Background information:
Birth name Clifton A. Edwards
Also known as "Ukelele Ike"
Born 14 June 1895
Origin Hannibal, Missouri
Died 17 July 1971 Genre(s) Jazz
Vaudeville
Occupation(s) Singer Instrument(s) Vocals
Ukulele
Cliff Edwards (14 June 1895 - 17 July 1971), also known as "Ukelele Ike", was an American singer and musician who enjoyed considerable popularity in the 1920s and early 1930s, specializing in jazzy renditions of pop standards and novelty tunes. He also did voices for animated cartoons later in his career, and is fondly remembered as the voice of Jiminy Cricket in Walt Disney's Pinocchio (1940).
Life and work
Clifton A. Edwards was born in Hannibal, Missouri. He left school at age 14 and soon moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where he entertained as a singer in saloons. As many places had pianos in bad shape or none at all, Edwards taught himself to play ukulele (then often spelled "ukelele") to serve as his own accompanist (selecting that instrument as it was the cheapest in the music store).
He got the nickname "Ukelele Ike" from a club owner who couldn't remember his name.
Edwards made his first phonograph records in 1919. He recorded early examples of jazz scat singing1922. The following year he signed a contract with Pathé Records. He became one of the most popular singers of the decade, and appeared in several Broadway shows. He recorded, in his distinctive style, many of the pop and novelty hits of the day, such as "California Here I Come," "Hard Hearted Hannah," "Yes, Sir, That's My Baby," and "I'll See You in My Dreams." He also recorded a few "off-color" novelty numbers for under-the-counter sales, including "I'm a Bear in a Lady's Boudoir."
More than any other performer, Edwards was responsible for the soaring popularity of the ukulele in the 1920s. Millions of ukes were sold during the decade, and Tin Pan Alley publishers added ukulele chords to standard sheet music. Edwards always played American Martin ukuleles favoring the small soprano model in his early career. In his later years Edwards moved to the sweeter, large tenor ukulele more suited to crooning which was becoming popular in the 1930s.
In 1929 Cliff Edwards was playing at the Orpheum Theater in Los Angeles, California, where he caught the attention of movie producer-director Irving Thalberg, who had Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer hire Edwards to appear in early sound movies. After performing in some short films, Edwards was one of the stars in the feature Hollywood Revue of 1929, doing some comic bits and singing some numbers, including the film debut of his hit "Singin' in the Rain". He appeared in a total of 33 films for MGM through 1933. Edwards was careless with the money he got in the boom years of the 1920s, and while he continued working in the Great Depression, he would never again enjoy his former prosperity. Most of his income went to alimony for multiple former wives and for paying other debts. He declared bankruptcy four times during the 1930s and early 1940s.
In 1932, Edwards got his first national radio show on CBS. He would continue hosting network radio shows on and off through 1946. However, from the early 1930s, Edwards' popularity faded as public taste shifted to sweeter style crooners like Russ Columbo, Rudy Vallee, and Bing Crosby. Edwards appeared in the darkly sardonic western comedy The Bad Man of Brimstone in 1937, and in 1939 he played the character "Endicott" in the screwball comedy film His Girl Friday. Also in 1939, he voiced the dying Confederate soldier in Gone with the Wind. In 1940 came his most famous voice role, as Jiminy Cricket in Walt Disney's Pinocchio. Edwards's touching rendition of "When You Wish Upon a Star" from that film is probably his most familiar recorded legacy. In 1941, he voiced the head crow in Disney's Dumbo.
In 1940 came his most famous voice role, as Jiminy Cricket in Walt Disney's Pinocchio. Edwards's touching rendition of "When You Wish Upon a Star" from that film is probably his most familiar recorded legacy. In 1941, he voiced the head crow in Disney's Dumbo.
For the 1949 season, Edwards starred in The Cliff Edwards Show, a three day a week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings) television variety show on CBS. In the 1950s and early 1960s, he made a number of appearances on the Mickey Mouse Club television show, in addition to reprising his Jiminy Cricket voice for various Disney shorts. 
Edwards was broke in his later years, living in a home for indigent actors, and often spending his days hanging around the Walt Disney Studios to be available any time he could get voice work, and being taken to lunch by animators to whom he told stories of his days in Vaudeville.
Further reading
From
~Wikipedia
Stumble It!
