's being done for the express purposes of being recorded, and that he wasn't used to something like that. He doesn't have anyone in the room to really play to, and it shows. He's not used to having stay in a particular area to do his work. He'd ordinarily be all over that stage playing to everybody in the building, instead of that audience of one that is a camera in 1923.

[jbjindra]

Am I the only young person (I'm 29) who finds this completely hilarious? It's funny in a really awkward and terrible way. It's totally rehearsed and stiff feeling. I guess that's what I like about it. I keep picturing how funny it'd be to put him on stage doing stand up nowadays on Comedy Central and watching the crowd feign laughter and not really get it.

[MrGrevy]

@jbjindra Probably. No one with an above room temperature iq would enjoy this dreck.

[Emzorfarlison1920]

@jbjindra actually im 16 and i cant get enough of eddie cantor.

no homo

[Scofthe7seas]

@jbjindra If you want to see that, check out the Comedy Central roast of Bob Sagat. Skip most of it, because it's pretty crappy, but check out Norm Macdonald’s section.

[sultanamonkey]

1923? Are you sure? I REALLY need to brush up on my film/sound history! The first time I heard of Eddie Cantor was when about 7 years ago I used to entertain/keep company senior citizens at a retirement home and this then 94 (he's passed on by now) man said I had Eddie Cantor eyes (I have huge brown eyes myself)

[aaronstennett]

i love it! they pay total homage to all of this in Boardwalk Empire (Y)

[DreddDwarf]

Is this supposed to be funny?

[sultanamonkey]

@DreddDwarf this is old school humor. Very VERY old school humor! Oldie but goodie :)

[DreddDwarf]

@sultanamonkey

I understand that, Laurel and Hardy are hysterical, but this guy truly isn't

[sultanamonkey]

@DreddDwarf that is a ok!

[livardo]

Damn, just heard the song on Boardwalk Empire. Surreal.

[dubsdigi]

now we know who jimmy carr "thinks" he is, only difference this guy has talent and is funny.

[cartoonmusicandfilm]

@dubsdigi so that meant that the jazz singer was not the first talking picture at all.this was the first talking picture

[battra92]

@cartoonmusicandfilm Actually there were experiments with sound films almost as soon as projected film was perfected. The problem was that there wasn't adequate amplification.

See: Rbmn1R5KpKU for an even earlier "talking film"

[toxicwhorestar]

consider that when Eddie was recording this, he didn't have an audience to work with. it was just him and the camera. that's a tough act to do and still make it entertaining. they don't make many like this anymore.

[awesome220]

"Enough about ha"

[ToadHay]

It's like stand-up comedy :)

[awesome220]

@ToadHay Because it is, you idiot.

[habbitz]

98 people are either 80+ years old or Boardwalk Empire fans.

This is what you call timely comedy. Our notions of whats funny has really changed over the years, but some can make people laugh timelessly.

The works of Aristophanes will make anyone laugh millennia later, whilst works like this only serve to show how much comedy has developed over the last century.

[pika23]

@habbitz Boardwalk Empire fan here! lol!!!!!

[HailTheOri]

@habbitz Boardwalk Empire fan, but also just generally love the 1920's - 1940's era stuff.

[jamesyireland]

Very very funny man indeed! 

[dancebandleader]

Great clip. Thomas Meighan was a handsome lead actor, famous at the

time. Sort of like Tom Cruise for that time.

[298625]

Watching this again and again. Totally unique and irreplaceable talent.

[Rachulie]

where did this accent go? i demand it come back

[awesome220]

@Rachulie Still exists, though of course slightly different. Thing was back in the 1920s, this accent was the one used in media, so you heard it all the time.

[Rachulie]

@awesome220 in which areas does it still exist? :)

[awesome220]

@Rachulie Mid Atlantic area. Of course it is not exactly the same, because in 80 plus years, language will change to a degree.

[Rachulie]

@awesome220 in which way will it change you reckon?

[awesome220]

@Rachulie Oh, I'm not sure at all. All I know is that language does change over time, it is inevitable. But it is hard to predict how it will change.

[nightotter]

The government should pay people to archive and post these kind of things. Wonderful. Thank you.

[tpaladino]

Fantastic! Thanks so much for uploading this. Truly a crucial piece of Americana.

[PlumpTiger]

Boardwalk Empire!!

[dsaraga]

You heard about people's faces getting wrinkled, well hers was a cordedit. Anyone know what he's saying? Did I get the right word? I can't find it in a thesaurus.

[Komuya]

@dsaraga Maybe he was saying accordion? not sure myself, haa.

[dsaraga]

@Komuya I think you are right. It makes sense.

[dsaraga]

Is there any more stand-up Eddie Cantor around? I want to know if he really did those, "My girl's so dumb snaps. Did he really say, my girl so dumb she thinks daylight savings is a bank?"

[habbitz]

Stephen DeRosa plays a better Eddie Cantor than he himself.

[culturedmonk]

boardwalk empire

[ejbehler]

After watching this video the guy playing Eddies part on Boardwalk Empire is doing an excellent job he looks very similar to the real Eddie and he has the timing and sound down to a tee (if you watch the show you know what I mean) what is weird is HBO doesn't even have the part listed with the cast on their website.

[Robinbird101]

@ejbehler ~ The actor's name is Stephen DeRosa. And I agree. He is excellent in Boardwalk Empire as Eddie Cantor!

