Articles From the Stars and Stripes Website

"Teeners greet Danny; comic wows EC GIs"
March 18, 1948
By: Mort Gudebrod
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(Image - Gerald Walker © Stars and Stripes)

RHINE-MAIN AIR BASE, March 17 -- Danny Kaye, the "Kid From Brooklyn" who made London forget for a month that austerity was around, arrived here this morning slightly green in complexion after a rough trip from Paris, but recovered sufficiently by evening to wow two packed houses of 1,000 GIs each at this base's Gateway Theater.
         A quartet of teen-agers, American dependent pupils at Frankfurt High School, were on hand at the airport to greet Danny with outthrust autograph pads in the proper American form.
         They said they were representing their sorority, "JUSG," which Miss Dorothy Longley deciphered as "Just Us Sweater Girls."
From Rhine-Main, Danny was whisked to Special Services Hq. at Bad Nauheim, where he and his entourage lunched with Brig. Gen. R. V. Rickard and Col. E. J. Walsh, Special Services CO and deputy CO; hurried through a rehearsal with an orchestral combination selected from the 68th AF Band; and rushed back to Rhine-Main for two capacity shows.
         Danny panicked both audiences with his double-talk and blitz ditties, and during the closing performance shared the spotlight with Miss Moneda Aucalir, age 2 1/2, who attracted his attention by her obvious appreciation of his efforts.

"Danny Kaye bounces in, out of Germany on way to Africa"
April 26, 1954
By: William Mahoney, S&S Staff Writer European Edition
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FRANKFURT -- American stage and screen star Danny Kaye stopped briefly in Frankfurt today en route to a professional engagement in South Africa and then two months in the Far East as ambassador at large for the United Nations International Children's Education Fund (UNICEF).
         Kaye, topped in his trademark, a battered hat, stepped jauntily off a Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM) plane at Rhine-Main Airport and immediately ran into another actor in the terminal building.
         There, rolling on his back and kicking his heels in a crib; was 9-month-old Peter Habekotte, son of Mr. and Mrs. Adrian Habecotte of The Netherlands and Nairobi, Kenya. Peter was on his way to Africa, too. The two posed together for photographers with Peter doing all the scene-stealing.
         Kaye was asked by a German newspaperwoman if he smoked.
         "Yes," he said.
         "Do you drink?" she asked.
         "Yes," he said. "I have all the major and minor vices...like all human beings."
         Kaye explained that as ambassador he would make documentary films on UNICEF activities in India, Thailand, Hong Kong and the Philippines. He said that through worldwide distribution of the pictures it was hoped that the people of different countries would become acquainted with the work of the children's fund.
         He left New York last Monday for London, where he attended the British premiere of his new film "Knock on Wood," a Paramount production.
         Before leaving Rhine-Main, Kaye telephoned a greeting to an old friend, Brig. Gen. Ben I. Funk, Erding Air Depot CG. Kaye said he and Funk were together on Okinawa "a long time ago." He also asked that his best wishes be forwarded to U.S. troops in Europe.

"Danny Kaye visits Far East hospitals"
August 17, 1967
By: Ray Mahon (S&S staff writer)
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(Image - Kat Suhiro Yokomura / © Stars and Stripes)

TOYKO -- "Any plans about retiring? Good God, no! I've just begun!"
         Danny Kaye, decked out in blue corduroy trousers, red sport shirt, cardigan sweater and ankle-length boots, seemed shocked and even a bit hurt that anyone might suggest retirement to him.
         "What would I do if I retired?" he asked. "Relax? I'm relaxing when I do this."
         Kaye was referring to his current tour of U.S. military hospitals in the Far East. It is just one of numerous tours the comedian has taken during the past several years to entertain American servicemen or promote the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF).
         "For me, traveling is no sweat. It requires no emotional effort or sacrifice on my part. It's just something I like to do and feel I have to do," Kaye said as he waited for lunch in his 10th floor suite in the Toyko Hilton.
         Kaye was scheduled to visit GI patients in hospitals at Johnson Family Housing Annex, Camp Lama, Yokosuka, Kishine Barracks, Camp Drake and Tachikawa before leaving Monday for Okinawa.
         He goes on to the Philippines Wednesday, Guam Friday and will return to Toyko before leaving for Europe on Aug. 22 to attend the opening of the Junior Olympics in Copenhagen.
          Kaye said he talked with about 350 patients Friday, his first day of touring hospitals in Japan.
          "I'd rather spend my time visiting bedside with the men than putting on a show," he said., "It's a more personal thing. You can't imagine the heartwarming feeling you get when you see a man smile as you walk over to his bed. It's not so much what you do, but that you have spent 5 or 10 minutes with him alone."
          The 54-year-old performer, who describes his health as "sensational," toured Vietnam recently. It is the third war in which he entertained U.S. troops but "It's no different," he said.
         "All wars are the same--all terrible. All filled with the same horrors and tragedies. But, the morale of our boys down there is as great as it was in the other wars. They're over there to do a job and they're doing just that."
Kaye's ability to rattle off double-talk in seemingly any language has led many to believe he can speak several languages.
         "This is not true," he said. "I know a few words, just enough to fool people temporarily. But, when they start talking to me in their language, I'm lost."
          There are people who still won't believe it. Especially, a pretty French starlet who once got into a conversation with him.
After listening to Kaye spout what sounded like French, she turned in despair and cried, "I know it's French but I don't understand a thing he's saying."

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