Cliff Nazarro

Although he appeared in scores of films, diminutive comedian Cliff Nazarro was better known as one of the last of the great minstrel performers. Highly politically incorrect by today's standards, Nazarro's blackface act came with such songs as "Is I in Love (I is)," yet despite the ill-repute of blackface performers today, a poster from "Cliff Nazarro's Modern Minstrels" remains a best seller on Internet auctions. Nazarro later developed a famous double-talking act, which he performed both on Fred Allen's radio program and in several films, notably (and quite incongruously), the 1941 Hopalong Cassidy entry In Old Colorado. He died in 1961. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi