THE TWO STOOGES (Audio)

EDDIE CANTOR WITH BERT (THE MAD RUSSIAN) GORDON AND CHARLIE CANTOR (CLIFTON FINNEGAN) WITH ED GARDNER.

THE TWO STOOGES

Webster defines stooge as, “One who plays a subordinate or compliant role to a principal.”

When one thinks of Network Radio’s most famous stooges, Jerry Colonna comes first to mind - truly in a class by himself working with Bob Hope for ten years on radio, in films and over many USO tours. Colonna’s face and persona became so famous that he became a star in his own right. (See "Professor" Jerry Colonna on this site.)

This post, however, concerns two professional stooges who matched Colonna’s longevity in Network Radio and got their share of laughs but worked in relative anonymity - Bert Gordon, Eddie Cantor’s Mad Russian and Charlie Cantor, Clifton Finnegan of Duffy‘s Tavern.

Barney Gorodetsky was born in New York in 1895 and entered vaudeville in 1909 as a teenage singer in a Gus Edwards’ Newsboys group. By 1914, as Bert Gordon, he and his brother Harry put together a dialect comedy act with Bert specializing in Slavic characters. With the decline of vaudeville he transitioned into New York’s Yiddish theater scene where he was discovered for appearances on Broadway in George White’s Scandals working his accented dialect material to the straight lines provided by a succession of gorgeous, scantily dressed showgirls.

Gordon’s Mad Russian character was born in that period and in the early thirties he took it to radio with appearances on a number of shows including Jack Benny’s first broadcasts.

After a supporting role as Mischa Moody to Milton Berle on Gillette’s Community Sing in 1936, Gordon joined Eddie Cantor’s Texaco Town on CBS as a second foreign-accented stooge to the comedian behind Harry Einstein’s “Greek,“ Nick Parkyakarkus. When Einstein left for Al Jolson’s Lifebuoy Program in 1937, Gordon became Cantor’s lone second banana and his Mad Russian’s opening line every week, “How do you dooo!”, was a sure-fire, show stopping, laugh-getter.

Gordon signed a personal management contract with Cantor and the next ten years were kind to him. Cantor and Gordon were inseparable on radio, whether on Cantor’s own program or in guest appearances on other shows. Wherever Cantor went, listeners could be assured that The Mad Russian would pop up when least expected.

Cantor also arranged for Gordon to branch into movies on a limited scale beginning with two forgettable Universal films from the mid-30’s, She Gets Her Man and School For Swing. Gordon’s biggest film of the decade was RKO’s New Faces of 1937 in which he was billed under Joe Penner, Milton Berle and Harry Einstein’s Parkyakarkus. Unfortunately for all concerned, the picture was a box office flop.

Cantor’s NBC radio show featuring Gordon had become one of Wednesday’s most popular programs from 1940-46, and in 1944 The Mad Russian was renamed Boris Tsoris, ("trouble" in Yiddish), and made Cantor's Russian neighbor. Nevertheless, the remainder of Gordon’s film career was relegated to low budgeted B-movies: Republic’s Outside of Paradise and Columbia’s Sing For Your Supper, Laugh Your Blues Away and Let’s Have Fun.

Gordon’s last movie was How Doooo You Do!, (incorrect emphasis), from Producers’ Releasing Corporation, (PRC), in December, 1945. PRC was the epitome of Hollywood’s “Poverty Row” studios - cranking out low budget quickies destined for second billing in double-feature houses. How Doooo You Do!, teaming Gordon with Harry Von Zell, another regular on Eddie Cantor’s show, was PRC’s 224th production of 1945.

Cantor dropped Gordon from the show that year and his ratings sank. Gordon filled in with guest shots over the next two years - then The Mad Russian returned to Cantor’s fold in 1948. But as the Cold War escalated listeners weren’t finding Russians - however mad they might be - as funny as before. Nevertheless, the comedian often described as the little bug-eyed man with the steel wool hair, wiggling ears and silly voice, remains one of Network Radio’s most colorful and popular characters.

Unlike Gordon’s one-dimensional character, Charlie Cantor was popular among Network Radio producers for his versatility - playing supporting roles in volume. One of those producers was Ed Gardner who worked top-line shows for the J. Walter Thompson agency before creating his own series, Duffy’s Tavern.

Charlie Cantor was a former salesman and vaudevillian who didn’t break into radio until he was 35 years old in 1933. But he soon became a “first-call“ talent. It’s reported that at one time in the early 1940’s Cantor appeared,, often anonymously, in 26 separate programs per week - ranging from heavies on Gangbusters and The Shadow to light comedic bits on Meet Mr. Meek and, (teamed with Minerva Pious), The Kate Smith Hour.

Pious went on to fame as Mrs. Pansy Nussbaum on The Fred Allen Show aka Texaco Star Theater beginning in 1940. It was on that same CBS series that Cantor created the dim-witted Socrates Mulligan, the prototype to his signature role of Clifton Finnegan on Duffy’s Tavern. (Finnegan’s name, of course, was a spoof of Clifton Fadiman, host of the intellectual quiz Information Please).

Beginning in 1941 and through his eight season run as Ed Gardner’s barfly stooge Finnegan, Cantor popularized, “Duhh,” as the symbolic expression for ignorance. For the character Cantor used what he claimed was just one of his 24 different voices for “the mentally challenged.” The good natured Finnegan rivaled Mortimer Snerd for intelligence and his weekly greeting to Gardner, “Duhh, hi ya, Arch,” drew almost as much laughter and applause as Gordon’s “How do you dooo!.”

However, Cantor’s versatility as an actor was so flexible that during the peak of Duffy’s Tavern’s popularity he also played a number of characters of totally different voice and personality on other programs, including lead support roles on The Life of Riley and Fanny Brice’s Baby Snooks Show. But few listeners were aware that it was their beloved Finnegan unless they listened closely to the shows’ credits.

The only opportunity that listeners had to see Cantor as Finnegan was in 1945’s Paramount release, Duffy’s Tavern, a variety catch-all featuring the studio’s leading stars, Bing Crosby, Betty Hutton and dozens of others in cameo roles.

Gardner moved Duffy’s Tavern production to Puerto Rico in 1949 for tax purposes. But Cantor was so busy with other commitments that he couldn’t afford to leave with the show. So, he left the Finnegan role to character actor Sid Raymond.

As Network Radio work slowed in the early 50’s Charlie Cantor appeared in one movie - Warner Brothers’ Stop, You’re Killing Me and then he moved into television with dozens of credits from 1955 to 1965 ranging from The Jack Benny Program to Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

His five TV appearances with Benny were reunions for two old friends as Cantor often played Logan Jerkfinkle, Benny’s merciless heckler in their radio days. Charlie Cantor died in 1966, a year after his final appearance with Benny.

This post contains a Duffy’s Tavern broadcast from 1947 - a rare opportunity to hear Bert Gordon in his familiar Mad Russian voice and Charlie Cantor as Finnegan perform together.

Next, The Radio Hall of Fame broadcast from February 10, 1946, is posted. The Paul Whiteman ABC variety show spotlights Colonna, Gordon and Cantor - plus two other popular stooges from Network Radio - Eddie Marr and Mel Blanc, collectively billed as We’re The Guys Behind The Guys Who Get The Laughs.

Be prepared to laugh.

Copyright © 2015 Jim Ramsburg, Estero FL Email: tojimramsburg@gmail.com