American comedian, actor, singer, and pianist (1893?1980)
Jimmy Durante
|
---|
Durante in 1964
|
Born
| James Francis Durante
(
1893-02-10
)
February 10, 1893
|
---|
Died
| January 29, 1980
(1980-01-29)
(aged 86)
|
---|
Resting place
| Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City
|
---|
Other names
| - The Schnoz
- The Great Schnozzola
|
---|
Occupations
| - Comedian
- actor
- singer
- pianist
|
---|
Years active
| 1920?1974
|
---|
Political party
| Democratic
|
---|
Spouses
|
Jeanne Olsen
(
m.
1921; died 1943)
Margie Little
(
m.
1960)
|
---|
Children
| 1 (adopted)
|
---|
|
|
James Francis Durante
(
d?-
RAN
-tee
,
Italian:
[du?rante]
; February 10, 1893 ? January 29, 1980) was an American comedian, actor, singer, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech,
Lower East Side
accent
, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced songs, and prominent nose helped make him one of the United States' most familiar and popular personalities of the 1920s through the 1970s. He often referred to his nose as
the schnozzola
(
Italianization
of the American
Yiddish
slang word
schnoz
, meaning "big nose"), and the word became his nickname.
Early life
[
edit
]
Childhood
[
edit
]
Durante was born on the Lower East Side of New York City. He was the youngest of four children born to Rosa (nee Lentino) and Bartolomeo Durante, both immigrants from
Salerno
,
Campania
, Italy.
[1]
Bartolomeo was a barber.
[2]
[3]
Durante served as an
altar boy
at
St. Malachy Roman Catholic Church
, known as the Actor's Chapel.
[4]
Early career
[
edit
]
Durante dropped out of school in seventh grade to become a full-time
ragtime
pianist. He played in
piano bars
under the name "Ragtime Jimmy" before he joined one of the first recognizable jazz bands in New York, the
Original New Orleans Jazz Band
.
[5]
Durante was the only member not from New Orleans. His routine of breaking into a song to deliver a joke, with band or orchestra chord punctuation after each line, became a Durante trademark. In 1920 the group was renamed Jimmy Durante's Jazz Band.
[
citation needed
]
Stardom
[
edit
]
By the mid-1920s, Durante had become a
vaudeville
star and radio personality in a trio named Clayton, Jackson and Durante.
Lou Clayton
and
Eddie Jackson
, Durante's closest friends, often reunited with Durante in subsequent years. Jackson and Durante appeared in the
Cole Porter
musical
The New Yorkers
, which opened on Broadway on December 8, 1930. Earlier the same year, the team appeared in the film
Roadhouse Nights
, ostensibly based on
Dashiell Hammett
's novel
Red Harvest
.
[
citation needed
]
By 1934, Durante had a major record hit with his own novelty composition, "
Inka Dinka Doo
", with lyrics by
Ben Ryan
.
[6]
It became his theme song for the rest of his life. A year later, Durante starred on Broadway in the
Billy Rose
stage musical
Jumbo
. Durante also appeared on Broadway in
Show Girl
(1929),
Strike Me Pink
(1934) and
Red, Hot and Blue
(1936).
During the early 1930s, Durante alternated between Hollywood and Broadway. Outstanding among his early motion pictures was
The Phantom President
(1932), starring
George M. Cohan
with Durante as his gregarious pal. Durante then replaced
Cliff Edwards
as the comic foil in
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
's
Buster Keaton
comedies:
Speak Easily
(1932),
The Passionate Plumber
(1932), and
What! No Beer?
(1933). Although his style of fast-talking comedy did not always mesh smoothly with the mimed visuals of Keaton, their series proved successful enough and might have continued. However, Keaton was experiencing personal problems including loss of control over his movies, alcohol abuse, and a messy divorce, so MGM fired Keaton and kept Durante. MGM gave Durante leads in moderately budgeted comedies like
Meet the Baron
(1933) and
Hollywood Party
(1934), but he couldn't carry an entire feature film; he was more effective as somebody's sidekick, and MGM released him in 1934.
