Rarified Heir Podcast Episode #120: Amanda Gari Encore (Eddie Cantor)

Today on the Rarified Heir Podcast, we are talking to Amanda Gari, granddaughter, old Banjo Eyes himself, Eddie Cantor. Amanda was a great guest who talked about her loving, if somewhat. compromised grandfather she knew after a series of medical events slowed him down. We talk to Amanda about the massive star Eddie Canter was from the 1920s to the 1960s. He worked with everyone from Will Rogers & W.C. Fields, wrote an iconic song we all know as “Merry Melodies” and made a hit of the song “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”. Eddie even shows up in the HBO series Boardwalk Empire played by Stephen DeRosa). And we are barely scratching the surface here.

We also talk to Amanda about her father, Roberto Gari who was a painter and actor whose portrait of Judy Garland hangs in the Museum of the City of New York and his rebirth in his later years as Amy Sedaris dad Guy Blank in her hit series Strangers with Candy was as unexpected as it was funny. Not to be outdone, we talk to Amanda about her birth being announced on The Ed Sullivan Show, her acting and singing career in cabaret as well as her own ‘Banjo eyes” that she’s used to comedic effect in many of her stage and screen gigs. We’re “Makin’ Whoopie” on this encore episode, as we tip our caps to the man who started the March of Dimes charity. Everyone has a story. Take a listen.