Danny Kaye films will be broadcast on TV stations worldwide this Christmas, and Mick Jordan looks back on his career and ‘comic energy’ we all loved

 

If Danny Kaye was a new Hollywood star being launched today he would probably be described as a mixture of Jerry Lewis and Jim Carrey. And Gene Wilder. And Andy Kaufman. And Martin Short. And a lot more. But of course Danny Kaye came before all these greats and clearly influenced every one of them. The artist may be gone, but his art is forever.

Like so many of the classic comedy stars Danny started out on the vaudeville circuit. He worked hard and experimented with dance, comedy and music before perfecting his act as a combination of all three.
He gradually moved through the ranks to the top of the bill and onto Broadway. By 1944, he was such a major stage star that he could pick and choose who he would sign for, in his inevitable move to film.

Aiding him in this was his shrewd and business-savvy wife, Sylvia Fine. Danny and Sylvia had married in 1940 and had quickly become a formidable team on the entertainment circuit.
Sylvia was already a successful composer but when she met Danny she found the perfect interpreter for her comic compositions.

Some of Danny’s most famous routines were written by Sylvia. She was able to take his natural verbal skills, his ability to rapidly speak in mad gibberish and to combine it with the comic material that perfected his persona.

As Danny often said, “Sylvia has a fine head on my shoulders.” She was also a good agent and so was able to get the best deal for Danny with his cinema debut.
Rather than an employee of the studio as so many stars were, Danny’s contract with Samuel Goldwyn was for one film per year, and he could choose the material and still concentrate on other projects between films.

His first film Up In Arms was like a ‘best of’ from his stage show and was a big hit at the box office.

His next, Wonder Man, established a format he was to return to again and again, playing two very different characters. Here it’s twins, one a dashing stage comedian and ladies’ man, the other a shy professor, inevitably, frightened of women.

It was also the first film to feature Virginia Mayo as his leading lady – they were to make four more films together, with perhaps their best being The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947). Here Danny got to play effectively several characters, most of them in the daydreams of the shy, downtrodden character of the title.

Of course in his dreams he is the ultimate hero. A daring air ace in the Battle of Britain, a dashing riverboat gambler in the old South, or a brilliant surgeon who uses a fountain pen to save a man’s life on the operating table.

All these adventures end with him in the arms of his dream woman – Virginia Mayo. It is quite a shock to him when she turns up in real life as a genuine damsel in distress. Well at least in need of his help, to battle with Nazi spies and so he ends up in a real adventure that dwarfs all his fantasies. In fact it is because of his experiences in these dreams that he is able to win out against the villains!

Continue reading in this week’s Ireland’s Own festive double issue