“Danny Kaye Has Altered TV Stand”
Toledo Blade – Nov. 3, 1962
By: Harold Heffernan
HOLLYWOOD (N A N A) – Five years ago a “friend” of Danny Kaye was quoted widely as saying the comedian feared to appear on television because he wouldn’t be able to take it if panned by critics.
That was 1957 – not a good year, apparently, for self-
Danny returns to television for his annual appearance Nov. 11 in a one-
“I was never afraid to appear on television for fear I’d be criticized,” Danny said, as he lounged in his comfortable Beverly Hills home. “Heck, I’ve been criticized, panned, put down, and knocked out by critics before. It’s all part of show business—the lumps with the roses.”
He paused, assembled his thoughts, and continued: “About that time I was very interested in a project that seemed far more important to me than making a lot of money or clowning it up for people who were well fed, healthy and had a great deal else to laugh about apart from me.”
Danny was referring to the U.N. Children’s Fund, for which he is “Ambassador at Large,” and for which he has traveled 240,000 miles in the last few years to bring a little sunshine to children in countries where laughter is as rare as one good meal a day.
“I believe the world’s children are the most important part of the world’s future,” he continued. “Unless we adults face up to that we might as well all pack up and go home. If we want we can give these kids a better world than we’ve known.”
Sylvia Kaye, Danny’s accomplished dark-
“I’ve been rehearsing it off and on for four months now,” said Danny. “It’s got a lot of new material in it, but basically I’m a ‘tumler’ in it. A ‘tumler’ is a word coined when I was doing the ‘Borscht Circuit’ in upper New York. It means a person who manufactures tumult.”
Danny then traced his colorful show-
His big break came, he said, when he sang a song in the Broadway musical, “Lady in
the Dark,” in which he rattled off 60 impossible Russian names in 20 seconds. Critics
said his 11-
Hollywood cast him in a number of musical comedy films—“Up in Arms,” “Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” “The Inspector General,” “Hans Christian Andersen.” He has just completed “The Man From the Diner’s Club” and will soon start on “Five Pieces of Maria.”
On stage Danny runs riot, off stage he’s quiet, serious, and even a bit shy. He isn’t
a self-
“How can I be?” he asks. “If I tried to list the persons responsible for my success, it would be chaotic. Scores have helped me along the way by something they have done or said.”
And Danny still thinks he made the correct decision in appearing on TV only once a year. “Of course my financial adviser doesn’t agree,” he grins. “But who needs money when you’ve got friends?”
However, since taping his coming show, Danny now admits he has changed his mind about
rationing his television appearances. Liking what he saw of himself in his own show,
he didn’t play a bit hard-