Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 18, No. 42, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 15, 1964 Page: 1 of 12
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• EDDIE CANTOR
I,
jess jawin
One of America’s gayest voices was stilled last week when
death claimed the inimitable Eddie Cantor.
Few of the teen-age set, if any, may recall the genius of Ed-
die Cantor, the comedian.
History has well recorded the deeds of Eddie Cantor, the
humanitarian.
rhis product of New York Citv’s lowest East Side was or-
phaned at an early age and was raised by a beloved grandmother.
A singer at an early age—he sang as a cmld at a summer camp,
for poor children which he attended and was held over for other-
sessions to entertain other campers. He became one of the young-
est members of the Gus Edwards Troupe of child stars. George
Jessel, a lifetime friend of Eddie’s was also a member of the group.
It was one great step and a comparatively short amount of
time that passed from his Gus Edwards days and Eddie found
himself the start of the Ziefeld Follies for successive years. Then
he pla3red in his own musical comedies. “Kid Boots’’ and “WHO-
PAEE” to SRO audiences.
Eddie had already warmed the hearts of Americans when
the- stock market crash of 1929 plunged the nation into the black-
est depression in its history.
Fortunes were wiped out. Some newspapers printed the tally
of suicide- obituaries. Job holders became relief applicants. And
soon the depression deepened and there wTere breadlines and
fear engulfed the hearts of Americans as we saw the dismal years
of 1930 . . . 1931 . . . 1932 . . . 1933 . . .
Eddie Cantor braced himself and plunged into radio. With
the advent of the written radio show, he was soon heralded as
Its King.
And he played his part royally.
Eddie Cantor knew his country was in its darkest hours . . .
that neighbor envied, feared and distrusted! neighbor . . . that
hate was churning the country into a mad division of people in-
stead of a United States of America.
Eddie knew how to combat fear, distrust, envy and hate. These
emotions had to be fought with another emotion. With love and
daughter. Remember the song that broke out over the airways?
The words may be simple enough as hear them:
“Happy Days Are Here Again
The Skies Above Are Clear Again
Happy Days Are Here Again!
All Together Shout It Now
There’s No One Who Can Doubt It Now
Let Us Sing A Song About It Now
Happy Days Are Here Again!
Your Cares And Troubles Are Gone
They’ll Be No More From Now On.
Happy Days Are Here Again
Let Us Sing A Song Of Cheer Again
Happy Days Are Here Again!’
Eddie Cantor took that song and fused it into the hearts of
his fellow Americans. He cheered them on each week, buoying
the spirits of his countrymen.
Certainly he reached a new pinnacle of fame in the enter-
tainment world. His fortunes grew. But he served a far greater
purpose. For soon laughter drove the demon fear out of the dark
corners and into the open. With the infection of laughter, the
negative emotions: hate, jealousy and envy were to fall by the
wayside. The country learned that the “only thing to fear was fear
itself.” The country learned, too, that Americans had to help each
other. Eddie Cantor urged his countrymen to help each other to
wipe out a disease called polio. There was a “March of Dimes”
iustituted to start the campaign roiling. Americans dug down to
establish the original National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis.
And we know that polio has been uealt a crushing blow'. The
Salks and Sabins worked miracles in the test tubes in the 1950’s.
No credit should be denied them. But, let us never forget that it
was the Cantors who urged the-ir feLow Americans to launch and
support this research organization.
Some critics will tell you that a true comedian’s job is to
entertain and do npthing m-ore thau that.
Eddie Cantor was a little above the true comic. At heart he
was a humanitarian who had that -are gem at his fingertips —
the art of being able to make ^ne laugh. He made not only ordi-
nary happy people laugh, but ;ad, depressed and despondent
people as w'ell. He was perhaps the first comedian who used
the national networks to help improve the lot of his fellowman
in addition to the provision ot entertainment.
•
Eddie Cantor carried this “heart” into his private life. He
sponsored camps for underprivileged children, played benefit per-
formances for countless worthy hospitals and homes for the aged.
To list all of Eddie Cantor’s deeds would take volumes. But
above them all was this paramount one: When he saw the need
he answered the call.
Eddie Cantor suffered a stroke about a decade ago. He had
to absent himself from the video world of movies and television.
The death of his wife, Ida, after their long marriage was an-
other suffering blow.
But Eddie Cantor wen# on in life as best as he could. He
wro’e columns and books. (The Texas Jewish Post was offered a
Cantor series a few years ago.)
Though independently wealthy, he continued to work and
Continued T« Postorial Pag®
$ Texas Jewish Post $
SAP- Fcven Arts Feature*
WNF —Worldwide New* Servlc®
uNF—1’nlted Nation* Service
Dedicated :•> T:uth. Liberty and Justice Mcrnbtr
THE SOUTHWEST’S LFADIXn FKnriSH-,JEWISH WEEKLY XEWS^pTr -Tr*''
VOLUME XVIII NO. 42
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1964 12 PAGES__ 15c PER COPY
While performing in Dallas on September 15, 1950, in his
one-man show, Eddie Cantor, who was always interested in com-
munity affairs, took time from his busy schedule to meet with
the presidents of the Dallas and Fort Worth Jewish Federations
at that time. Pictured are, left to right, M. M. “Mickey” Gold-
man of Fort Worth, Eddie Cantor discussing a story in the Texas
Jewish Post, and Irving rioldberg of Dallas. (See jess jawin.)
