Danny Kaye left school at the age of 13 to work in the so-called
Borscht Belt of Jewish resorts in the Catskill Mountains. It was there
he learned the basics of show biz. From there he went through a series
of jobs in and out of the business. In 1939, he made his Broadway debut
in "Straw Hat Revue," but it was the stage production of the musical
"Lady in the Dark" in 1940 that brought him acclaim and notice from
agents. Also in 1940, he married
Sylvia Fine, who went on to manage his
career. She helped create the routines and gags, and wrote most of the
songs that he performed. Danny could sing and dance like many others,
but his specialty was reciting those tongue-twisting songs and
monologues.
Samuel Goldwyn had been trying to sign
Kaye to a movie contract for two years before he eventually agreed.
Goldwyn put him in a series of Technicolor musicals, starting with
Up in Arms (1944). His debut was
successful, and he continued to make hit movies such as
Das Doppelleben des Herrn Mitty (1947)
and
Die sündige Stadt (1949).
In 1954, he appeared with Bing Crosby in
Weiße Weihnachten (1954), which was
based on the Irving Berlin song of
the same name. In 1955, he made what many consider his best comedy,
Der Hofnarr (1955), with
the brilliant Pellet with the Poison routine. Like all things, however,
the lifespan of a comedian is limited and his movie career waned. In
1960, he began doing specials on television and this led to his own TV
series,
The Danny Kaye Show (1963),
which ran from 1963 to 1967.
Some of his last roles were also his most memorable, such as an intense
Holocaust survivor in
Kreuz der Gewalt (1981) and as a kind but
goofy dentist in an episode of
Die Bill Cosby Show (1984). He
also worked tirelessly for UNICEF.
