Desert Dreamers 16: The Comedians

The Coachella Valley has always had a soft  spot for the funny ones. Perhaps it’s the heat, or the ease, or the way the desert magnifies both glamour and absurdity. For nearly a century, comedians have come here to rest between gigs, to rethink who they were becoming, or simply to be themselves away from the limelight and clamoring paparazzi.

Bob Hope helped turn the desert into a golf capital. The Marx brothers were among the early personalities at Tamarisk Country Club; Harpo even golfed there in the nude. George Burns and his wife, Gracie Allen, were part of the El Mirador and Racquet Club social circles. Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz each became involved in civic development — Ball was twice named Honorary Mayor of  Rancho Mirage before the city’s incorporation, while Arnaz was among the founders of Indian Wells Country Club and opened the neighboring Western Hills Hotel (now Indian Wells Resort Hotel). Carol Channing appeared often at benefits and theater galas well into her later years.

And the tradition continues. Comedians still come to the desert to perform, workshop new material, or just get away. Serial visitors include Lily Tomlin, Fortune Feimster, and Steve Martin and Martin Short.

In this edition of Desert Dreamers, we reintroduce five comedic performers from history whose various talents were matched by the sundry experiences they had in and around Palm Springs.

The Song-and-Dance Man

Eddie Cantor
(1892–1964)

Comedian, actor, singer, songwriter, writer, and broadcaster are only a few descriptors for the multitalented Eddie Cantor. Born Isidore Itzkowitz on New York’s Lower East Side, he rose from dire poverty to become a headliner with the Ziegfeld Follies and later one of the country’s most popular radio hosts and film performers. He either wrote or popularized standards like “Makin’ Whoopee,” “If You Knew Susie,” “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town,” and the Merrie Melodies theme. Nicknamed “Banjo Eyes,” Cantor fashioned wide-eyed physical humor with rapid-fire wordplay into a brand of silliness that left a lasting imprint on American entertainment.

Cantor, his wife, Ida, and their five daughters began visiting Palm Springs in the early 1930s. One of the first celebrity regulars at the El Mirador Hotel, the frail song-and-dance man spent hours poolside, recuperating from his grueling schedule. He suffered from heart problems throughout his adult life. When he felt strong enough, he played pickup baseball under the lights at the Palm Springs Polo Grounds (now Sunrise Park).

In 1951, the Cantors bought a small Spanish Colonial  in the El Mirador–Movie Colony neighborhood. The patio and pool became the setting for countless gatherings. As former Screen Actors Guild president, Cantor seemed to know everyone.

After a heart attack in 1952, he was advised to slow down, though he continued writing for several publications and recording radio programs from his Palm Springs home. He and Ida went for a milelong walk each morning as he recovered.

Cantor is well known for supporting the March of Dimes, founded by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1938 to combat polio. His desire to help others continued during his time in Palm Springs. For years, Cantor hosted the Palm Springs Police Officers Association benefit show. He raised money for United Jewish Appeal and the Jewish Community Center. He filmed local and national commercials for the American Heart Association and went on a seven-city West Coast tour in 1954 to encourage blood donations for the American Red Cross. All told, Cantor’s tour led to more than 63,000 blood donations.

The close-knit Cantor family suffered tragedy in 1959 when their eldest daughter, Marjorie, died of cancer. Ida’s and Eddie’s health declined soon after. Ida died in 1962, and a grieving Cantor sold their Movie Colony home. He spent his final years in Beverly Hills and died in 1964 at age 72.

The Laughing Lady of Broadway

Mary Martin
(1913–1990)

Mary Martin was one of Broadway’s leading stars of the 1940s and ’50s. Few figures in the history of musical comedy have debuted as many iconic characters as this native of Weatherford, Texas. She was the original Nellie Forbush in South Pacific and Maria Von Trapp in The Sound of Music, and played the title role in Peter Pan, a character she brought to television on many occasions. For her efforts, she won four Tony Awards, an Emmy, and received Kennedy Center Honors.

Martin first visited Palm Springs in 1939, years before she became a Broadway star. She was 26 and living in Los Angeles, working as a dance instructor and radio performer. She had recently divorced and had a young son, future Dallas star Larry Hagman. As her career took off, she vacationed frequently at The Biltmore Hotel with her second husband, theater critic and producer Richard Halliday. After Halliday died in 1973, Martin moved to Palm Springs to be nearer her closest friend, Academy Award–winning actress Janet Gaynor.

Martin purchased a 1936 home in the Old Las Palmas neighborhood and painted it pink. Her neighbors included old friends William Powell and Ethel Merman. Hagman and his daughter, Heidi Hagman, an accomplished painter, were regular visitors. Martin spent a significant amount of time with Gaynor, dining frequently at Cecil’s Supper Club and spending long days at The Racquet Club. She rose before 6 each morning to meditate and swim. For a time, she hosted a syndicated radio program called Over Easy, which focused on aging. She later moved to a smaller residence at The Springs Country Club in Rancho Mirage.

In September 1982, Martin and Gaynor were seriously injured by a drunk driver in San Francisco in a crash that killed Martin’s manager, Ben Washer. Gaynor died two years later of complications from her injuries. Martin suffered a broken pelvis, a punctured lung, and two broken ribs. She spent weeks recovering and rehabbing at Eisenhower Memorial Hospital (now Eisenhower Health) in Rancho Mirage. Martin was able to return home in time for her 69th birthday on Dec. 1, 1983, which friends commemorated with a large party. Guests included Walter Annenberg, Gerald and Betty Ford, and Alice Faye. She soon settled back into the routines that had made Palm Springs such a wonderful home for her. Martin was 76 when she died Nov. 3, 1990, in Rancho Mirage.

