DANNY KAYE - THE HAPPY ENTERTAINER

Till a few years back it was said that tulips could not grow in India because of our climate. Our horticulturists have proved this wrong and recently, Shanti Path in Delhi bloomed with tulips with more to come in Rashtrapati Bhavan’s Moghul Gardens. That reminded me of a popular song of yesteryears, ‘Tulips in Amsterdam’ which I thought was sung by Danny Kaye. I was wrong: Max Bygraves sang that song but perhaps its similarity to ‘Wonderful Copenhagen’ brought Danny Kaye to my mind. Was it also that my sub-conscious was somehow aware that 03 March was the date of his passing on in 1987?

In our younger days, we adored Danny Kaye, the entertainer. The distinguishing feature of Danny was the happiness and optimism he exuded in his movies and songs. It seemed like a genuine emotion coming straight from the heart and not a put-on or slap-stick act. He was happy and wanted everyone to be happy.

He was a born entertainer and as a kid in school, kept his classmates entertained with imitation acts and humorous songs. He would grow up to become an actor, singer, dancer, cook, comedian and philanthropist. His work earned him international acclaim and he was appointed UNICEF’s first Ambassador-at-large in 1954.

Danny’s parents were of Ukrainian-Jewish descent and immigrated to the USA. He was born in New York in 1911 and named David Daniel Kaminsky. In his childhood, he wanted to become a surgeon but his parents could not afford medical education. So he took to odd jobs including as an assistant to a dentist and when the latter fired him for fooling around with a dental drill, Danny eloped with the dentist’s daughter, Sylvia Fine, who became his pianist, lyricist and composer.

In 1933, he joined a vaudeville dance act called ‘The Three Terpsichoreans’ and took the name of Danny Kaye. With his troupe, he went on a tour to Asia where he started entertaining people who did not understand English, with pantomime gestures, songs and facial expressions. He developed this into a fine art for which he would become famous all through his life. His daughter recounted a story that when in China, he went to a restaurant and wanted to order a chicken dish. He flapped his arms up and down and clucked to imitate the bird. The waiter nodded acknowledgement and promptly came back with two eggs!

He started acting in films in 1937 but his first big break came in a 1941 Broadway comedy show, ‘‘Lady In The Dark’’ with a number ‘TsChaikowsky (and Other Russians)’ in which he sang names of many Russian composers at rapid fire speed without seeming to pause for breath. His feature film career took off in 1944 with “Up In Arms” after which he starred in a number of hit movies.

Apart from films, he was celebrated for his TV, Radio and stage shows, songs and even as an orchestra conductor though he could not read music. His conducting of ‘The Flight of the Bumblebees’ earned him praise from no less than the great conductor, Zubin Mehta.

My love for Danny Kaye stemmed from his films and songs. The first movie of his that I recall seeing was “On The Riviera” in which he played a double role. It featured a song composed and written by his wife Sylvia, ‘Popo The Puppet’, which became Danny’s signature song. A favourite with children, its key line is meaningful, ‘Popo the Puppet can do anything, when somebody else pulls the string!’

Songs sung in his delightful novelty style which are among my favourites include his first hit, ‘I’ve Got A Lovely Bunch Of Cocoanuts’. Then there is the very happy  ‘Everything Is Tickety-Boo’ from the movie “Merry Andrew” filmed with him on a bike greeting all he meets on his ride with ‘Everything is tickety-boo…incidentally, how about you…happier too, tickety-boo, tickety-boo, everything is tickety-boo, on such a dreamy day.’  ‘Mad Dogs And Englishmen’ who go out in the noonday sun could apply to golfers like me while ‘Life Could Not Better Be’ is another happy number guaranteed to chase one’s blues away. He sang a lot of songs for children like ‘I Taut I Taw A Puddy-Tat’, ‘Santa Claus Looks Like My Daddy’ and ‘All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth’ with Patty Andrews of The Andrews Sisters.

Coming back to movies, he starred in the big musical hit “White Christmas” sharing the limelight with Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen. The music was scored by the famous composer Irving Berlin and featured a number of hit songs as could be expected from Irving and the three outstanding singers. The story was about Bob (Bing Crosby) and Phil (Danny Kaye) who became friends in the Army during World War II and later got together to perform on stage. Their love interests involved Betty (Rosemary Clooney) and Judy (Vera Ellen) respectively who they invited to join on stage. The movie ended with the unforgettable ‘White Christmas' sung by Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Trudy Stevens who provided the background voice for Vera Ellen, a non-singer. Bing Crosby sang his famous ‘Count Your Blessings’ and Danny danced and sang ‘The Best Things Happen When You Are Dancing’. The movie also featured the comic song ‘Sisters’ by Rosemary and Trudy (for Vera) which was then delightfully lip synced by Bing and Danny.

Finally, I think the best of Danny both in acting and singing comes out in the movie “Hans Christian Andersen”.  The story is told not as a plain biography of the great Danish fairy tale writer but as a kind of fairy tale in itself through songs and ballets. Tales told in the movie include The Ugly Duckling, Thumbelina, The Little Mermaid and The Emperor’s New Clothes. Thumbelina (a tiny girl, the size of a thumb) and The Ugly Duckling are sung by Danny with deep emotion and are heartwarming.  Some lines from Thumbelina-

‘Thumbelina, Thumbelina, tiny little thing,

Thumbelina dance, Thumbelina sing,

Thumbelina, what’s the difference if you’re very small,

When your heart is full of love, you’re nine feet tall.’

Two other songs from the movie, ‘I’m Hans Christian Andersen’ and ‘Wonderful Copenhagen’ are outstanding. The pull of the latter was strong enough to make me visit Copenhagen in 2016. The Danish guide acknowledged that Danny’s song was responsible for putting the capital city of Denmark right on top of the tourist map. She pointed out though that Danny popularised the city as ‘Copen-haa-gen’ instead of its Danish pronunciation ‘Copen-hay-gen’!

A photograph which I shall always treasure is that of Akhila and me standing in front of ‘The Little Mermaid’ in Copenhagen harbour.

We love you Danny Kaye, you made us happy. God bless your soul.