13th Street Rep to Hold EDDIE CANTOR DAY, 11/24

Monday, November 24th will be "Eddie Cantor Day" at "One Night with Fanny Brice," the long-running musical play at the 13th Street Repertory Theater (50 W. 13th Street, NYC).

For 34 years-from the first time they worked together in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1917, until Fanny Brice's death-legendary song-and-dance comedian Eddie Cantor and Fanny Brice were the closest of friends. Cantor profiled her in two books, "As I Remember Them" and "Take My Life."

And on Monday, Cantor's grandson, singer-songwriter Brian Gari, will be a special guest at "One Night with Fanny Brice." He and the play's author, Chip Deffaa, will share stories of both Cantor and Brice in a special presentation/question-and-answer session after the show. Brian Gari will also sing. And he'll sign copies of-and celebrate the release of-his book "Close Encounters of the Celebrity Kind," which includes his recollections of Eddie Cantor, among others.

"Cantor was Fanny Brice's closest friend in the business-he even wrote material for her in the Ziegfeld Follies--and we're taking one night to celebrate the legacies of both Cantor and Brice," noted Deffaa. And for that one night only, customers buying tickets at the door can get tickets to "One Night with Fanny Brice" at half price simply by saying the code words "Eddie Cantor"-or by carrying with them a recording of Cantor or Brice. "And we'll give free admission to anyone who sings a chorus of one of his signature songs in our lobby."
Gari, who composed the Broadway musical "Late Nite Comic," has long been a devotee of both Cantor and Brice's work. And Deffaa, the ASCAP Award-winning author of three different published plays about Fanny Brice-as well as plays dealing with George M. Cohan, Irving Berlin, Eddie Foy, and others--is a recognized authority on the roots of American show business.
"We'll share little-known facts about both of these wonderful entertainers. Brice rose from poverty to become America's highest-paid singing comedienne-a huge success whether singing torch songs like 'My Man' or making audiences laugh for years on the radio as 'Baby Snooks.' Cantor became a superstar on Broadway, and then in radio, film, and early television," Deffaa notes. "Cantor actually was friends with Fanny's brother, Lew, even before he met Fanny, and asked Lew to become his vaudeville partner; Lew turned him down, preferring to work on his own. Cantor was soon signed to the Follies-which meant stardom and top pay. Lew Brice never was able to get out of the shadow of being Fanny Brice's not-quite-as-talented brother."
Expected to join Brian Gari, Chip Deffaa, and the show's star, Chloe Brooks, in Monday's special presentation, will be another expert on oldtime show business, veteran entertainer Michael Townsend Wright, who-like Fanny Brice-got his start in burlesque.
According to Edith O'Hara, the 97-year-old founder/artistic director of 13th Street Rep, question-and-answer sessions with special guests have long been a popular feature at the theater. Perhaps the most memorable such session occurred when master playwright Tennessee Williams took the stage, after a production of one of his dramas at the theater, to informally answer questions. And, O'Hara notes, in recent years Deffaa has periodically hosted special presentations following performances at the theater of his shows, including "Theater Boys," "Irving Berlin's America," and "The Irving Berlin Ragtime Revue.".

For more info, please visit: www.13thstreetrep.org

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