Jordan Yarmuck Dam.
LONDON (JTA) — Work
has started on a dam on the
Yarmuk River, a tributary in
Jordon of the Jordan River,
as the first stage in an Arab
program to bar the river waters
to Israel, it was reported here
from Amman
The work on the projected
Mokheiba Dam was launched in
a ceremony near A1 Adasiah ab-
out 80 miles north of Amman
Ali Nassough Tasher, vice-chair-
man of the Jordanian Develop-
ment Board, declared during the
ceremony that the plan to build
the dam was aimed primarily at
“saving the land which would be
affected by Israel’s usurpation of
the largest part of the Jordan
River’s water, diverting it out of
the river’s basin.”
Israel has developed a huge ir-
rigation pipeline project which
draws' on the Jordan River
through Lake Tiberias.
Israel Consul, Joseph Raziel. To Be F.W. Federation Speaker
Mr. Joseph Raziel, Consul in
the Consulate- General of Israel
in New York City in charge of
Israel’s Information Service in
the United States and outstand-
ing authority on Israel's immi-
gration and absorption problems
will be the guest speaker at the
28th Annual meeting of the Ft.
Worth Jewish Federation, Sun-
day, October 18, 8 p.m., at A-
havath Sholom Synagogue’s Cen-
ter, 1600 West Myrtle-.
Mr. Raziel, one of Israel’s de-
dicated young leaders, in the
third generation of his family
to devote all of his energies to
the furthering of Jewish aspera-
tions in Israel. He was born in
London, England, and was
brought to Palestine when he
was -six m-onths old
JOSEPH RAZIFT
fr«m the Jerusalem High School
during World War n, he bfe-
• came d member of the Palma;!*-,
the Haganah’s striking force, In
1942, he enlisted in the British
• Army and saw service in the
Western Desert and in Italy as
a member of the Jewish Brigade
composed of Palestinian Jews.
After the War, Mr. Raziel.
stayed behind in Europe and
was involved with the Aliyah
“B” <the Jewish “illegal” immi-
gration organization) which
brought thousands of displaced
Jews out of Central Europe and
Itay to pre-Israel Palestine.
At the beginning of 1948, he
organized and commanded the
fiist flying school of the Israel
Air Force which was maintained
in Jt^ly and later that year re-
Continued To PostOrial Pag®
Like all the men of his gen- in the Jewish defense • forces as
eration, he began his services a schoolboy. After graduating
Schepps JCC To Host Sub-Regional Leaders Confab
Dallas will be the scene this
weekend of a Sub-Regional Con-
ference of Jewish leaders and
professional workers from Jew-
ish communities in Texas, Okla-
homa, and Louisiana according
to Mrs. Milton Sirkin, president
of the National Jewish Welfare
Board • Southern Region. Under
the general chairmanship of
Joe Golman, prominent Dallas
leader and Vice President of the
region, delegates to the confer-
ences will gather this Saturday
and Sunday, October 24-25 at
the Julius Schepps Community
Center for a series of workshop"?
and meetings dealing with vari-
ous problems of Jewish Commu-.
nity Centers, JWB Armed Ser-
vices Committees, and Jewish
Federation - sponsored leisure
time program activities.
Keynoting the weekend will
be Emanuel Batshaw, Communi-
ty Services Director of the Na-
tional Jewish Welfare Board
who will speak on fhe subject
“Teenagers and Young Adults
As American Jews or as Jewish
Americans.” Also keynoting the
workshop sessions will be Chap-
lain <Lt. Col.) Oscar M. Lifshutz,
Brooke Army Medical Center’
Fort Sam Houston, who will dis-
cuss the problems of meeting the
religious and welfare needs of
Jewish men and women in the
U. S.- Armed f orces.
MRS. MILTON SIRKIN
, Conference1 Chairman, Joe
Golmaa sales that the con-
ference, will include representa-
tives frem communities with
Centers, communities with Fed-
erations but no Centers, and
smaller communities without
either Federations or Centers
but with Armed Services Com-
mittees. There will be work-
shops of interest to all including
those on Teenagers and Young
Adults Organizing Leisure-time
Activities In Smaller Communi-
ties, Organizing Programs For
Adults Serving the Jewish Mili-
tary, Factors Affecting Financ-
ing, Membership Recruitment,
How to Meet Personnel Short-
ages, and many others.
The local Arrangements Com-
mittee has scheduled a wonder-
ful program of social and hos-
pitality events to host the out-
of-town guests. A block of rooms
has been reserved at the Shera-
ton Hotel to accomodate the out-
of-towners.
Papers on topics relevant to
the conference theme will be
presented by lay leaders from
Dallas, Houston, Tulsa, New Or-
leans, Oklahoma City, and Cor-
pus Christi.
The National Jewish Welfare
Board is the national association
of Jewish Community Centers
and YMHAs, the government ac-
credited agency for serving the
morale, welfare, and religious
needs of Jewish men and women
in the U. S. Armed Forces and
in Veterans Hospital, the ecclesi-
astical endorsing body for Jew-
ish Military chaplains, and the
sponsoring agency for the Jew-
ish Rock Council and the Na-
tional Jewish Music Council.
r.
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Wisch, J. A. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 18, No. 42, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 15, 1964, newspaper, October 15, 1964; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth755704/m1/1/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .