This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2008)

James "Jimmy" Miller (23 March 1942 - 22 October 1994) was a Brooklyn, New York-born record producer and musician who produced dozens of albums between the mid-1960s and early 1990s, including landmark recordings for Blind Faith, Traffic, the Plasmatics, Motorhead, The World Bank and Primal Scream.^[1] He was perhaps best known for his lengthy association with the Rolling Stones, for whom he produced a string of singles and albums that all rank among the most critically and financially successful works of the band's career: Beggars Banquet (1968), Let It Bleed (1969), Sticky Fingers (1971), Exile on Main St. (1972) and Goats Head Soup (1973).

Professional life[link]

Prior to working with the Rolling Stones, Miller rose to fame by producing successful releases for The Spencer Davis Group including their breakthrough hit "Gimme Some Lovin'" and the follow-up smash "I'm A Man," which Miller co-wrote with the band's singer-keyboardist, Steve Winwood. In addition to his production work for yet another Winwood band, Traffic, Miller also contributed the lyrics to the Traffic song "Medicated Goo." Miller produced the only album by the Clapton/Winwood supergroup Blind Faith.

Following his work with Blind Faith, Miller co-produced (with Delaney Bramlett) the hit Delaney & Bonnie album On Tour with Eric Clapton, recorded live at Croydon, United Kingdom, on 7 December 1969. He went on to produce Delany & Bonnie keyboardist Bobby Whitlock, Kracker, the Plasmatics, Motörhead and the UK band Nirvana.

A drummer himself, Miller was known for the distinctive drum sound that characterized his productions, especially his work with the Rolling Stones, on whose recordings he occasionally played percussion parts such as the famous opening cowbell on "Honky Tonk Women" and the full drum kit on "You Can't Always Get What You Want," "Happy," "Tumbling Dice" and "Shine a Light."

The lyric "I sang my song to Mr Jimmy" in the Rolling Stones' song "You Can't Always Get What You Want," often misinterpreted as an allusion to famed guitarist Jimi Hendrix, refers to Jimmy Miller. The rest of the line says, "and he said one word to me and that was dead"; at this time the Stones and Miller used "dead" to refer to something they really liked, so when Mick sang the original song idea to Miller, his response was "dead"!^{[citation needed]} Jimmy had been receiving only 1% point for payment and most other producers at the time were getting 3% points. He gave Mick an ultimatum and the took him up on it. Indeed the song seems to be written to and about him. It seems to be their reply to his asking for a raise.

Miller went on to work with Primal Scream on their breakthrough album Screamadelica and William Topley's band The Blessing (Miller appears on their DVD Sugar Train during the song "Soul Love"). In the 1980s, Miller produced some acts including Johnny Thunders [1], Matrix and Jo Jo Laine (wife of Denny Lane, on "Moody Blues & Wings"). In 1990 he Co-Produced (along with Phil Greene) "What's in A Name" for Florida band Walk the Chalk.

Among Miller's last productions were three tracks on the 1992 Wedding Present project, Hit Parade 2. Jimmy also produced four tracks on The World Banks "In Debt Interview" which featured artists such as Billy Preston and Bobby Keys, a rare musical sideline from author Hunter S. Thompson. Jimmy traveled to Woody Creek, Colorado in 1994 to meet with Hunter S. Thompson for a memorable weekend in May shortly before he passed on. He died in October 1994.

Personal life[link]

Miller's father, Bill, was a Las Vegas entertainment director and the man who booked Elvis Presley into the International Hotel for his 1969 return to live performance.

Jimmy Miller had a daughter, rock singer Deena Miller, with Gayle Shepherd, a member of the singing group the Shepherd Sisters. Miller and his second wife, Geri, had a son, Michael (who died at the age of 33). He had a stepson, Steven, a news photographer living in Connecticut. His second wife Geri died of breast cancer in 1991, three years before Jimmy Miller's own death in Denver, Colorado, at the age of 52, from liver failure.^[2]

Judith Miller, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for the New York Times who spent time in jail for not revealing her sources in the infamous Plame-Wilson CIA affair, was Jimmy Miller's half-sister.

