Cliff Edwards

Cliff Edwards – born in Hannibal, Missouri on June 14, 1895 – was a singer, musician and actor best known as the voice of Jiminy Cricket in two classic Walt Disney cartoons - Pinocchio (1940) and Fun and Fancy Free (1947) – and as the voice of Dandy (Jim) Crow in Walt Disney’s Dumbo (1941). He grew up in Hannibal, but left school at the age of 14 and moved to St. Louis, Missouri and sang in local saloons. He taught himself to play ukulele and earned the nickname Ukulele Ike, which was given to him by a club owner who couldn’t remember his real name. His first brush with success was the song “Ja-Da”, which was written by pianist Bob Carleton. Both Cliff Edwards and Carleton turned it into a vaudeville hit and he soon became a popular act, eventually performing as part of the infamous Ziegfeld Follies. He began making phonograph records in 1919 and became one of the most popular singers of the 1920s, recording many pop hits including “I’ll See You in My Dreams”, “California, Here I Come”, and many others. He soon branched out and appeared in George and Ira Gershwin’s first Broadway musical Lady be Good in 1924. Cliff Edwards recorded many more hits including “Paddlin’ Madeleine Home” (1925) and “I Can’t Give You Anything but Love” (1928). One of his most popular songs was the original version of “Singin’ in the Rain” (1929), which has become a classic due to later versions of the song. His popularity led directly to the rise of ukulele sales. Cliff Edwards signed with movie studio MGM and appeared in 33 films over the next four years (1929-1933). He also began hosting radio shows in 1932 and would continue to do so until the mid-1940s. However, his popularity began to wane when the public’s attention switched to crooners instead of former vaudeville performers. Although he wasn’t experiencing the same amount of fame, he was asked to voice the character Jiminy Cricket for Walt Disney’s full-length cartoon Pinocchio. Cliff Edwards’ performance of the song “When You Wish Upon a Star” became one of the most beloved musical performances in Disney history. He was then asked to voice the character of Dandy (Jim) Crow, the head crow in Dumbo (1941). While the crow characters were later considered controversial due to racial overtones, his performance of “When I See Elephants Fly” is still considered a classic song in Disney’s large musical catalog. Cliff Edwards’ fame waned in the late 1940s but was revived in the 1950s when Arthur Godfrey popularized the ukulele again. He began performing on television and continuing to voice Jiminy Cricket in several Disney shorts. Cliff Edwards suffered financial problems beginning in the 1930s thanks to gambling, drugs, alcohol, debt, bankruptcies, and three divorces. During his final years, he lived in a home for destitute actors. Cliff Edwards died on July 17, 1971, at the age of 76.

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