Durante went to England to work in a
Richard Tauber
film musical,
Land Without Music
(released in the United States as
Forbidden Music
). Upon his return to Hollywood, there were no movie jobs for him.
Columbia Pictures
offered him a major role in its college musical
Start Cheering
, filmed in 1937, and he received excellent critical notices, re-establishing him in movies. From then on, he almost always appeared in strong supporting roles.
Durante went on to appear in the
Gene Autry
musical western
Melody Ranch
(1940),
The Man Who Came to Dinner
(1942, playing Banjo, a character based on
Harpo Marx
),
Ziegfeld Follies
(1945),
Billy Rose's Jumbo
(1962, based on the 1935 musical), and
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
(1963).
Radio
[
edit
]
On September 10, 1933, Durante appeared on
Eddie Cantor
's NBC radio show,
The Chase and Sanborn Hour
, continuing until November 12 of that year. When Cantor left the show, Durante took over as its star from April 22 to September 30, 1934. He then moved on to
The Jumbo Fire Chief Program
(1935?1936).
Durante teamed with
Garry Moore
for
The Durante-Moore Show
in 1943. Durante's comic chemistry with the young, brushcut Moore brought Durante an even larger audience. "Dat's my boy dat said dat!" became an instant
catchphrase
, which would later inspire the cartoon
Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy
. The duo was one of the nation's favorites for the rest of the decade. Their
Armed Forces Radio Network
Command Performance
[7]
[8]
with
Frank Sinatra
remains a favorite of radio-show collectors today. Moore left the duo in mid-1947, and the program returned October 1, 1947 as
The Jimmy Durante Show
. Durante continued the show for three more years and featured a reunion of Clayton, Jackson, and Durante on his April 21, 1948 broadcast.
Television
[
edit
]
Durante first appeared on television showing up at the end of 1944 on John Reed King's audience participation show on the local New York CBS television station WCBW (now
WCBS-TV
). His brief, unannounced, appearance on
The Missus Goes A-Shopping
seg apparently surprised most of the staff as well as the audience. Arrangements were made in the late afternoon for him to pop into camera range, which he did with the reported agility of a tele vet. Billboard Magazine reviewed the appearance: "Without script, rehearsal or make-up he went on and gave a top performance, proving that a star of Durante's caliber shines in any entertainment medium. Aware of camera angle importance, Schnozzle played his profile for all its irregularity. His ad libbing was fast and funny".
From 1950 to 1951, Durante was the host once a month (alternating with
Ed Wynn
,
Danny Thomas
, and
Jack Carson
) on NBC's comedy-variety series
Four Star Revue
, airing on Wednesday evenings at 8 p.m. Jimmy continued with the show until 1954.
Durante then hosted a half-hour variety show,
The Jimmy Durante Show
?on NBC from October 2, 1954, to June 23, 1956.
[9]
Beginning in the early 1950s, Durante teamed with sidekick
Sonny King
, a collaboration that would continue until Durante's death. Several times in the 1960s, Durante served as host of ABC's variety hour
The Hollywood Palace
, which was taped live (and consequently included ad-libs by the seasoned vaudevillian). His last regular television series paired him with
The Lennon Sisters
and was titled, appropriately,
Jimmy Durante Presents the Lennon Sisters
. The series lasted for one season on ABC (1969?1970).
Marriages
[
edit
]
Durante's first wife was Jean "Jeanne" Olson, whom he married on June 19, 1921. She was born in Ohio on August 31, 1896. She was 46 years old when she died on Valentine's Day in 1943, after a lingering heart ailment of about two years, although different newspaper accounts of her death suggest she was 45 or perhaps 52.
[10]
As her death was not immediately expected, Durante was touring in New York at the time and returned to Los Angeles right away to complete the funeral arrangements.
Durante's radio show was bracketed with two trademarks: "Inka Dinka Doo" as his opening theme, and the invariable signoff that became another familiar national catchphrase: "Good night, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are." For years, no one knew who Mrs. Calabash referred to, and Durante preferred to keep the mystery alive until 1966. One theory was that it referred to the owner of a restaurant in
Calabash, North Carolina
, where Durante and his troupe had stopped to eat. He was so taken by the food, the service, and the chitchat that he told the owner that he would make her famous. Since he did not know her name, he referred to her as "Mrs. Calabash".