Discography (Incomplete)[link]

See also: Category:Albums produced by Jimmy Miller

References[link]

Mike Burkett
Background information
Birth name	Michael John Burkett
Also known as	Fat Mike Cokie the Clown
Born	(1967-01-31) January 31, 1967 (age 45)
Origin	Los Angeles, California
Genres	Punk rock
Instruments	Bass, vocals, keyboards, guitar
Years active	1983–present
Labels	Epitaph, Fat Wreck Chords
Associated acts	NOFX Me First and the Gimme Gimmes False Alarm Cokie the Clown
Website	www.nofxofficialwebsite.com
Notable instruments
Danelectro DC Danelectro Hodad Fender Deluxe Precision G&L

Michael John Burkett (born January 31, 1967 in Newton, Massachusetts), better known as Fat Mike is an American musician, producer, lead vocalist, and bassist for the punk rock band NOFX, as well as bassist for the punk rock supergroup cover band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes.

Musical career[link]

The moniker "Fat Mike" was given to Mike by friends after he returned from college and it was evident that he had gained a little weight.^[1] While attending Fairfax High School, Mike began his musical career with the band False Alarm. After the band split up in 1983, he met Eric Melvin and Erik Sandin and formed the original line-up of NOFX.

Mike is the owner and founder of Fat Wreck Chords, one of the biggest independent labels in North America. He was also the founder of the Rock Against Bush tour. The purpose was to encourage young Americans to vote George W. Bush out of office in 2004.

Mike recently recorded the "Cokie the Clown" EP with NOFX, playing Cokie on both the cover of the EP and the music video for the title-track, "Cokie the Clown". In the video, Mike dresses as Cokie and puts white powder into his squirting flower, representing cocaine. Cokie then walks around Chicago squirting powder in pedestrians' faces, as chronicled in the song itself. The video was shot during the punk music festival, Riot Fest, in October 2009.

Mike appeared in the 2010 music documentary "Sounds Like A Revolution" and also features as an interviewee in the "The Other F Word," an analysis of punk rock fatherhood. He also appears as a guest vocalist on the Dropkick Murphys single "Going Out In Style".

Personal life[link]

Burkett lives in San Francisco, California. He and his wife Erin divorced in 2010 after 18 years of marriage. They have a daughter named Darla.^[2]

He is of Jewish heritage, but does not practice Judaism.^{[citation needed]}

At Emo's, a popular nightclub in Austin during the 2010 South by Southwest festival, Fat Mike has made appearances as Cokie the Clown, but one of his most memorable was the SXSW fest.^[3] He recounted several graphic and disturbing stories about his life, and played several songs both previously released and unreleased. He also tricked several members of the audience into drinking tequila, before showing them a video of himself filling a partially full bottle of tequila to the top with urine to shocked reactions. The stunt was later revealed as a joke on NOFX's website, which showed Fat Mike switching out the urine bottle for an untainted one before making audience members drink it. Mike has since been banned from Emo's. Fat Mike has been credited with creating the phrase "Nawesome", which means not awesome.^[4]

He is a drug-user. He has never used codeine or heroin, however, according to this tweet regarding this drawing published by Vice by Tao Lin.

Since 2010 Fat Mike has owned a gastropub-style restaurant in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY called Thistle Hill Tavern.^[5]

Discography[link]

References[link]

Anthony Morrison (born March 29, 1984) is an American mixed martial artist who currently fights out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at Daddis Fight Camps. He has recently been signed by WEC in the featherweight division.

Mixed martial arts career[link]

He made his WEC debut against Mike Brown on January 10, 2010 at WEC 46.^[1] Brown defeated Morrison via first round submission.^[2]

Morrison was scheduled to face Mackens Semerzier on April 24, 2010 at WEC 48,^[3] but Semerzier was forced from the card with an injury.^[4] Morrison ended up fighting Chad Mendes,^[5] and lost via a first round submission.

