Birth of the Schnozz: The Way It Was, 10 February

1893: "I'M DYNAMITE. DYNAMITE!"---It will never be verified whether he emerged nose first, but Mitchell and Margaret Durante's third child freshly born today will grow up to become one of America's most beloved entertainers, on old-time radio and elsewhere.

I eats raw eggs. I eats rawr eggs an' I t'rows out me chest, like dis, an' I'm dynamite. Dynamite!

---Jimmy Durante, to H. Allen Smith, circa 1939-1940.

Rawr eggs may be the answer. Or perhaps it's some uncaptured cosmis ray that creates the dynamite. In all events there can be no dispute about the results in the case of Mr. Durante. He's dynamite in his sleep. On the stage, before the sound cameras, in front of the mike, he's a clown without peer. And he carries his artistic madness beyond those regions where it means money in his kilts. I, for one, can testify that Jimmy Durante is dynamite during an interview.

---H. Allen Smith, in "All Nose," from Low Man on a Totem Pole. (New York: Doubleday, Doran & Company, 1941.)

CHANNEL SURFING . . .

1938: MYSTERY IN THE HOTEL---The Man With the Yellow Face has threatened a prominent Egyptologist, and Tracy (Matt Crowley) has retrieved a mysterious code---but now he has to pull a friend out of the ocean fast, on today's edition of The Adventures of Dick Tracy. (NBC Blue Network.)

1958: HOUSE FOR SALE---Our couple is puzzled by a telephone call asking her (Peg Lynch) how much they're asking for their home, which isn't for sale, in spite of his (Alan Bunce) reminding her they've often speculated idly on the prospect of a future sale, on today's edition of The Couple Next Door. (CBS.)

Writer: Peg Lynch.

PREMIERING TODAY . . .

1910---James Monk (actor: Mr. Moto), unknown.
1922---Neva Patterson (actress: Cavalcade of America), Nevada, Iowa.
1929---Jerry Goldsmith (composer/conductor: Frontier Gentleman, Romance), Los Angeles.