Eddie Cantor — comedian with roots in the Russian Empire
Eddie Cantor was one of the most popular entertainers in America from the 1910s through the 1950s — a vaudevillian, Broadway star, radio host, and Hollywood actor known for his banjo eyes, rapid-fire delivery, and social conscience. He was also one of the founders of the March of Dimes.
Tracing the roots — Russia
Born Isidore Itzkowitz on the Lower East Side in 1892 to parents Mechel Iskowitz and Meta Kantrowitz who emigrated from Russia, Cantor grew up in the immigrant Jewish world of New York's tenements. His energy, his sentimentality, and his comedy are the direct expression of that world's hunger to be seen and heard.
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Russia. At the time, this region lay within the Russian Empire, which spanned from Poland to the Pacific.
A career defined by ambition
"It takes 20 years to become an overnight success."