Eddie Cantor (January 31, 1892 - October 10, 1964) was an American comedian, singer, actor, songwriter. Familiar to Broadway, radio and early television audiences, this "Apostle of Pep" was regarded almost as a family member by millions because his top-rated radio shows revealed intimate stories and amusing anecdotes about his wife Ida and five children. His eye-rolling song-and-dance routines eventually led to his nickname, Banjo Eyes, and in 1933, the artist Frederick J. Garner caricatured Cantor with large round and white eyes resembling the drum-like pot of a banjo. Cantor's eyes became his trademark, often exaggerated in illustrations, and leading to his appearance on Broadway in the musical Banjo Eyes (1941).

This relatively undemanding (shot on film, which avoided the stress of live broadcasts) syndicated half-hour comedy variety series was shot after Eddie Cantor suffered a heart attack in 1952. The 38 episodes played like Cantor's Broadway show, with almost no material dating beyond the Hoover administration. A lot of the sketch routines were tackled by a wide range of guest stars (Peter Lorre (I), Billie Burke, the aging Three Stooges, Eddie Fisher, Stan Freberg and Buster Keaton, among others) with Cantor providing the framework as host. Cantor performed in a running bit as a cabbie and rehashed nearly every one of his pre-Depression-era sheet music hits replete with the requisite updated version of the Goldwyn girls.

Singer, songwriter ("Merrily We Roll Along"), comedian, author and actor, educated in public schools. He made his first public appearance in Vaudeville in 1907 at New York's Clinton Music Hall, then became a member of the Gus Edwards Gang, later touring vaudeville with Lila Lee as the team Cantor & Lee. He made Broadway stage appearances in "Canary Cottage", "Broadway Brevities of 1920", "Make It Snappy", "Kid Boots", "Whoopee", "Banjo Eyes", and the Ziegfeld Follies of 1917, 1918, 1919 and 1927. He had his own radio program in the 1930s, appeared often on television in the 1950s, and made many records. Joining ASCAP in 1951, and his popular-song compositions also include "Get a Little Fun Out of Life", "It's Great to Be Alive", and "The Old Stage Door". Eddie Cantor also wrote the books "Ziegfeld, the Great Glorifier" and "As I Remember Them", and the autobiographies "My Life Is In Your Hands" and "Take My Life".