“Danny Kaye Won’t Talk Of Royalty”
Pittsburgh Post-
By: Gene Jannuzi
About his recent command performance before England’s Royal Family at London’s Palladium,
Danny Kaye, now doing a five-
It was at a luncheon in his honor the other day in Hotel William Penn that he wasn’t talking about it.
“Matter of fact,” said Danny, speaking from the head of a 30-
Danny paused. He might have been thinking that it was a good spot for a parody of a newspaperman with pencil poised and chewing on his tongue. Maybe he wasn’t, though. Who can tell what the unpredictable Danny Kaye is thinking?
Nothing to Say
Anyway, said Danny, he told the newspaper people that he had nothing to say about his meeting with the King and Queen.
“Nobody said a word,” Danny said. “They thanked me and left. I wasn’t making capital out of the Royal Family.”
“I suppose it would be useless to suggest,” someone suggested, “that you tell us about it now.”
It was indeed useless, said Danny. That time at the Palladium, he said, was the first time the King and Queen had sat in the stalls (orchestra), forsaking the Royal box for the front row.
When he and his wife (Sylvia Fine, who has written much of his stuff) were introduced to the Queen, the Queen said to Mrs. Kaye: “I’m so glad you’re here, I wanted you to see what we think of your husband.”
The King and Queen did not come to his dressing room, Danny said, but the Royal Princesses did.
Kid From Brooklyn
“I’m a kid from Brooklyn,” said Danny. “When I found out they were coming I wanted to know what I was supposed to do. So we practiced.”
They had spots to stand, and Danny’s line was to be “How do you do, Your Highness,”
or something like that.
When they came in Danny said, “Hi.”
When the children address the King they call him “papa.” But when they speak to each other about papa they call him “The King.”
“They’re wonderful,” Danny said. “Everyone loves them. After all they’re human beings.”
Someone asked Danny about his visit to Scotland and his meeting with Sir Harry Lauder and Danny told about how he was “knighted” by a Scotswoman who got excited and introduced him as “Sir Danny Kaye.”
But that wasn’t as interesting as what Danny couldn’t tell about his command performance in London.