The secret life of Danny Kaye - Hardcover

Freedland, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312701632 ISBN 13: 9780312701635

Publisher: St. Martin's Press, 1985

Synopsis

Born in Brooklyn as David Daniel Kaminsky, Danny Kaye was the son of Ukrainian immigrants who came to America looking for the goldena medina -- the golden land. They had high hopes for their son, a gangly young boy with an outlandish shock of bright red hair. The redhead wanted to go into entertainment, but it would not be until Danny survived ingnominious stints as a soda jerk and a dental assistant that he would get his chance. In his twenties, Kaye hit the borscht belt circuit in the Catskills as part of the vaudeville team of Red and Black. An outstanding mimic gifted with a marvelous sense of nonsense, Kaye enthralled his audiences with hysterical dialogues and inspired renditions of "Minnie the Moocher". He soon graduated from this small circuit to the stage in Let's Face It, and before long he came to the attention of Hollywood's moviemakers. He starred in such unforgettable films as The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and Hans Christian Andersen. In 1950 Danny Kaye was proclaimed to be the world's greatest entertainer. Even three decades later, the genius of Kaye was still recognized. When he took part in the Royal Command Performance there was no question he would get top billing -- in a cast that included Sammy Davis Jr. and Larry Hagman. But did Danny Kaye ever reach his full potential? In this fascinating biography Michael Freedland argues that like a real-life Walter Mitty, Kaye never pushed himself to the limits of his talents. Freedland delineates the pains, frustrations, and eccentricities that kept Danny Kaye, as great an entertainer as he was, from being as great as he could have been.

About this title

From Library Journal:

In this latest of Freedland's Hollywood biographies, he takes the stand that Kaye has wasted his talent and never lived up to the undisputed genius shown in such films as The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and in his postwar performances at London's Palladium, which made him an entertainment legend in England. Freedland emphasizes the negative side of Kaye's personality, with quote after quote from co-workers giving examples of his coldness and moodiness, or his compulsion to be center stage. Freedland's hyperbolic writing style gets in the way of his subject; he tries too hard to be clever and only succeeds in making his prose repetitive and boring. Whatever his problems, Kaye deserves better than this. Marcia L. Perry, Berkshire Athenaeum, Pittsfield, Mass.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Publication date: 1985
• ISBN 10: 0312701632
• ISBN 13: 9780312701635
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 261