Mixed martial arts record[link]

Result	Record	Opponent	Method	Event	Date	Round	Time	Location	Notes
NC	15-9 (1 NC)	Nick Gonzalez	No Contest	Matrix Fights 2	02010-06-11June 11, 2010	3	1:09	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Loss	15-9	Chad Mendes	Submission (guillotine choke)	WEC 48	02010-04-24April 24, 2010	1	2:13	Sacramento, California, United States
Loss	15-8	Mike Brown	Submission (rear naked choke)	WEC 46	02010-01-10January 10, 2010	1	1:54	Sacramento, California, United States	WEC debut
Win	15-7	Alvin Robinson	Submission (punches)	Ring of Fire 36: Demolition	02009-12-04December 4, 2009	1	1:09	Denver Colorado, United States
Win	14-7	Jeff Lentz	Decision (unanimous)	Ring of Combat XXVII	02009-11-20November 20, 2009	3	5:00	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Loss	13-7	Micah Miller	Submission (arm triangle choke)	Shine 2: American Top Team vs. The World	02009-09-04September 4, 2009	2	4:25	Miami, Florida, United States
Win	13-6	Tim Troxell	Decision (unanimous)	WCA - Caged Combat	02009-06-05June 5, 2009	3	5:00	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Win	12-6	Kevin Roddy	Decision (unanimous)	World Cagefighting Alliance - Pure Combat	02009-02-06February 6, 2009	3	5:00	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Loss	11-6	Fabio Mello	Submission (guillotine choke)	Art of Fighting - Rumble at Robarts 1	02009-01-24January 24, 2009	1	2:17	Sarasota, Florida, United States
Win	11-5	Jay R. Palmer	Submission (armbar)	Combat Sports Challenge 26	02008-08-30August 30, 2008	2	1:51	Mechanicsville, Virginia, United States
Win	10-5	Nelson Sobral	TKO (punches)	Combat Sport Challenge	02008-06-14June 14, 2008	1	1:10	Richmond, Virginia, United States
Loss	9-5	Eddie Fyvie	Submission (triangle choke)	Ring of Combat 19	02007-09-29September 29, 2007	1	3:47	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Win	9-4	Alvin Decker	TKO (punches)	Combat Sports Challenge 24: The Proving Ground	02008-03-15March 15, 2008	1	2:28	Richmond, Virginia, United States
Win	8-4	Anthony Biondo	TKO	Combat Sports Challenge 23	02008-02-23February 23, 2008	1	2:08	Richmond, Virginia, United States
Loss	7-4	Ricardo Tirlone	KO	Combat Sport Challenge	02007-09-29September 29, 2007	1	0:40	Richmond, Virginia, United States
Win	7-3	Dan Swift	TKO	Combat Sports Challenge 21	02007-07-14July 14, 2007	2	4:32	Richmond, Virginia, United States
Loss	6-3	Jim Miller	Submission (triangle choke)	CFFC 5 - Two Worlds, One Cage	02007-06-23June 23, 2007	1	4:56	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Win	6-2	Patrick Upton	TKO (punches)	Combat Sports Challenge	02007-04-28April 28, 2007	1	3:27	Richmond, Virginia, United States
Win	5-2	Spencer Paige	Decision (unanimous)	Cage Fury Fighting Championship 4	02007-04-13April 13, 2007	3	N/A	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Win	4-2	Travis Worenscroft	TKO (punches)	Combat Sports Challenge	02007-12-24December 24, 2007	1	1:04	Mechanicsville, Virginia, United States
Win	3-2	Matt Andrews	TKO (punches)	CSC - River City Rumble 5	02006-12-09December 9, 2006	1	3:35	Mechanicsville, Virginia, United States
Loss	2-2	Frank Johnson	TKO	IFC Rumble on the River 2	02006-11-10November 10, 2006	1	2:36	Kearney, Nebraska, United States
Win	2-1	Aaron Steele	KO	IFC Rumble on the River 2	02006-11-10November 10, 2006	1	0:20	Kearney, Nebraska, United States
Loss	1-1	Deividas Taurosevičius	Submission (triangle choke)	Cage Fury Fighting Championship 2	02006-10-06October 6, 2006	1	2:09	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States
Win	1-0	Will Loushin	TKO	Cage Fury Fighting Championship 1	02006-06-30June 30, 2006	1	0:57	Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States

