Jimmy Savo

Jimmy Savo, born Vincenzo Rocco Sava (also recorded as James Vincent Sava) on July 31, 1892, in New York City, was an American comedian, juggler, mime artist, and performer whose career spanned vaudeville, Broadway, film, nightclubs, and television. He died on September 3, 1960, in Guardea, Terni, Italy, at the age of 68, while visiting properties belonging to his wife's family. His parents, Giuseppe Sava, a shoemaker, and Carmela (née Baione) Sava, had emigrated to the United States from Stigliano, a village in southern Italy. Savo grew up in impoverished neighborhoods of Manhattan and later the Bronx.

Juggling was Savo's earliest skill, one he developed to a level of proficiency that earned him recognition in amateur contests while still a child. By the age of twelve he was appearing on vaudeville bills under the billing "The Child Wonder Juggler," and in 1912 he made his first professional appearance at Hammerstein's Victoria Theatre. Over the following years he expanded his performance vocabulary to include rope walking, singing, dancing, and joke telling, working in both burlesque and vaudeville contexts. By 1918 he had risen to the status of a headlining act.

Savo made his Broadway debut in 1924, appearing alongside Fred Allen, and continued to work on Broadway across the following two decades. He co-starred in Earl Carroll's Vanities of 1930, and in 1938 he originated the role of Dromio of Syracuse in the Rodgers and Hart musical The Boys from Syracuse. In 1940 he starred in Mum's the Word, a one-man revue staged at the Belmont Theatre. In 1942, producers Isidore Herk and the Shubert brothers mounted Wine, Women and Song, a revue co-starring Savo and Margie Hart that combined elements of vaudeville, burlesque, and Broadway revue. The production, which included striptease performances, ran for seven weeks before being closed by court order in December 1942. Savo's final Broadway credit came in 1943 with What's Up, a musical written by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe. He also appeared in the Broadway production Parade.

His film career began with the 1928 Canadian drama Carry on, Sergeant! and included Once in a Blue Moon (1935), a feature written by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur that was produced by Paramount Pictures at a cost of $350,000 but proved unsuccessful at the box office. His final film appearances were in Reckless Living and Merry-Go-Round of 1938.

Following a leg amputation in 1946, Savo resumed performing in nightclub settings, including engagements at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. In 1950 he hosted his own program, The Jimmy Savo Show, on NBC. He was also the author of two books: the children's title Little World, Hello!, published in 1947, and a memoir, I Bow to the Stones: Memories of a New York Childhood, which was published posthumously in 1963.

Savo married actress Frances Victoria Browder in 1918; the couple divorced in 1935. His second wife was Lina Farina, an Italian-American journalist. Savo died while on vacation in Guardea, Terni, Italy, where he had been visiting properties connected to his wife's family.