SOURCES:
Singer, Kurt. The Danny Kaye Story. New York: Thomas Nelson & Sons, 1958.
various
articles listed as needed throughout the biography
– The Fifties –
Flying
In 1959, Danny took up a new hobby...flying. "It was 1959. I had
made a movie with a fellow named Michael Kidd. We used to drive to the studio together.
Now, I wasn’t altogether crazy about Mike’s driving. No, let me put it another way.
It got so I wouldn’t even ride with him. Some months after we finished the picture,
I got back from a trip abroad, and somebody told me Mike had become a licensed pilot.
Well, it was shattering. I couldn’t believe that anyone as inept as Mike was in a
car could ever have mastered the art of flying [...]." (January 1967) Michael Kidd
was the director of Merry Andrew, which came out in 1958. In another article, Danny
put it this way, "I wouldn't ride home with him unless I could drive -
Before long, Danny was in training to become a pilot. When it came time for the exam, Danny said, "Here I am with a liverwurst sandwich in my pocket because I know this is going to be a terror, going on for hours, and I sit down to a desk with all these questions in front of me. Here’s something strange. I can step out in front of 20,000 people to do a show, and not be nervous at all. Yet when I went to take my examination, I was as nervous as a cat." The one thing that kept Danny going, however, was something that Michael Kidd had said to a friend of Danny's. He had mentioned that he didn't think Danny had the patience to do everything it took to get a license. After hearing that, Danny determined that he'd get license, "or else." (January 1967) He passed the exam with a 90. One brief article made mention of this: "Kaye did have some trouble with the navigation examinations though. The exam usually takes four hours. In Kaye’s case (he passed with a high grade) it took six hours. That’s because of his one weakness—he simply cannot add." (March 24, 1962) According to Danny: "If I’ve got four sets of figures to sum up, I begin at the top and add down. Then I add from the bottom up. Then I separate the figures, two and two, add them, and take those sums and add them together, and if it comes out the same, I must be right." (January 1967) The article also mentioned that Sylvia said, "now that Danny has his pilot’s and navigator’s license, she at last can invite guests to dinner. For a year their dining room table was covered with charts." (March 24, 1962)
To read the full story in Danny's own words: Click Here
Throughout the rest of Danny's life, he developed a great love for flying. "Almost anybody else would be exhausted by the schedules and hours Kaye maintains. But it leaves him refreshed and energetic. 'It’s not emotional trauma for me,' he said. 'I’m as prepared to go to Calcutta right now as I am to Denver. Traveling to me is a part of my occupation. I love coming to work, but I love to travel too. Most people make a big production of going on a trip. Not me. I just pack a bag and I’m off.'" (December 2, 1966)
Just what could Danny fly? In a February 17, 1972 article, he said, "I always wanted
to fly a big jet. So I did fly a DC-
– The Sixties –
Television
During the fifties, while many entertainers grabbed at television
offers, Danny held out. For many years, reporters constantly asked him what he had
against television? Danny's answers came in various forms. "I'll do TV when the time
is right." (October 25, 1960) In one article, written by Danny, he said, "Why won’t
I make that kind of an appearance? For one thing, I enjoy my life very much the way
it is. I like making motion pictures. I enjoy making the stage appearances I do.
I get a great thrill from my work for UNICEF. But I can’t do all this and television,
too . . . And right now, I’d rather continue these activities than plunge into something
that I might not enjoy nearly as well." He finished the article by saying, "I just
haven’t made up my mind about it yet. Nor has anyone presented me with a show that
I felt like doing on TV." (November 6, 1957) In another article he said, “[...] I
never said I’d NEVER do a weekly series. I always qualified it with ‘at this time.’
I said I’d do it only when the time was right. And five years ago it wasn’t. I was
doing movies then, working with children for the United Nations, appearing in theatres
six or ten weeks a year. And I realized I’d have to curtail all these activities
to do justice to television. Then about a year ago I realized I wasn’t sufficiently
stimulated. I wasn’t busy enough. It was then I knew the time was right." (October
5, 1963)
Up until 1960, Danny had barely been seen on television. The only exception to this was "The Secret Life of Danny Kaye," the documentary he filmed about his work with UNICEF for Edward Murrow's show "See It Now." In 1960, however, Danny finally gave in to television with his first special coming out in October 30th of that year. The special was taped in advance in front of a live audience. “I wanted to catch the spirit of a whole, uninterrupted show for its culminative effect. We have a few imperfections but we decided not to retape them. They are the imperfections of spontaneity and I like ‘em.” (October 25, 1960)
Two more specials followed, one in 1961 and another in 1962, which co-
In 1967, The Danny Kaye Show ended. Danny's explanation: “The reason I decided to do TV was to take my life and shake it up. And that’s what I’m doing again, taking my life and shaking it up. I could stay on and fall into a groove but every groove becomes a rut. I should go back and make some movies. The last one I made was ‘The Man From the Diner’s Club.’” (March 9, 1967) Though most of the sixties was focused on Danny's television appearances, he did do several movies. On the Double came out in 1961, The Man From the Diner's Club in 1963, and The Madwoman of Chaillot in 1969. He also made an amusing appearance on The Lucy Show in 1964 as himself.