In early 1943, after Costello came down with rheumatic fever while touring Army bases, he moved to Palm Springs to rest and recuperate. He purchased 15 acres of land with plans to build a ranch for others who suffered from the condition, but was stymied by financing and zoning problems; the ranch never came to fruition. Costello later purchased a small Spanish Colonial home in the Mesa neighborhood of South Palm Springs. His daughter, Chris Costello, describes celebrating New Year’s Eve there as a family tradition.

In November 1943, tragedy struck the Costello family. Lou Costello Jr., two days short of his first birthday, drowned in the family’s swimming pool at their Van Nuys estate. By all accounts, Costello was never the same.

To commemorate his son, Costello and Abbott raised money from friends in Hollywood and Palm Springs to create the Lou Costello Jr.  Recreation Center on Olympic Boulevard in Los Angeles’ Boyle Heights neighborhood. More than 75 years after it was established, the center remains a vibrant space for exercise, play, and education for the youth of  East Los Angeles.

Costello suffered a recurrence of rheumatic fever in 1954 and made lengthy sojourns to his Palm Springs home, where he mostly avoided going out.

In 1955, the Costellos made a (by then) rare public appearance. They celebrated their 21st wedding anniversary at Howard Manor (now The Colony Palms Hotel and Bungalows) in Palm Springs, where they ate cake and hamburgers — in 1934, the couple had ordered burgers and onions on their wedding night in South Attleboro, Massachusetts, where Anne was working as a burlesque dancer. Howard Manor’s chef  made them a hamburger-shaped anniversary cake that night, which was pictured in newspapers across the country. It was one of the last public appearances they made together. Anne died in 1957. Lou died two years later after suffering a heart attack at Doctors Hospital in Beverly Hills, three days shy of  his 53rd birthday.

The Improv Master

Shecky Greene
(1926–2023)

Shecky Greene was the king of comedy on the Las Vegas Strip for much of the latter half of the 20th century. A master improviser, Greene relied on his quick wit, abilities as an impressionist, take-no-prisoners approach to crowd work, and classic song-and-dance skills to become one of the top-earning comedians of his era. In Vegas, Greene was strongly associated with the Tropicana and the MGM Grand Hotel, where his name remained on the marquee for years at a time. He also appeared regularly on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Merv Griffin Show, and, most famously, on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, as well as in films such as History of the World Part I with Mel Brooks (1981) and Splash with Tom Hanks (1984).

Greene split his time between Las Vegas and Palm Springs for many years before retiring for a time to a home he purchased near Smoke Tree Ranch during the 1990s. He moved full time to Palm Springs in 2005, spending his days golfing or driving out to Indio to bet on horses. By then, in his 70s, Greene embraced the pace of Palm Springs as he dealt with the personal struggles that beleaguered him for decades: depression, bipolar disorder, substance abuse, and compulsive gambling. In 1985, Greene married Marie Musso, the daughter of saxophonist Vido Musso, who helped him slowly overcome some of  his lifelong challenges.

Greene first came to Palm Springs in the late 1950s with his on-again, off-again friend Frank Sinatra. Their hangouts included the Purple Room, the Riviera Hotel, and Sinatra’s Twin Palms estate. Greene frequently opened for Sinatra in Las Vegas and on tour. The similarly strong-willed men were just as frequently at odds, leading to one of  the funnyman’s most famous jokes: “One time, Frank Sinatra saved my life. Five guys were beating me up, and then Frank said, ‘OK, boys. That’s enough.’ ” The joke arose from an actual incident at a Miami hotel.

Greene did more than carouse in Palm Springs. He performed benefits for the Jewish Community Center and Guide Dogs of the Desert. He hosted benefits for his preferred charity, St. Jude’s Ranch, a home for abused children in Boulder City, Nevada.

Eventually, Greene returned to Las Vegas full time and performed well into his 90s. He died there on New Year’s Eve at age 97.

The Comedic Maestro

Jack Benny
(1894–1974)

In the late 1930s, nearly half of Americans were tuning in regularly to Jack Benny’s radio program. Whether on his long-running radio show, television, film, or the vaudeville stage, Benny used his remarkable comedic timing to create a character known equally as a cheapskate, a braggart, and an atrocious violin player, despite his complete ignorance to that fact.

Known to be a serious man away from the stage, Benny spent as much time as he could in Palm Springs. Born Benjamin Kubelsky in Chicago, Benny lived among friends in the desert. He counted seasonal resident George Burns as his best friend and had close relationships with Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, and Johnny Carson.

Benny became a Palm Springs regular in the mid-1930s. He made a habit of coming to the desert for rest and recreation with his wife, Mary Livingstone, who wrote and performed on his radio show. Initially, Benny recorded episodes of his radio program from the local American Legion Hall. In later years, he recorded at The Plaza Theatre before setting up shop in his various Palm Springs homes. He lived in two different homes in El Mirador–Movie Colony neighborhood between the 1930s and early 1960s. He purchased an estate in Old Las Palmas on Vista Chino during the early 1960s that he sold in 1969. He spent his final years in the Holmby Hills section of Los Angeles.

Benny died Dec. 26, 1974, at age 80, three months after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Earlier that year, Benny returned to the desert for a massive 80th birthday party, hosted by Frank Sinatra at his Rancho Mirage home. It was a break in tradition for Benny, who on many occasions held 39th birthday parties, a callback to his perpetually stated age. Friends he made across his six-decade showbiz career joined in the celebration.