Questions about Mrs. Jimmy Durante and ''Mrs. Calabash"

[Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker]

Jimmy Durante’s “Mrs. Calabash” is often taken to be his first wife, although I don’t know that he ever admitted it. One story is that “Calabash” is a corruption of “Calabasas,” where Mrs. Durante spent some time during her illness. A cursory glance at a map of the greater LA area does show a “Motion Picture Country House and Hospital” in Calabasas, so that is at least plausible, assuming it was in existence in the 1940s. This won’t solve the mystery, but here are the questions:

When was Durante first attested using the line, “Good-night, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are?”

His wife died at a relatively young age. What was the cause?

[What_Exit]

Nothing too useful but from IMDB:

According to the book, “Hollywood Trivia,” (Greenwich House, 1984), by David P. Strauss, Jimmy Durante’s famous “Mrs. Calabash” sign-off referred to his first wife, Jeanne Olson. Calabash was the name of a Chicago suburb they both liked.

Comic Sonny King, who worked with Jimmy Durante during his career, stated in an interview that the mysterious “Mrs. Calabash” was indeed Jimmy’s late wife Jeanne Olson, but “Calabash” was a reference to Calabasas, California, where she was hospitalized in her later years. She had difficulty in pronouncing the city name, often calling it “Calabash”, and it became an inside joke for the Durantes.

From WikiQuote

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.

He started in Radio in the 20’s so it is reasonable to assume his tag line started before the hospitalization. So the Chicago Suburb reference may be closer to the truth.