References[link]

External links[link]

• Professional MMA record for Anthony Morrison from Sherdog

Jimmy Durante
from the Broadway to Hollywood trailer (1933)
Born	James Francis Durante (1893-02-10)February 10, 1893 Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Died	January 29, 1980(1980-01-29) (aged 86) Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Other names	The Schnoz The Great Schnozzola
Occupation	Actor, comedian, singer, pianist
Years active	1920–1980
Spouse	Jeanne Olsen (1921–1943) Margie Little (1960–1980)
Signature

James Francis "Jimmy" Durante (February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980) was an American singer, pianist, comedian and actor. His distinctive clipped gravelly speech, comic language butchery, jazz-influenced songs, and large nose helped make him one of America's most familiar and popular personalities of the 1920s through the 1970s. His jokes about his nose included referring to it as a "Schnozzola", and the word became his nickname.

Early life[link]

Childhood[link]

Durante was born on the Lower East Side of New York City. He was the youngest of four children born to Bartolomeo Durante and his mail-order bride Rosa, both of whom were immigrants from Salerno, Italy. Bartolomeo was a barber, and his wife Rosa was the sister of a woman who lived in the same boarding house.^[1][2] Jimmy Durante served as an altar boy at Saint Malachy's Roman Catholic Church, known as the Actor's Chapel.^[3]

Early career[link]

Durante dropped out of school in eighth grade to become a full-time ragtime pianist. He first played with his cousin, whose name was also "Jimmy Durante." It was a family act, but he was too professional for his cousin. He continued working the city's piano bar circuit and earned the nickname "Ragtime Jimmy," before he joined one of the first recognizable jazz bands in New York, the Original New Orleans Jazz Band. Durante was the only member not from New Orleans. His routine of breaking into a song to deliver a joke, with band or orchestra chord punctuation after each line, became a Durante trademark. In 1920, the group was renamed Jimmy Durante's Jazz Band.

Stardom[link]

Durante became a vaudeville star and radio personality by the mid-1920s, with a trio called Clayton, Jackson and Durante. Lou Clayton and Eddie Jackson, Durante's closest friends, often reunited professionally. Jackson and Durante appeared in the Cole Porter musical The New Yorkers, which opened on Broadway on December 8, 1930. Earlier that same year, the team had appeared in the movie Roadhouse Nights, ostensibly based on Dashiell Hammett's novel Red Harvest.

By 1934, he had a major record hit with his own novelty composition, "Inka Dinka Doo," the lyrics of which were written by Ben Ryan^[4] to music that Durante himself composed. It became his theme song for the rest of his life. A year later, Durante starred on Broadway in the Billy Rose stage musical Jumbo, in which a police officer stopped him while leading a live elephant and asked him, "What are you doing with that elephant?" Durante's reply, "What elephant?", was a regular show-stopper. Durante also appeared on Broadway in Show Girl (1929), Strike Me Pink (1934) and Red, Hot and Blue (1936).

He began appearing in motion pictures in a comedy series pairing him with silent film legend Buster Keaton and continuing with The Wet Parade (1932), Broadway to Hollywood (1933), The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942, playing "Banjo", a character based on Harpo Marx), Ziegfeld Follies (1946), Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962, based on the 1935 musical) and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963).

Radio[link]

Durante on The Jumbo Fire Chief Program, 1935.