[11]
At a
National Press Club
meeting in 1966 (broadcast on NBC's
Monitor
program), Durante finally revealed that it was indeed a tribute to his wife. While driving across the country, they stopped in Calabash, a name she had loved. "Mrs. Calabash" became his pet name for her, and he signed off his radio program with "Good night, Mrs. Calabash." He added "wherever you are" after the first year.
[12]
Durante married his second wife, Margaret "Margie" Little, at St. Malachy Roman Catholic Church in New York City on December 14, 1960. As a teenager she had been crowned Queen of the New Jersey State Fair. She attended New York University before being hired by the legendary
Copacabana
in New York City. She and Durante met there 16 years before their marriage, when he performed there and she was a hatcheck girl. She was 41 and he was 67 when they married. With help from their attorney, Mary G. Rogan, the couple were able to adopt a baby, Cecilia Alicia (nicknamed CeCe and now known as CeCe Durante-Bloum), on Christmas Day, 1961. CeCe became a champion horsewoman and then a horse trainer and horseriding instructor. Margie died on June 7, 2009, at the age of 89.
[13]
Charitable work
[
edit
]
On August 15, 1958, for his charitable acts, Durante was awarded a three-foot-high brass
loving cup
by the Al Bahr Shriners Temple in San Diego, California. The inscription reads: "JIMMY DURANTE THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS COMEDIAN. A loving cup to you Jimmy, it's larger than your nose, but smaller than your heart. Happiness always, Al Bahr Temple, August 15, 1958." Jimmy Durante started out his career with Clayton and Jackson and when he became a big star and they were left behind, he kept them on his payroll for the rest of their lives.
[
citation needed
]
Durante's love for children continued through the
Fraternal Order of Eagles
, who among many causes raise money for disabled and abused children. At Durante's first appearance at the Eagles International Convention in 1961, Judge Bob Hansen inquired about his fee for performing. Durante replied, "Do not even mention money judge or I'll have to mention a figure that'll make ya sorry ya brought it up." "What can we do then?" asked Hansen. "Help da kids," was Durante's reply. Durante performed for many years at Eagles conventions free of charge, even refusing travel money. The Fraternal Order of Eagles changed the name of their children's fund to the Jimmy Durante Children's Fund in his honor, and in his memory have raised over $23 million to help children. A reporter once remarked of Durante after an interview: "You could warm your hands on this one." One of the projects built using money from the Durante Fund was a heated therapy swimming pool at the Hughen School in Port Arthur, Texas. Completed in 1968, Durante named the pool the "Inka Dinka Doo Pool".
[
citation needed
]
Religion
[
edit
]
Durante was deeply religious and a staunch
Roman Catholic
. In Las Vegas, he was seen regularly after Sunday Mass outside of the Guardian Angel Cathedral, standing next to the priest and greeting parishioners as they left the church. In 1968 he recorded 10 spiritual and inspirational songs for the album
Songs for Sunday
; it was expanded to 20 selections for a CD release under the same title in 1996.
Politics
[
edit
]
Durante was an active member of the
Democratic Party
. In 1933, he appeared in an advertisement shown in theaters supporting
Franklin D. Roosevelt
's
New Deal
programs and wrote a musical score titled
Give a Man a Job
to accompany it. He performed at both the inaugural gala for President
John F. Kennedy
in 1961 and a year later at the famous
Madison Square Garden
rally for the Democratic party that featured
Marilyn Monroe
singing "Happy Birthday" to JFK
.
[14]
Later years and death
[
edit
]
Durante continued his film appearances through the popular 1963
It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
and a number of television appearances through the early 1970s. He narrated the Rankin-Bass animated Christmas special
Frosty the Snowman
(1969). The television work also included a series of commercial spots for
Kellogg's Corn Flakes
cereals in the mid-1960s, which introduced Durante to millions of children. One of his last appearances was in a television commercial for the 1973
Volkswagen Beetle
, where he proclaimed that the new, roomier Beetle had "plenty of breathin' room... for de old schnozzola!"
