whereever you are. The parting words of Jimmy Durante on his weekly show. So who was Mrs. Calabash?
About 15 years ago, after I moved to SC, I stopped in a town at the NC-SC border, which is called Calabash. Calabash cooking arose there. (Lightly breaded and fried.) In one of the restaurants, the owner told me that Ms. Calabash was the owner of a restaurant that Durante frequented, and he was referring to her.
Perhaps so. Perhaps not. Does any one else have any other answers?
The town does claim that, but it seems to be unsupported.
Timing was part of it – Durante started using the phrase just after the death of his wife, so that may be one likely explanation. Another source (Phil Cohen, his producer) said the word came from Durante’s calabash pipe, and was used because it sounded funny. The two may both be right – he was talking about his wife, but used “Calabash” because it was funny.
http://www.bartleby.com/63/87/8387.html says it was to refer to his wife. A quick look at other web pages, seem to confirm this, though there is one web page talking about the North Carolina connection.
The town does claim that, but it seems to be unsupported.
Timing was part of it – Durante started using the phrase just after the death of his wife, so that may be one likely explanation. Another source (Phil Cohen, his producer) said the word came from Durante’s calabash pipe, and was used because it sounded funny. The two may both be right – he was talking about his wife, but used “Calabash” because it was funny.
Durante himself claimed it was inspired by his wife, who loved visiting a town by that name near Chicago. The town doesn’t appear to exist any more, though. (http://home.att.net/~su-shann/front2.htm)
LOVE this question!!
AHEM!!! Many years ago, via a second cousin, I was told that an elderly cousin of ours claims the SHE is “Mrs. Calabash”! She allegedly has a letter from Jimmy where he calls her that. Seems that they had had a “relationship”. But then again, she also claims to have had a nodding acquaintence, as a kid, with Al Capone.
(Must e-mail my cous. to see if anyone’s found the “letter” yet.)
Didn’t he also have some kind of trademark nonsense phrase, that sounded something like “um-buddy-yago”? What was that all about?
And what was his whole deal, anyway? Was he a vaudvillian that survived into the TV age ala George Burns? If it weren’t for Frosty the Snowman, I don’t think I’d have ever even heard of him.
“Thumpitty thump thump, thumpitty thump thump, look at Frosty go . . .”
Durante was indeed a performer from the vaudeville era. He played piano and sang funny songs in that gravelly voice. He had a partner (can’t remember the name, sorry), but they split up.
Durante was very popular in the '30s and '40s as big-name comic relief, appearing on radio and in several movies (Jumbo and The Man Who Came To Dinner spring to mind immediately). In the '50s he had his own comedy/variety show, as did many variety performers of the time, early television often borrowing from the vaudeville format for it’s entertainment.
You youngsters crack me up. Frosty The Snowman. Sure. All entertainment begins at that point. Nothing else existed prior to cheaply animated musical cartoon shows. Durante sure was lucky he was asked to do Frosty, otherwise he’d never be remembered today.
:rolleyes: Sheesh.
Inka-dinka-do. It was a hit song for him; the origin seems to be a gag. Durante joked that instead of doing “Rhapsody in Blue,” he’d write “Inka-dinka-do.” Later someone wrote the song for him (or maybe he did – he was a fairly well respected jazz musician).
Durante’s most famous catchphrase, though, was “Everybody wants to get into the act.”
He was a long-time star in vaudeville, movies (including a teaming with Buster Keaton, which, alas, was no where as good at it seems on paper – the two just didn’t mesh), radio, and TV.
It was a wise career move, in retrospect. Go on and ask yer average college student who Jack Benny was, or Fibber McGee and Molly . . .
Here’s a bit of a bio about Jimmy Durante.
Here’s a link to the Calabash story FWIW.
I was a big fan of Durante as a kid and remember his TV show fondly.
As I recall, the word ‘Umbrigado’(sp) is a Portugese word meaning, (I think), ‘Thank you.’ Unfortunately, I can’t find any translation sites w/ Portugese.
Or I could be completely wrong.
Got it!
from foreignword.com:
obrigado
adjectivo
obliged, bound (in duty), compelled, forced;
thankful, obliged, grateful;
interjeição
thank you!;
thanks!;
muito obrigado!
many thanks!, much obliged!;
Although this word gave me pause:
Umbigada
substantivo feminino
push with the navel region;
FWIW:
Jack Benny inspired many comedians, most prominent among them was Johnny Carson. Carson, who also borrowed from Red Skelton and Fred Allen, of course, inspired countless wiseacre and hip comics (and fictional TV characters).
If you look closely you will see Benny’s sitcom style portrayed today by Kelsey Gramner’s Frasier Crane character. (A debt that Gramner acknowledges btw.)
As for Fibber McGee and the long suffering Molly - the number of genre (blowhard matched with patient relative) TV shows is endless (I Love Lucy, Burns & Allen, Honeymooners, Flintstones, All in the Family, Jeffersons, Sanford & Son). FM&M never made the transition to TV btw. These stock characters predate Fibber’s creation in 1935 and IMHO, the closest match today is Homer J Simpson and Marge.
And Harry Shearer of the Simpsons (Montgomery Burns, Smithers, Ned Flanders) started as a child actor on — The Jack Benny Show.
I thought it was “Umbriago” - Italian for “drunk”.
Dunno why Durante adopted it, but it’s fun to say, anyway.
AHEM ::Points to previous thread::
I think I answered that. :rolleyes:
[sub]Sheesh If I wanted to be ignored, I coulda stayed home![/sub]
Not with “umbriago”, you didn’t. Want your :rolleyes: back?
Naw, that’s okay, I’ve got plenty more.
I’m pretty sure he said obrigado, not umbriago, but I’m relying on memories from over forty years ago.
The illustrious Eve wrote an article about him, maybe she would consent to answer the question?
Also try the movie GREEDY with the scene with Michael J Fox (and a flashback to an actor playing him as a kid) doing an imitation of Durante.
I always heard that it referred to his deceased wife, until the town’s connection. So, we have these two theories, and apparently there is no way to establish which, if either, is correct. Oh, well. Somethings are better left mysteries.
Zarathsutra said:
Thank you for proving my point, in a way. I agree that the “average college student” probably wouldn’t have much of an idea who Jack Benny or Fibber McGee were. But they’re freakin’ college students! Why are a bunch of 19-year-olds the litmus test for important people? A lot of them probably won’t know who Joseph Stalin or Hadrian were, either, unless Mel Gibson happens to make a movie about them in the next few months.
Unless someone is splashed across MTV every 15 minutes or has a sitcom or a numbnuts movie in everyone’s face, it seems our youth-culture doesn’t deem them important. The fact of the matter is that many (if not most) of today’s performers, be they music artists, stage, screen or television, owe a lot to these “obscure” entertainers like Jack Benny and Jimmy Durante.
The fact that college students don’t recognize these names is more a reflection on the poor level of their own cultural education than on the careers of what are, in fact, legendary performers.
You mean we have no way of knowing whether Durante was calling himself a drunk in Italian, or saying “thank you” in Portuguese? Gee.
I’ve always heard it as “umbriago”, so I side with Elvis on this one. (Had no idea it meant “drunk” though)
Fenris