On September 10, 1933, Durante appeared on Eddie Cantor's The Chase and Sanborn Hour, continuing until November 12 of that year. When Cantor departed, Durante took over the NBC show as its star from April 22 to September 30, 1934, moving on to The Jumbo Fire Chief Program (1935–36).

He teamed with Garry Moore for The Durante-Moore Show in 1943. Durante's comic chemistry with the young, brushcut Moore brought Durante an even larger audience. "Dat's my boy dat said dat!" became an instant catchphrase. The duo became one of the nation's favorites for the rest of the decade, including a well-reviewed Armed Forces Radio Network command performance with Frank Sinatra that remains a favorite of radio collectors today. Moore left in mid-1947, and the program returned October 1, 1947 as The Jimmy Durante Show. Durante worked in radio for three years after Moore's 1947 departure, including a reunion of Clayton, Jackson and Durante on his April 21, 1948 broadcast.

Television[link]

Durante made his television debut on November 1, 1950, though he kept a presence in radio as one of the frequent guests on Tallulah Bankhead's two-year, NBC comedy-variety show, The Big Show. Durante was one of the cast on the show's premiere November 5, 1950. The rest of the cast included humorist Fred Allen, singers Mindy Carson and Frankie Laine, stage musical performer Ethel Merman, actors Jose Ferrer and Paul Lukas, and comic-singer Danny Thomas (about to become a major television star in his own right). A highlight of the show was Durante and Thomas, whose own nose rivaled Durante's, in a routine in which Durante accused Thomas of stealing his nose. "Stay outta dis, No-Nose!" Durante barked at Bankhead to a big laugh.

Durante as host of The Hollywood Palace, 1964.

From 1950-51, Durante was one of four alternating hosts on NBC's comedy-variety series, "4 Star Revue." He alternated Wednesdays with Danny Thomas (now a headliner), Jack Carson, and Ed Wynn.

Beginning in the early 1950s, Durante teamed with sidekick Sonny King, a collaboration that would continue until Durante's death. Jimmy could be seen regularly in Las Vegas after Sunday Mass outside of the Guardian Angel Cathedral standing next to the priest and greeting the people as they left Mass.

On August 4, 1955, The Jimmy Durante Show on NBC was the venue of the final performance by the famous Brazilian singer Carmen Miranda. Miranda fell to her knees while dancing with Durante, who instinctively told the band, "STOP--da music!" He helped Miranda up to her feet as she laughed, "I'm all out of breath!" "Dat's OK, honey, I'll take yer lines," Durante replied. Miranda laughed again and quickly pulled herself together and finished the show. However, the next morning, August 5, Miranda died at home from heart failure.

Durante also appeared on NBC's Club Oasis, another comedy/variety show broadcast in the 1957-1958 season, alternating first with The Polly Bergen Show.

Marriages[link]

Durante's radio show was bracketed with two trademarks: "Inka Dinka Doo" as his opening theme, and the invariable signoff that became another familiar national catchphrase: "Good night, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are." For years Durante preferred to keep the mystery alive.

One theory was that it referred to the owner of a restaurant in Calabash, North Carolina, where Durante and his troupe had stopped to eat. He was so taken by the food, the service, and the chitchat he told the owner that he would make her famous. Since he did not know her name, he referred to her as "Mrs. Calabash".^[5]

Another idea was that it was a personal salute to his deceased first wife, Jeanne (Olsen) Durante, who died in 1943. "Calabash" might be a mangle of Calabasas, the California city where they made their home during the last years of her life.

At a National Press Club meeting in 1966 (broadcast on NBC's Monitor program), Durante finally revealed that it was indeed a tribute to his wife. While driving across the country, they stopped in a small town called Calabash, which name she had loved. "Mrs. Calabash" became his pet name for her, and he signed off his radio program with "Good night, Mrs. Calabash." He added "wherever you are" after the first year.^[6]

Durante's first wife was the former Jean (Jeanne) Olson, whom he married on June 19, 1921. She was born in Ohio on August 31, 1896. She died on Valentine's Day in 1943, after a lingering heart ailment of about two years. She was 46 years old when she died, although different newspaper accounts of her death suggest she was 45 or perhaps 52.^[7] Her death was not immediately expected, as Jimmy was touring in New York at the time and returned to Los Angeles right away to complete funeral arrangements.