Cooking
Danny had enjoyed cooking, even prior to the sixties. In The Danny
Kaye Story, Sylvia explained, "Danny may decide he wants dinner to start with a cold
soup that no one has planned. He'll start with a consomme, add beets, potatoes, sour
cream, sample every step of the way and insist that everyone sample with him. By
the time he's washed and we sit down to the table, he has very little appetite left.
If Danny gets really involved in the kitchen, we set the table there to catch him
while he is still hungry. He is a mixer and fixer of mysterious dishes." (pg 205)
Later on Singer mentioned that Sylvia "keeps the larder stocked with the ingredients
that may be needed for a Kaye experimental dish [...]." (pg 209) Yet it was in the
early sixties that Danny took up the hobby of cooking Chinese cuisine. In a November
8, 1964 article, Danny said, “Oh, I’ve been cooking for a long time. I started on
Chinese cuisine a couple of years ago. Some people play golf or paint, I cook. It’s
expensive, but it is fun. A friend of mine owns one of the finest Chinese restaurants
in San Francisco. I learned to cook there under Chef Ming, the dean of all Chinatown
cooks.” The article went on to list some of the dishes that Danny would cook: lobster
with black bean sauce, shark fin soup, chicken wings, sweet and sour pork, beef and
onion rings, Chinese salad, and 1,000-
ys he knew he was a success
as a cook when his daughter, Dena, who is 17, asked him to make a Chinese dinner
for her friends." (
In the early sixties, Danny had a Chinese kitchen built onto his house to satisfy
his new hobby and passion. "In my Chinese kitchen, I have a restaurant stove, chopping
block, woks, steamers, cleavers, spatulas, ladles and chopsticks. I work quickly—as
you must with Oriental cooking—keeping the ingredients within easy reach and cleaning
up as I go." (April 15, 1972) As a couple, Danny and Sylvia were always one for inviting
guests over. Singer said, "The Kayes are easy hosts and people like to drop in."
(The Danny Kaye Story pg 208). Once Danny took up Chinese cuisine, he enjoyed inviting
guests over and cooking them a Chinese dinner. To some who dined at these meals,
Danny could be seen as having strict rules. In the special feature of the On the
Riviera DVD, his daughter, Dena, explained this. "[...] you couldn't talk in-
Kitchen picture from: Architectural Digest
– The Seventies –
Two by Two
It had been roughly 27 years since Danny had ended his last Broadway
production. He had made hundreds of personal appearances the world over, but Two
by Two was his first theatrical production in years. A musical, with songs by Richard
Rodgers, Two by Two was about the life of Noah and his family. One article describes
it like this: "It’s supposed to be Noah’s 600th birthday (“And so far not even a
card,” he complains) and before the evening is over – three hours later – the audience
is privy to Noah’s conversations with God, 40 days and 40 nights of rain and a slight
rewrite of the Old Testament." (November 4, 1970) Another article said this: "During
“Two by Two,” the rangy star indulges in strenuous portrayal shifts, as Jehovah of
the Old Testament shuttles Noah’s age from 602 to 900 and back again. He also participates
in a half dozen songs." (December 13, 1970) For the part of Noah, Danny said he relied
on some of the medical knowledge that he had been storing up in his brain over the
years. "'In fact, I used some of my medical knowledge when I was trying to work out
how to play a 600-
On February 5, 1971, Danny slipped onstage; the accident resulted in torn ligaments
in his left ankle. (February 16, 1971 & February 18, 1971) He was out of the show
for 11 days. (August 10, 1971) In his absence the show didn't do so well at the box
office. (February 18, 1971) When he returned to the stage later that month, his left
leg was in a cast. Danny explained in a July 12, 1971 article that, “A torn ligament
is really worse than a break. It’s more painful and takes longer to heal.” The wheelchair
and crutches that he used soon became a part of the act. According to one critical
review, "The wheelchair and the cast are minor distractions, as far as the show is
concerned. What kills it is Kaye’s absolute refusal to stay in character. He jokes
with the audience, using 'ad libs' already overly familiar to those who read the
theatrical columns, and he horses around with the other actors unzipping one’s costume,
chasing several others in his wheelchair and hitting another in the groin with his
crutch, a bit of business which is milked for nearly five minutes." George Anderson,
the reviewer, continued by explaining "those of us who want to see Broadway professionalism
can only be disappointed." (April 6, 1971) Whatever the reasons for these actions
were, clearly there were those who were highly critical of it, and those who seemed
to enjoy it, as George Anderson points out in his review. Whatever the reason, it
should also be pointed out that Danny did not have to return to the show. After such
an injury, he very well could have quit the show, which most likely would have closed
not long after. In Martin Gottfried's book Nobody's Fool, he said, "Joanna Simon
[an opera singer], while acknowledging that Danny 'was an impossibly difficutl person
to work with,' defended his stage antics. She thought the actors should have been
grateful. 'They wouldn't have had a job if Danny Kaye wasn't playing the lead.'"
(pg 299) The show closed on September 11, 1971 "because that is when the one-
Keeping Busy
After Two by Two, Danny kept busy with various appearances
and hobby-