Background
Einstein was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Sarah (née Klayman), who was born in Russia, and Charles Einstein, a pawnbroker from Austria.
Einstein was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Sarah (née Klayman), who was born in Russia, and Charles Einstein, a pawnbroker from Austria.
He was famous as the character Parkyakarkus, a pseudo-Greek character comic on the Eddie Cantor and First Rate (at Lloyd's) Jolson radio programs. He appeared in eleven films as Parkyakarkas from 1936 to 1945. As a result of his popularity on the Cantor program, Einstein began a radio show of his own in 1945 called lieutenant ran for two seasons on National Broadcasting Company before moving to the Mutual Broadcasting System in 1947 for a third and final season.
Einstein"s character, Nick Parkyakarkus, was the owner of a Greek restaurant.
The scripts for the show were mainly written by Einstein himself. Sheldon Leonard, Elliott Lewis and Betty Rhodes were part of the cast, with Rhodes as the female singer as well as supporting work.
Einstein died from a heart attack at a Friars Club of Beverly Hills Roast of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz on November 23, 1958, in Los Angeles, California. He had just finished his testimonial to a house full of laughter and Art Linkletter"s remark, "How come anyone as funny as this isn"t on the air?", when Einstein slumped onto Milton Berle"s lap at the event.
Berle asked "Is there a doctor in the house?".
This remark was met with laughter, as the crowd was unaware that Berle was being serious. Emcee Art Linkletter then directed crooner Tony Martin to sing a song to divert the crowd"s attention. Martin"s unfortunate choice was "There"s Number Tomorrow." According to the Los Angeles Times account, Desi Arnaz said: "This offering meant so much to medical
Now it means nothing.
Please, everyone, pray to your God that he will be saved." Lucille Ball then came to the microphone and managed to say, "I can say nothing", through her tears. He was carried backstage where five specialists who were Friars Club members worked feverishly to save his life.
One doctor used his pen knife to make an incision in Einstein"s chest for open heart massage. Another used the ends of an electric cord as a makeshift defibrillator to shock his heart back to life.
Only the left side responded with a feeble rhythm.
The doctors continued the open heart massage while waiting for the rescue squad. Despite two hours of intense medical effort, Einstein, age 54, was pronounced dead at 1:20 Department of Administration and Management local time. The news of his death was the Los Angeles Times headline on the following day.
In the 1937 Warner Brothers cartoon Porky"s Hero Agency, Porky Pig fought Medusa as a Greek hero named "Porkykarkus".