When did Eddie Cantor host "Take It or Leave It"?

[scottp]

If you'd asked me to name the emcee, I would have said "Phil Baker" although I'm not sure where I learned that-- maybe "Frank Bresee's Golden Days of Radio" feature?
But in the quiz questions in a "You Bet Your Life" show, the "correct answer" was Eddie Cantor.
I've found there were quite a few hosts for this show which is dated as "1940-50." When did Cantor host it?

[Yhtapmys]

Your wish is my command. This is from Nov. 10, 1949.
I think Crosby was a Hearst columnist:

Cantor Jokes Run Rampant In Quiz Show
By JOHN CROSBY
"Take It Or Leave It," one of the granddaddies of all quiz shows, is now under the baton of Eddie Cantor, one of the granddaddies of all comedians. Since this particular art form is becoming less and less quiz, more and more an excuse to tell jokes, this seems a happy arrangement.
Cantor has most of the known jokes of the last 2000 years at the tip of his tongue. And one of the advantages of the quiz structure is that the studio audience provides an infinite quantity of stooges at something less than AFRA rates on "Take It Or Leave It" the top rate for stooges is $64, provided you know the answer to the $64 question. By quiz standards, this is incredibly low pay. But it's adequate for this audience.
One man, for example, was queried by Cantor, as follows: "What play is about Pago Pago? Remember the Reverend Davidson? The play was written by Somerset Maugham. ... Oh! Oh! Get out your rubbers—your raincoat! What is the play?" Man didn't know.
DOES BEST TO HELP
Cantor certainly does his best to help the contestants, or stooges, as I prefer to call them. He'll sing a song four or five times; then ask what its title is. They still miss. Between times he cracks jokes. What state is Walla Walla in? Washington! That's right! That's the state all the apples come from. You know, I was talking to Dan Dailey the other day and I said: 'Would you believe it—I gave an apple to my teacher every day.' -And he said 'I'd believe it if you told me you gave an apple to Eve'."
Cantor can keep this up at least as long as radio lasts, which may be a few more years. It's a good deal less taxing than his old comedy show. Last year his doctors told him to go a little easy. Actually his health is remarkably good for a man who has been uninterruptedly active in show business since roughly the 13th century. But he can no longer carry on at the mad pace of youth and "Take It Or Leave It" is probably the best available compromise between his arteries and his apparently inexhaustible exuberance.
DIFFICULT QUIZ
If you find this sort of quiz a little tiresome, you might try "Think Fast," possibly the most difficult quiz ever put on the air. "Think Fast" is fundamentally a television show (Sundays) but the sound track is re-broadcast over the ABC radio network the following Sundays.
"Think Fast" is just an adult's version of the old child's game 'King of the Hill." There are three regular panel members—Eloise McElhone, Leon Janney, the actor, and David Broekman, composer and orchestra conductor, all of them impossibly bright—and two guests. One of the regular panel members or one of the guests takes the throne and pitches questions—and what questions!—at one of the others. If the selected man misses, the question is thrown at the rest of the panel. If the man gets two out of three right, he dethrones the king and takes over as quizzmaster. Man has to be bright not only at answering but also at framing hard questions.
SOME TOUGH ONES
Here are some of the questions asked last Sunday — and most of them were knocked down with great accuracy by the answerers: "What was the first Disney cartoon with sound?" "What was the first motion picture series which combined photography and animation?" "What two prominent branches of a family, both in the same profession, pronounced their names differently?" "What prominent family produced three different generals in three different wars?" "Who had a playwright burned alive for writing a line with a double meaning?" "What villain of fiction lost his life in a wrestling match?"
The answers, in order: "Steamboat Willie," "Out of the Ink-well," the Roosevelts (it's rusevelt for Teddy, rosevelt for Frankin D.); the Lee family; the Roman emperor, Caligula; Moriarity in Sherlock Holmes.
My only complaint about this program is its radio version, where the sound sometimes gets so muddy you can't hear me answers. Otherwise its the toughest quiz and the best mental stimulation to come along in years.
Copyright, 1949, for The Tribune

From 1950:

CANTOR PLANS SHOWS ON TV
By C. E. BUTTERFIELD
New York, April 11 (AP)—Now that Bob Hope has made a $40,000 plunge into network television, Eddie Cantor has begun to think more seriously about his plans to drop radio for TV next fall after a vacation.
Cantor plans to do only 13 shows a season, spaced about three weeks apart He thinks a performer tends to wear out his screen welcome faster, if he does a show more frequently. Furthermore, he expects to need that much time to get a good program together.
As to the type of telecast, Cantor is not too definite. It is won't be variety, but he plans to form a stock company for his productions under NBC contract.
Eddie ends his current radio assignment as emcee of "Take It or Leave It" on June 4 after 19 years of broadcasting. After he gets into television he intends to confine his radio to a strict guest appearance basis.
In view of the fact his telecasts will be produced in New York, and also to give two of his daughters, Janet and Marilyn, now live in the East, a "nicer place to live." Cantor is investigating the possibility of buying some New York real estate.
Before transferring activities to Hollywood he had quite a Long Island estate.
Cantor has been spending considerable time in New York lately as part of a personal appearance tour. Among other activities, he has been sitting for a portrait. Eddie explained that his only object was to help out a young artist.

