Editing Jimmy Durante (section)

==Stardom==
By the mid-1920s, Durante had become a [[vaudeville]] star and radio personality in a trio named Clayton, Jackson and Durante. When the trio played Broadway's famed Palace Theater during the week of June 4, 1928, [https://collections.newberry.org/asset-management/2KXJ8ZSKM0VZL?WS=AssetManagement Betty Felsen]'s production of [https://collections.newberry.org/asset-management/2KXJ8ZSK3Z1OG?WS=AssetManagement ''Ballet Caprice'' headlined] the bill. [[Lou Clayton]] and [[Eddie Jackson (vaudeville)|Eddie Jackson]], Durante's closest friends, often reunited with Durante in subsequent years. Jackson and Durante appeared in the [[Cole Porter]] musical ''[[The New Yorkers]]'', which opened on Broadway on December 8, 1930. Earlier the same year, the team appeared in the film ''[[Roadhouse Nights]]'', ostensibly based on [[Dashiell Hammett]]'s novel ''[[Red Harvest]]''.{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}

By 1934, Durante had a major record hit with his own novelty composition, "[[Inka Dinka Doo]]", with lyrics by [[Ben Ryan (composer)|Ben Ryan]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/search/track/Inka+Dinka+Doo/order:default-asc |title=Track Search: Inka Dinka Doo |publisher=AllMusic |access-date=May 10, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110808151814/http://www.allmusic.com/search/track/Inka+Dinka+Doo/order:default-asc |archive-date=August 8, 2011 }}</ref> 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 (musical)|Jumbo]]''. Durante also appeared on Broadway in ''[[Show Girl (1929 musical)|Show Girl]]'' (1929), ''Strike Me Pink'' (1934) and ''[[Red, Hot and Blue]]'' (1936).
[[File:Speak Easily (1932) 1.jpg|thumb|right|262px|[[Buster Keaton]], [[Thelma Todd]] and Durante in ''[[Speak Easily]]'' (1932)]]
During the early 1930s, Durante alternated between Hollywood and Broadway. Outstanding among his early motion pictures was ''[[The Phantom President]]'' (1932), starring [[George M. Cohan]] with Durante as his gregarious pal. Durante then replaced [[Cliff Edwards]] as the comic foil in [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer]]'s [[Buster Keaton]] comedies: ''[[Speak Easily]]'' (1932), ''[[The Passionate Plumber]]'' (1932), and ''[[What! No Beer?]]'' (1933). Although his style of fast-talking comedy did not always mesh smoothly with the mimed visuals of Keaton, their series proved successful enough and might have continued. However, Keaton was experiencing personal problems including loss of control over his movies, alcohol abuse, and a messy divorce, so MGM fired Keaton and kept Durante. MGM gave Durante leads in moderately budgeted comedies like ''[[Meet the Baron]]'' (1933) and ''[[Hollywood Party (1934 film)|Hollywood Party]]'' (1934), but he couldn't carry an entire feature film; he was more effective as somebody's sidekick, and MGM released him in 1934.

Durante went to England to work in a [[Richard Tauber]] film musical, ''[[Land Without Music]]'' (released in the United States as ''Forbidden Music''). Upon his return to Hollywood, there were no movie jobs for him. [[Columbia Pictures]] offered him a major role in its college musical ''[[Start Cheering]]'', filmed in 1937, and he received excellent critical notices, re-establishing him in movies. From then on, he almost always appeared in strong supporting roles.

Durante went on to appear in the [[Gene Autry]] musical western ''[[Melody Ranch]]'' (1940), ''[[The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942 film)|The Man Who Came to Dinner]]'' (1942, playing Banjo, a character based on [[Harpo Marx]]), ''[[Ziegfeld Follies (film)|Ziegfeld Follies]]'' (1945), ''[[Billy Rose's Jumbo (film)|Billy Rose's Jumbo]]'' (1962, based on the 1935 musical), and ''[[It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World]]'' (1963).