Eddie Cantor

Born Edward Israel Izkowitz in New York’s Lower East Side, Eddie Cantor was raised by his grandmother Esther Kantrowitz in a tenement. Izzy Kanter, as he was known in his childhood, struggled with hunger while trying to entertain, making his vaudeville debut in 1907. He first appeared on Broadway with Ziegfield’s 1917 Follies, initially as a performer and then as a writer. In 1914 Kanter married Ida Tobias, Anglicizing his name to Eddie Cantor. He had a prolific career in entertainment across vaudeville, Broadway, radio, film, and television. His cowritten “Merrily We Roll Along” (1935) has been featured in hundreds of television episodes and films, making it one of the most memorable melodies in television history. Cantor wrote or cowrote more than twenty books.