Editing Eddie Cantor (section)

==Early life==
Reports and accounts of Cantor's early life often conflict with one another. He was born in [[New York City]], the son of Mechel (a.k.a. Michael) Iskowitz, an amateur violinist; and his wife (a.k.a. Maite) Meta Kantrowitz Iskowitz, a young Jewish couple from [[Russian Empire|Russia]].<ref>{{cite book |author= David Weinstein| title=The Eddie Cantor Story: A Jewish Life in Performance and Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N0UzDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA7| date= November 7, 2017|publisher=Brandeis University Press|isbn=978-1-5126-0134-3|page=7}}</ref> It is generally accepted that he was born in 1892, though the day is subject to debate, with either January 31 or [[Rosh Hashanah]], which was on September 10 or September 11, being reported.<ref name="International">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/10/11/eddie-cantor-dead-comedy-slar-was-72.html|title=Eddie Cantor Dead. Comedy Star Was 72.|agency=United Press International|date=October 11, 1964|work=The New York Times|access-date=May 13, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url= http://movies2.nytimes.com/books/first/g/goldman-banjo.html|title=Banjo Eyes|website= [[The New York Times]]|access-date=May 13, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url= http://www.eddiecantor.com/bio.html|title=The Eddie Cantor Story|work=eddiecantor.com| publisher= Eddie Cantor official website|access-date=September 2, 2013}}</ref> Although it was reported Cantor was an orphan, his mother dying in childbirth and his father of [[pneumonia]], official records say otherwise; Meta died from complications of [[tuberculosis]] in July 1894, and the fate of Mechel is unclear, as no [[death certificate]] exists for him. There is also discrepancy as to his name; both his 1957 autobiography and ''The New York Times'' obituary for Cantor report his birth name as Isidore Iskowitch, although some articles published after the 20th century give his birth name as Edward (a nickname given him by his future wife, Ida, in 1913) or Israel Itzkowitz.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://jewishtimes.com/73343/whoopee/arts_life/|title=Whoopee!|date=January 3, 2018|website=Baltimore Jewish Times |language= en-US|access-date=May 13, 2019|archive-date=August 18, 2020|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200818020137/https://www.jewishtimes.com/73343/whoopee/arts_life/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="International"/> His grandmother, Esther Kantrowitz (died January 29, 1917), took custody of him, and referred to him as Izzy and Itchik (both diminutives for Isidor), and his last name, due to a clerical error, was thought to be Kantrowitz and shortened to Kanter.<ref name="International"/> No [[birth certificate]] existed for him, though this is not unusual for someone born in New York in the 19th century.