[murielsartre]

How 'bout that Georgie, eh, girls?

[tylerstone1980]

wow, this clip definitely inspired an awesome scene in boardwalk empire. fans will know what i'm talking about.

[Vidike]

Tough crowd

[dennisgilliam]

Eddie Cantor is on the comeback trail. His act, with some of the same jokes in this video, was on HBO's Boardwalk Empire's first episode.

[GoneWithTheSinners]

This Eddie Cantor is simply precious. His moves are adorable and definitely put a smile on my face.

[19florydory00]

Well, Eddie's right. Tommy Meighan HASN'T got that certain.....that he has. ; )

[jon1156]

His moves are kind of cute. The songs are charming. But is it me? What's with the jokes? Has comedy changed that much in 75 years? I "get" them but the whole tone is so weird and lame! Interesting.

[aj5650]

Heh heh, I guess they didn't worry about being PC back then.

[bigjavo36]

@aj5650 funny story Eddie cantor was the first one censored by network television when NBC cut out certain lines from one of his songs. It's true look it up

[MrXnews]

"No matter how much the boss likes you, you can't work in a bank and take home samples."

"...so dumb they burned the school down to get her out of the second grade!"

[briandillon120]

I guess the crowd comes later in the video

[briandillon120]

Allright, Eddie doin' a little stand-up to warm up the.....um.....crowd? lol

[jdsmyhero85]

One of the cutest guys EVER!!!!!

[298625]

Just love it. The body language is exquisite. So charming. But how could it be 1923?

[jvbrown1995]

It was one of Lee DeForest's test Phonofilm sound films.

This was shown with a bunch of other films in a large NYC theater in c. 1923, with bad sound distribution, so it was greatly booed, although it's a good film.

[mandee1013]

absolutely enchanting!

[dholm5058]

Eddie is in top form in Ziegfeld style.I love everything does in this and so many other routines.He throws Jolson under the bus!!!

[1psoas9]

What timing, what wonderful little moves -- the precise little quarter- and witgth-turns, the easy light bounce, the weight in the balls of the feet, and hte way he keeps delighting you without ever discharging the energy by making you laugh.... Wonderful control of hte tone.

[LazlosPlane]

Cantor was, apparantly, one of the great Broadway stage performers of all-time.

May I recommend, "Banjo Eyes," the definitive Cantor biography, by Herbert G. Goldman who also authored excellent bio's of Jolson and Brice. The Cantor book was voted "Best Bio of the Year," by ASCAP.

[RayPointer]

Apparently?  How understated can one be?

[Xmchord]

Wonderful description.

[MrGrevy]

@1psoas9 Be quiet homo he wasn't that great or unusual.

[masterlech]

fascinating. But how much humour is bound up with time. The sensibility here is so leaden

[skripkaman]

Huh?

[skripkaman]

I too had seen parts of this short but not the entire piece. How wonderful it is to be able to travel in time to this great era in American entertainment. Eddie is in top form, even if some of the material is not. Eddie became a major player in the 1910s with the Ziegfeld Follies. By '23 he was as big as Jolson. The movies he made during the following decade are proof of his dynamic talent. Eddie Cantor, of course, is also remembered for being a wonderful genuine person.

[turquoisesquirrel]

Eddie rocks!

[nobodysperfect06]

Eddie Cantor sure had big eyes

[lurch6969]

Who? If i had a tomata I'd smack wit it.

[Eschatosaurus]

I don't think I've ever heard spoken 1923 American English before.

Quite a trip. Thanks for posting this.

[awesome220]

@Eschatosaurus Not just American. This is Mid-Atlantic English, which was the main dialect used in the media.

[oldsteinar]

Thank you so much. Grandpa Clarence Jones  on YouTube

[mitchelf]

it was eddie cantor that turned sammy davis jr. onto judaism - great early talky!

[brian2889]

wonderful that this was saved. Good to see eddie in his prime.

[Uthi]

Ah I've seen the second part of this, but not the whole thing. So thanks a lot! Love Eddie :)

[creamofcardstv]

I like your vid clip and I've rated it as awesome. Please check out mine on some old cigarette cards of 1930's celebrities, including: Eddie Cantor,Shirley Temple, Joan Crawford, Gracie Fields,Kay Francis,Clark Gable,, Greta Garbo, Katherine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers,Norma Shearer.

[MadMoll]

I love Eddie Cantor. This is great. Thank you.

[fromthesidelines]

Lee De Forest was experimenting with the first practical "sound-on-film" process in 1923, and persuaded several New York vaudeville celebrities (including Cantor) to appear before his camera. This was Eddie's earliest appearance in a "talking picture"! Unfortunately for De Forest, this process would not be used in the movie industry (including Hollywood) until the end of the decade, after William Fox bought the rights to it, and began shooting "Movietone" sound newsreels to great success.

[milkkitty]

I didn't know that had sound in 1923 that's great!

[solarvegan]

This is classic! Thanks so much for sharing it! Does anyone know who Tommy Meehan is? Mr. Cantor refers to him at the beginning of his monologue. I Googled the name, but was unable to find the one it might be.

[meganailsa]

The actors name is thomas meighan - a big star during the silent era.I think the joke is that Thomas Meighan had quite a muscular build

[fishstick12345]

@solarvegan Tommy Meeham was an Eddie Cantor impersonator in the 1920s!