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Website developer and "Nhu! Uhng! Uh! Ieh! Nhu! Uhng! Uh! Ieh!" This is the sound one must make while patting an imaginary bongo drum and dancing about with shuffling steps. You do this when you're 6 years old watching 'A Song is Born'. A wonderfully funny scene at the start of this film involves a group of music professors. Their benefactor drops by, concerned that the funding she has given them over the past ten years has been wasted because they still haven't produced any research. She is quite a conservative woman, and is astounded when Danny tries to explain all the different types of music they have already studied and recorded. He grabs a drum and begins prancing around the room to demonstrate, all the while grunting the African words to a love song. He even manages to get his benefactor into the mood! My love of Danny Kaye began while watching television, sitting on a wooden floor way back before it was fashionable to have one. We didn't have much money and couldn't afford carpeting. I also didn't have many toys, and treasured the few I had received for Christmas or birthdays over the years. I'd sit, cross legged, on the lounge room floor with Panda, complete with bell in his ear and worn patches in his fur, totally engrossed in television. My mother, always wanting to give me and my two sisters a well rounded education including all of the Arts, would encourage us to watch those wonderful movies from the '30s, '40s, '50s and '60s; films starring Ester Williams, Deanna Durbin, Shirley Temple, Gene Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Spencer Tracey, Katharine Hepburn, Rod Taylor, Errol Flynn and, most especially, Danny Kaye. I cried with laughter watching classics like 'The Court Jester'. One of its greatest scenes is when Danny - the Jester who has been knighted in order to joust for the hand of the fair Gwendolyn (played by Angela Lansbury) - is told by Gwen's nurse, a witch, that she has poisoned a drink in order to take out his opponent for him. The lines are thrown back and forth as she tries to help him remember which drink to take; the chalice from the palace? No the vessel with the pestle! Ah, but then there's the flagon of the dragon so where's the pellet with the poison? No matter how many times you see this film, you still laugh while you wonder how Danny managed to wrap his lips around the many tongue twisting lyrics he was famed for singing and which were written for him by his wife, Sylvia Fine. Danny had a huge influence on me as a child - his moves, his smile, his laugh, his singing were things I studied and watched. I was in a choir for many years, and often tried to emulate his easy way of delivering a song, sounding effortless yet full of emotion. I enjoyed his humour and style, the way he carried himself, and respected the enormous effort he put into helping children - his work with UNICEF as well as his benevolent concerts and shows. Many people may know Danny only from 'White Christmas', a film played almost every year at Christmas-time somewhere around the world, although it's not really a Christmas movie. Danny was third choice for the role opposite Bing Crosby, after Donald O'Connor and Fred Astaire turned it down. Danny and Bing are in the army together, singing and dancing to entertain the men when they're not fighting the enemy. After the war they team up and become a popular stage act with hit shows wherever they go. They discover that their platoon leader, who they loved and respected, has fallen on hard times and is running a inn upstate. Having met a couple of gorgeous sisters who are also working in show business, they head up to the inn to help out by staging a show to bring in the guests and make some money for their old friend. It is not Danny's best role; he is more suited to working on his own than being second banana to anyone. But because 'White Christmas' is shown so frequently over the holiday season, people recall him as that kind of character. Likewise for another one of his famous films, 'Hans Christian Anderson', very loosely based on the author's life. Danny shone as Hans, a shoemaker and storyteller who distracts the townfolks' children and frustrates their parents no end. I've seen almost all of Danny's movies, as well as the televised concerts where he conducted symphony orchestras with relish and hilarity, the emphasis being on Kiddy Proms - music that would appeal to children. His documentaries on the plight of children worldwide have also been shown on TV, and publicity given to his groundbreaking work with UNICEF, which he helped to set up. This is a man who was a superstar in every sense of the word in the '30s, '40s, '50s and even the '60s and '70s - selling out packed theatres and cinemas with his films and tours. Yet nowadays his work is rarely shown on TV, and his name almost never mentioned in the press when discussing stars from previous eras. Danny was multi talented; he was a singer, comedian, dramatic actor and dancer who in his spare time was also a chef, humanitarian and pilot. His love of flying took him all over the world, and he was the perfect choice to help UNICEF in its creation and inception of humanitarian work with children. He shot documentaries on the plight of kids in third world countries to demonstrate what UNICEF was doing to improve their situation. He then persuaded television networks to show these programs in order to get more funding to help more kids. To raise further funds, he would also host dinner parties for his friends at home, personally cooking them wonderful gourmet meals in his own state-of-the-art industrial kitchen. Danny played a lot of roles as a wimpy kind of guy who flukes his way into incredible situations - but always with that mischievous gleam in his eye that indicates he's having fun with every scene. In 'The Court Jester', his character, under the influence of hypnosis, fences with Basil Rathbone - with the snap of the fingers Danny is transformed from a cowardly jester into a confident killer. He also looks to be having great fun in scenes from 'Wonder Man', where he plays twins, one a bookworm, the other a cocky performer. When the performer is killed and his nerdy brother has to take his place on stage, Danny changes in the twinkling of an eye to a self assured, accomplished and polished performer. Danny Kaye started in show business during the 1930s as a 'tummler', a slapstick styled actor first entertaining people at holiday resorts and then in vaudeville. He later progressed to stage shows which showcased his unique style of comedy, created with the help of his wife who wrote all of his music. Danny was also successful on television and, beginning in 1963, hosted his own award-winning variety show filled with sketches and skits and special guests. When it ended its run in 1967, he returned to stage and screen. Danny Kaye never really retired, turning up in programs as diverse as 'The Lucille Ball Show', 'The Twilight Zone', 'The Muppet Show' and 'The Cosby Show', before passing away from a heart attack in 1987 - and I've missed him ever since. Copyright Jodie McPhee 2001 Take-5 cover |
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