Jimmy Durante
American actor, comedian and singer (1893–1980)
James Francis Durante (10 February 1893 – 29 January 1980) American pianist, actor, comedian, composer, and singer; usually known as Jimmy Durante, also nicknamed "The Schnozzola", and "The Schnoz", in reference to his large nose.
Quotes
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- Inka dinka doo, a dinka dee,
A dinka doo.
Oh, what a tune for crooning.
Inka dinka doo, a dinka dee
A dinka doo.
It's got the whole world spooning.- "Inka Dinka Doo" (1933) written with Fred Ryan and Harry Donnelly.
- Don't put no constrictions on da people. Leave 'em ta hell alone.
- As quoted in Low Man On A Totem Pole (1941) by Harry Allen Smith, p. 185
- Variant: Why can't everybody leave everybody else the hell alone?
- That's the conditions that prevail!
- As quoted in Current Biography : Who's News and Why (1946) by Anna Rothe, p. 168
- I'm mortified!
- As quoted in Current Biography : Who's News and Why (1946) by Anna Rothe, p. 168
- Surrounded by assassins!
- As quoted in Current Biography : Who's News and Why (1946) by Anna Rothe, p. 168
- UMBRIAGO!
- Mentioned as one of Durante's aquaintences, usually introduced in a boisterous manner, as quoted in Current Biography : Who's News and Why (1946) by Anna Rothe, p. 168
- Everybody wants ta get inta da act!
- As quoted in Billboard (23 April 1949), p. 126
- I don't know where it's going, but I'm sticking with it!
- Said after joining chorus girls in a conga line onstage, as quoted in "Tips on Tables" by Robert W. Dana (30 March 1951)
- I was hurt so deep that I made up my mind never to hurt anybody else, no matter what. I never made jokes about anybody's big ears, their stut- terin', or about them bein' off their nut.
- In reference to being teased at school as a child for his looks, as quoted in Schnozzola : The Story of Jimmy Durante (1951) by Gene Fowler
- Goodnight Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are.
- Famous sign-off line to all his radio and TV shows, the meaning of which he never publicly revealed, leading to much speculation and many theories. Only after his death did it become public knowledge that it was reference to his first wife, Jeanne Olson, who died in 1943, and that Calabash was a private name between them for Calabasas, California, where she spent much of the final years of her life.
- Politics is developing more comedians than radio ever did.
- As quoted in Informationweek issues 699-702 (1998), p. 497
Misattributed
edit- Be awful nice to 'em goin' up, because you're gonna meet 'em all comin' down.
- As quoted in The New Speaker's Treasury of Wit and Wisdom (1958) by Herbert Victor Prochnow, p. 409
- Variants:
- Be nice to people on your way up, because you're going to meet them all on your way down.
- As quoted in A Quote for Every Day (2011) edited by Peter A. LaPorta, p. 41
- Be nice to people goin' up, because you're going to meet them all comin' down.
- Be nice to 'em goin' up, because you're going to meet them all comin' down.
- Originally by Wilson Mizner. [1]