[15]
In 1963, Durante recorded the album of pop standards
September Song
. The album became a best-seller and provided Durante's re-introduction to yet another generation, almost three decades later.
Jimmy Durante's Way of Life
album featured his interpretation of the song "
As Time Goes By
", which accompanied the opening credits of the romantic comedy hit
Sleepless in Seattle
, while his version of "
Make Someone Happy
" was in the film's closing credits. Both are included on the film's best-selling soundtrack. Durante also recorded a cover of the well-known song "
I'll Be Seeing You
", which became a trademark song on his 1960s TV show and was featured in the 2004 film
The Notebook
.
[
citation needed
]
He wrote a foreword for a humorous book compiled by Dick Hyman, titled
Cockeyed Americana
. In the first paragraph of the "Foreword!", as Durante called it, he describes meeting Hyman and discussing the book and the contribution that Hyman wanted Durante to make to it. Durante wrote, "Before I can say gaziggadeegasackeegazobbath, we're at his luxurious office." After reading the material Hyman had compiled for the book, Durante commented on it: "COLOSSAL, GIGANTIC, MAGNANIMOUS, and last but not first, AURORA BOREALIS.
[Capitalization Durante's]
Four little words that make a sentence?and a sentence that will eventually get me six months."
[
citation needed
]
Durante retired from performing in 1972, following a stroke that left him reliant on a wheelchair. He made a public appearance in 1974 when MGM held a reunion of its former stars, in connection with its new
That's Entertainment!
film.
Durante died as a result of pneumonia in Santa Monica, California, on January 29, 1980, 12 days before he would have turned 87. He received Catholic funeral rites four days later, with fellow entertainers
Desi Arnaz
,
Ernest Borgnine
,
Marty Allen
, and
Jack Carter
in attendance, and was interred at
Holy Cross Cemetery
in Culver City, California.
[16]
Animation
[
edit
]
Durante is known to most modern audiences as the character who narrated the 1969 animated special
Frosty the Snowman
. He also performed the title song of the 1968 comedy-adventure movie
Monte Carlo or Bust
(titled
Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies
in the U.S.) over the film's animated opening credits.
[
citation needed
]
Allusions and references in animation
[
edit
]
While his own career in animation was limited, Durante's distinctive voice, looks, and catchphrases earned him numerous depictions and allusions in animation. He was caricatured as early as 1933, alongside Buster Keaton in the
Ub Iwerks
cartoon
Soda Squirt
. Director
Tex Avery
presented him as a persecuted turkey in the MGM cartoon
Jerky Turkey
. In MGM's
Tom and Jerry
cartoons with father-and-son bulldogs
Spike and Tyke
, Durante was referenced with a raspy voice and an affectionate "Dat's my boy!" In another Tom and Jerry short,
Surf-Bored Cat
, a starfish lands on Tom's head, giving him a big nose. He then proceeds with Durante's famous "Ha-cha-cha-cha" call. The 1943
Tex Avery
cartoon "
What's Buzzin' Buzzard
" featured a vulture with a voice that sounded like Jimmy Durante.
Hanna-Barbera
continued to use the Durante voice (imitated by
Doug Young
) in
Hanna-Barbera
's
Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy
cartoons, Doggie Daddy invariably addressing the junior dachshund with a Durante-like "Augie, my son, my son", and with frequent citations of, "That's my boy who said that!"
Many Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons had characters based on Durante. One
Harman-Ising
short from 1933,
Bosko's Picture Show
, featured a caricature of
Adolf Hitler
chasing Durante with a meat cleaver. Three examples from the 1940s include
A Gruesome Twosome
, which features a cat based on Durante, and
Baby Bottleneck
, which in unedited versions opens with a Durante-like stork. He also appears as a Walrus in the 1945
United States Armed Forces
World War Two
Training Film
In the Aleutians ? Isles of Enchantment
.
