November 16, 1935: Jumbo opens at the New York Hippodrome. The music was written by Richard Rodgers, the lyrics by Lorenz Hart, and the book by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. It was produced by Billy Rose, one of the leading impresarios of the era.
It tells the story of a troubled circus that gets saved by a large elephant, a story based on how the real Jumbo was featured by P.T. Barnum from 1882 until its death in 1885. It is filmed in 1962, as Billy Rose's Jumbo, as Rose made a deal that, if it were ever made into a movie, his name would appear in the title, even if he had nothing to do with it.
William Samuel Rosenberg was born on September 6, 1899 in Manhattan. He began his entertainment career as a songwriter, writing the lyrics for such songs as "Me and My Shadow" with Edward Eliscu, "Does the Spearmint Lose Its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight" (later "Does Your Chewing Gum Lose... ") with Marty Bloom, "I Found a Million Dollar Baby" with Mort Dixon, and "It's Only a Paper Moon" with Yip Harburg.
He moved into producing shows, including several on Broadway. In 1937, he established Billy Rose's Aquacade, a water stunt show, moving it to the New York World's Fair in 1939. The amphitheater where it was staged was one of the last remaining structures from that Fair.
He was married 5 times to 4 different women. The 1st of these was the famed comedienne Fanny Brice, on whom the musical Funny Girl was based. The 2nd was Olympic Gold Medal swimmer Eleanor Holm, who starred in his Aquacade. Their affair had broken up both of their marriages. His 3rd and 4th wife was showgirl Joyce Matthews, who had also married and divorced comedian Milton Berle twice.
In his later years, Rose continued to run theaters and produce shows, and was an activist for the State of Israel. He died on February 10, 1966, at his vacation home in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
The star of both the Broadway and the film versions of Jumbo was Jimmy Durante. In it, he led a live elephant across the stage. An actor playing a policeman asked him, "What are you doing with that elephant?" Durante said, "What elephant?" Thus was born the expression "the elephant in the room." Doris Day co-starred in the film version.
James Francis Durante was born on February 10, 1893, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the son of immigrants from Salerno in southern Italy. In 1918, Durante's Original New Orleans Jazz Band (he was the only member not from New Orleans) was (as far as is known) the 1st racially integrated jazz band. Known as "Ragtime Jimmy," he played piano and sang, but he couldn't resist stopping a song to tell a joke.
He was nicknamed "Schnozzola" (an Italianization of the Yiddish word "schnoz") for his enormous nose, but his heart was bigger. Through vaudeville, film, radio and television, he made people laugh from coast to coast. He was known for singing the 1934 hit "Inka Dinka Doo," the 1944 hit "You Gotta Start Off Each Day With a Song," and his version of the 1954 hit "Young at Heart." His catchphrases included "Ah-cha-cha-cha!" "Everybody wants to get into the act!" and "I got a million of 'em!"
In the 1942 film The Man Who Came to Dinner, he played Banjo, a character based on Harpo Marx of the Marx Brothers. In 1963, he played Smiler Grogan, the dying gangster whose stash of cash kicks off the "cast of thousands" comedy It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. In 1969, he voiced the narrator of the Christmas special Frosty the Snowman. He inspired numerous cartoon characters, including Spike the bulldog in the Tom & Jerry cartoons, and Doggie Daddy (father of Augie Doggie) from the Hanna-Barbera cartoons.
He hosted 2 different TV shows in the 1950s, closing by saying, "And goodnight, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are." "Mrs. Calabash" was his pet name for his 1st wife, Jeanne Olsen, died in 1943.
Jimmy was a poor kid who made it big, and, unlike some, he never forgot. He was a big supporter of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. He was one of the performers at the Madison Square Garden fundraiser for President John F. Kennedy's birthday in 1962, which everyone remembered for Marilyn Monroe singing "Happy Birthday."
He died on January 29, 1980. The Shriners had a statue made of him, for his contributions to their cause, with an inscription that truthfully stated that his heart was even bigger than his nose.
The Hippodrome Theatre, also called the New York Hippodrome, was on 6th Avenue between 43rd and 44th Streets, a block east of Times Square. It operated from 1905 to 1939 and was called the world's largest theater by its builders, with a seating capacity of 5,300 and a stage measuring 100 by 200 feet. It had state-of-the-art theatrical technology, including a tank built into the stage apron that could be filled with water for aquatic performances. A modern office tower known as The Hippodrome Center opened on the site in 1952.
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November 16, 1935 was a Saturday. Political columnist Elizabeth Drew was born.
Baseball was out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. There were 2 games in the NHL. The New York Rangers lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-2 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. And the Montreal Maroons beat the Boston Bruins, 1-0 at the Montreal Forum.
And these notable college football games were played:
* Minnesota beat Michigan, 40-0. It was one of the worst defeats the Wolverines have ever sustained at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor. The Golden Gophers went on to go undefeated and win the Big Ten Conference and National Championships.
* In a major rivalry, Virginia and Virginia Tech played to a tie, 0-0 at Scott Stadium in Charlottesville, Virginia.
* In a major rivalry, Duke beat North Carolina, 25-0 at Duke Stadium (now Wallace Wade Stadium) in Durham, North Carolina. Duke won the Southern Conference Championship.
* In a major rivalry, Vanderbilt beat Tennessee, 13-7 at Shields-Watkins Field (later Neyland Stadium) in Knoxville, Tennessee. At the time, this was not an upset, let alone a major one, like it would be in the modern era.
* Louisiana State University beat Georgia, 13-0 at Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia. This clinched the Southeastern Conference Championship for LSU.
* The University of Pittsburgh beat Nebraska, 6-0 at Pitt Stadium in Pittsburgh. In spite of their defeat, Nebraska won the Big Six Conference title.
* Southern Methodist University beat Arkansas, 17-6 at The Hill in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
* Texas Christian University beat Texas, 28-0 at Memorial Stadium in Austin. Two weeks later, SMU beat TCU to win the Southwest Conference Championship. TCU went on to beat LSU in the Sugar Bowl.
* Stanford beat the University of Montana, 32-0 at Stanford Stadium in the San Francisco suburb of Palo Alto, California. The next week, Stanford beat the University of California, to win the Pacific Coast Conference title. They went on to beat SMU in the Rose Bowl, 7-0, eliminating SMU from National Championship consideration. A 7-6 loss to UCLA earlier in the season cost them an undefeated season and the National Championship.
* Army and Notre Dame played to a 6-6 tie in front of 78,114 people at Yankee Stadium.
* Navy beat Columbia, 28-7 at Thompson Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland.
* Fordham beat Muhlenberg, 45-0 at the Polo Grounds.
* The University of Pennsylvania beat Penn State, 33-6 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.
* Princeton beat Lehigh, 27-0 at Palmer Stadium in Princeton, New Jersey.
* And the night before, New York University beat Rutgers, 48-0 at Ohio Field in The Bronx.
