Banjo eyes

by Herbert G. Goldman

Banjo Eyes returns the spotlight to the small, unlikely figure who reigned as the clown prince of American musical theater during a glorious era when New York was the center of the world, and Broadway was the center of New York. Written by acclaimed biographer Herbert G. Goldman, it vividly recreates Cantor's extraordinary journey. Here are the overcrowded tenements and sidewalk scuffles of New York's teeming Lower East Side, where Cantor was born Israel Iskowitz, the only child of penniless Jewish immigrants, in 1892. Here is the dreaded "hook," the catcalls, and the spontaneous ovations of the old burlesque houses in which the teenaged Eddie first made his mark. And here, in riveting detail, is the Broadway of Florenz Ziegfeld and the Shubert brothers, brimming with backstage romances, double dealings, fierce camaraderie, and even fiercer rivalries. We follow Cantor west to Hollywood, where he became the first Broadway musical star to sustain a successful film career, then return eas