“Danny’s Dena – She Objects”
St. Petersburg Times – Aug. 31, 1960
Rehearsing for “The Danny Kaye Show,” the spectacular on which he’ll make his TV performance debut Oct. 30, star Danny Kaye recalled the reaction of his daughter, Dena, when at the age of five she first saw him entertain before an audience.
“Up till then we’d kept the awful truth about Daddy’s profession a secret,” Danny said, “but finally we decided she was old enough to know the worst. She sat through the whole show without cracking a smile. When it was over, her mother, Sylvia, said: ‘What’s the matter, darling – didn’t you like Daddy’s act?’ Dena just kept her mouth buttoned up tight and shook her head – no.
“Then Sylvia brought her backstage to see me, and I knew something was wrong. I squatted down to Dena’s level and asked anxiously: ‘Is there something special that bothered you? Tell Daddy.’
“She broke into a torrent of tears and threw herself on my neck. ‘I didn’t mind what you DID,’ she sobbed, ‘but I hated all those people LAUGHING at you’!”