Some of the Many Faces of Danny Kaye

Posted by medusamorlock on January 19, 2013

Virginia Mayo is the seductive casbah girl after the implacable British flying ace in “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”

In honor of tomorrow’s TCM Danny Kaye 100th Birthday 24-hour celebration, here are a few of my favorite pictures of him from my collection, in no particular order. It’s great to know that there is renewed interest in this most talented of entertainers — I’m not the only one who likes him! — and I’ll bet that there will be some new fans after Sunday’s festival! Here we go…Enjoy!

Danny in the short “Cupid Takes a Holiday” from 1938

Danny Kaye and Imogene Coca in "Dime a Dance"

Danny Kaye and Imogene Coca in the short “Dime a Dance” from 1937

Danny sings his wife Sylvia’s patter song “Anatole of Paris” from “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”

In October 1973 Danny inspired a character in a Robin adventure from the “Batman” comic book series

Danny Kaye and Vera Ellen in “White Christmas” proving that “The Best Things Happen While You’re Dancing”

Danny was able to get Bing into drag for their spoof of “Sisters” from “White Christmas”

Danny as milkman-turned-boxer in “The Kid from Brooklyn”

Danny atop Shirley the elephant during filming of 1958′s “Merry Andrew”

Danny is perplexed by Elsa Lanchester in this scene from 1949′s “The Inspector General”

Danny’s romantic lead in 1956′s “The Court Jester” was English beauty Glynis Johns

Curt Jurgens and Danny Kaye on the set of 1958′s “Me and the Colonel”

Danny Kaye was pursued by songstress Dinah Shore in 1944′s “Up in Arms”

Mrs. and Mrs. Danny Kaye in a dignified and lovely portrait

Danny comforts kitchen maid Barbara Bates in 1949′s “The Inspector General”

Danny Kaye in costume from “Merry Andrew” visits Maurice Chevalier on the set of “Gigi”

Danny Kaye and beloved character actor S.K. Sakall share a funny moment during “Wonder Man”

Danny Kaye portrait from around the mid-1950s

A more casual shot of Danny Kaye and his wife Sylvia Fine

Danny Kaye looking good!

Danny Kaye portrait from around the time of “White Christmas”

Danny Kaye and co-star Pier Angeli at the premiere of “Merry Andrew”

Danny on the set of “Hans Christian Andersen”

Danny Kaye in his costume from the medical dream, along with lovely Virginia Mayo, in 1947′s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”

Danny Kaye as riverboat gambler Gaylord Mitty from “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”

Virginia Mayo as a Southern Belle and Danny as Gaylord Mitty from “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”

Danny looking pensive and vulnerable as the hapless Giorgi who becomes “The Inspector General”

Danny in costume gives a backstage show on the set of “Up in Arms” as co-star Constance Dowling reclines on the staircase

Danny Kaye caught in a moment of mirth on the set of 1949′s “The Inspector General”

A backstage photo from the set of “The Inspector General”

Danny in his change-of-pace role as the gentle Samuel Jacobowsky in 1958′s “Me and the Colonel”

Danny elicits a laugh from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, in 1959

Danny finally getting his footprints in front of Hollywood’s Grauman’s Chinese Theater in 1969

Michael Kidd, Danny Kaye and Norman Panama in a posed gag shot backstage on the set of 1954′s “Knock on Wood”

A damsel sandwich, with Angela Lanbury, Danny Kaye, and Glynis Johns from 1956′s “The Court Jester”

Danny Kaye performs his frenetic musical movie spoof “The Lobby Number” from “Up in Arms”

Danny Kaye as the Ragpicker in 1969′s “The Madwoman of Chaillot”

Danny wows ‘em with the original git-gat-gittle song “Melody in 4-F” from “Up in Arms”

Pier Angeli, Danny Kaye and their chimpanzee friend from “Merry Andrew”

A candid photo of Danny on the set of “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”

Danny as Mitty the Kid from “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”

Virginia Mayo and Danny in costume from the deleted Irish informer dream from “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”

Another shot of Danny from the deleted Irish sequence from “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”

Danny, as Walter O’Mitty, in a deleted dream sequence from ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”

O’Mitty tries to hide from the authorities in the deleted sequence from “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”

Danny plays it straight and was supposed to have sung something like “Molly Malone” in this deleted sequence from “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”.

They’ll never outfox the Fox, not in 1956′s “The Court Jester”

Danny plays a popcorn prank on Bing Crosby backstage on “White Christmas”

Danny Kaye is veddy British as Group Captain Mitty from “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”

A lingerie-clad Virginia Mayo comforts sea captain Mitty in “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”

Virginia Mayo gives a little yum-yum to Danny Kaye in 1948′s “A Song is Born”

Danny gets a hand from co-stars Vera Ellen and Virginia Mayo in “The Kid from Brooklyn”

Danny hoofs and hams it up with Bing Crosby in “White Christmas”

Danny with Dinah Shore in the fantasy musical number from “Up in Arms”

Danny looking plenty spiffy in the early 1950s

I hope this gives you a little taste of the versatility of Danny Kaye and that you’ll give a look to some of his movies and TV appearances highlighted on TCM tomorrow!