Cliff Edwards & Bessie Love
Blame It On A Ukulele ~ 1933
Cliff Edwards sings "I Did It With My Little Ukelele" with James Dunn looking on. From 1933
curated content from YouTube
IMAGES
INTERVIEW
Cliff Edwards 'Ukulele Ike' - Interview
A great singer and ukulele player! This is possibly the last interview Edwards gave before he died in 1971. The interview is part of a much longer interview. Unfortunately Cliff Edwards is not asked any questions about his ukuleles or ukulele playing by the interviewer, Richard Lamparski, who does a poor job of interviewing Edwards. Although it must be remembered that Edwards' career had long since dimmed by the time of this interview and Lamparski was interviewing Edwards as one of the forgotten stars for his book 'Whatever Happened to...' The interviewer concentrates on people behind the scenes in the Hollywood music industry during Edwards' heyday. Cliff spends a lot of time talking about obscure music businessmen, industry figures and people he had met along the way during his career. The interview is on a CD which is part of a boxed set of 4 which comes up for sale on Ebay from time to time. Cost is approx $40. Most of the material on these CD's is radio broadcasts during the 1930's and 40's when Edwards had his own radio show. He performs 'live' versions (with orchestra) of many of his well-known songs. Much of the material however, is radio personalities of the time talking up the war effort trying to keep morale up. There is very little solo ukulele which is a shame. Still, it gives an insight into how well-known and popular Edwards once was.
curated content from YouTube
MUSIC
Spotlight
I'm a Bear in a Lady's Boudoir (Mini Lp Sleeve)
Amazon Price: $47.99 (as of 12/30/2009)
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VIDEOS
curated content from YouTube
The Cliff Edwards Story (Ukulele Ike)
Half-Way To Heaven l928 Cliff Edwards
Girl doing cigarette manipulations
Cliff Edwards-Fascinating Rhythm
Cliff Edwards - Sweetheart of Sigma Chi
When I See My Sugar (1929)
Cliff Edwards - Theme Songs
'Ukulele Ike' performs in 'Hollywood On Parade' (1933).
curated content from YouTube
DVDs
](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51DpYg41CgL._SL75_.jpg)
It's So Nice ~~ 1934
Cliff Edwards and Dixie Dunbar sing "So Nice" From a 1934 film.
curated content from YouTube
eBAY
Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by
When I See My Sugar (1929)
From Marianne, Cliff Edwards does what he does best.
curated content from YouTube
LINKS
- Jimmie Jazz Archive: Cliff Edwards
- Jimmie Jazz Archive - Jim Baldwin Radio Show: Featuring Cliff Edwards. LISTEN NOW!
- Cliff Edwards - Ukulele Ike
- Cliff Edwards Ukulele Ike. Starred in Walt Disney's Pinocchio and Dumbo movies. Sang When You Wish Upon A Star. Introduced Singing In The Rain. Appeared on Mickey Mouse Club. Voice of Jiminy Cricket.
- Cliff Edwards "Ukulele Ike"
- Cliff Edwards "Ukulele Ike" on RedHotJazz.com, with .ram files of his vintage recordings!
- Cliff Edwards on IMBD
- Actor: Dumbo. Becoming popular with playing the ukulele, his unique singing and supplying... Visit IMDb for Photos, Filmography, Discussions, Bio, News, Awards, Agent, Fan Sites.
- Keep Swinging
- Keep Swinging
A daily web log in English and Dutch.
Remember - Cliff Edwards
Ukulele Ike (Cliff Edwards) sings and plays ukulele on this Irving Berlin song.
curated content from YouTube
GUESTBOOK
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Reply
- What-I-Found What-I-Found Mar 12, 2009 @ 10:14 am
- I love my Ukulele Ike music and am glad to learn more. What a well done lense!
Thanks,
Tina
-
Reply
- FoxMusic FoxMusic Nov 17, 2007 @ 9:03 am
- Thank You, Very Cool!!!
Fox Music Company for all you vinyl record needs.
Grafonola Advertising Crate
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Reply
- Rev_Al Rev_Al Sep 3, 2007 @ 7:54 pm
- Very classy, nice looking page. As a lover of the Uke, I was pleased to come across you. I had not heard of Cliff Edwards before and appreciate the buzz. Great info.
-
Reply
- SuzyC SuzyC Aug 20, 2007 @ 11:07 am
- Hi Confetta, Nice lens!
It fits prefectly with a section of mine so I've rated it and featured this lens on [url=http://www.squidoo.com/singin_in_the_rain/]Singing in the Rain[/url]
He's an interesting Man! Well Done
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Reply
- confetta confetta Aug 18, 2007 @ 3:21 pm
- HooRAY!
for CLIFF EDWARDS...
aka Ukulele Ike
aka Jiminy Cricket!!
Hope you love him too
oxo
~confetta
LYRICS
When You Wish Upon A Star...
When you wish upon a starMakes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you
If your heart is in your dream
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do
Fate is kind
She brings to those who love
The sweet fulfillment of
Their secret longing
Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true
Music by Leigh Harline / Lyrics by Ned Washington
Performed by Jiminy Cricket (Cliff Edwards)
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