Cantor did a parody of the show on his own show. That was on April 15, 1942. From the AP radio column:

Phil Baker Will Be Guest On Cantor Show Wednesday
Popular Quiz Program Conductor Will Attempt to Answer Queries And Contribute Accordion Selections With Comedian
Eddie Cantor will ask questions and Phil Baker will answer them (if he can) when the quizmaster of "Take It Or Leave It" and Tommy Dorsey, the clarinet ace, are guest stars on "Time To Smile" Wednesday at 9 p.m.
Baker will see if there is a squeeze left in his long-disused accordion for a cavalcade of songs from past musical shows in which he and Eddie starred. Dorsey is to stimulate the lagging spirits of Harry von Zell and Bert "The Mad Russian" Gordon with a clarinet solo before Baker trots them out for the $64 question on Cantor's vest-pocket quiz. Dinah Shore will do her share with a popular song.
Dorsey is currently on a barnstorming tour with his famous orchestra, after completion of work on "Ship Ahoy!" Baker is kept busy by his starring assignment in "Priorities of 1942" on Broadway and his radio quiz.
Music for the program will be furnished by Edgar "Cookie" Fairchild's orchestra and chorus. Harry von Zell will announce.

Some more pieces on Cantor, first from 1964:

Eddie Cantor Dies After Heart Seizure
HOLLYWOOD, Oct. 10 (UPI) — Eddie Cantor, 70, banjo-eyed vaudevillian whose dancing feet and double-takes brought him stardom in movies, radio and television, died Saturday at his home.
Eddie has not been himself since Ida's (his wife's) passing," a family spokesman said.
He had a sudden coronary occlusion and died instantly shortly after 7 p.m. Two of his daughters were at home at the time.
Cantor was rarely seen in public in recent years, his last appearance was a tape recorded message to Jimmie Durante at a banquet last month celebrating Durante's 50th year in show business.
Sent Tape
Cantor who was too ill to attend the dinner, sent a tape in which Eddie spoke of Durante and sang a song. But it was obvious that much of the tape was from an earlier Cantor recording. And the personal message which Eddie spoke was weak and feeble.
Semi-retired since suffering a heart seizure in 1953, Cantor wrote books and took pride in his discovery of new tlalent. His energy and drive which led to the severe heart condition, made him one of the best loved performers of his generation.
During World War I and World War II Cantor was a super salesman at bond drives. He worked ceaselessly for causes in which he believed with a dedication in direct contrast to his carefree comedy roles.
Turned Dramatic
A rag-tag funnyman most of his career, Cantor turned dramatic actor in several television shows during the 1950s. But he was best known for broad comedy sketches, zany renditions of such songs as "If You Knew Suzy," and fast patter with "The Mad Russian" and others of his radio and video entourage.
One of his trademarks was his bouncing, skipping footwork as he sang, a throwback, he said, to the days when a singer had to dodge barrages of ripe fruit from audiences in vaudeville.
For years Cantor joked about the fact that he had five daughters and no sons.
But he leaves only four of the daughters: Mrs. Natalie Metzger of Los Angeles, Mrs. Edna McHugh of Malibu, Calif., Marilyn Cantor of New York City; and Mrs. Janet Gari of New York.
His fourth daughter, Marjorie, who was also his secretary, died of cancer May 17, 1959 at 44.
Ida Cantor, his beloved wife, died Aug. 8, 1962 at the age of 73 and became known to million of Americans because of her husband's theme song, "Ida," and the jokes be used to tell about his family. Mrs. Cantor died of a series of heart seizures.

From 1938:

Eddie Cantor Sued For Alleged Libel
LOS ANGELES, Mar. 5 (AP) — Comedian Eddie Cantor was sued Saturday for $650,750 libel damages by Matt Brooks, screen and radio writer.
In Brooks' Superior Court complaint, he charged that his reputation was damaged because of the circulation of a letter written by Cantor's attorney, Isaac Pacht, a former superior judge. The letter Brooks alleged, charged him with using radio material on a rival program that he had written for Cantor while employed by him.

Pardon any scanning errors.

As a bonus, here's Rochester on Cantor's show (Cantor is not played by Keefe Brasselle).
http://ia331320.us.archive.org/2/items/otr_eddiecantor/EddieCantor_GuestRochester_01_03_45.mp3
Don't forget to run out and buy some Trushay!!:

And here's Jack, Cantor and Frank Nelson:
http://ia331320.us.archive.org/2/items/otr_eddiecantor/EddieCantor_JackBennyWantsontheShow_11_25_42.mp3

Yhtapmys

[Maxwell]

I found a mistake in one of the Cantor columns. Tommy Dorsey a clarinet ace?????? Everybody knows that was Jimmy! Tommy was the trombone ace.

[scottp]

The year after Eddie's death, his daughter "Mrs. Natalie Metzger" married Robert Clary ("Hogan's Heroes.")

I remember something-- from reading or maybe hearing a sample-- about a little radio series where Eddie reminisced about the show business personalities of the good old days. (By "little" I mean maybe a "five minute" show five times a week?)

Our high school library had a book of John Crosby reviews of late radio/ early TV, titled "Out of the Blue." I was reading that, or a couple of Benchley collections, while others competed for the Sports Illustrated or Hot Rod magazines...