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13 Responses Some of the Many Faces of Danny Kaye

Posted By Doug : January 20, 2013 1:20 am

medusamorlock: thank you for another photo-filled post on Danny Kaye! It didn’t hurt his career to have so many beautiful co-stars, and Virginia Mayo in particular benefited from her association with Danny. A win-win.

Posted By DKfan : January 20, 2013 3:36 am

We had a Danny Kaye Film Festival just
last weekend in Pasadena ! http://www.dannykayefest.com
10 Danny Kaye movies in 2 days !

Posted By bill : January 20, 2013 3:49 am

Great portraits, and nice catch on the Robin comic story. The creators of Superman tried to launch a comic based on Kaye called FUnnyman(!).

Posted By medusamorlock : January 20, 2013 10:33 am

Doug, I agree about Virginia Mayo. Dreamy is what she was!

Bill, I think I read someplace about “Funnyman” — what an idea and now that I think about it, it’s really too bad he didn’t play a villain on the “Batman” TV show like so many other stars of his era. My gosh, he never even went on ‘The Love Boat”, and he would have had plenty of years since it started in 1977. It’s understandable why his public image sort of faded, not in terms of charity work, but in terms of entertainment appearances. It’s a shame!

Posted By bill : January 20, 2013 10:44 am

Given his persona, he would’ve made an appropriate Two-Face. From what I”ve read of his later years, he simply lost interest.Once you’ve done it all…

Posted By Jack Favell : January 20, 2013 11:16 am

Fantastic photos, thank you SO MUCH for sharing. I especially liked The Informer sequence pics.

Posted By jennifromrollamo : January 20, 2013 2:04 pm

Do you know if a tele-movie is out there on dvd titled Skokie? I think it was a true story and Danny Kaye was in it. I vaguely recall watching it in the late 70′s or early 80′s. I think the plot was about the KKK wanting to hold a march in Skokie, IL, a suburb of Chicago with a heavily Jewish population. Danny portrayed one of the citizens in the film, I think, if I am remembering correctly, a concentration camp survivor who immigrates to the US after WWII. It was a very serious, dramatic role, and would have been a good contrast to the funny, musical films TCM is airing today. Watched Secret Life of Walter Mitty a couple years ago and loved it, and watched White Christmas this December, another favorite. Kaye certainly was blessed with talent. Thanks for your fun birthday tributes!

Posted By medusamorlock : January 20, 2013 2:18 pm

Jack — I love those Irish dream stills, too. We all wonder if the footage of that sequence survives anywhere, and another dream with Karloff as Frankenstein — now THAT would sell a few DVDs!

And Jenni, yes, “Skokie” does seem to be available on a reasonably-priced DVD: http://www.amazon.com/Skokie-Danny-Kaye/dp/B000JMKK4K so even if they’re not running it today it’s still watchable!

If you like your Danny Kaye also on the serious side, be sure to catch “Me and the Colonel” this afternoon — it’s a comedy but his performance is very low-key and affecting.

More Kaye all day today on TCM!

Posted By Susan Doll : January 20, 2013 7:30 pm

I love Danny Kaye — terrific Dick Cavett interview with him this morn on TCM.

Interesting about the deleted Irish sequence from WALTER MITTY; the lighting looks like THE INFORMER.

Posted By medusamorlock : January 20, 2013 10:44 pm

Yes, Suzi, I loved that Dick Cavett interview, too. Danny was in good spirits! And clearly that Irish sequence was very Informer-esque — I wish the footage existed but you’d think someone would have uncovered it by now, and I doubt there is anybody around now who’d know, but we can always hope! That would be such a treasure!

Posted By swac44 : January 21, 2013 11:41 am

I also loved seeing those deleted WALTER MITTY images, and maybe the recent aquisition of the video rights to the Samuel Goldwyn film library by Warner Home Video will lead to a scouring of the vaults, you never know what might turn up. I can’t wait to see Danny Kaye’s Technicolor features turn up in high-def, now that Hans Christian Andersen has made its appearance on blu-ray. But I’m glad this weekend’s TCM celebration let me fill in a few gaps in the Kaye filmography.

Posted By robbushblog : January 29, 2013 11:59 am

My mother always fast forwards “The Best Things Happen When You’re Dancing”. That irritates me. She usually likes to fast forward the singing and dancing parts in musicals. I don’t get that. Why watch it?

Posted By Quote From Danny Kaye | Consilient Interest : February 12, 2013 9:45 am

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