| The Eddie Cantor Story | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Alfred E. Green |
| Written by | Jerome Weidman Ted Sherdeman Sidney Skolsky |
| Produced by | Sidney Skolsky |
| Starring | Keefe Brasselle Marilyn Erskine Aline MacMahon |
| Cinematography | Edwin B. DuPar |
| Edited by | William H. Ziegler |
| Music by | Ray Heindorf |
Production | |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 115 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $2.3 million (US)[1] |
The Eddie Cantor Story is a 1953 American musical drama film directed by Alfred E. Green and starring Keefe Brasselle, Marilyn Erskine and Aline MacMahon. It is a biopic based on the life of Eddie Cantor featuring Brasselle as Cantor. It was produced and distributed by Warner Brothers.[2] Cantor himself appeared briefly in the film in a cameo role.
Raised by his grandmother on New York's East Side, 13-year-old Eddie sings while another neighborhood kid, Rocky Kramer, and his gang pick pockets. Eddie is sent by Grandma Esther to a boys' camp, where he entertains the others with his songs and routines.
Ida Tobias, daughter of a local merchant, elopes with Eddie a few years later. Rocky is now a local politician and gets Eddie a job in a nightclub. Eddie tells the family he's the star performer there, but he's actually a singing waiter. But piano player Jimmy Durante helps land him a job in a California show.
A headline performer envious of Eddie's popularity pulls a prank, telling him Flo Ziegfeld wants him for the Follies show in New York. It turns out Ziegfeld has never heard of Eddie when he arrives at the theater, but an audition by Eddie is so good, Ziegfeld does indeed hire him.
Ida gives birth to several children while Eddie becomes a big success. She's upset that his family doesn't seem to come first, and matters are complicated when Eddie's fortune is lost in the 1929 stock-market crash. A heart attack slows Eddie, as well, but he prospers on the radio as his health improves, and soon he is happy at work and at home.
The film was announced in 1948 with a budget of $3 million.[3]