Durante married his second wife, Margaret "Margie" Little, at St. Malachy's Catholic Church in New York City on December 14, 1960. As a teenager, with her gorgeous red hair and undeniable charm, Margie had been crowned Queen of the New Jersey State Fair. She attended New York University before being hired by the legendary Copacabana, in New York City. They met 16 years before their marriage when he was performing there and where she worked as a hatcheck girl. She was 41, he 67, when they married. The couple adopted a baby, Cecilia Alicia (nicknamed CeCe and now known as CeCe Durante-Bloum) on Christmas Day, 1961. CeCe became a champion horsewoman and then a horse trainer and horseback-riding instructor near San Diego, married a computer designer (Stephen), and has two sons and a daughter (Connor, Ryan and Maddie). Margaret died on June 7, 2009, at age 90.^[8]

Charitable work[link]

On August 15, 1958, for his charitable acts, Durante was awarded a huge 3 ft. high brass loving cup by the Al Bahr Shriners Temple. The inscription was: "JIMMY DURANTE THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS COMEDIAN A loving cup to you Jimmy, Its' larger than your nose, but smaller than your heart Happiness always, Al Bahr Temple August 15, 1958".

Jimmy's love for children continued through the Fraternal Order of Eagles children, who among many causes raise money for handicapped and abused. At Jimmy's first appearance at the Eagles International Convention in 1961, judge Bob Hansen inquired about his fee for performing. Jimmy replied, "do not even mention money judge or I'll have to mention a figure that'll make ya sorry ya brought it up" "What can we do then?" asked Hansen. "Help da kids," was Durante's reply. Jimmy performed for many years at Eagles conventions free of charge, not even accepting travel money. The Fraternal Order of Eagles in his honor changed the name of their Children's Fund to the Jimmy Durante Children's Fund, and in his memory have raised over 20 million dollars to help children . A reporter once remarked of Durante after an interview: "You could warm your hands on this one." One of the projects built using money from the Durante Fund was a heated therapy swimming pool at the Hughen School in Port Arthur, Texas. Completed in 1968, Durante named the pool the "Inka Dinka Doo Pool".

Politics[link]

Durante was an active member of the Democratic Party. In 1933, he appeared in an advertisement shown in theaters supporting Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs and wrote a musical score entitled Give a Guy a Job to accompany it.^[9]

Later years[link]

Durante in It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

Durante continued his film appearances through It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and television appearances through the early 1970s. He narrated the Rankin-Bass animated Christmas special Frosty the Snowman (1969), re-run for many years since. The television work also included a series of commercial spots for Kellogg's Corn Flakes cereals in the mid 1960s, which introduced Durante's gravelly growl and narrow-eyed, large-nosed countenance to millions of children. "Dis is Jimmy Durante, in puy-son!" was his introduction to some of the Kellogg's spots. One of his last appearances was in a memorable television commercial for the 1973 Volkswagen Beetle, where he proclaimed that the new, roomier Beetle had "plenty of breathin' room... for da old schnozzola!"

In 1963, Durante recorded an album of pop standards, September Song. The album became a best-seller and provided Durante's re-introduction, to yet another generation, almost three decades later. From the Jimmy Durante's Way of Life album, came the gravelly interpretations of "As Time Goes By" which accompanied the opening credits of the romantic comedy hit, Sleepless in Seattle, while his version of "Make Someone Happy" launched the film's closing credits. Both are included on the film's best-selling soundtrack.

