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Show Jimmy Durante j at Music Hall j next weekend j Jimmy Durante, one of the j all-time great comedians, opens I at the Valley Music Hall Thursday February 29 and I plays through March 2. A special spec-ial matinee will be held Saturday Satur-day March 2 at 2:30 p.m. Evening Eve-ning show time is 8:30 p.m. Jimmy, whose name is legend across this country, was born in New York's colorful East Side. He had a sketchy education educa-tion in the public schools of New York and the schooling itself it-self was governed by the success suc-cess of the truant officer in catching him. Durante's father was a barber bar-ber and as a boy, Jimmy helped help-ed in the shop, lathering the face of many a neighborhood politician. When the family bought a piano, the only one on the block, Jimmy began taking tak-ing lessons, despite the hoots of his schoolmates. Once he had passed the school age and was no longer bothered by truant officers Jimmy tried his hand at photo engraving. This work disagreed with him and fairly soon he gave it up to try his hand at show business. At 17 he got his first job as a pianist in Diamond Ton's at Coney Island. The next year he landed a spot in Terry Walsh's Club where he sometimes accompanied ac-companied a young waiter by the name of Eddie Cantor. Jimmy played piano in many clubs, includi n g Chinatown's Catham Club, then in 1916 he organized a 5 piece Dixieland combo for the Club Alamo in Harlem. |