Book Revue
shows the well-known (at that time) 1924
Edna Ferber
novel
So Big
featuring a Durante caricature on the cover. The "so big" refers to his nose, and as a runaway criminal turns the corner by the book, Durante turns sideways using his nose to trip the criminal, allowing his capture. In
Hollywood Daffy
, Durante is directly depicted as himself, pronouncing his catchphrase "Those are the conditions that prevail!" In
The Mouse-Merized Cat
, Catstello (a
Lou Costello
mouse) briefly is hypnotized to imitate Jimmy Durante singing
Lullaby of Broadway
. One of Durante's common catchphrases "I got a million of 'em!" was used as Bugs' final line in
Stage Door Cartoon
.
[
citation needed
]
A Durante-like voice was also used for
Marvel Comics
superhero
the Thing
in the
Hanna-Barbera
cartoon
Fred and Barney Meet the Thing
. The voice and appearance of Crispy, the mascot for
Crispy Critters
cereal, was also based on Durante.
[17]
In
Mickey Mouse Works
, a character named Mortimer Mouse (voiced by
Maurice LaMarche
) was based on Durante, complete with the "ha-cha-cha!". One of the main characters in Terrytoons' Heckle and Jeckle cartoon series also takes to imitating Jimmy in 1948's "Taming The Cat" ("Get a couple of song birds today...").
[
citation needed
]
Legacy
[
edit
]
Since Durante's death, his songs have featured in several films.
Dan Aykroyd
and
Kim Basinger
performed impressions of Durante from
The Man Who Came to Dinner
, singing "Did You Ever Have the Feeling" in 1988's
My Stepmother Is an Alien
.
[18]
His performance of "
Young at Heart
" was featured in
City Slickers
(1991),
[19]
and his versions of "As Time Goes By" and "Make Someone Happy" played over the opening and closing credits of
Sleepless in Seattle
(1993).
Michael J. Fox
performed an impression of Durante singing "Inka Dinka Doo" in 1994's
Greedy
.
[20]
His rendition of "
Smile
" was in the film
Joker
(2019) and its trailer.
[21]
[22]
His rendition of "
The Glory of Love
" was also used in the end credits of the horror film
Orphan
(2009), and in its prequel,
Orphan: First Kill
(2022), with a rendition of it sung by
Isabelle Fuhrman
. His song "The Day I Read a Book" is regularly played on
NPR
's
Weekend Edition
before author interviews and reviews.
Filmography
[
edit
]
- Roadhouse Nights
(1930) as Daffy
- New Adventures of Get Rich Quick Wallingford
(1931) as Schnozzle
- The Christmas Party
(1931, Short) as Santa Claus (uncredited)
- The Cuban Love Song
(1931) as O.O. Jones
- Jackie Cooper's Birthday Party
(1931, Short)
- Hollywood on Parade: Down Memory Lane
(1932, Short)
- Hollywood on Parade
(1932, Short)
- The Passionate Plumber
(1932) as Julius J. McCracken
- The Wet Parade
(1932) as Abe Shilling
- Speak Easily
(1932) as James
- Blondie of the Follies
(1932) as Jimmy
- The Phantom President
(1932) as Curly Cooney
- Le plombier amoureux
(1932) as Tony
- Give a Man a Job
(1933, Short)
- What! No Beer?