He wrote a foreword for a humorous book titled Cockeyed Americana, compiled by Dick Hyman. In the first paragraph of the "Foreword!", as Durante called it, he met Hyman and discussed the book and the contribution Hyman wanted Durante to make to it. Durante wrote, "Before I can say gaziggadeegasackeegazobbath, we're at his luxurious office." After reading the material Hyman had compiled for the book, Durante commented on it, "COLOSSAL, GIGANTIC, MAGNANIMOUS, and last but not first, AURORA BOREALIS. [Capitalization Durante's.] Four little words that make a sentence--and a sentence that will eventually get me six months."

Aside from "Dat's my boy dat said dat!", "Dat's moral turpentine!" and "It's a catastastroke!" (for "catastrophe",) Durante sent such catchphrases as "Everybody wants ta get inta the act!", "Umbriago!", "Ha-cha-cha-chaaaaaaa!", "I got a million of 'em" and "Surrounded by assassins!" into the vernacular.

Jimmy and Margaret Durante's grave at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California

Durante retired from performing in 1972 after suffering a stroke that left him confined to a wheelchair. He died of pneumonia in Santa Monica, California, on January 29, 1980. He received Roman Catholic funeral rites four days later, with fellow entertainers including Desi Arnaz, Ernest Borgnine, Marty Allen, and Jack Carter in attendance, and was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City.^[10]

Animation[link]

Jimmy Durante is known to most modern audiences as the character who narrated and sang the 1969 animated special Frosty the Snowman. He also performed the Ron Goodwin title song to the 1968 comedy-adventure Monte Carlo or Bust sung over the film's animated opening credits. There are numerous Durante depictions and allusions in animation. Pumbaa does a brief Durante impression while singing "Hakuna Matata" in The Lion King. A character in M-G-M cartoons, a bulldog named Spike, whose puppy son was always getting caught by accident in the middle of Tom and Jerry's activities, referenced Durante with a raspy voice and an affectionate "Dat's my boy!" In another Tom and Jerry episode, a starfish lands on Tom's head, giving him a big nose. He then proceeds with Durante's famous "Ha-cha-cha-cha" call. The 1943 Tex Avery cartoon "What's Buzzin' Buzzard" featured a vulture with a voice that sounded like Jimmy Durante. A Durante-like voice (originally by Doug Young) was also given to the father beagle, Doggie Daddy, in Hanna-Barbera's Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy cartoons, Doggie Daddy invariably addressing the junior beagle with a Durante-like "Augie, my son, my son," and with frequent citations of, "That's my boy who said that!" In the 1933 Warner Bros. Looney Tunes short, Bosko's Picture Show, there is a scene where he is chased by Adolf Hitler with a meat cleaver.

Many 1940s Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons had characters based on Durante. Two examples are A Gruesome Twosome, which features a cat based on Durante^[11] and Baby Bottleneck, which in unedited versions opens with a Durante-like stork.^[12] Book Revue shows the well-known (at that time) 1924 Edna Ferber novel So Big featuring a Durante caricature on the cover. The "so big" refers to his nose, and as a runaway criminal turns the corner by the book, Durante turns sideways using his nose to trip the criminal, allowing his capture. In Hollywood Daffy, Durante is directly depicted as himself, pronouncing his catchphrase "Those are the conditions that prevail!". In The Mouse-Merized Cat, Babbit (a Bud Abbott mouse) is briefly hypnotized to imitate Jimmy Durante singing Lullaby of Broadway. One of Durante's common catch phrases, "I got a million of 'em!", was used as Bugs' final line in Stage Door Cartoon.

A Durante-like voice was also used for Marvel Comics superhero The Thing in the Hanna-Barbera cartoon Fred and Barney Meet the Thing. In a 1993 episode of The Simpsons titled "Lady Bouvier's Lover", after Grampa cries out, "Good night, Mrs. Bouvier, wherever you are," the blue-haired lawyer announces himself in charge of Jimmy Durante's estate and therefore puts a halt to Abraham Simpson's "unauthorized imitation" of Durante. The voice and appearance of Crispy, the mascot for Crispy Critters cereal, was also based on Durante.^[13] In Disney's House of Mouse, a character named Mortimer Mouse (voiced by Maurice LaMarche} was based on Durante, complete with the 'ha-cha-cha!'.

