Throughout his career Danny starred in seventeen movies, including 1956's The Court Jester. It is this movie in particular that has brought this website into being. . .namely the author/webmaster's love of that movie.
In one scene of The Court Jester, Danny is being guided to the jousting lists by two ladies. He displays the vocal talents which made him famous when he stammers brilliantly, "the pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle, the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true" At one point, when the two females in the scene can repeat it perfectly, they remark why his character has such problems with the line; he turns to them and says "well then YOU fight him." (Often people quote Danny with the line, but in the film, he never got the line correct. Head over to the author's other Danny Kaye site: www.TheVesselwiththepestle.com and there's much more about this ironic line to be found!).

"The Secret Life of Danny Kaye", a film documenting his work for UNICEF, airs on CBS the same year as well as his first biography, "The Danny Kay Story" by Kurt Singer. The book ends with a quote from a priest who saw Danny Kaye's documentary on TV and felt passioned to write a letter (so did 4500 others) about Danny's committment to UNICEF: "Any fool can be solemn, but only a saintly person can be a fool -- in the medieval sense, I think of the Juggler of God whever I see you."

In 1960, Danny hits Las Vegas and performs for a long run at The Desert Inn in Las Vegas. He also stars in his first television special, "An Evening with Danny Kaye", with his wife Sylvia as the producer. The early 1960s continue with Danny starring in the film "On The Double" and "The Man From the Diner's Club" as well as two more television specials.

In early 1962, Danny Kaye continued in his myriad of audio recordings when he cut a wonderful nonsense song about his favorite baseball team in: "D-O-D-G-E-R-S." For eight innings, Danny tells us that the calls aren't going the way of his beloved team. However, they stage an exciting ninth inning rally, and suddenly, the umpires can do no wrong. Since Danny's singing specialty was rapid-fire, tongue-twisting deliveries, such as the "Miller-Haller-Hiller hallelujah twist," this song, like many of the ones Kaye performed in this manner, was hysterical and also co-written by his wife, Sylvia . Danny even pokes a little fun at Walter O'Malley, who owned the Dodgers at the time. He smiles while the fans grit their teeth over the outcome, for he's happy that the attendance at his stadium is 50,000. (Danny's love of the game of baseball isn't finished with this song as he later became co-owner of 1977's newest baseball franchise, the Seattle Mariners.)

From 1963 to 1967 he starred in his own hour-long TV variety program, "The Danny Kaye Show," for which he won both an Emmy and a Peabody Award. "The Danny Kaye Show" ran for four years and was an enormous hit, winning an Emmy in its first season. ("The Best of The Danny Kaye Show" is availble with hand-picked episodes by Dena Kaye).

During this time, Danny was still working hard for UNICEF. In fact, Danny was so identified with UNICEF that in 1965, when they received the Nobel Prize, Danny was selected to accept it. At a ceremony in Washington D.C., Danny was presented with his own award, by B'nai B'rith, for his work with UNICEF. True to his nature, at the end of his standing ovation he asked the audience to remain standing, then to sing Happy Birthday to no one in particular. At the end of the song he asked everyone why they were "standing up like fools" then made faces at the photographers for 20 seconds "so they would go away." He was so dedicated to the cause that he once flew to 65 cities in 5 days, entering the Guinness Book Of Records

I've read everything I can get my hands on about Danny Kaye and about that period of time in Hollywood society. One issue that rears its head upon occasion has to do with the rumoured bisexual relationship of Danny and Sir Laurence Olivier. Although they were great friends for a long time, I'm not sure about how far the relationship went. . . what I am sure of is that it ended in England. It seems Sir Laurence had convinced Kaye to star in the 1745 stage-comedy by Carlo Goldoni, "Servant of Two Masters". At his urging Danny agreed to appear from August 1 to September 16, 1967. In May of 1967 the situation was very grave in Israel and in June the Six-Day War occurred.
Claiming the Six-Day War in Israel was more important, Kaye cancelled his performance and breached every "business rule of proper conduct." One British newspaper writer wrote that he " would not be surprised if the two stars never talk to each other again." Apparently Danny was to be the centerpiece of the entire season and that many promoters lost money and audiences were disappointed.
The Israeli press had a different take on it: "Jewish entertainer, Danny Kaye, canceled his summer show to come to Israel to entertain the troops. After the six-day miracle Kaye arrived at Lod Airport for a month long tour. Michael Burstyn, star of Kuni Leml, and now a soldier was assigned to act as his guide and interpreter. All the good things about being Jewish were wrapped in the exhilaration of victory. At an air force dinner, Danny was not expected to entertain, but he told a story about happiness in dialect, imitating British, Russian, German, and French accents. The audience roared. When Burstyn told the story in Hebrew, they roared again. Kaye and Burstyn went from hospital to hospital meeting wounded soldiers to help cheer them up. The soldiers and the Israeli public know where the heart and soul of Danny Kaye lies."

He closed out the decade as the ragpicker in the stage show of "The Madwoman of Chaillot" in 1969. Later in the year, Danny put his hand and footprints in Hollywood Walk of Fame (located at 6563 Hollywood Blvd).

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