Every now & then I’ll catch one of his old movies on TBS. My dad used to say that saying which is where I learned it from. I don’t know if I actually ever heard him say it on TV though. Asked my dad what he meant by that saying. He explained that Jimmy used to end his show with that saying. Asked him who Mrs. Calabash was, he told me he didn’t know. 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.
Thanx. He had a great ending to his show. Walking through the dark stage and stopping at interspersed spot lights. Simple, classic.