(1933) as Jimmy Potts
- Hollywood on Parade No. 9
(1933, Short)
- Hell Below
(1933) as Ptomaine, Ship's Cook
- Broadway to Hollywood
(1933) as Himself, Hollywood Character
- Meet the Baron
(1933) as Joe McGoo ? the Favorite 'Schnozzle' of the Screen
- Palooka
(1934) as Knobby Walsh
- George White's Scandals
(1934) as Happy McGillicuddy
- Strictly Dynamite
(1934) as Moxie
- Hollywood Party
(1934) as Durante/Schnarzan
- Student Tour
(1934) as Hank Merman, Trainer of the Crew
- Carnival
(1935) as Fingers
- Land Without Music
(1936) as Jonah J. Whistler
- Start Cheering
(1938) as Willie Gumbatz
- Sally, Irene and Mary
(1938) as Jefferson Twitchel
- Little Miss Broadway
(1938) as Jimmy Clayton
- Melody Ranch
(1940) as Cornelius J. Courtney
- You're in the Army Now
(1941) as Jeeper Smith
- The Man Who Came to Dinner
(1942) as Banjo
- Two Girls and a Sailor
(1944) as Billy Kipp
- Music for Millions
(1944) as Andrews
- Ziegfeld Follies
(1945) (scenes deleted)
- Two Sisters from Boston
(1946) as Spike
- It Happened in Brooklyn
(1947) as Nick Lombardi
- This Time for Keeps
(1947) as Ferdi Farro
- On an Island with You
(1948) as Buckley
- The Great Rupert
(1950) as Mr. Louie Amendola
- The Milkman
(1950) as Breezy Albright
- Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Premiere
(1955, Short) as Himself
- The Heart of Show Business
(1957, Short) as Himself
- Beau James
(1957) as Himself (cameo, uncredited)
- Pepe
(1960) as Himself (cameo)
- The Last Judgment
(1961) as The man with the large nose
- Billy Rose's Jumbo
(1962) as Anthony 'Pop' Wonder
- It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
(1963) as "Smiler" Grogan
- Frosty the Snowman
(1969) as Himself, Narrator (voice)
Discography
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Bakish, David (2007).
Jimmy Durante: His Show Business Career, with an Annotated Filmography and Discography
. McFarland.
ISBN
978-0786430222
– via Google Books.
- ^
Fowler
Schnozzola: The Story of Jimmy Durante
Viking Press, 1951
- ^
Bakish, David
Jimmy Durante: His Show Business Career, with an Annotated Filmography and Discography
McFarland & Co.,
ISBN
978-0899509686
- ^
Vincenzo (October 24, 2009).
"The Actors' Chapel"
. Sancte Pater
. Retrieved
May 10,
2012
.
- ^
"Jimmy Durante (1893?1980)"
.
Red Hot Jazz Archive
. February 5, 2021
. Retrieved
February 10,
2021
.
- ^
"Track Search: Inka Dinka Doo"
. AllMusic. Archived from
the original
on August 8, 2011
. Retrieved
May 10,
2012
.
- ^
"Command Performance at OTR.Network (Old Time Radio)"
.
www.otr.net
.
- ^
"
Command Performance
1947-02-30, Carole Landis, Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Durante (Real Audio)"
.
- ^
"
The Jimmy Durante Show
"
.
IMDb
. Retrieved
November 15,
2010
.
- ^
See California Death Records ? Jeanne Durante
- ^
Benoit, Tod (2003).
Jimmy Durante
.
Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers
.
ISBN
1579122876
.
- ^
NBC Monitor, January 25, 1975
Archived
October 10, 2010, at the
Wayback Machine
(sound clip at 48:08) From
the Monitor Tribute Pages
- ^
"Margaret "Margie" Durante Obituary: View Margaret Durante's Obituary by La Jolla Light"
. Legacy.com
. Retrieved
May 10,
2012
.
- ^
Archived at
Ghostarchive
and the
Wayback Machine
:
"Give a Man a Job ? 1933"
. YouTube. January 30, 2009
. Retrieved
May 10,
2012
.
- ^
1973 Volkswagen Super Beetle commercial
.
- ^
"Durante Family and Friends attend Funeral Rite",
The New York Times
, April 2, 1980, p. 13.
- ^
"X-Entertainment: Crispy Critters Cereal Tribute"
. Archived from
the original
on February 9, 2013.
- ^
My Stepmother Is an Alien
at the
AFI Catalog of Feature Films
- ^
City Slickers
at the
AFI Catalog of Feature Films
- ^
Ebert, Roger
(March 4, 1994).
"Greedy (film review)"
.
RogerEbert.com
. Retrieved
October 14,
2019
.
- ^
Stevens, Dana (October 3, 2019).
"The Real Reason to Skip Joker Is That It's Boring"
.
Slate.com
. Retrieved
October 14,
2019
.
- ^
Khatchatourian, Maane (April 3, 2019).
"
'Joker' Trailer Offers First Look at Joaquin Phoenix's Villain"
.
Variety
. Retrieved
October 15,
2019
.
External links
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]
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1952?1975
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1976?2000
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2001?present
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International
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Artists
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Other
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