Editing Eddie Cantor (section)

===Radio===
Cantor appeared on radio as early as February 3, 1922, as indicated by this news item from Connecticut's ''[[Bridgeport Telegram]]'':
{{quote|Local radio operators listened to one of the finest programs yet produced over the radiophone last night. The program of entertainment which included some of the stars of Broadway musical comedy and vaudeville was broadcast from the Newark, New Jersey station [[WDY]] and the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania station [[KDKA (AM)|KDKA]], both of the [[Westinghouse Electric (1886)|Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company]]. The Newark entertainment started at 7 o'clock: a children's half-hour of music and fairy stories; 7:[35?], Hawaiian airs and violin solo; 8:00, news of the day; and at 8:20, a radio party with nationally known comedians participating; 9:55, Arlington time signals and 10:01, a government weather report. G.E. Nothnagle, who conducts a radiophone station at his home 176 Waldemere Avenue said last night that he was delighted with the program, especially with the numbers sung by Eddie Cantor. The weather conditions are excellent for receiving, he continued, the tone and the quality of the messages was fine.<ref>"Radio Operators Hear a Good Concert", ''Bridgeport Telegram'', February 4, 1922.</ref>}}
[[File:Bert Gordon Eddie Cantor NBC.JPG|thumb|180px|Cantor (right) with Bert Gordon, AKA "the Mad Russian"]]
Cantor's appearance with [[Rudy Vallee]] on Vallee's ''[[The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour]]'' on February 5, 1931, led to a four-week tryout with ''[[The Chase and Sanborn Hour]]''. Replacing [[Maurice Chevalier]], who was returning to Paris, Cantor joined ''Chase and Sanborn'' on September 13, 1931. This hour-long Sunday evening variety series teamed Cantor with announcer Jimmy Wallington and violinist Dave Rubinoff. The show established Cantor as a leading comedian, and his scriptwriter, [[David Freedman]], as "the Captain of Comedy". Freedman's team included, among others, Samuel "Doc" Kurtzman, who also wrote for song-and-dance man, Al Jolson, and the comedian [[Jack Benny]]. Cantor soon became the world's highest-paid radio star. His shows began with a crowd chanting "We want Can-tor! We want Can-tor!", a phrase said to have originated in vaudeville, when the audience chanted to chase off an act on the bill before Cantor. Cantor's theme song was his own lyric to the Leo Robin/Richard Whiting song, "One Hour with You". His radio sidekicks included [[Bert Gordon (comedian)|Bert Gordon]], (comic Barney Gorodetsky, AKA The Mad Russian) and [[Harry Parke]] (better known as Parkyakarkus). Cantor also discovered and helped guide the career of singer [[Dinah Shore]], first featuring her on his radio show in 1940, as well as other performers, including [[Deanna Durbin]], [[Bobby Breen]] in 1936, and [[Eddie Fisher]] in 1949.

Indicative of his effect on the mass audience, he agreed in November 1934 to introduce a new song by the songwriters [[J. Fred Coots]] and [[Haven Gillespie]] that other well-known artists had rejected as being "silly" and "childish". The song, "[[Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town]]", immediately had orders for 100,000 copies of sheet music the next day. It sold 400,000 copies by Christmas of that year.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Collins|first1=Ace|title=Stories Behind the Greatest Hits of Christmas|date=October 5, 2010|publisher=Zondervan|isbn=978-0310327950|page=[https://archive.org/details/storiesbehindgre0000coll/page/224 224]|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/storiesbehindgre0000coll|chapter-url-access=registration|quote=Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.|access-date=August 20, 2014|ref=Stories Behind|chapter=4 Santa Claus Is Coming to Town}}</ref>

His NBC radio show ''Time to Smile'' was broadcast from 1940 to 1946,{{Citation needed |date=March 2024}} followed by his ''[[Pabst Blue Ribbon]] Show'' from 1946 through 1949. The Pabst program ended when the sponsor wanted Cantor to add a weekly television program. Cantor refused to take on the additional broadcast. The trade publication ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' reported that Cantor and Pabst "parted friends" after "several months of negotiation."<ref name=Pabst>{{cite magazine |date=June 4, 1949 |page=5 |title=Cantor & Pabst Break; 'Riley' For AM-TV Deal |magazine=Billboard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vw4EAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22Screen+Directors+Playhouse%22+NBC&pg=PT4 |accessdate=March 27, 2024 }}</ref> He also served as emcee of ''[[Take It or Leave It (radio show)|Take It or Leave It]]'' during 1949–1950, and hosted a weekly disc jockey program for [[Philip Morris USA|Philip Morris]] during the 1952–1953 season. In addition to film and radio, Cantor recorded for [[Hit of the Week Records]], then again for Columbia, for [[Banner Records|Banner]] and [[Decca Records|Decca]] and various small labels.

In the early 1960s, he syndicated the short radio segment "Ask Eddie Cantor".<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=PA226|date=November 7, 2017|publisher=Brandeis University Press|isbn=978-1-5126-0134-3|pages=226–}}</ref>

His heavy political involvement began early in his career, including his participation in the strike to form Actors Equity in 1919, provoking the anger of father figure and producer, [[Florenz Ziegfeld]]. At the [[1939 New York World's Fair]], Cantor publicly denounced [[antisemitic]] radio personality [[Father Charles Coughlin]] and then was dropped by his radio sponsor [[Camel cigarettes]]. A year and a half later, Cantor was able to return to the air because of help from his friend Jack Benny.