First wife Jeanne died in 1943. Wed second wife, Marjorie Little after 16 year courtship when she was 39 and he 67 Marjorie Little had been the hatcheck girl at the Copacabana. Durante and his second wife adopted a baby girl, Cecelia Alicia on Christmas day 1961. Durante doted on "CeCe" until his death.


Interred at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California, USA. Specific Interment Location: F, T96, 6. For years he signed off his radio and TV shows with "Goodnight Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are", but he would never divulge who she was. Some speculated it was a "code name" for a current or former lover, some doubted she ever existed. It was not until after his death in 1980 that it was revealed she was, indeed, a real person. Comic Sonny King, who worked with Durante during his career, stated in an interview that the mysterious "Mrs. Calabash" was indeed Jimmy's late wife Jeanne Olson, but "Calabash" was a reference to Calabasas, California, where she was hospitalized in her later years. She had difficulty in pronouncing the city name, often calling it "Calabash", and it became an inside joke for the Durantes. Also made a living as a bandleader and talent booker. Sang the famous 'Frosty The Snowman' song. A legal challenge to his adoption of daughter CeCe late in life, on the grounds that he was too old to care for such a young child, was dismissed by a judge, who said, "I've heard this man sing 'Young at Heart.'" Has a street named after him on the east side of Las Vegas, Nevada. In "Blondie Of The Follies" (1932) where he had a staring role, Marion Davies (Blondie) addresses Billy Dove's character as "Lurlene Callabash" . Jimmy often ended his TV, Radio and Night Club appearances with "Goodnight Mrs. Callabash wherever you are".