I can't resist linking to more of that Evening at the Pops show with Nathan Lane singing songs that were made famous by Danny Kaye. This is "Lullaby in Ragtime," which Mr. Kaye introduced in the movie, The Five Pennies.
Danny Kaye was wonderful in everything he did on a stage but he was, from all reports, a truly awful person off-stage. Howie Morris, who frequently appeared on Kaye's 1963-1967 CBS variety show, used to practically froth when he told tales of working with the guy. Nevertheless, I fondly remember a night of my childhood — I'm guessing this was around 1960 when I was eight — when my parents and I went to see Mr. Kaye at the Hollywood Bowl. There was this magical man up there who held the rapt attention of 15,000 people…and he just went on and on, topping himself, apparently going way over his scheduled end time and daring Management to come drag him off.
I remember one thing he did. This was a nighttime performance, remember. Out in the audience, it was very dark. He asked everyone to take out a match or a cigarette lighter — this was back when most people carried them — and to light them at the count of three, Then he counted the numbers off and when maybe 10,000 flames suddenly appeared throughout the amphitheater, he began singing, "Happy birthday to you…happy birthday to you…" It got one of the biggest laughs in which I ever participated.
So I always liked Danny Kaye and I was sorry to hear so many unflattering stories about him. I don't doubt they're all valid. I was just sorry to hear them.
On the other hand, I always liked what Gene Wilder says every time I've seen him interviewed about his early career. Someone asks him what he wanted to be when he grew up, long before he grew up. The answer he gives is always, "I wanted to be whatever Danny Kaye was." I heard him say that and then a few days later, I watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and I realized he'd made it. I mean, if they'd made that movie twenty years earlier, who would they have cast in the role Wilder played? Danny Kaye, right?
Anyway, here's Nathan Lane singing another one of Danny Kaye's songs even better than Danny Kaye…
