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Durar (AF)Famous comedian Jimmy Durante, 86, died of pneumonia early Tuesday morning at St. John's Hospital, Santa Monica, California. Durante's fractured song-pianojoke routines, including his trademark "Inka Dinka Doo," were a show business staple for 64 years. A stroke in November 1972 left him partially paralyzed and he was forced to Say good night to Mrs. Calabash for the last time. Two years later, he was honored at a tearful appearance before the Banshees in New York. Durante artfully combined wild clowning, outrageous characterizations and pathos. He was a leading star on radio and in early television. He made nearly 30 movies, but he was most successful in those involving his old routines. He ended his radio and irit'vioiuu iui iiiaiiLca wiiii j "Good night. Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are." He once i confided that he was referring to j his first wife, who had died. He remained active in show business, playing regular engagements in Las Vegas and j making guest appearances on television until his stroke in 1972. He was left partially paralyzed in the left arm and left leg and was j confined to a wheelchair. /\ i iui u<* years in snow ousiness, _ the comedian found retirement hard to accept, lie remained at home with his wife, Marjorie, and their adopted daughter, Cece, rarely going out. In April 1974, Durante went to New York for a Banshee luncheon attended by newspaper editors and publishers. He received an award from the Banshees and responded with a faltering rendition of "Inka ta ? ?? JLMIllVa JL/UU. The audience gave him a long standing ovation, and Durante then sang a song associated with his later career, "Young - at Heart." As the applause continued, Durante, with glistening eyes, muttered, "Thank you, folks." In one of his last interviews before his illness, Durante remarked after a Las Vegas performance, "I love it out there. It ain't work. To hear those people out there laugh and enjoy themselves ... When you're out there, you pray to God that it'll never end." He was hospitalized for several weeks in May 1978 with an upper respiratory infection and complications of the earlier stroke. Although paralyzed, Durante continued to receive guests regularly at his Beverly Hills home. His wife called him a "night m'jn " Qho cotrl 4'T'm phoHm (n rfA " Mil. Ullv OU1U, * AAA A V/UUJ IV ^V/ to sleep and he's ready to watch 'The Tonight Show.' He'll analyze the show and if Ed McMahon isn't on he'll say 'Where's the "Here's Johnny" guy ' Jimmy was always indestructible. I could never keep up with him, which is why I married him." Fans continued to write Durante and send him gifts. They send ' 4 MloKnoVi " r\? 11 r\\arc* Ki l ATiio. v>oiauaoii puiuwo, uui ikc ones he liked best were copies of his trademark fedora. Durante starred in virtually every branch of show business, including vaudeville, Broadway, nightclubs, radio, television and movies. He became a headliner in the 1928 Ziegfeld show in which he had the line, 44Be nice to people on the way up. They're the same you'll , pass on the way down." That, he 1 said later, "is a nice line to live by." Durante was raised on Manhattan's East Side, the son of an Italian barber. His first professional job was as a pianist in a saloon called Diamond Tony s on Coney Island. His piano style was strictly razzmatazz, although his parents had aimed him at more serious music. At Terry Walsh's, Durante met a pop-eyed dancing waiter named Eddie Cantor. Cantor advised him, "There's no future in just playing ite dies tho niann Ppnnln lilfo vnn Ii?r?r?-?w you ought to be telling jokes while you're playing, and maybe sing once in a while." Durante replied, "Gee, Eddie, I couldn't do that. I'd be afraid people would laugh at me.' His first wife, Maude Jeanne Olson, whom he married in 1921, died in 1943. He married Marjorie Little on Dec. 14, I960, after a courtship of 16 years. In 1962, when he was 69, the couple adopted a 6 month-old ATTENTION A JUSTICE ASSOCI The Criminal Justice As trip to Washington, D.C. bers who sign up for the deposit. SIGN UP: CUI Rr TRIP DATE: Apri SIGN UP DEADL [33 1 1 I - rvnseS house 9 Gi art Thui Febru Shows at 8p.i RHUU i Only 75 I to be sold f One Ticket $5.50 $6.5C Avail Travel Cei Activ I School Kids ? Budget T at 86 I daughter, Cecelia, whom he called Cece. Durante's losing battle with the English laneuat?e w;is not nhonv His love of big words, a la Mrs. Malaprop, was born of his Brooklyn background. His sandpaper voice and staccato speech fooled no one. He was as tough as wet spaghetti. The millions he earned went mostly to friends, relatives and causes. ^LL CRIMINAL ATION MEMBERS sociation is sponsoring a All interested CJA memtrip must include a $20 RRELL COLLEGE ti. 1 00 (Main Office) I 1 7 April 20 INE: January 31 s I Contempor in associa Pre? forge Tl dTKeD sday (~ nrv 7th i -w m m.and 1 1 p.m 3a 11 room 0 Tickets or each show s * per USC ID USC ID ) Public able at 1 iter In RHUU fe ities Office Records & Tapes ? apes & Records C TONIGHT! Lady Gamecock Basketball | ! use at Univ. of Rlabama Join Sports Director Howard Cornfield and Jimmy Minichello for j.11 al. ?a i! -a / ap i tin me ucTiun sTurnng qt o:ud on WUSC-FM 91.3 : Next Game Feb. 2 I IIC#" ... rx t AA Iujv ?>. vicmson o:uu pm -i . ary Sounds ition with ^96 UUZLD-fm :j >ents horogood estroyers BUM II dHEKi mm With Special Guests: I The Ftllstars I if Charlottesville 9Va.j