Cultural references[link]

• In The Unit (season 4) episode "Switchblade", when the team seems to be outgunned at an overseas embassy that is under siege, one of their shooters has been killed, and their escape aircraft has been incapacitated, Mack Gerhardt says, "Good night, Mrs. Calabash".
• British comedian Eric Morecambe would occasionally break into an impression of Durante on the Morecambe and Wise Show while wearing a plastic cup on his nose, miming piano-playing and putting on a fake accent to say: "Sitting at my pianna the udder day ..."
• Herry Monster from Sesame Street had a voice (and nose) modeled after Jimmy Durante.
• A street on the east side of Las Vegas is named after Durante. A street in Del Mar, California, specifically located at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, is also named after him.
• The voice of Apocalypse Lane character Cuddles the cat was said to be "a vulgar Jimmy Durante" by creator Jon Etheridge.
• Martin Short uses a Jimmy Durante imitation in character as aging vaudevillian songsmith Irving Cohen. When this character was revived almost 20 years later for his one-man show, Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, he amped up the Durante imitation to the point of using his catchphrase "Ha-cha-cha-chaaaaaaa!" as his exit line.
• In the late 1960s, Jimmy Durante appeared in a commercial for Scotties tissue, claiming that he liked them because they were "3-sneezers".
• A 2008 Acura MDX commercial uses Durante's "Make Someone Happy" throughout.
• Crow, from Mystery Science Theater 3000, often imitated Jimmy Durante during movies or in sketches.
• In The Powerpuff Girls Movie, there is a monkey that is named Ha-cha-cha-cha and has a big nose, which refers to Jimmy's quote ha-cha-cha-cha.
• In the improvisational comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway, Durante is often referred to in impressions, either as a character the player pretends to be, or as a visual gag (Such as in the game Props, in which a player would hold their prop to their face, imitating Durante's nose, and go "Ha-cha-cha-chaaaa!")
• Cartoonist Drew Friedman created a one-page comic strip for Spy Magazine called "Jimmy Durante Boffs Young Starlets." The strip shows Durante with a bevy of young ladies to whom he exclaims, "And you goils thought my NOSE was big!"
• The 1991 film City Slickers features Durante singing "Young At Heart" during scenes from the first day of the cattle drive.
• The comic band The Blanks, also known as "Ted's Band" from the US comedy-drama Scrubs, released a song in their album Ride The Wave called "The Ballad of Jimmy Durante". The song tells the story of Jimmy's life, with mention of his "Schnozz", "Ha cha cha cha" and everybody wanting to get into the act.
• In the musical 42nd Street, (set in the year 1933), the song "Gettin' Out of Town" features the phrase "hot-cha-cha-cha, hot-cha-cha-cha"—a possible reference to Durante.
• Referenced in a Crispy Critters cereal commercial (1987). The commercials for the cereal featured a puppet named "Crispy" with pom-pom antennae and a furry yellow body. Crispy spoke and sang with a voice based on that of Jimmy Durante including the nonsense phrase "Ah-cha-cha-cha".
• Glenn Beck parodies Jimmy Durante's "Mrs. Calabash" sign-off on his Television show replacing "Mrs. Calabash" with "Mrs. Dunn".
• In the Cole Porter song You're The Top, in the Broadway show Anything Goes, Reno, while listing pairs of great things, rhymes the line "You're a rose, you're Inferno's Dante" with "You're the nose on the great Durante."
• In the Sealab 2021 episode "Waking Quinn," Dr. Quinn hallucinates a gravelly-voiced sea lion named "Stinky Pete," who uses Durante's line "Ah-cha-cha-cha-chaaa!"

Filmography[link]

Discography[link]

• 1959 At the Piano--In Person (album)
• 1963 September Song
• 1964 Hello Young Lovers
• 1965 Jimmy Durante's Way of Life...
• 1966 One of Those Songs
• 1967 Songs for Sunday