Eddie Cantor was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 "illustrated song

Illustrated songs

An illustrated song is a type of performance art and was a popular form of entertainment in the early 20th century in the United States.Live performers and music recordings were both used by different venues to accompany still images projected from glass slides...

" performer, comedian

Comedian

A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...

, dancer, singer, actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

 and songwriter

Songwriter

A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...

. Familiar to Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

, radio

Radio

Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...

, movie and early television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 audiences, this "Apostle of Pep" was regarded almost as a family member by millions because his top-rated radio shows revealed intimate stories and amusing anecdotes about his wife Ida and five daughters. Some of his hits include "Makin' Whoopee", "Ida", "If You Knew Susie

If You Knew Susie

"If You Knew Susie" is the title of a popular song from the 1920s written by Buddy DeSylva and Joseph Meyer.With a name immortally linked with many hits, Eddie Cantor's best-known 1920s success was undoubtedly "If You Knew Susie", which was a U.S...

", "Ma! He's Makin' Eyes at Me

Lena Zavaroni

Lena Hilda Zavaroni was a Scottish child singer and a television show host. With her album Ma! He's Making Eyes At Me at ten years of age, she is the youngest person in history to have an album in the UK album chart top ten. Later in life she hosted TV shows and appeared on stage...

", "Margie" and "How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm

Reuben and Rachel

Reuben and Rachel is a traditional song written by Harry Birch and William Gooch . Originally published in Boston in 1871, the song has regained popularity as a children's song....

 (After They've Seen Paree?)" He also wrote a few songs, including "Merrily We Roll Along"

Merrily We Roll Along (song)

"Merrily We Roll Along" is a song loosely based on the 1847 song "Goodnight, Ladies" by E. P. Christy. Written by Charlie Tobias, Murray Mencher, and Eddie Cantor in 1935, and used in the Warner Bros cartoon Billboard Frolics that same year, it is best known as the theme of Warner Bros.' Merrie...

, the Merrie Melodies

Merrie Melodies

Merrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1969.Originally produced by Harman-Ising Pictures, Merrie Melodies were produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1933 to 1944. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944,...

Warner Bros. cartoon

Looney Tunes

Looney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...

 theme.

His eye-rolling song-and-dance routines eventually led to his nickname, "Banjo Eyes".