American Toby Jug Museum 

Jimmy Durante character jug modeled by David B. Biggs and produced by Royal Doulton of Burslem, England, between 1985-1988. Comedian, songwriter and all-around entertainer, Jimmy Durante (1883-1980), began his long show business career at the age of sixteen as a ragtime pianist and cabaret artist. He formed a vaudeville act, Clayton, Jackson and Durante, and together this trio appeared in Broadway musicals. In 1929 Durante ventured to Hollywood and made his film debut in "Roadhouse Lights", one of the earliest sound films. This was followed by a succession of stage and screen hits over the next thirty years. He was nicknamed Schnozzola because of his large bulbous nose, about which he never ceased to joke. His buffoonery and amusing malapropisms were equally effective on radio and television, where he would sign-off his appearance in his deep gravely voice, "Goodnight Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are," a tribute to his late wife, Jeanne, which is incorporated into the backstamp of this jug. A piano keyboard forms the handle of this jug.