Remembering Danny Kaye on his centennial
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(CBS News) Even in the golden age of Hollywood, he stood out. Few performers captivated audiences the way actor, singer, dancer and comedian Danny Kaye did.
Throughout the 1940s, '50s and '60s, he was everywhere -- on stage and on the radio, in movies and on TV . . . and all around the world as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF.
What didn't he do?
"He didn't make himself bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwiches," said his daughter, Dena Kaye. "I made that for him."
Dena didn't have to make much else for her father -- he was also an avid chef.
"I used to say that his kitchen was like his private theater," she told Miller, "and the things he cooked with were not just utensils, they were artist's tools."
Her father loved cooking so much, Dena donated his "artist's tools" to the Culinary Institute of America in New York, and funded a cooking "theater" in his name.
The only daughter of Danny Kaye and composer-lyricist Sylvia Fine, Dena Kaye is keeping her parents' memory alive, 100 years after they were born.
At the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., a special exhibit honors the legendary couple.
"So, why should people of this generation know your father?" Miller asked.
"He was so much more than a performer," Dena replied. "He was UNICEF's first goodwill ambassador in 1954. So he's a role model. I can't say Angelina Jolie would say, 'Oh, I'm doing this 'cause I know Danny Kaye did it,' but nonetheless, he paved the way for Harry Belafonte, Audrey Hepburn, et cetera."
David Daniel Kaminsky grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., the son of Ukrainian Jewish immigrants. He was a high school dropout who spent his summers performing for vacationers at resorts in the Catskills, eventually adopting the stage name Danny Kaye.
"He was always just silly, always wanting to entertain people," said Dena.
At an audition in 1940, Kaye met musician Sylvia Fine, and the two eloped. A year later, he got his big break: a role in the Broadway play, "Lady in the Dark," in which he performed what became one of his signature songs.
"He could sing, he could dance, he was funny, he was dramatic, he was moving, he was silly, he was all of those things," said Dena.
And Hollywood took notice. Kaye would go on to star in more than two dozen films -- including classics like "White Christmas" and "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty."
In "Hans Christian Andersen," he portrayed a prolific Danish storyteller, capturing the hearts and minds of children everywhere.
And then there was "The Court Jester," with this famous repartee:
"The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true!"
His wife Sylvia often collaborated on the music. "My mother wrote a lot of his songs and they're kind of referred to as 'patter songs,' " said Dena. "What I call them was her intellectual tornadoes."
"Most couples can't work together -- how did they make it work?" Miller asked.
"With difficulty," Dena replied.
Shortly after Dena was born, Danny and Sylvia reportedly became estranged, due to rumors of his affairs with many different women . . . and men, the most famous, allegedly, Laurence Olivier.
"What do you say to that?" asked Miller.
"I say, people can write whatever they would like," Dena said. "I am just not in the business of confirming or denying anything. It's just a waste of my time."
The couple never divorced, and remained loving, doting parents to their only child.
"I really had a normal childhood," Dena said. "I mean, yes, Cary Grant came to the house, and yes, I asked Frank Sinatra to come to my graduation party and he showed up and I was thrilled, but I mean, we lived in the same house from 1947 until I sold it in 1991. I'd never been to an Academy Awards. I went to normal schools. I wasn't at parties growing up."
Dena says her father had no expectations for her. If he sensed she was happy, that was good enough for him.
"If there was a story of unconditional love and wanting was best for me, he was it," she said. "If I had decided to marry a sheep herder in Australia, he would've said, 'Great! I'll bring the barbeque, we'll have rack of lamb!' That's the key about my father: he felt things, he was passionate about things.
"My father was a man who had a life outside his career," Dena continued. "He was a pilot. He was a chef. He was an orchestra conductor."
Yes, an orchestra conductor -- who couldn't read a single note of music. "Itzhak Perlman, the amazing violinist, said, 'Danny got a better sound out of the orchestra than many conductors did,' " Dena recalled.
Photo gallery: Danny Kaye at 100
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Perhaps what he was most passionate about was his work with UNICEF, the United Nations International Children's Fund. That's where, his daughter says, Danny could just be Danny.
"He often said it was the most satisfying thing he'd ever done," Dena said. "He didn't become UNICEF's first goodwill ambassador because it was the 'right thing to do.' He did it 'cause he felt it."
Fitting that the only two Oscars Kaye ever received were not for his work on the movie screen, but for his humanitarian efforts. An actor's award . . . for a man who was a whole lot more.
For more info:
- dannykaye.com
- U.S. Fund for UNICEF: Danny Kaye
- Exhibit: "Danny Kaye and Sylvia Fine: Two Kids From Brooklyn" at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (Through July 27, 2013)
- "Danny Kaye: King of Jesters" by David Koenig (Bonaventure Press)
