JIMMY "SCHNOZZOLA" DURANTE - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 03/29/1962 - HFSID 253733

JIMMY DURANTE
Jimmy Durante sends a typed letter of apology for not writing sooner but he has been too busy lately.
Typed Letter Signed: "Jimmy", 1p, 5½x7¼. No place, 1962 March 29. To "Dear Clara". In full: "Gee, I'm awfully sorry I didn't write sooner, but when I get home so late from MGM, and then I have to study my lines for the next day - and with making personal appearances I don't even have much time to see my baby. But I want you to know I appreciate your letter, and I'm awfully sorry to hear you haven't been feeling any better. From the bottom of my heart I hope and pray you'll start feeling better and soon be like your own self again. Anyway, I want you to know I'm thinking about you, and Margie sends her best wishes too." In the year of this letter, Durante was seen as Pop Wonder in the M-G-M musical, Billy Rose's Jumbo. The following year, he would appear in It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World. Margie is his second wife, Marjorie Little Durante, a former hat check girl at the Copacabana, whom he married in 1960. The following year, on Christmas Day 1961, the couple adopted a baby girl, Cecelia Alicia, whom Durante affectionately called "CeCe". Jimmy Durante (1893-1980), known to family, friends and fans as "The Schnozzola", "Schnozzle" or simply "the Schnoz" because of his Cyrano-sized nose, began his career as a piano player on the Lower East Side of New York City. He and his partners, dancers Eddie Jackson and Lou Clayton, had become overnight sensations on vaudeville, and Durante later lent his talents to films, radio and television as well as being a popular performer in nightclubs and on stage. His act included telling jokes, playing the piano and singing in his raspy voice. Two of his most popular songs were "Inka Dinka Doo" and "Won't You Come Home, Bill Bailey?", and Durante was also well known for his trademark sign off line, "Goodnight, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are." An active life member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, he often performed pro bono with the proceeds that would have been his pay, going to the Children's Fund. All he asked in the way of pay was that people, "Help Da Kids". Lightly creased with folds, not at signature. Fine condition.